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