The 1926 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

Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. It is based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, ...

and

Collingwood Football Club The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed the Magpies or colloquially the Pies, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The club w ...

, 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 9 October 1926. It was the 28th 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

1926 VFL season The 1926 VFL season was the 30th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 1 May until 9 October, and comprised an 18-gam ...

. The match, attended by 59,632 spectators, was won by Melbourne by a margin of 57 points, marking that club's second premiership victory and their first since 1900.

Background

came into the 1926 season as the runner-up from previous season after losing to in that year's

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 ...

. Throughout the premiership season, Collingwood would finish on top of the ladder with an 15-3 record to win their 8th minor premiership with them defeating in the final round by 47 points to cement their spot on top by 4.1% over defending champions Geelong. In the semi-final, they took on third place on the 25 September. After opening up a 22 point lead at the half, they would concede eight goals in the third quarter to bring Melbourne back into the match and would later go on to lose the match to the Demons by 11 points. Despite the loss, they advanced to the grand final as the minor premiers. Melbourne had been eliminated in the preliminary final in the previous season to Collingwood and was trying to go one better than they did in the previous season. The team finished third on the table with an 14-4 record which meant they took on Collingwood. An eight goal third quarter set up the victory for Melbourne as they won by 11 points. Though due to the challenge round system they had to compete in a preliminary final, the following week against fourth place who had defeated Geelong in the other semi-final. Scores in the preliminary final was affected due to strong gusty winds that blew through the stadium. In what ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'' described as a 'desperate and exciting finishes to the season', Melbourne held on to win by 3 points.

Teams

Heading into the match, Melbourne made two changes to the side that defeated Essendon with Bob Corbett being replaced by

Francis Vine Francis "Pop" Vine (1 October 1904 – 6 October 1960) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Vine is one of just four players in VFL/AFL history to play in a premiership on de ...

after Corbett fractured his jaw during the match. The other change was the dropping of

Ossie Green William Osmond Green (11 March 1906 – 26 May 1991) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Melbourne in the Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia ser ...

for Harry Coy. Collingwood also made two changes to their lineup that loss to Melbourne with

Charlie Dibbs Charlie Dibbs (3 April 1905 – 22 November 1960) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Collingwood Magpies in the Australian Football League, Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1920s and 1930s. Charlie Dibbs was born Ch ...

and

George Clayden George Clayden (14 August 1903 – 25 March 1990) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Collingwood in the Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia se ...

being replaced in the lineup for

Ernie Wilson Ernest George 'Ernie' Wilson (18 October 1900 – 7 June 1982) was an Australian rules footballer who played for Collingwood in the Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in ...

and

Charlie Milburn Charles Patrick Milburn (10 March 1899 – 14 November 1953) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Collingwood Football Club and Essendon Football Club in the Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League ...

. * Umpires - Jack McMurray (field), Naismith (boundary), Davies (boundary), Jenkins (goal), Rouvray (goal).

Match Summary

Background

Teams

Match Summary

Scoreboard

References

See also