The 1952 VFL season was the 56th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 19 April until 27 September, and comprised a 19-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top four clubs.

The premiership was won by the Geelong Football Club for the fifth time and second time consecutively. Geelong defeated Collingwood by 46 points in the 1952 VFL Grand Final, as part of a 23-game winning streak spanning the 1952 and 1953 seasons which stands as the longest in league history.

Background

In 1952, 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 19 rounds.

There was an extra round (round 8), in addition to 1951's 18 rounds. Promoted as a "National Day Round", it was held on the Saturday (14 June) of the Queen's Birthday weekend and saw all clubs play a match for premiership points at country or interstate locations, while the Victorian State side played against the West Australian State side at Melbourne Cricket Ground.

The season was constructed as follows: in rounds 1 to 7 and 9 to 12 the teams played each other. Round 8, the "National Day Round", was the reverse of round 11 (and the designated round 8 "home team" was the reverse of that in round 11). Rounds 13 to 19 were the "home-and-away reverse" of rounds 1 to 7.

Once the 19 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1952 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 (National Day Round)

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Round 19

Ladder

Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for
Average score: 70.3
Source: AFL Tables

Finals series

Semi-finals

Preliminary final

Grand final

Season notes

• Essendon winger Lance Mann won the 1952, 130-yard Stawell Gift in eleven and fourteen-sixteenths seconds, off a handicap of 7¼yards; his teammate, half-back flanker Norm McDonald, running off a handicap of 5 yards, came second.
• Bowing to pressure from its players and supporters, Fitzroy abandoned "The Gorillas" as its emblem. Originally intended to signify strength, tenacity, aggression, power, etc. the symbol had become somewhat devalued when opposition supporters started referring to the team as "The Apes". "The Lions" was not introduced until 1957; in the interim they were known as either "The Maroons" or "The Roys".
• In May 1952, as part of its promotion of the Burt Lancaster movie Ten Tall Men, the management of the Melbourne cinema The State Theatre on the corner of Flinders Street and Russell Street (now known as the Forum Theatre) measured the height of the ten tallest VFL players. Geoff Leek of Essendon was officially declared to be the tallest, at 6'4½" (194.3 cm).^[1]
• As part of an effort by the Australian National Football Council to promote the game, a special round of VFL premiership matches was held in different cities around Australia on round 8, which was Queen's Birthday weekend: Brisbane, Sydney, Euroa, Yallourn, Albury and Hobart hosted matches. Wet weather across much of eastern Australia affected crowds at Yallourn^[2] and Sydney,^[3] and forced the postponement of the match at Brisbane from Saturday afternoon to Monday evening after the RNA feared the match would damage the rain-sodden turf;^[4] but matches not affected by rain drew huge crowds, including:
  • The crowd of 18,387 between Fitzroy and Melbourne in Hobart set a new record for the largest crowd ever to attend a football match in Tasmania, breaking the record which had been set at the 1947 Hobart Interstate Carnival.^[5]
  • The crowd of 15,000 between South Melbourne and North Melbourne in Albury set a new record for the largest football crowd in Albury's history.^[6]
  • The crowd of 28,000 between Geelong and Essendon at the postponed match in Brisbane was unable to be accommodated by the venue, and a further 2,000 spectators entered without paying after breaking through a perimeter fence.^[7]

The National Day Round was played in addition to the standard eighteen games, so that the people of Melbourne and Geelong would still have nine home matches. An interstate match between Victoria and Western Australia was played in Melbourne during that weekend. The endeavour was financed by the ANFC, which turned a small profit on the event after having insured the gate against rain.^[3]

• In the First Semi-Final, Carlton's high marking centreman Keith Warburton received a heavy knock to his abdomen early in the match, but thought little of it. Later that evening he collapsed at the Carlton Club dance. He was rushed to hospital where it was discovered that he was suffering from a severed artery leading to his bowel. He hovered near death for some days, requiring almost continuous transfusions of blood. It was said that his physical fitness was the only reason he survived the injury.
• In Round 10, in a match played in atrocious conditions at the Brunswick Street Oval, Fitzroy's champion full-back, Vic Chanter, held Essendon champion full-forward John Coleman goalless for the only time in his 98-game career.
• Overall, the season was the wettest season for more than 20 years. Many matches were played in deep sticky mud on grounds that were covered in sheets of water. Mud was ankle deep at the Brunswick Street Oval in Round 11. White balls were introduced in July to help players see the ball in all of the mud.
  • The overall bad weather and the atrocious condition of the grounds throughout the season, and the effect that had on the condition of the ball, especially in relation to hand-passing, marking and kicking, as well as the physical problems of leading and being unable to spring from muddy ground, highlights the significance of John Coleman's 103 goals in 18 matches.

Awards

• The 1952 VFL Premiership team was Geelong.
• The VFL's leading goalkicker was John Coleman of Essendon with 103 goals.
• The winner of the 1952 Brownlow Medal was Roy Wright of Richmond with 21 votes. He won on a count-back from Bill Hutchison of Essendon.
  • As a consequence of its 1981 decision to change its rules relating to tied Brownlow Medal contests, the AFL awarded a retrospective medal to Bill Hutchison in 1989.
• St Kilda took the "wooden spoon" in 1952.