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1961 VFL grand final

Grand final of the 1961 Victorian Football League season

Field	Value
year	1961
competition	VFL
home	[[File:Hawthorn Football Club Colours.svg	50px]]

home_score	13.16 (94)
away	[[File:Western Bulldogs-Footscray Football Club colours.svg	50px]]

away_score	7.9 (51)
home_abbr	HAW
away_abbr	FOO
home_qtr1	2.4 (16)
home_qtr2	3.9 (27)
home_qtr3	9.15 (69)
home_qtr4	13.16 (94)
away_qtr1	4.2 (26)
away_qtr2	5.5 (35)
away_qtr3	6.6 (42)
away_qtr4	7.9 (51)
date	23 September 1961
attendance	107,935
favourite
stadium	Melbourne Cricket Ground
last	1960
next	1962

The 1961 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested by the Footscray Football Club and Hawthorn Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 23 September 1961. It was the 64th 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, making it the club's first premiership victory.

Hawthorn, which was competing in its first VFL grand final since entering the competition in 1925, went into the game as minor premiers, favourites, and on a club-record 11-game winning streak. Footscray, which also entered the competition in 1925, and was in its second grand final (after winning the 1954 premiership), had finished the home-and-away season in fourth place. They qualified for the grand final after upsetting Ron Barassi-led Melbourne by 27 points in the preliminary final. That ended Melbourne's record sequence of seven consecutive grand final appearances, and it was the first grand final not to feature any of the eight foundation VFL clubs.

It was a young Footscray side, with only two players having more than 80 VFL games experience, although one of them was the 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, after kicking six goals to one in a dominant third quarter.

The 1961 grand final is the earliest VFL grand final for which complete television footage has survived, and it has been made available on DVD.

Teams

{{Australian rules football kit	pattern_b = _brown_stripes_copia	pattern_sh =	pattern_so = _hoops_gold	body = FBBF15	shorts = 000000	socks = 823F00	title = Hawthorn	{{Australian rules football kit	pattern_b = _westbulldogs16h	pattern_sh =	pattern_so = _westernbulldogs2019h	body = 004AE5	shorts = ffffff	socks =004AE5	title = Footscray

	Reg Poole]]	fullback = 1 Les Kaine	Graham Cooper]]	halfbackflank1 = 20 Sted Hay	John McArthur]]	halfbackflank2 = 26 Cam McPherson	wing1 = 30 Colin Youren	centre = 9 Brendan Edwards	John Fisher]]	halfforwardflank1 = 14 Ian Mort	Garry Young]]	halfforwardflank2 = 4 Morton Browne	Malcolm Hill]]	John Peck]]	Jack Cunningham]]	ruck = 12 John Winneke	ruckrover = 2 Graham Arthur (c)	rover = 7 Ian Law	Phil Hay]]	reserve2 = 3 Ron Nalder	John Kennedy Sr.]]}}		Charlie Evans]]	fullback = 29 Bernie Lee	backpocket2 = 4 Bob Ware	halfbackflank1 = 25 John Jillard	John Hoiles]]	halfbackflank2 = 38 Barry Ion	wing1 = 12 Alex Gardiner	centre = 8 Bob Spargo	Ian Bryant]]	halfforwardflank1 = 15 John Quarrell	centrehalfforward = 17 Graham Ion	halfforwardflank2 = 30 Barney McKellar	forwardpocket1 = 3 Ted Whitten (c)	Jack Slattery]]	forwardpocket2 = 6 Keith Beamish	John Schultz]]	ruckrover = 9 Cameron McDonald	rover = 2 Merv Hobbs	reserve1 = 16 Ken Duff	Charlie Stewart]]	coach = Ted Whitten}}

Umpire: Frank Schwab

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

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.

References

"Streaks – Hawthorn". AFL Tables.

Info: Wikipedia Source

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1961-vfl-season vfl/afl-grand-finals hawthorn-football-club western-bulldogs

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