1903 VFL grand final - Misplaced Pages

(Redirected from 1903 VFL Grand Final) Grand final of the 1903 Victorian Football League season

Australian rules football match

1903 VFL grand final

Collingwood	Fitzroy
4.7 (31)	3.11 (29)

	1	2	3	4
COL	2.3 (15)	3.4 (22)	3.6 (24)	4.7 (31)
FIT	2.2 (14)	2.5 (17)	2.8 (20)	3.11 (29)

Date

12 September 1903

Stadium

Melbourne Cricket Ground

Attendance

32,263

Umpires

Dick Gibson

← 1902

AFL Grand Final

1904 →

The 1903 VFL grand final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Collingwood Football Club and Fitzroy Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 12 September 1903. It was the 6th annual grand final of the Victorian Football League, staged to determine the premiers for the 1903 VFL season. The match, attended by 32,263 spectators, was won by Collingwood by a margin of two points, marking that club's second successive premiership victory.

Gerald Brosnan had a chance to win Fitzroy the premiership with a set shot for goal off the last kick of the game but missed narrowly to give Collingwood back-to-back flags.

Collingwood's Jim Addison, playing in just his third game, was the only multiple goalkicker. Both Ern Jenkins and Bert Sharpe of Fitzroy were celebrating their 100th VFL games.

Lead-up

After the home-and-away season (which lasted for seventeen matches, including the "first round" of fourteen matches and a "second round" of three matches), Collingwood was top of the ladder with a record of 15–2 and a percentage of 159.4; Fitzroy finished second with a record of 14–3 and a percentage of 171.6.

The finals were contested using the variation of the first amended Argus system, seen between 1902 and 1906. Fitzroy faced fourth-placed Geelong in the first semi-final, and won by 52 points, and Collingwood faced third-placed Carlton in the second semi-final and won by four points.

Collingwood (now 16–2) and Fitzroy (now 15–3) then faced off in the final. By virtue of their records, neither club could lose the match and still finish with a better win–loss record than the other; and therefore under the first amended Argus system, there was no chance for a challenge grand final and it was known from the opening bounce that this match would be decisive for the premiership.

Teams

Collingwood

Fitzroy

Collingwood
B:	George Lockwood	Bill Proudfoot	Alf Dummett
HB:	Matthew Fell	Jack Monohan	Bob Rush
C:	Charlie Pannam	Con McCormack	Eddie Drohan
HF:	Teddy Lockwood	Ted Rowell	Lardie Tulloch (c)
F:	Arthur Leach	Jim Addison	Harry Pears
Foll:	Jack Incoll	George Angus	Dick Condon

Fitzroy
B:	Alf Sharp	Ern Jenkins	Lou Barker
HB:	Wally Naismith	Jim Sharp	Fred Fontaine
C:	Tammy Beauchamp	Harry Clarke	Frank Brophy
HF:	Alf Wilkinson	Gerald Brosnan (c)	Chris Kiernan
F:	Percy Trotter	Les Millis	Bert Sharpe
Foll:	Bill Walker	Herbert Milne	Bill McSpeerin

Umpire – Dick Gibson

Statistics

Goalkickers

Collingwood:

Addison 2
Condon 1
T.Lockwood 1

Fitzroy:

McSpeerin 1
Millis 1
Milne 1

Attendance

MCG crowd – 32,263

References

Rover (12 September 1903). "Football". The Weekly Times. p. 21.

1903 VFL Grand Final statistics
The Official statistical history of the AFL 2004
Ross, J. (ed), 100 Years of Australian Football 1897–1996: The Complete Story of the AFL, All the Big Stories, All the Great Pictures, All the Champions, Every AFL Season Reported, Viking, (Ringwood), 1996. ISBN 0-670-86814-0

v t e Collingwood Football Club 1903 VFL premiers
Collingwood 4.7 (31) defeated Fitzroy 3.11 (29), at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
Addison Angus Condon Drohan Dummett Fell Incoll Leach G. Lockwood T. Lockwood McCormack Monohan Pannam Pears Proudfoot Rowell Rush Tulloch (c)

v t e Collingwood Football Club
Nickname: Magpies History Records Current squad Players Captains Coaches Awards Copeland Trophy AFL Women's best and fairest Leading goalkickers AFL coach: Craig McRae AFL captain: Darcy Moore AFLW coach: Sam Wright AFLW captains: Brianna Davey
VFL/AFL home grounds	Victoria Park (1897–1999) Melbourne Cricket Ground (2000–)
AFLW home grounds	Olympic Park Oval (2017–2018) Victoria Park (2019–)
VFA premierships (1)	1896
VFL/AFL premierships (16)	1902 1903 1910 1917 1919 1927 1928 1929 1930 1935 1936 1953 1958 1990 2010 2023
Runner-up (27)	1901 1905 1911 1915 1918 1920 1922 1925 1926 1937 1938 1939 1952 1955 1956 1960 1964 1966 1970 1977 1979 1980 1981 2002 2003 2011 2018
Seasons (134)	1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Related articles	AIA Centre Anzac Day match Carlton rivalry Collingwood District Colliwobbles Eddie McGuire Mark Korda Joffa Corfe King's Birthday match Netball team New York Magpies Olympic Park Oval Presidents Take the Steps VFL team

Fitzroy Football Club

Home grounds

Brunswick Street Oval (1884–1966)
Princes Park (1967–1969, 1987–1993)
Junction Oval (1970–1984)
Victoria Park (1985–1986)
Western Oval (1994–1996)

Premierships

VFA	1895
VFL	1898 1899 1904 1905 1913 1916 1922 1944
Runner-up	1900 1903 1906 1917 1923
VAFA	2018

Seasons

VFA	1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896
VFL/AFL	1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996
VAFA	2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

Fitzroy's AFL operations merged with the Brisbane Bears in 1996 to form the Brisbane Lions
Fitzroy merged with the Fitzroy Reds in 2008 and has competed in the VAFA since 2009

Australian Football League

Clubs

Current	Adelaide Brisbane Lions Carlton Collingwood Essendon Fremantle Geelong Gold Coast Greater Western Sydney Hawthorn Melbourne North Melbourne Port Adelaide Richmond St Kilda Sydney West Coast Western Bulldogs
Future	Tasmania
Former	Brisbane Bears Fitzroy University

Seasons

Grand finals

Venues

Other awards

Major recurring
events

Second-tier and
junior competitions

Current	AFL National Championships Talent League South Australian National Football League Victorian Football League West Australian Football League
Former	AFL reserves AFL under-19s North East Australian Football League VFL Sub-Districts

Known as the Victorian Football League from 1897–1989; no grand finals were held in 1897 and 1924

Categories:

Lead-up

Teams

Statistics

Goalkickers

Attendance

References

See also