Notable Events
- In January, Melbourne's 1964 premiership captain Ron Barassi astounded the VFL community by announcing that he will be the 1965 captain/coach of Carlton.
- Three teams moved their home grounds in 1965. Richmond moved its home ground to the Melbourne Cricket Ground, sharing it with Melbourne, while continuing to train at the Punt Road Oval. St Kilda moved its training base and home matches from Junction Oval to Moorabbin Oval. North Melbourne moved its training base and home matches from Arden Street Oval to Coburg City Oval, but the move was unsuccessful and the club returned to Arden Street in 1966.
- In the Round 2 match against Essendon, Hawthorn forward Garry Young sustained a painful injury from a hard knock. Hawthorn captain Graham Arthur stood over him and said "Get up you weak bastard", and Young returned to the play and did his best to continue. Eventually he left the ground and went to hospital where it was discovered that he had a perforated bowel and peritonitis, both of which are life-threatening conditions. He never played again.
- In Round 6, Essendon forward Geoff Gosper was the first VFL player to play with a mouthguard.
- Victoria played two interstate matches against South Australia during the season. On Saturday 19 June, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Victoria won 19.17 (131) to 9.18 (72); on 10 July, in Adelaide, South Australia won 12.11 (83) to 3.1 (19).
- Six-premiership Melbourne coach Norm Smith was sacked after Round 12, then reinstated before Round 14. Smith had been unhappy about his lack of support from the Melbourne Football Club in the libel case that had been brought against him by VFL umpire Russell Blew.
- Melbourne missed the finals for the first time since 1954.
- St Kilda play in a Grand Final for the first time since 1913.
- Essendon's half-forward flanker John Somerville was felled behind play in first 10 minutes of the 1965 Preliminary Final. His opponent for the day, Collingwood's Duncan Wright, was never selected to play for Collingwood again. The field umpire, Ron Brophy, was never selected to umpire a VFL match again. (See Duncan Wright and John Somerville.)
Read more about this topic: 1965 VFL Season
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