The 1900 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Melbourne Football Club and

Fitzroy Football Club The Fitzroy Football Club is an Australian rules football club currently competing in the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA). Formed in 1883 to represent the inner-Melbourne municipality of Fitzroy, the club was a member of the V ...

, held at the

East Melbourne Cricket Ground The East Melbourne Cricket Ground was a grass oval sports venue located at the corner of Wellington Parade and Jolimont Parade, in East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.Santo Caruso, Marc Fiddian and Jim Main, ''Football Grounds of Melbourne'' (Mel ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

on 22 September 1900. It was the 3rd annual

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. S ...

of the

Victorian Football League 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 ...

, staged to determine the

premiers Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

for the

1900 VFL season The 1900 VFL season was the fourth season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured eight clubs, ran from 5 May until 22 September, and comprised a 14 ...

. The match, attended by 20,181 spectators, was won by Melbourne by a margin of 4 points.

Lead-up

Although Melbourne only won six of its fourteen home-and-away fixtures to finish sixth on the ladder, it won its sectional round-robin and defeated the other sectional winner, , in the semi-final for the right to face the minor premiers, Fitzroy, in the Grand Final; Fitzroy had won the previous two premierships and was aiming for a third premiership in a row. The winner of this match would win the premiership.

Teams

Arthur Sowden, and Bill Bowe were unable to play for the Melbourne team, due to injury, and

Eric Gardner Eric Arthur Gardner (27 June 1881 – 24 May 1905) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL). The younger brother of Corrie Gardner, Eric was a long kicking forward. He played as a wi ...

was unavailable.Football, ''The Argus'', (Monday, 24 September 1900), p.7.
/ref> * Umpire - Henry "Ivo" Crapp

Statistics

Goalkickers

Melbourne: * Geddes 1 * Leith 1 * Ryan 1 * Wardill 1 Fitzroy: * Grace 2 * Barker 1

Attendance

* Crowd - 20,181

Footnotes

References

1900 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. {{Australian Football League VFL/AFL Grand Finals

Grand Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and c ...

Melbourne Football Club Fitzroy Football Club September 1900 sports events