The 1902

Victorian Football Association The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

season was the 26th season of the

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

competition. The premiership was won by the

Richmond Football Club The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers, is an Australian rules football team playing in the Australian Football League (AFL). Between its inception in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond in 1885 and 1907, the club competed in the Victo ...

; it was the first premiership in the club's history.

Ladder

The premiership was decided on the basis of the best record across sixteen rostered matches, with each club playing the others twice; in the event of a tie for first place, a playoff match would have been held to determine the premiership. Richmond and Port Melbourne were in a close battle for the premiership, and for the second consecutive season the clubs had equal records entering the final weekend of games, making a playoff match a likely outcome. However, in the matches on the final Saturday, Richmond 7.10 (52) defeated Prahran 3.9 (27), and Port Melbourne 3.9 (27) lost to Williamstown 7.3 (45), so the premiership was decided in Richmond's favour without a playoff match.

Notable events

* On 9 August at the Port Melbourne Cricket Ground,

Port Melbourne Port Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Melbourne and Port Phillip local government areas. Port Melbourne recorded a populatio ...

9.23 (77) defeated 0.0 (0), the latter failing even to attempt a shot on goal in the match. As of 2022, it is the only time a club has been held scoreless in a senior Association match since the modern scoring system was adopted in 1897. * On Thursday 4 September, a match was played between a combined Association team and a combined

League League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

team at the

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadiu ...

. The match was played for the benefit of

Fred McGinis Fred McGinis (11 November 1874 – 30 March 1953) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football Association (VFA) and the Victorian Football League (VFL). Family The son of Louis McGu ...

, who had played for in both competitions but through illness had become almost blind during the year; a crowd of around 7,000 attended, and more than £200 was raised. The League 9.17 (71) defeated the Association 4.3 (27) by 44 points. It was the first time that teams representing the rival competitions had played against each other since the breakaway of the League in 1897; another would not be played until 1915.

External links

* Victorian Football Association/Victorian Football League History (1877-2008) * List of VFA/VFL Premiers (1877-2007)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1902 Vfa Season Victorian Football League seasons VFL