1919 VFL Season - Notable Events

Notable Events

• Melbourne returned to the VFL competition, and changed its constitution so that direct payments (i.e., other than "reimbursement of expenses") can be made to players, effectively making the team professional, eight years after the VFL had done so.
• Since the nine-team competition required one bye each week, the VFL sought expressions of interest from clubs wishing to join the VFL. Whilst there was talk of an Ex-Servicemen's Club and a Public Servants' Club, an application was actually lodged on behalf of a combined Ballarat Football League team, as well applications on behalf of the VFA clubs Brunswick, Footscray, Hawthorn, North Melbourne, Port Melbourne, and Prahran.
• The VFL introduced a Second Eighteen competition between its constituent clubs.
• At the start of the 1919 season, the VFL had already donated ₤9,436-0-0 to the Patriotic Fund since the start of the war.
• In its Round 12 match against St Kilda, South Melbourne set the enduring record for highest score in a quarter, kicking 17.4 (106) in the last quarter of the match. This remains two goals better than any other team has managed since.
• Other records which have since been broken were set in that same match: South Melbourne full-forward Harold Robertson kicked 14 goals in the match (a record until 1929); South Melbourne kicked a match score of 29.15 (189) (a record until 1931), with a winning margin of 171 points (record until 1979).
• In Round 16, Collingwood defeated Carlton 17.11 (113) to 5.16 (46). No team had scored 100 points against Carlton since Round 1, 1904, a streak of 292 consecutive matches, which remains a VFL/AFL record as of 2012.
• St Kilda's win at Collingwood in Round 2 was its first win over Collingwood on the road since the two sides had left the VFA to form the VFL in 1897, ending a losing streak of 20 straight matches at Collingwood.