1976 VFL season

The 1976 Victorian Football League season was the 80th season of the elite Australian rules football competition.

1976 VFL Premiership season
Teams	12
Premiers	Hawthorn (3rd premiership)
Minor premiers	Carlton (13th minor premiership)
Matches played	138
Attendance	3,288,470 (23,829 per match)
Highest attendance	110,143
Coleman Medallist	Larry Donohue (Geelong)
Brownlow Medallist	Graham Moss (Essendon)

Premiership season

In 1976, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus two substitute players, known as the 19th man and the 20th man. A player could be substituted for any reason; however, once substituted, a player could not return to the field of play under any circumstances.

Teams played each other in a home-and-away season of 22 rounds; matches 12 to 22 were the "home-and-way reverse" of matches 1 to 11 (except that rounds 14 and 15 were the reverse of 4 and 3 respectively).

Once the 22 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1976 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the "McIntyre Final Five system".

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Round 19

Round 20

Round 21

Round 22

Ladder

1976 VFL ladder

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	PF	PA	PP	Pts
1	Carlton	22	16	5	1	2245	1690	132.8	66	Finals
2	Hawthorn (P)	22	16	6	0	2323	2035	114.2	64
3	North Melbourne	22	15	7	0	2041	1748	116.8	60
4	Geelong	22	12	10	0	2251	2166	103.9	48
5	Footscray	22	11	10	1	1958	2023	96.8	46
6	Melbourne	22	11	11	0	2319	2333	99.4	44
7	Richmond	22	10	12	0	2192	2224	98.6	40
8	South Melbourne	22	9	13	0	2223	2364	94.0	36
9	St Kilda	22	9	13	0	2056	2282	90.1	36
10	Essendon	22	9	13	0	1987	2253	88.2	36
11	Fitzroy	22	7	15	0	2005	2161	92.8	28
12	Collingwood	22	6	16	0	2033	2354	86.4	24

Source: VFL ladder
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for.
(P) Premiers.

Finals

Elimination Final

Qualifying Final

Semi Finals

Preliminary Final

Grand final

Awards

• The 1976 VFL Premiership team was Hawthorn.
• The VFL's leading goalkicker was Larry Donohue of Geelong who kicked 105 goals (including 6 goals in the finals).
• The winner of the 1976 Brownlow Medal was Graham Moss of Essendon with 48 votes.
• Collingwood took the "wooden spoon" for the first time in 1976.
• The reserves premiership was won by Collingwood. Collingwood 23.17 (155) defeated North Melbourne 19.15 (129) in the Grand Final, held as a curtain-raiser to the seniors Grand Final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 25 September.[1]

Notable events

• The VFL introduced two field umpires per match.
• John Nicholls resigned as coach of Carlton three days before the VFL season commenced. Assistant coach Ian Thorogood was promoted to coach.
• The opening round match between South Melbourne and Geelong at the Lake Oval saw the Swans kick the highest losing score on record, beating Melbourne's 1940 record.
• The Round 1 match between Carlton and Collingwood at Princes Park saw a massive all-in brawl that involved virtually every player from both sides, with Collingwood's Phil Carman the chief target.
• The Round 9 match between North Melbourne and Essendon at the Arden Street Oval witnessed a comic moment in the third quarter as the two field umpires who officiated in the game gave conflicting directions in the passage of play, which was finally resolved with a ball-up (the umpires were booed by the crowd). North Melbourne won the match with only 17 fit players on the field.
• In Round 10, North Melbourne's Malcolm Blight kicked a booming torpedo punt 65–70 metres out from goal after the final siren at Princes Park, which sailed through for a goal that won the match for North Melbourne. HSV Channel 7 football commentator Michael Williamson exclaimed after the match, "I have seen it all, now. I have seen it all!!" ("The Sensational Seventies -- 1976." Screened on HSV 7 Melbourne in September 1979)
• The Round 21 match between Footscray and Fitzroy at VFL Park was the first match to provide the lowest two scores of a season.
• Collingwood "won" its maiden wooden spoon after seventy-nine years, leaving Carlton as the only foundation VFL team yet to finish last. Carlton would "win" its maiden wooden spoon twenty-six years later in 2002.
• Collingwood's six wins is the most by a wooden spooner in VFL/AFL history.

References

1. "All the scores". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. 27 September 1976. p. 28.

• Rogers, S. & Brown, A., Every Game Ever Played: VFL/AFL Results 1897-1997 (Sixth Edition), Viking Books, (Ringwood), 1998. ISBN 0-670-90809-6
• 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

External links

• 1976 Season - AFL Tables