Victorian Soccer Season Files - 1924

The 1924 Victorian soccer season saw Footscray Thistle take out the First Division Championship, whilst Naval Depot captured a double by winning the Dockerty Cup and the Second Division Championship.

The Metropolitan League now had the Second Division divided into two sections of eight teams, with a Grand Final between the top of each section to determine the overall champion. With three divisions of eight teams each operating, it may have been too much for the papers to cover as many results were missing from the publications. When compiling this file many teams still had 4, 5, or 6 results missing, a lot in a 14 game season. Thankfully The Age regularly published the senior tables on a Friday, and these have allowed me to figure out all League results. Sadly some Cup scores remain missing.

The First Division operated with a quirky fixture this season, teams playing the same opponent home and away consecutively throughout the season. The lack of information in the papers can be seen when we look at the record of the champions, Footscray Thistle, and notice the number of their games where goalscorers were not noted, as well as a missing score for their First Round Dockerty Cup game.

Naval Depot, playing out of Crib Point, denied Thistle the double by beating them 1-0 in the Dockerty Cup Final. They went through the season unbeaten.

As well as the Local International, representative games included a North v South clash on the King's Birthday to aid in the selection of the state team for two games against the touring Canadian team.

In the days before floodlights and penalty shoot outs, we can see how the Dockerty Cup really messed a season around. Replays would see league games postponed and pushed back, and teams knocked out early could go a month without playing a game.

Anyway, without further ado, here it is:

Victorian Season File 1924

Victorian Soccer Season Files - 1911

The 1911 season saw a first as Williamstown broke Carlton United's stranglehold on the competition silverware by winning the League Championship while St Kilda took the Dockerty Cup.

Williamstown had been the first club to play their games beyond the vicinity of Middle Park. Prahran City had also moved away from the lake, now playing at Fawkner Park. The Junior League, now with five clubs, was taken out for the second year in succession by the Wallabies. They would disappear the following season as that League was replaced by a Second Division, which was still essentially a reserves competition.

Williamstown, after drawing their second game and losing their third to St Kilda, went on a winning streak which saw them take the title by two points over Carlton United, despite losing to that side in the last round. An exhibition match was held at the Williamstown Cricket Ground in which the league champions defeated a Rest of the League XI 3-2.

The major games for the season, the Local International and the Dockerty Cup Final, were both staged at the Richmond City Reserve, now known as Citizen's Park, located behind the Richmond Town Hall.

The highest top flight score saw Williamstown defeat Fitzroy 8-2 on August 19, while the largest winning margin was Prahran City beating South Melbourne 7-0 on May 20.

Change was in the air. The following season Williamstown would become Williamstown-Yarraville before becoming just Yarraville. Having won the double in the first two years of competitive football, Carlton United would finish third in 1912 before disbanding.

So here it is, all the 1911 results:

Victorian Season File 1911

Victorian Soccer Season Files - 1930

In 1930, there were enough senior clubs in Melbourne to field four divisions of eight teams. There First Division season would be marred by an issue between the Brunswick club and the VSFA which would see the club expelled, and has previously been covered here.

The expulsion of Brunswick paved the way for Footscray Thistle to complete a League and Cup double. With Jock Lyons banging in the goals, Thistle took league honours with a three point gap over Caledonians, who they would also beat 3-2 in the final of the Dockerty Cup. The quirks of the Cup draw and replays saw Thistle play games against the same opposition in successive weeks twice, and on one occasion three times in a row. Their record is below:

The biggest winning margin of the top flight season was St Kilda thrashing Prahran 8-0 in May, with eventual league top scorer Alec Forrest notching four. Footscray Thistle also managed eight in one game, smashing the hapless Prahran 8-1 on June 21 with Jock Lyons getting the most goals of any player in the one game that season with six. Forrest also managed to bag five on the same day as St Kilda defeated South Melbourne 6-1.

In the Second Division it was Collingwood who romped to the championship, five points clear of Brighton. The Third Division title was a closer affair, South Yarra edging Sunshine on goal difference. In the Fourth Division it was Middle Park who took the trophy.

There were many results not published in the Fourth Division, and with the league tables not appearing every week working them out was further complicated when it became apparent that a few games early in the season were replayed later on, presumably after a protest of some sort. In the end I stumbled upon getting the scores right for the missing games which would have accounted for all teams finishing with the correct W-D-L and goal difference as found in the final table published in the newspapers.

So here it is, the complete record of senior Melbourne soccer for 1930:

1930 Season File

Victorian Soccer Season Files - 1923

By 1923, the Melbourne Metropolitan League was back to being a two division affair, as well as having a reserves league divided into two sections. The league and cup double was completed by St Kilda, who featured the notable Maurice Vandendriessche in their ranks. Their record was as follows:

St Kilda's stuttering finish to the season saw them have to win the league the hard way, via a Championship Play-Off that went to a second replay. As they and Footscray Thistle had finished on equal points, the Play-Off was decided as being a preferred way of determining a champion, ahead of using either goal average or goal difference. At the bottom of the table Northumberland and Durham United, the 1919 champions, were relegated. With second and third last Windsor and Melbourne Thistle also finishing on equal points, it was ruled that they would also face off in a Relegation Play-Off.

The Relegation Play-Off was full of drama, with Thistle deeming the ground unfit and refusing to play the game. Windsor kicked off, scored a goal and claimed a 1-0 win, and though the inference in the newspapers was that the result would stand, a second game was staged the following week. This time Windsor won 2-1, but Melbourne Thistle claimed that Windsor's W.Smith has moved to another club that season and was ineligible. There is no evidence of another play-off being held, and Thistle remained in Division One in 1924 while Windsor went down to Division Two.

Having defeated Preston 1-0 to clinch the Dockerty Cup Final, St Kilda blew a lead in the league with two successive losses to that side in September to end the season. This saw them joined by Footscray Thistle, necessitating the Championship Play-Off. After a 2-2 draw, then a goal-less one, the Saints finally emerged triumphant with a 2-1 win at the Coburg ground (Merlyston).

Spotswood bounced back from being relegated in 1922 to win the Second Division by a point from Newport. Though not all results can be found, a report noted after a late season win that Yarra Falls had captured the championship of their league (Reserves League Section B). From the results available it is most likely that Northumberland and Durham United A won the Reserves League Section A title.

There were a few results missing from Division One, but publication of the league table in The Age made one of them easy to work out. The latter missing results have been worked out by comparing known results to the tables and matching against fixtures.

In Division Two there were more results missing. There is a final table (complete), which does not come from Trove so I assume I found it in The Sun. That allowed a few results to be worked out, but there are still some missing.

In Division One, Footscray Thistle's 5-1 win over Albert Park in the final round was the most goals scored in a game and equal with 4-0 wins by St Kilda over them, Northumberland and Durham United over Windsor and Brunswick over Melbourne Thistle for the biggest winning margin. Hat-tricks for Morris (Albert Park) v Preston and Maxwell (Windsor) v Preston were the most goals scored in a game. Maxwell finished the league's leading scorer with 12 goals.

So here it is:

Victorian Soccer Season 1923

Also I've made a file for the reserves league:

Victorian Soccer Season Reserves 1923