1961 VFL Grand Final
| 1961 VFL Grand Final | |||||
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| Date | 23 September 1961 | ||||
| Stadium | Melbourne Cricket Ground | ||||
| Attendance | 107,935 | ||||
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The 1961 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Footscray Football Club and Hawthorn Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 23 September 1961. It was the 65th annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League, staged to determine the premiers for the 1961 VFL season. The match, attended by 107,935 spectators, was won by Hawthorn by a margin of 43 points, marking that club's first premiership victory.
Hawthorn, who were competing in their inaugural VFL Grand Final despite being in the competition since 1925, came into the game as minor premiers and favourites. Footscray, the 1954 premiership winners, had finished the home and away season in fourth place but upset the Ron Barassi-led Melbourne by 27 points in the Preliminary Final to end the Demons' sequence of seven consecutive Grand Final appearances.
It was a young Footscray side, with only two players coming into the game with more than 80 VFL games behind them, although one of them was veteran Ted Whitten. Hawthorn's Brendan Edwards was playing in his 100th VFL game and dominated in the centre. Despite trailing at half time, Hawthorn won comfortably in the end courtesy of a dominant third quarter in which they kicked six goals to just one by Footscray.
The Bulldogs are yet to appear in another Grand Final.
The 1961 Grand Final is the oldest currently available on DVD. Videos of the 1962, 1963 and 1964 Grand Finals have not yet surfaced. It is also the first Grand Final in VFL/AFL history that did not include any of the original eight clubs that formed the VFL in 1897 (Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Fitzroy, Geelong, Melbourne, St. Kilda, South Melbourne).
Teams
| Hawthorn | |||
| B: | 29 Reg Poole | 1 Les Kaine | 10 Graham Cooper |
| HB: | 20 Sted Hay | 28 John McArthur | 16 Cam McPherson |
| C: | 30 Colin Youren | 9 Brendan Edwards | 5 John Fisher |
| HF: | 14 Ian Mort | 31 Garry Young | 4 Morton Browne |
| F: | 11 Malcolm Hill | 23 John Peck | 19 Jack Cunningham |
| Foll: | 12 John Winneke | 2 Graham Arthur (c) | 7 Ian Law |
| Reserve(s): | 22 Phil Hay | 3 Ron Nalder | |
| Coach: | John Kennedy, Sr. | ||
| Footscray | |||
| B: | 28 Charlie Evans | 29 Bernie Lee | 4 Bob Ware |
| HB: | 25 John Jillard | 23 John Hoiles | 38 Barry Ion |
| C: | 12 Alex Gardiner | 8 Bob Spargo | 37 Ian Bryant |
| HF: | 15 John Quarrell | 17 Graham Ion | 30 Barney McKellar |
| F: | 3 Ted Whitten (c) | 24 Jack Slattery | 6 Keith Beamish |
| Foll: | 14 John Schultz | 9 Cameron McDonald | 2 Merv Hobbs |
| Reserve(s): | 16 Ken Duff | 5 Charlie Stewart | |
| Coach: | Ted Whitten | ||
Scoreboard
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hawthorn | 2.4 | 3.9 | 9.15 | 13.16 (94) |
| Footscray | 4.2 | 5.5 | 6.6 | 7.9 (51) |
Statistics
Goal kickers
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Hawthorn:
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Footscray:
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Attendance
- MCG attendance - 107,935
References
- 1961 Grand Final page on AFL Tables
- The Official statistical history of the AFL 2004
- 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
