# 1914 VFA season

The 1914 VFA season was the 38th season of the Victorian Football Association (VFA), an Australian rules football competition played in the state of Victoria.
The premiership was won by the North Melbourne Football Club, after it defeated Footscray by 35 points in the final on 22 August. It was the club's fourth VFA premiership, and marked the beginning of a period of unprecedented dominance for North Melbourne, which included three consecutive premierships and a 58-match winning streak which lasted from 1914 to 1919.

## Association membership

In October 1913, the Hawthorn Football Club submitted an application to join the Association and leave the Metropolitan Amateur Football Association (MAFA). The application was accepted in December, after the Melbourne City Football Club, having endured two winless seasons since joining the Association in 1912, disbanded. As such, the size of the Association remained constant at ten clubs.

## Home-and-away season

The home-and-home season was played over eighteen rounds, with each club playing the others twice; then, the top four clubs contested a finals series under the amended Argus system to determine the premiers for the season.
Starting from 1914, percentage in the Association was calculated as the number of points conceded for every 100 points scored. Where level on premiership points, clubs were ranked in ascending order by percentage. Previously (and again later) percentage was calculated as the number of points scored for every 100 points conceded.

### Ladder

1914 VFA ladder :
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | D | PF | PA | PP | Pts |
| 1 | North Melbourne (P) | 18 | 14 | 4 | 0 | 1389 | 873 | 62.9 | 56 |
| 2 | Footscray | 18 | 14 | 4 | 0 | 1222 | 864 | 70.7 | 56 |
| 3 | Essendon | 18 | 12 | 6 | 0 | 1331 | 1053 | 79.1 | 48 |
| 4 | Williamstown | 18 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 1084 | 1045 | 96.4 | 44 |
| 5 | Brunswick | 18 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 1246 | 1106 | 88.8 | 38 |
| 6 | Prahran | 18 | 8 | 8 | 2 | 1120 | 1117 | 99.7 | 36 |
| 7 | Brighton | 18 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 1024 | 1027 | 100.3 | 36 |
| 8 | Port Melbourne | 18 | 7 | 11 | 0 | 1165 | 1311 | 112.5 | 28 |
| 9 | Hawthorn | 18 | 3 | 14 | 1 | 1145 | 1629 | 142.3 | 14 |
| 10 | Northcote | 18 | 1 | 17 | 0 | 757 | 1581 | 208.9 | 4 |

### Finals

| | Semi Finals | Semi Finals | Semi Finals | |
| Saturday, 8 August | North Melbourne 13.11 (89) | def. | Essendon 8.10 (58) | Melbourne Cricket Ground (crowd: 15,000) |
| Saturday, 8 August | Footscray 13.12 (90) | def. | Williamstown 5.6 (36) | East Melbourne Cricket Ground (crowd: 7,000) |
| | 1914 VFA Final | 1914 VFA Final | 1914 VFA Final | | |
| Saturday, 22 August | North Melbourne | def. | Footscray | East Melbourne Cricket Ground (crowd: 10,000) | |
| | 1.3 (9) 6.10 (46) 9.13 (67) 12.14 (86) | Q1 Q2 Q3 Final | 2.2 (14) 4.2 (26) 5.5 (35) 7.9 (51) | Umpires: McMurray | Umpires: McMurray |
| Moran 5, Hardy 3, Miles 2, Carpenter, Hawkins | Moran 5, Hardy 3, Miles 2, Carpenter, Hawkins | Goals | Banbury 2, Baxter 2, Cotton 2, Crouch | Banbury 2, Baxter 2, Cotton 2, Crouch |
| Had Footscray won, minor premiers North Melbourne would have been entitled to a rematch the following Saturday to decide the premiership. ||||||

## Notable events

* Tom Clarke (Essendon) was the leading goalkicker for the season, with 46 (including finals).