The 1956

Victorian Football Association The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

season was the 75th season of the

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

competition. The premiership was won by the

Williamstown Football Club The Williamstown Football Club, nicknamed the Seagulls, is an Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Williamstown, Victoria, Williamstown. The club currently competes in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and VFL Wome ...

, after it defeated

Port Melbourne Port Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of the Melbourne central business district, located within the Cities of City of Melbourne, Melbourne and City of Port Phillip, Port Phillip Local government ...

in the Grand Final on 29 September by twenty-four points. It was Williamstown's eighth premiership, its third in a row (all won against Port Melbourne), and the third of five premierships won in six seasons from 1954 until 1959.

Premiership

The home-and-home season was played over twenty matches, before the top four clubs contested a finals series under the

Page–McIntyre system The McIntyre system, or systems as there have been five of them, is a playoff system that gives an advantage to teams or competitors qualifying higher, by allowing higher qualified teams to lose more games or series before being eliminated compa ...

to determine the premiers for the season.

Ladder

Finals

Awards

*The leading goalkicker for the home-and-home season was Bob Bonnett (

), who kicked 88 goals. *The

J. J. Liston Trophy The J. J. Liston Trophy is awarded annually to the best and fairest senior player in the Victorian Football League (VFL), which was formerly known as the Victorian Football Association (VFA). It is named after J. J. Liston, J.J. Liston, a busine ...

was won by Jack Martin ( Williamstown), who polled 41 votes. Ken Ross (

Camberwell Camberwell ( ) is an List of areas of London, area of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles' Church, Camberwell, St Giles ...

) was second with 28 votes, and Frank Johnson (

) was third with 25 votes. * Williamstown won the seconds premiership. Williamstown 14.16 (100) defeated Box Hill 4.7 (31) in the Grand Final, played as a curtain raiser to the firsts Grand Final on 29 September.

Notable events

Perth Carnival

The Association competed in the

1956 Perth Carnival The 1956 Perth Carnival was the 13th edition of the Australian National Football Carnival, an Australian football interstate competition. It took place from 11 to 23 June at Subiaco Oval, Perth. Five teams automatically qualified for the carniv ...

, and finished in last place with a record of 0–4. Port Melbourne's Frank Johnson captained the Association team, and Northcote's

Bill Faul William John Faul (8 June 1909 – 14 September 1974) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the South Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and for the Subiaco Football Club in the Western Australian ...

served as coach. Johnson was named as captain of the

All-Australian team The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perfo ...

; no other Association players were named in the team.

Other notable events

*The

Preston City Oval Preston City Oval (PCO), also known by naming rights sponsorship as Genis Steel Oval (GSO) and sometimes mistakenly as Genis Street Oval, is an Australian rules football stadium in Cramer Street in Preston, a suburb of Melbourne. It has a main ...

was unavailable during 1956 after being upgraded and resurfaced by the council in October 1955. Preston played its home matches at

Coburg Coburg ( , ) is a Town#Germany, town located on the Itz (river), Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Ernestine duchies, Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only ...

for the season. * Northcote players were paid for their services during 1956, after having played as amateurs since mid-1953 due to the club's financial difficulties. During the season,

Yarraville Yarraville is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, west of Melbourne's central business district, located within the City of Maribyrnong local government area. Yarraville recorded a population of 15,636 at the . Yarraville i ...

suffered financial difficulties, and players' match payments were reduced from four pounds to ten shillings. *In its Round 1 match,

6.5 (41) trailed Preston 13.8 (86) by 45 points at three-quarter time, before kicking 8.10 to no score in the final quarter to win 14.15 (99) d. 13.8 (86). *In its Round 7 match,

defeated Williamstown by one point after Jack Whallis kicked a goal after the final siren from 35 yards.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1956 Vfa Season Victorian Football League seasons VFL