1956 VFA premiership season
Teams14
PremiersWilliamstown
8th premiership
Minor premiersWilliamstown
5th minor premiership

The 1956 Victorian Football Association season was the 75th season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won by the Williamstown Football Club, after it defeated Port Melbourne in the Grand Final on 29 September by twenty-four points. It was Williamstown's eighth premiership, its third in a row (all won against Port Melbourne), and the third of five premierships won in six seasons from 1954 until 1959.

Premiership

The home-and-home season was played over twenty matches, before the top four clubs contested a finals series under the Page–McIntyre system to determine the premiers for the season.

Ladder

1956 VFA ladder
TEAMPWLDPFPAPctPTS
1 Williamstown (P) 20 17 3 0 1725 1070 161.2 68
2 Port Melbourne 20 16 4 0 1849 1187 155.8 64
3 Brunswick 20 14 6 0 1637 1260 129.9 56
4 Box Hill 20 14 6 0 1359 1075 126.4 56
5 Preston 20 14 6 0 1542 1247 123.7 56
6 Moorabbin 20 12 8 0 1553 1242 125.0 48
7 Sandringham 20 9 11 0 1283 1434 89.5 36
8 Yarraville 20 9 11 0 1280 1470 87.1 36
9 Coburg 20 7 12 1 1655 1647 100.5 30
10 Oakleigh 20 7 12 1 1091 1529 71.4 30
11 Brighton 20 6 13 1 1343 1743 77.1 26
12 Camberwell 20 5 15 0 1199 1687 71.1 20
13 Prahran 20 4 15 1 1164 1783 65.3 18
14 Northcote 20 4 16 0 1065 1371 77.7 16
Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Pct = Percentage; (P) = Premiers, PTS = Premiership points Source[1]

Finals

Semifinals
Saturday, 8 September Brunswick 12.18 (90) def. by Box Hill 15.15 (105) St Kilda Cricket Ground (crowd: 10,900) [2]
Saturday, 15 September Williamstown 10.13 (73) def. by Port Melbourne 12.15 (87) St Kilda Cricket Ground (crowd: 20,000) [3]
Preliminary Final
Saturday, 22 September Williamstown 12.14 (86) def. Box Hill 8.16 (64) St Kilda Cricket Ground (crowd: 16,000) [4]
1956 VFA Grand Final
Saturday, 29 September Port Melbourne def. by Williamstown St Kilda Cricket Ground (crowd: 28,000) [5]
5.6 (36)
8.11 (59)
9.14 (68)
 10.18 (78)		 Q1
Q2
Q3
 Final		 3.1 (19)
8.5 (53)
8.10 (58)
 14.18 (102)		 Umpires: Jack Irving
Bonnett 4, Collins, Harvey, Johnson, McDonald, Miller, Sykes Goals McPherson 6, Gear 2, Callahan, Fisher, Linton, Reed, Smith, Wookey
Atkinson (ankle), Laffey (leg) Injuries Curran (hand)
  • Port Melbourne and Williamstown were tied on 10.16 (76) with ten minutes remaining, before Williamstown kicked four late goals.

Awards

Notable events

Perth Carnival

The Association competed in the 1956 Perth Carnival, and finished in last place with a record of 0–4. Port Melbourne's Frank Johnson captained the Association team,[7] and Northcote's Bill Faul served as coach.[8] Johnson was named as captain of the All-Australian team; no other Association players were named in the team.[9]

1956 Perth Carnival
Thursday, 14 June South Australia 16.14 (110) def. Victoria (VFA) 11.10 (76) Subiaco Oval [10]
Saturday, 16 June Victoria (VFL) 21.17 (143) def. Victoria (VFA) 3.5 (23) Subiaco Oval [11]
Tuesday, 19 June Tasmania 27.22 (184) def. Victoria (VFA) 12.12 (84) Subiaco Oval [12]
Thursday, 21 June Western Australia 22.20 (152) def. Victoria (VFA) 9.15 (69) Subiaco Oval [13]

Other notable events

  • The Preston City Oval was unavailable during 1956 after being upgraded and resurfaced by the council in October 1955.[14] Preston played its home matches at Coburg for the season.[15]
  • Northcote players were paid for their services during 1956, after having played as amateurs since mid-1953 due to the club's financial difficulties.[16][17] During the season, Yarraville suffered financial difficulties, and players' match payments were reduced from four pounds to ten shillings.[18]
  • In its Round 1 match, Coburg 6.5 (41) trailed Preston 13.8 (86) by 45 points at three-quarter time, before kicking 8.10 to no score in the final quarter to win 14.15 (99) d. 13.8 (86).[19]
  • In its Round 7 match, Yarraville defeated Williamstown by one point after Jack Whallis kicked a goal after the final siren from 35 yards.[20]

References

  1. 1 2 Noel Carrick (3 September 1956). "Box Hill makes VFA finals for first time". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 28.
  2. ↑ Noel Carrick (10 September 1956). "Box Hill becomes a danger in VFA final". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 32.
  3. ↑ Noel Carrick (17 September 1956). "Port's "sheer spirit" crushes Seagulls". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 32.
  4. ↑ Noel Carrick (24 September 1956). "Experience gives Seagulls VFA final". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 34.
  5. 1 2 Noel Carrick (1 October 1956). "Fitness in last 10 mins. gave flag to Seagulls". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 31.
  6. ↑ "Martin's easy win in Liston". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. 6 September 1956. p. 32.
  7. ↑ Kevin Hogan (14 June 1956). "V.F.A. picks strongest combination". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 36.
  8. ↑ "Faul switches to Moorabbin". The Sun News-Pictorial. 16 October 1956. p. 36.
  9. ↑ Kevin Hogan (25 June 1956). "All-Australian team is joke". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 34.
  10. ↑ Kevin Hogan (15 June 1956). "V.F.A. crippled by heavy injuries". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 31.
  11. ↑ Kevin Hogan (18 June 1956). "Carnival details". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 33.
  12. ↑ Kevin Hogan (20 June 1956). "Carnival details". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 36.
  13. ↑ Kevin Hogan (22 June 1956). "Carnival details". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 32.
  14. ↑ Dave Andersen (9 April 1955). "Preston to lose ground". The Argus. Melbourne. p. 37.
  15. ↑ Noel Carrick (20 April 1956). "Williamstown's 4 changes". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 30.
  16. ↑ Jack Dunn (17 July 1953). "Third VFA team to play as amateurs". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 28.
  17. ↑ "Northcote gets rise". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. 8 March 1956. p. 36.
  18. ↑ Noel Carrick (11 July 1956). "Yarraville men will play for 10/– a game". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 35.
  19. ↑ Noel Carrick (16 April 1956). "V.F.A. premiers fail to impress in easy victory". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 29.
  20. ↑ Noel Carrick (28 May 1956). "Williamstown topples from lead in V.F.A. surprise". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. p. 30.
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