1936 VFL premiership season
Collingwood Football Club, premier team
Teams	12
Premiers	Collingwood 11th premiership
Minor premiers	South Melbourne 5th minor premiership
Brownlow Medallist	Denis Ryan (Fitzroy)
Leading Goalkicker Medallist	Bill Mohr (St Kilda)
Matches played	112
Highest	74,091
← 1935 1937 →

The 1936 VFL season was the 40th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 2 May until 3 October, and comprised an 18-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top four clubs.

The premiership was won by the Collingwood Football Club for the eleventh time and second time consecutively, after it defeated South Melbourne by eleven points in the 1936 VFL Grand Final.

Background

In 1936, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus one substitute player, known as the 19th 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 18 rounds; matches 12 to 18 were the "home-and-way reverse" of matches 1 to 7.

Once the 18 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1936 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the Page–McIntyre system.

Home-and-away season

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

Ladder

Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for
Average score: 91.4
Source: AFL Tables

Finals series

Semi-finals

Preliminary final

Grand final

Season notes

• Prior to the season, the Richmond Football Club formally announced its intentions to move its home base from the Punt Road Oval to the nearby Olympic Park, owing mostly to an ongoing dispute with the Richmond Cricket Club. Such a move required the approval of the League's Board of Management; the vote was tied 6–6, then voted down by the casting vote of League president William McClelland (a casting vote for the status quo was customary in the event of a tie). As such, Richmond was forced to remain at the Punt Road Oval.^[1]
• In Round 1, the first goal kicked by South Melbourne's Bob Pratt against Melbourne was his 500th career goal.
• In Round 7, Collingwood full-forward Gordon Coventry scored his 1,200th VFL goal.
• All Round 10 matches were postponed because all VFL grounds were under water following an extended period of torrential rain. All subsequent rounds were also pushed back by one week.
• After Round 13, Gordon Coventry was suspended for eight weeks for striking Richmond's Joe Murdoch, and missed the finals series.
• After Round 14, Essendon's forward-pocket Ted Bryce was suspended for eighteen weeks for kicking Carlton rover Norm Cashin.
• In Round 17, field-umpire Jack McMurray umpired his 300th senior VFL match.
• In Round 18, needing seven goals to reach 100, St Kilda's full-forward Bill Mohr kicked eight goals, finishing his season with 101 goals. In a 13-season (1929–1941), 735 goal career, this was his highest ever total.
• North Melbourne and Hawthorn both recorded their first wins against Richmond since entering the VFL in 1925. North Melbourne's win in Round 14 ended an 18-game losing streak against Richmond, and Hawthorn's win in Round 16 ended a 21-game losing streak.

Awards

• The 1936 VFL Premiership team was Collingwood.
• The VFL's leading goalkicker was Bill Mohr of St Kilda with 101 goals.
• The Argus newspaper's "Player of the Year" was Bill Mohr of St Kilda.
• The winner of the 1936 Brownlow Medal was Denis Ryan of Fitzroy with 26 votes.
• Fitzroy took the "wooden spoon" in 1936.
• The seconds premiership was won by Footscray. Footscray 15.11 (101) defeated Melbourne 6.14 (50) in the Grand Final, played as a curtain-raiser to the firsts Grand Final on 3 October at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.^[2]