NON-PREMIERSHIP MATCHES

1967 GOLDEN FLEECE NIGHT PREMIERSHIP

RESULTS
ABOUT
TEAMS / FORMAT
MATCH REPORTS
RESULTS

SUMMARY OF RESULTS

Date

Teams

1/4

1/2

3/4

Final

Margin

Venue

Day/Time

Crowd

ROUND 1

Aug-31

South Melbourne (9)

1.7 (13)

5.16 (46)

10.16 (76)

10.21 (81)

14

Lake Oval,

Thu

10,453

Fitzroy (11)

3.5 (23)

5.9 (39)

7.14 (56)

8.19 (67)

South Melbourne

(8:00pm)

Sep-05

Essendon (6)

2.4 (16)

4.9 (33)

8.9 (57)

15.11 (101)

50

Lake Oval,

Tue

9,429

Hawthorn (10)

2.3 (15)

2.4 (16)

2.6 (18)

7.9 (51)

South Melbourne

(8:00pm)

Sep-07

St Kilda (5)

4.3 (27)

5.7 (37)

6.12 (48)

8.15 (63)

1

Lake Oval,

Thu

15,444

Footscray (12)

3.2 (20)

7.6 (48)

8.8 (56)

9.10 (64)

South Melbourne

(8:00pm)

Sep-12

Melbourne (7)

4.5 (29)

5.8 (38)

11.9 (75)

13.10 (88)

5

Lake Oval,

Tue

9,404

North Melbourne (8)

3.4 (22)

5.11 (41)

10.12 (72)

13.15 (93)

South Melbourne

(8:00pm)

SEMI FINALS

Sep-14

South Melbourne (9)

2.1 (13)

5.1 (31)

6.1 (37)

12.4 (76)

25

Lake Oval,

Thu

13,145

Essendon (6)

2.3 (15)

5.7 (37)

5.8 (38)

7.9 (51)

South Melbourne

(8:00pm)

Sep-19

Footscray (12)

3.4 (22)

4.7 (31)

10.13 (73)

13.15 (93)

30

Lake Oval,

Tue

9,292

North Melbourne (8)

2.4 (16)

4.10 (34)

4.12 (36)

8.15 (63)

South Melbourne

(8:00pm)

GRAND FINAL

Sep-25

South Melbourne (9)

0.0 (0)

3.4 (22)

4.4 (28)

8.8 (56)

45

Lake Oval,

Mon

26,731

Footscray (12)

4.3 (27)

8.5 (53)

13.9 (87)

15.11 (101)

South Melbourne

(8:00pm)

 

ABOUT

ABOUT THE 1967 SERIES

*Bulldogs trade their wooden spoon for a trophy - Footscray became the first club to finish last in the premiership season and then win the night title. Previously Geelong (1957) and North Melbourne (1961) had come closest to achieving this feat only to stumble at the final hurdle.

The Bulldogs were lucky to even make the final, surviving a 1-point thriller in the opening round against 5th-placed St Kilda. Their form improved in the semi-finals with a 30-point win over North and by the time of the Grand Final they were primed for an upset.

Footscray opened the Grand Final with a burst that their highly-fancied opponents never recovered from, kicking 4.3 whilst keeping the Swans scoreless. They eventually cruised to their third night flag with a 45-point win.


*Leading Goalkicker of the Series - Footscray's Gary Merrington topped the scoring with 13 goals from 3 matches.

TEAMS / FORMAT

PARTICIPATING TEAMS

The series featured the eight teams that missed the VFL finals series:
5th - St Kilda
6th - Essendon
7th - Melbourne
8th - North Melbourne
9th - South Melbourne
10th - Hawthorn
11th - Fitzroy
12th - Footscray
They competed for the K.G. Luke Trophy (donated by VFL President Kenneth Luke) with the winning team receiving a $2800 cash prize.

SERIES FORMAT

The teams were randomly drawn in the opening round (5 vs 12 / 6 vs 10 / 7 vs 8 / 9 vs 11) with winning teams advancing to the next stage, and losing teams eliminated from the series.

MATCH REPORTS

MATCH REPORTS

Listed below are match reports for all 7 games played during the series. This is the first time these reports have been collated and published online or in print. Unless otherwise noted the information was sourced from The Football Record and The Age newspaper.

ROUND 1
SEMI FINALS
G.F. TEAMS
GRAND FINAL
ROUND 1

Match 1 - Thursday, August 31

 

SOUTH MELBOURNE

1.7 (13)

5.16 (46)

10.16 (76)

10.21 (81)

FITZROY

3.5 (23)

5.9 (39)

7.14 (56)

8.19 (67)

BEST PLAYERS:

South Melbourne

Skilton, Bethke, Phillips, Lambert, Greenwood

 

Fitzroy

Newnham, Murray, Wood, Padley, Murphy

 

GOALKICKERS:

South Melbourne

Bethke 4, Williams, Skilton, Sarich, Sudholz, Luke, Mallett

 

Fitzroy

Padley 2, Murray, Murphy, Peoples, Wood, Lazarus, Ruscuklic

 

REPLACEMENTS:

South Melbourne

Foley replaced Magee (half-time)

 

Luke replaced Sarich (third quarter)

 

Fitzroy

Ruscuklic replaced Brown (selected side)

 

Bahen replaced McGregor (three-quarter time)

 

Fry replaced Beattie (last quarter)

 

UMPIRE:

Jolley

 

CROWD:

10,453

 

SOURCE:

AGE/Football Record

 

NOTES:

-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Match 2 - Tuesday, September 5

 

ESSENDON

2.4 (16)

4.9 (33)

8.9 (57)

15.11 (101)

HAWTHORN

2.3 (15)*

2.4 (16)*

2.6 (18)

7.9 (51)

BEST PLAYERS:

Essendon

Gerlach, Williams, McKenzie, Birt, Epis, Noonan

 

Hawthorn

Keddie, Johnson, Crimmins, Beck, Angus

 

GOALKICKERS:

Essendon

Noonan 4, Fordham 3, Birt 2, Anderson 2, Gross, Fraser, Evans, Shaw

 

Hawthorn

Keddie 3, Hudson 2, W. Smith, Scott

 

REPLACEMENTS:

Essendon

Shaw replaced Evans (last quarter)

 

Greenwood replaced Gerlach (last quarter)

 

Hawthorn

Ferguson replaced Lester (third quarter)

 

Scott replaced Ferguson (last quarter)

 

UMPIRE:

King

 

CROWD:

9,429

 

SOURCE:

AGE/Football Record

 

SCORE DISCREPANCY:

Hawthorn's 1/4 & 1/2 time scores in The Football Record = 2.3 & 2.4 (The Age has 1.3 & 1.4)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Match 3 - Thursday, September 7

 

ST KILDA

4.3 (27)

5.7 (37)

6.12 (48)

8.15 (63)

FOOTSCRAY

3.2 (20)

7.6 (48)

8.8 (56)

9.10 (64)

BEST PLAYERS:

St Kilda

Howell, Ditterich, Bonney, Smith, Cross, Mynott

 

Footscray

McKenzie, Whitten, Bryant, Spargo, Sandilands

 

GOALKICKERS:

St Kilda

Smith 2, Trott, Ditterich, Baldock, Payze, Moran, Bonney

 

Footscray

Merrington 4, Marsh, Whitten, Bryant, Spargo, Sandilands

 

REPLACEMENTS:

St Kilda

Davis replaced Griffiths (three-quarter time)

 

Footscray

Sandilands replaced Pleitner (three-quarter time)

 

UMPIRE:

Fisher

 

CROWD:

15,444*

 

SOURCE:

AGE/SUN/Football Record

 

CROWD DISCREPANCY:

The Football Record has a crowd of 15,444, The Age (8-9-1967) has 15,000

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Match 4 - Tuesday, September 12

 

MELBOURNE

4.5 (29)

5.8 (38)

11.9 (75)

13.10 (88)

NORTH MELBOURNE

3.4 (22)

5.11 (41)

10.12 (72)

13.15 (93)

BEST PLAYERS:

Melbourne

Mann, Smith, Emselle, Vagg, Williams, Davis, Walker

 

North Melbourne

Teasdale, O’Brien, Dowdle, Goodingham, Dwyer, Davies, Dugdale, Steward

 

GOALKICKERS:

Melbourne

Aitken 3, Walker 2, Smith 2, Dixon, Lees, Kenneally, Mann, Vagg, Dowsing

 

North Melbourne

Dowdle 4, O’Brien 3, Wood 2, Goodingham, Davies, Dwyer, Taylor

 

REPLACEMENTS:

Melbourne

Hardeman replaced Dillon (second quarter)

 

Lees replaced Dixon (second quarter)

 

North Melbourne

Pagan replaced Redenbach (three-quarter time)

 

UMPIRE:

Deller

 

CROWD:

9,404

 

SOURCE:

AGE/SUN/Football Record

 

NOTES:

-

 

 

SEMI FINALS

Match 5 - Thursday, September 14

SOUTH MELBOURNE

2.1 (13)

5.1 (31)

6.1 (37)

12.4 (76)

ESSENDON

2.3 (15)

5.7 (37)

5.8 (38)

7.9 (51)

BEST PLAYERS:

South Melbourne

Sudholz, Williams, Skilton, John, Lambert, Davison, Cook, Magee

Essendon

Davis, Williams, Shaw, Payne, Noonan, Birt, McKenzie

GOALKICKERS:

South Melbourne

Sudholz 3, Foley 2, Phillips 2, Williams 2, Skilton, Mallett, John

Essendon

Fraser 2, Birt 2, Noonan, Gross, Shaw

REPLACEMENTS:

South Melbourne

Mulligan replaced Bethke (half-time)

Foley replaced Matthews (third quarter)

Essendon

Sproule replaced Noonan (last quarter)

Blew replaced Fordham (last quarter)

UMPIRE:

Fisher

CROWD:

13,145

SOURCE:

AGE/SUN/Football Record

NOTES:

-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Match 6 - Tuesday, September 19

FOOTSCRAY

3.4 (22)

4.7 (31)

10.13 (73)

13.15 (93)

NORTH MELBOURNE

2.4 (16)

4.10 (34)

4.12 (36)

8.15 (63)

BEST PLAYERS:

Footscray

Greenwood, Bryant, Whitten, Schultz, Merrington, Marsh, Jillard

North Melbourne

Dwyer, Dowdle, Dugdale, Steward, O’Brien, McCarthy

GOALKICKERS:

Footscray

Merrington 4, Whitten 3, Spargo 3, Bryant 2, Bisset

North Melbourne

Dugdale 2, Farrant 2, McCarthy, Teasdale, Dowdle, Dwyer

REPLACEMENTS:

Footscray

Delemenico replaced Whitten (last quarter)

North Melbourne

Cameron replaced Goodingham (third quarter)

UMPIRE:

Sleeth

CROWD:

9,292*

SOURCE:

AGE/Football Record

CROWD DISCREPANCY:

The Football Record has a crowd of 9,292, The Age (20-9-1967) has 9,282

 

G.F. TEAMS

SOUTH MELBOURNE

COACH

Allan Miller

 

BACKS

McAuliffe

Greenwood

Haenan

HALF-BACKS

Rantall*

Harrison

Matthews

CENTRES

Davison

Phillips

Lambert

HALF-FORWARDS

Bethke*

John

Mallett

FORWARDS

Williams

Kingston

Sudholz

FOLLOWERS

Cook

Skilton (C)

ROVER

Magee

 

RESERVES

Sarich*

Mulligan*

EMERGENCIES

Foley*, Bennet, Luke*, Wilcox, McGee

*Rantall was replaced by Sarich and Bethke by Mulligan in the selected side

(Foley and Luke were promoted from emergencies to reserves)

FOOTSCRAY

COACH

Charlie Sutton

 

BACKS

Delmenico

Reilly

Greenwood

HALF-BACKS

Jillard

Fred Cook

McGowan

CENTRES

Chalmers

Bryant

Thorpe

HALF-FORWARDS

Mannix

Whitten (C)

McKenzie

FORWARDS

Dempsey

Merrington

Bisset

FOLLOWERS

Schultz

Marsh

ROVER

Spargo

 

RESERVES

McGhie

G. Cook

EMERGENCIES

Sandilands

Walsh

 

GRAND FINAL

1967 VFL NIGHT PREMIERSHIP - GRAND FINAL

Match 7 - Monday, September 25

SOUTH MELBOURNE

0.0 (0)

3.4 (22)

4.4 (28)

8.8 (56)

FOOTSCRAY

4.3 (27)

8.5 (53)

13.9 (87)

15.11 (101)

BEST PLAYERS:

South Melbourne

Skilton, Williams, Phillips, Haenan, Davison, Magee

Footscray

Merrington, Bryant, Jillard, McKenzie, Dempsey, Bisset

GOALKICKERS:

South Melbourne

Williams 3, John 2, Skilton, Phillips, Sarich

Footscray

Merrington 5, Whitten 4, McKenzie 3, Spargo, Bryant, Mannix

REPLACEMENTS:

South Melbourne

Foley replaced Kingston (half-time)

Footscray

(none)

UMPIRE:

Crouch

CROWD:

26,731

PRIZEMONEY:

Footscray $2800, South Melbourne $1300

SOURCE:

AGE/Football Record

NOTES:

-

 

Written and researched by David Eastman
First published 15/2/2017
Last updated 30/4/2022