# 1914 MAFA season

The 1914 MAFA season was the 23rd season of the Metropolitan Amateur Football Association (MAFA), an Australian rules football competition played in the state of Victoria. The season began on 26 April and concluded on 19 September, comprising an 18-match home-and-away season, followed by a three-week finals series.
South Yarra won the MAFA premiership for the third time, defeating Collingwood District by 22 points in the 1914 MAFA Grand Final.

## Association membership

At the end of the 1913 season, Hawthorn applied and was admitted into the Victorian Football Association (VFA), leaving the MAFA. They were replaced by Elsternwick, which had been competing in the Federal Football Association (FFA), keeping the size of the MAFA at 10 clubs.

## Ladder

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | D | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | South Yarra (P) | 18 | 16 | 2 | 0 | 64 | Finals series |
| 2 | Collingwood District | 18 | 15 | 3 | 0 | 60 | Finals series |
| 3 | Leopold | 18 | 12 | 6 | 0 | 48 | Finals series |
| 4 | Fitzroy Juniors | 18 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 44 | Finals series |
| 5 | Collegians | 18 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 36 |
| 6 | Elsternwick | 17 | 8 | 8 | 1 | 34 |
| 7 | Carlton District | 18 | 6 | 11 | 1 | 26 |
| 8 | Beverley | 18 | 5 | 11 | 2 | 24 |
| 9 | Caulfield | 18 | 3 | 15 | 0 | 12 |
| 10 | University 2nd | 17 | 2 | 15 | 0 | 8 |
Source: (P) Premiers

## Finals

At the time, the MAFA used the Argus finals system, which gave the club that finished first on the ladder at the end of the home-and-away season (the minor premiers) the right to challenge the winner of the finals series for the premiership.
Although they lost the semi-final to Fitzroy Juniors, South Yarra had the right to challenge. Thus, Collingwood District (who defeated Leopold in the other semi-final) played Fitzroy Juniors in a preliminary final, with the winner of that match playing South Yarra in the grand final.

### Semi-finals

| | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | |
| Saturday, 5 September (1:00pm) | Collingwood District 8.10 (58) | def. | Leopold 6.9 (45) | Melbourne Cricket Ground |
| Saturday, 5 September | South Yarra 5.12 (42) | def. by | Fitzroy Juniors 9.11 (65) | Victoria Park |

### Preliminary final

| | Preliminary final | Preliminary final | Preliminary final | |
| Saturday, 12 September (1:00pm) | Collingwood District 11.16 (82) | def. | Fitzroy Juniors 2.9 (21) | Melbourne Cricket Ground |

### Grand Final

| | 1914 MAFA Grand Final | 1914 MAFA Grand Final | 1914 MAFA Grand Final | |
| Saturday, 19 September (1:00pm) | South Yarra | def. | Collingwood District | Melbourne Cricket Ground |
| | 2.8 (20) 8.15 (63) | Q1 Q2 Q3 Final | 2.6 (18) 5.11 (41) | |
| Moyes 4 | Moyes 4 | Goals | | |
| Moyes, Rudd, Phillips, Flintoftt, Marshall, E. James, J. James | Moyes, Rudd, Phillips, Flintoftt, Marshall, E. James, J. James | Best | Penrose, McCarthy, Downs, Mutch, Reilly, Farnan, Waterson, O'Keefe, Kerlie, Gray, Franklin | Penrose, McCarthy, Downs, Mutch, Reilly, Farnan, Waterson, O'Keefe, Kerlie, Gray, Franklin |
| | | Reports | Unnamed player (striking) | Unnamed player (striking) |
| The grand final was held as a curtain raiser to the Victorian Football League (VFL) preliminary final between South Melbourne and Carlton. ||||||

#### Teams

South Yarra :
| B: | Bryne | Hart | Carbarns |
| HB: | Harris | Plowman | Sweetland |
| C: | Sandford | Christian | E. James |
| HF: | Hanson | Richardson | Hosking |
| F: | Flintoff | Moyes | Phillips |
| Foll: | Rudd | Marshall (c) | J. James |
Collingwood District :
| B: | Charlie Mutch | A. Andrews | Arthur Joseph |
| HB: | Ernie Tait | Roy Franklin | Bert Thorpe |
| C: | Roy Waterson (c) | Johnny Downs | Bert Roberts |
| HF: | Harry Kerley | Con McCarthy | Pat Farnan |
| F: | L.P. Reilly | Fades | Jack Hutchinson |
| Foll: | Thomas O'Keefe | Roy Gray | Arthur Penrose |

## Notable events

* A match in August between Beverley and Leopold had a delayed start after the central umpire appointed for the match was unable to attend. Beverley allowed "one of the Leopold men" to act as central umpire, assisted by two boundary umpires.
* South Yarra full-forward Moyes kicked close to 70 goals for the 1914 season.