The 1929 VFL season was the 33rd season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest-level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs and ran from 27 April to 28 September, comprising an 18-match home-and-away season followed by a four-week finals series featuring the top four clubs.

1929 VFL premiership season
Overview
Date27 April—28 September 1929
Teams12
PremiersCollingwood
8th premiership
Runners-upRichmond
5th runners-up result
Minor premiersCollingwood
11th minor premiership
Brownlow MedallistAlbert Collier (Collingwood)
6 votes
Leading goalkicker medallistGordon Coventry (Collingwood)
118 goals
Attendance
Matches played112
Total attendance1,911,541 (17,067 per match)
Highest (H&A)41,316 (round 18, Melbourne v Collingwood)
Highest (finals)63,336 (grand final, Collingwood v Richmond)
← 1928
1930 →

Collingwood won the premiership, defeating Richmond by 29 points in the 1929 VFL grand final; it was Collingwood's third consecutive premiership and eighth VFL premiership overall. Collingwood also won the minor premiership by finishing atop the home-and-away ladder with an 18–0 win–loss record, the only time in the league's history that a team has gone through a home-and-away season undefeated, however its loss to Richmond in the semi-finals prevented the club from achieving a perfect season. Collingwood's Albert Collier won the Brownlow Medal as the league's best and fairest player, and teammate Gordon Coventry won his fourth consecutive leading goalkicker medal as the league's leading goalkicker, becoming the first player to kick over 100 goals in a season.

Background

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In 1929, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, with no "reserves", although any of the 18 players who had left the playing field for any reason could later resume their place on the field at any time during the match.

Teams played each other in a home-and-away season of 18 rounds; matches 12 to 18 were the "home-and-away reverse" of matches 1 to 7.

Once the 18 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1929 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the amended "Argus system".

Home-and-away season

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Round 1

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Melbourne 12.8 (80) South Melbourne 7.16 (58) MCG 16,843 27 April 1929
Collingwood 15.2 (92) Richmond 11.9 (75) Victoria Park 25,000 27 April 1929
Carlton 19.17 (131) Essendon 8.10 (58) Princes Park 7,000 27 April 1929
St Kilda 12.10 (82) Hawthorn 8.10 (58) Junction Oval 13,000 27 April 1929
North Melbourne 8.6 (54) Geelong 12.20 (92) Arden Street Oval 7,000 27 April 1929
Footscray 10.18 (78) Fitzroy 10.9 (69) Western Oval 17,000 27 April 1929

Round 2

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Geelong 12.15 (87) Melbourne 3.10 (28) Corio Oval 11,000 4 May 1929
Fitzroy 14.23 (107) North Melbourne 8.7 (55) Brunswick Street Oval 13,000 4 May 1929
Essendon 17.10 (112) Footscray 16.8 (104) Windy Hill 20,000 4 May 1929
South Melbourne 12.17 (89) St Kilda 9.9 (63) Lake Oval 21,270 4 May 1929
Hawthorn 11.7 (73) Collingwood 18.18 (126) Glenferrie Oval 12,000 4 May 1929
Richmond 16.23 (119) Carlton 16.13 (109) Punt Road Oval 36,000 4 May 1929

Round 3

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Footscray 8.16 (64) North Melbourne 7.11 (53) Western Oval 15,000 11 May 1929
Essendon 9.9 (63) Richmond 15.17 (107) Windy Hill 25,000 11 May 1929
Collingwood 19.20 (134) South Melbourne 4.14 (38) Victoria Park 18,000 11 May 1929
Carlton 13.28 (106) Hawthorn 9.14 (68) Princes Park 17,000 11 May 1929
St Kilda 8.9 (57) Geelong 8.12 (60) Junction Oval 21,000 11 May 1929
Melbourne 15.17 (107) Fitzroy 12.4 (76) MCG 18,920 11 May 1929

Round 4

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Fitzroy 12.8 (80) St Kilda 16.21 (117) Brunswick Street Oval 14,000 18 May 1929
North Melbourne 6.5 (41) Melbourne 14.15 (99) Arden Street Oval 9,000 18 May 1929
Richmond 14.19 (103) Footscray 11.19 (85) Punt Road Oval 22,000 18 May 1929
Hawthorn 10.10 (70) Essendon 10.15 (75) Glenferrie Oval 12,000 18 May 1929
Geelong 6.13 (49) Collingwood 12.13 (85) Corio Oval 20,499 18 May 1929
South Melbourne 9.19 (73) Carlton 10.19 (79) Lake Oval 25,000 18 May 1929

Round 5

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Footscray 10.15 (75) Melbourne 11.9 (75) Western Oval 15,500 25 May 1929
Essendon 10.18 (78) South Melbourne 7.10 (52) Windy Hill 15,000 25 May 1929
Collingwood 16.19 (115) Fitzroy 8.11 (59) Victoria Park 18,000 25 May 1929
Carlton 10.13 (73) Geelong 8.7 (55) Princes Park 30,000 25 May 1929
St Kilda 18.13 (121) North Melbourne 7.13 (55) Junction Oval 15,000 25 May 1929
Richmond 16.22 (118) Hawthorn 12.5 (77) Punt Road Oval 14,000 25 May 1929

Round 6

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
South Melbourne 11.14 (80) Richmond 10.17 (77) Lake Oval 24,000 1 June 1929
North Melbourne 11.15 (81) Collingwood 20.12 (132) Arden Street Oval 10,000 1 June 1929
Fitzroy 10.13 (73) Carlton 20.12 (132) Brunswick Street Oval 25,000 1 June 1929
Melbourne 8.13 (61) St Kilda 8.11 (59) MCG 38,104 3 June 1929
Footscray 16.24 (120) Hawthorn 7.15 (57) Western Oval 14,000 3 June 1929
Geelong 7.13 (55) Essendon 8.12 (60) Corio Oval 13,250 3 June 1929

Round 7

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Hawthorn 15.8 (98) South Melbourne 11.13 (79) Glenferrie Oval 10,000 15 June 1929
Essendon 18.25 (133) Fitzroy 12.8 (80) Windy Hill 15,000 15 June 1929
Collingwood 12.11 (83) Melbourne 9.5 (59) Victoria Park 22,000 15 June 1929
Carlton 15.17 (107) North Melbourne 7.10 (52) Princes Park 18,000 15 June 1929
Richmond 13.15 (93) Geelong 12.13 (85) Punt Road Oval 19,000 15 June 1929
St Kilda 13.14 (92) Footscray 8.13 (61) Junction Oval 20,000 15 June 1929

Round 8

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Geelong 8.8 (56) Hawthorn 2.13 (25) Corio Oval 4,000 22 June 1929
Footscray 11.9 (75) South Melbourne 8.13 (61) Western Oval 11,000 22 June 1929
Fitzroy 13.8 (86) Richmond 19.13 (127) Brunswick Street Oval 14,000 22 June 1929
North Melbourne 4.14 (38) Essendon 10.12 (72) Arden Street Oval 9,000 22 June 1929
St Kilda 7.8 (50) Collingwood 7.12 (54) Junction Oval 27,000 22 June 1929
Melbourne 5.12 (42) Carlton 10.17 (77) MCG 26,591 22 June 1929

Round 9

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Essendon 11.10 (76) Melbourne 12.10 (82) Windy Hill 15,000 29 June 1929
Collingwood 20.19 (139) Footscray 14.10 (94) Victoria Park 18,000 29 June 1929
Carlton 12.22 (94) St Kilda 7.15 (57) Princes Park 32,000 29 June 1929
Richmond 19.15 (129) North Melbourne 11.10 (76) Punt Road Oval 11,000 29 June 1929
South Melbourne 10.13 (73) Geelong 10.15 (75) Lake Oval 12,000 29 June 1929
Hawthorn 13.15 (93) Fitzroy 8.10 (58) Glenferrie Oval 10,000 29 June 1929

Round 10

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Melbourne 10.8 (68) Richmond 9.11 (65) MCG 18,048 6 July 1929
Footscray 9.13 (67) Geelong 9.5 (59) Western Oval 9,000 6 July 1929
Fitzroy 12.14 (86) South Melbourne 17.8 (110) Brunswick Street Oval 6,000 6 July 1929
North Melbourne 8.6 (54) Hawthorn 8.18 (66) Arden Street Oval 4,500 6 July 1929
St Kilda 9.9 (63) Essendon 7.6 (48) Junction Oval 12,500 6 July 1929
Collingwood 15.15 (105) Carlton 11.10 (76) Victoria Park 33,000 6 July 1929

Round 11

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Richmond 13.13 (91) St Kilda 7.11 (53) Punt Road Oval 20,000 13 July 1929
Hawthorn 5.13 (43) Melbourne 7.11 (53) Glenferrie Oval 8,000 13 July 1929
Carlton 15.20 (110) Footscray 6.7 (43) Princes Park 20,000 13 July 1929
South Melbourne 17.14 (116) North Melbourne 12.9 (81) Lake Oval 8,000 13 July 1929
Geelong 15.6 (96) Fitzroy 10.11 (71) Corio Oval 7,500 13 July 1929
Essendon 11.7 (73) Collingwood 13.14 (92) Windy Hill 17,000 13 July 1929

Round 12

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Hawthorn 7.9 (51) St Kilda 15.12 (102) Glenferrie Oval 12,000 20 July 1929
Geelong 11.14 (80) North Melbourne 8.6 (54) Corio Oval 7,000 20 July 1929
Fitzroy 9.15 (69) Footscray 12.16 (88) Brunswick Street Oval 10,000 20 July 1929
South Melbourne 12.10 (82) Melbourne 9.15 (69) Lake Oval 15,000 20 July 1929
Richmond 11.9 (75) Collingwood 16.21 (117) Punt Road Oval 33,000 20 July 1929
Essendon 8.7 (55) Carlton 7.17 (59) Windy Hill 22,000 20 July 1929

Round 13

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
St Kilda 15.9 (99) South Melbourne 8.8 (56) Junction Oval 18,500 27 July 1929
Collingwood 22.10 (142) Hawthorn 7.14 (56) Victoria Park 7,000 27 July 1929
Carlton 8.9 (57) Richmond 13.15 (93) Princes Park 27,000 27 July 1929
Melbourne 6.14 (50) Geelong 6.12 (48) MCG 12,834 27 July 1929
North Melbourne 12.13 (85) Fitzroy 15.12 (102) Arden Street Oval 5,000 27 July 1929
Footscray 11.11 (77) Essendon 10.18 (78) Western Oval 14,000 27 July 1929

Round 14

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Geelong 9.6 (60) St Kilda 11.5 (71) Corio Oval 10,500 3 August 1929
Fitzroy 5.11 (41) Melbourne 11.11 (77) Brunswick Street Oval 8,000 3 August 1929
North Melbourne 9.8 (62) Footscray 7.7 (49) Arden Street Oval 7,000 3 August 1929
Richmond 10.14 (74) Essendon 10.14 (74) Punt Road Oval 22,000 3 August 1929
South Melbourne 6.7 (43) Collingwood 10.10 (70) Lake Oval 20,000 3 August 1929
Hawthorn 5.7 (37) Carlton 7.8 (50) Glenferrie Oval 6,000 3 August 1929

Round 15

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Melbourne 15.17 (107) North Melbourne 6.14 (50) MCG 8,421 10 August 1929
Footscray 11.6 (72) Richmond 14.15 (99) Western Oval 13,000 10 August 1929
Essendon 15.10 (100) Hawthorn 13.14 (92) Windy Hill 11,000 10 August 1929
Collingwood 13.9 (87) Geelong 8.12 (60) Victoria Park 14,000 10 August 1929
Carlton 17.17 (119) South Melbourne 11.15 (81) Princes Park 20,000 10 August 1929
St Kilda 21.16 (142) Fitzroy 10.15 (75) Junction Oval 14,500 10 August 1929

Round 16

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
North Melbourne 9.8 (62) St Kilda 20.12 (132) Arden Street Oval 9,000 17 August 1929
Hawthorn 8.10 (58) Richmond 11.14 (80) Glenferrie Oval 12,500 17 August 1929
Melbourne 11.16 (82) Footscray 6.5 (41) MCG 13,891 17 August 1929
South Melbourne 14.10 (94) Essendon 13.10 (88) Lake Oval 15,000 17 August 1929
Fitzroy 8.7 (55) Collingwood 16.15 (111) Brunswick Street Oval 13,000 17 August 1929
Geelong 2.13 (25) Carlton 5.9 (39) Corio Oval 10,000 17 August 1929

Round 17

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Richmond 18.28 (136) South Melbourne 10.5 (65) Punt Road Oval 12,000 24 August 1929
Essendon 7.11 (53) Geelong 6.15 (51) Windy Hill 9,000 24 August 1929
Collingwood 21.12 (138) North Melbourne 8.13 (61) Victoria Park 6,000 24 August 1929
Carlton 15.18 (108) Fitzroy 9.15 (69) Princes Park 13,000 24 August 1929
St Kilda 9.12 (66) Melbourne 6.13 (49) Junction Oval 35,000 24 August 1929
Hawthorn 10.17 (77) Footscray 5.3 (33) Glenferrie Oval 4,000 24 August 1929

Round 18

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Geelong 12.10 (82) Richmond 5.12 (42) Corio Oval 6,500 31 August 1929
Footscray 4.18 (42) St Kilda 9.13 (67) Western Oval 10,000 31 August 1929
South Melbourne 13.10 (88) Hawthorn 11.5 (71) Lake Oval 8,000 31 August 1929
Fitzroy 11.18 (84) Essendon 7.11 (53) Brunswick Street Oval 8,500 31 August 1929
Melbourne 5.10 (40) Collingwood 14.12 (96) MCG 41,316 31 August 1929
North Melbourne 8.8 (56) Carlton 8.15 (63) Arden Street Oval 8,000 31 August 1929

Ladder

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(P) Premiers
Qualified for finals
# Team P W L D PF PA % Pts
1 Collingwood (P) 18 18 0 0 1918 1117 171.7 72
2 Carlton 18 15 3 0 1589 1161 136.9 60
3 Richmond 18 12 5 1 1703 1399 121.7 50
4 St Kilda 18 12 6 0 1493 1146 130.3 48
5 Melbourne 18 11 6 1 1228 1164 105.5 46
6 Essendon 18 9 8 1 1349 1405 96.0 38
7 Geelong 18 8 10 0 1175 1082 108.6 32
8 South Melbourne 18 7 11 0 1338 1578 84.8 28
9 Footscray 18 6 11 1 1268 1464 86.6 26
10 Hawthorn 18 4 14 0 1170 1522 76.9 16
11 Fitzroy 18 3 15 0 1340 1827 73.3 12
12 North Melbourne 18 1 17 0 1070 1776 60.2 4

Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for
Average score: 77.0
Source: AFL Tables

Finals series

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All of the 1929 finals were played at the MCG so the home team in the semi-finals and Preliminary Final is purely the higher ranked team from the ladder but in the Grand Final the home team was the team that won the Preliminary Final.

Semi-finals

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Home team Score Away team Score Venue Crowd Date
Carlton 12.9 (81) St Kilda 11.7 (73) MCG 58,481 7 September
Collingwood 8.13 (61) Richmond 18.15 (123) MCG 51,069 14 September

Preliminary final

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Home team Score Away team Score Venue Crowd Date
Richmond 15.7 (97) Carlton 14.7 (91) MCG 60,653 21 September

Grand final

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Season notes

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  • Collingwood set many records during the 1929 season, including:
    • First team to remain undefeated through an entire home-and away season. However, given that they lost the second semi-final to Richmond, they were not undefeated for the entire season.
    • In three seasons, 1927, 1928, and 1929, the team had played 61 matches, for 53 wins, 1 draw, and 7 losses.
    • First team to score more than 2,000 points in a single season.
    • First team to have a full-forward scoring more than 100 goals in a single season.
    • First team to have a player kick 16 goals in a single match.
    • First team to be VFL premiers on eight occasions.
  • On 18 June 1929 the VFL was incorporated as a public company, and it purchased a three-storey building (later named Harrison House after Henry Harrison who died later that year, on 2 September) on the corner of Spring Street and Flinders Lane.
  • Clarrie Hearn of Essendon won the 1929 130-yard Stawell Gift in eleven and fifteen sixteenths of a second (approx. 11.94 seconds), off a handicap of 10 yards.
  • Footscray's 23 effective scoring shots (7 goals and 16 behinds) against Hawthorn in the third quarter of their Round 6 match remains the most scoring shots by a team in one quarter.
    • Footscray's 16 behinds in that quarter has been equalled only by Collingwood against North Melbourne in the third quarter in Round 6, 1970.

Awards

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References

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  1. ^ "League Second Eighteens". The Argus. Melbourne. 27 September 1929. p. 15.
  • Maplestone, M., Flying Higher: History of the Essendon Football Club 1872–1996, Essendon Football Club, (Melbourne), 1996. ISBN 0-9591740-2-8
  • 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

Sources

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