The 1906 VFL Grand Final was an

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 ...

game contested between the

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's top professional competition. Founded in 1864 in Carlton, an inner suburb of Mel ...

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 Vi ...

, held 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 ...

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 1906. It was the 9th 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. Sy ...

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

1906 VFL season The 1906 VFL season was the tenth 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 17- ...

. The match, attended by 44,437 spectators, was won by Carlton by a margin of 49 points, marking that club's first VFL premiership victory.

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), Carlton was top of the ladder with a record of 14–3 and a percentage of 153.5; Fitzroy finished second with a record of 13–4 and a percentage of 153.3. The finals were contested using the variation of the amended ''Argus'' system seen between 1902–1906. Fitzroy faced fourth-placed in the First Semi-Final, and won by 36 points, and Carlton faced third-placed in the Second Semi-Final and won by ten points. Carlton and Fitzroy then faced off to decide the premiers.

Right to challenge

The winner of this match would automatically win the premiership; no team had the right to challenge for the premiership this season. Under the variation of the ''Argus'' System in use between 1902–1906, the club with the best record in all matches (including finals) could have challenged for the premiership if it had not won this game. However, whichever team won this game would have become the team with the best record, depriving the other of any right to challenge. Entering the match, Carlton had a record of 15–3, and Fitzroy had a record of 14–4 but a superior percentage (155.6 to Carlton's 151.2). In the event of a Carlton win, Carlton's 16–3 record would have ranked above Fitzroy's 14–5, but in the event of a Fitzroy win, both clubs would have been level on 15–4, but Fitzroy would have been ranked above Carlton with a superior percentage. This is different from the ruling which would have been used under the more widely known variation of the ''Argus'' System, which was in use from 1907–1930, with the exception of 1924. In that variation, the team with the best record in matches ''excluding'' finals had the right to challenge; as Carlton had the best record after 17 weeks, it would have retained the right to challenge, regardless of finals results.

Lead-up

Right to challenge

Teams

Statistics

Goalkickers

References

See also