The 1958 VFL season was the 62nd season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season, contested by twelve clubs, ran from 12 April until 20 September, and comprised an 18-game home-and-away season, followed by a finals series involving the top four clubs.

1958 VFL premiership season
Teams12
PremiersCollingwood
13th premiership
Minor premiersMelbourne
6th minor premiership
Consolation seriesSt Kilda
1st Consolation series win
Brownlow MedallistNeil Roberts (St Kilda)
Coleman MedallistIan Brewer (Collingwood)
Matches played112
Highest99,256
← 1957
1959 →

The premiership was won for the 13th time by the Collingwood Football Club, after it defeated Melbourne by 18 points in the 1958 VFL Grand Final.

Background

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In 1958, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus two substitute players, known as the "19th man" and the "20th man". A player could be substituted for any reason but, once substituted, that player could not return to the field of play under any circumstances.

Teams played each other in a home-and-away season of 18 rounds, with matches 12 to 18 being the "home-and-way reverse" of matches 1 to 7.

Once the 18 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1958 VFL Premiership team was determined by the format and conventions of the Page–McIntyre finals system.

Home-and-away season

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Round 1

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Hawthorn 11.14 (80) St Kilda 11.13 (79) Glenferrie Oval 21,000 12 April 1958
Essendon 13.17 (95) Geelong 8.10 (58) Windy Hill 21,500 12 April 1958
South Melbourne 12.23 (95) Richmond 17.18 (120) Lake Oval 22,815 12 April 1958
North Melbourne 5.9 (39) Fitzroy 23.21 (159) Arden Street Oval 14,500 12 April 1958
Footscray 4.5 (29) Collingwood 12.11 (83) Western Oval 33,824 12 April 1958
Melbourne 11.13 (79) Carlton 9.11 (65) MCG 38,006 12 April 1958

Round 2

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Geelong 6.6 (42) Melbourne 17.8 (110) Kardinia Park 15,371 19 April 1958
Fitzroy 11.18 (84) South Melbourne 10.15 (75) Brunswick Street Oval 16,000 19 April 1958
Collingwood 11.9 (75) Hawthorn 10.8 (68) Victoria Park 28,769 19 April 1958
Carlton 9.13 (67) North Melbourne 11.7 (73) Princes Park 18,263 19 April 1958
Richmond 21.12 (138) Footscray 14.12 (96) Punt Road Oval 26,000 19 April 1958
St Kilda 17.18 (120) Essendon 11.16 (82) Junction Oval 30,500 19 April 1958

Round 3

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Richmond 11.17 (83) St Kilda 9.14 (68) Punt Road Oval 33,000 26 April 1958
Collingwood 7.15 (57) Fitzroy 7.10 (52) Victoria Park 34,656 26 April 1958
Carlton 18.7 (115) Geelong 9.11 (65) Princes Park 17,681 26 April 1958
North Melbourne 7.9 (51) Melbourne 12.18 (90) Arden Street Oval 13,500 26 April 1958
South Melbourne 13.18 (96) Footscray 24.13 (157) Lake Oval 21,809 26 April 1958
Hawthorn 10.14 (74) Essendon 7.6 (48) Glenferrie Oval 21,000 26 April 1958

Round 4

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Geelong 8.11 (59) South Melbourne 8.12 (60) Kardinia Park 14,045 3 May 1958
Footscray 7.12 (54) North Melbourne 6.4 (40) Western Oval 24,164 3 May 1958
Fitzroy 16.17 (113) Richmond 8.8 (56) Brunswick Street Oval 21,200 3 May 1958
Melbourne 11.10 (76) Hawthorn 9.14 (68) MCG 38,966 3 May 1958
Essendon 13.9 (87) Collingwood 9.15 (69) Windy Hill 28,000 3 May 1958
St Kilda 12.21 (93) Carlton 8.7 (55) Junction Oval 27,700 3 May 1958

Round 5

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Hawthorn 17.18 (120) North Melbourne 9.4 (58) Glenferrie Oval 13,500 10 May 1958
Geelong 11.15 (81) Richmond 14.13 (97) Kardinia Park 16,391 10 May 1958
Fitzroy 16.14 (110) Footscray 7.12 (54) Brunswick Street Oval 21,500 10 May 1958
South Melbourne 14.8 (92) St Kilda 13.15 (93) Lake Oval 21,000 10 May 1958
Melbourne 15.12 (102) Essendon 12.15 (87) MCG 41,787 10 May 1958
Collingwood 16.10 (106) Carlton 3.15 (33) Victoria Park 27,658 10 May 1958

Round 6

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Hawthorn 11.15 (81) South Melbourne 8.16 (64) Glenferrie Oval 18,500 17 May 1958
Footscray 6.22 (58) Geelong 10.15 (75) Western Oval 21,479 17 May 1958
Carlton 4.16 (40) Fitzroy 8.11 (59) Princes Park 18,900 17 May 1958
St Kilda 12.7 (79) Melbourne 11.12 (78) Junction Oval 32,000 17 May 1958
North Melbourne 9.10 (64) Essendon 7.13 (55) Arden Street Oval 15,000 17 May 1958
Richmond 8.8 (56) Collingwood 13.17 (95) Punt Road Oval 37,000 17 May 1958

Round 7

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Geelong 9.16 (70) St Kilda 6.8 (44) Kardinia Park 16,440 24 May 1958
Fitzroy 12.15 (87) Hawthorn 8.15 (63) Brunswick Street Oval 21,000 24 May 1958
Essendon 11.16 (82) Richmond 9.14 (68) Windy Hill 19,500 24 May 1958
Melbourne 11.19 (85) Footscray 9.8 (62) MCG 28,550 24 May 1958
North Melbourne 9.8 (62) Collingwood 7.17 (59) Arden Street Oval 16,000 24 May 1958
South Melbourne 10.19 (79) Carlton 7.15 (57) Lake Oval 17,100 24 May 1958

Round 8

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Melbourne 12.18 (90) Richmond 12.11 (83) MCG 35,352 31 May 1958
Geelong 4.11 (35) North Melbourne 14.18 (102) Kardinia Park 19,710 31 May 1958
Collingwood 20.20 (140) South Melbourne 9.12 (66) Victoria Park 26,250 31 May 1958
Carlton 9.14 (68) Hawthorn 9.6 (60) Princes Park 16,500 31 May 1958
St Kilda 12.17 (89) Fitzroy 6.14 (50) Junction Oval 29,000 31 May 1958
Footscray 16.11 (107) Essendon 13.14 (92) Western Oval 29,118 31 May 1958

Round 9

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Fitzroy 8.18 (66) Geelong 6.15 (51) Brunswick Street Oval 15,000 7 June 1958
Collingwood 12.23 (95) St Kilda 5.9 (39) Victoria Park 36,500 7 June 1958
Richmond 12.11 (83) North Melbourne 14.10 (94) Punt Road Oval 18,500 7 June 1958
South Melbourne 11.10 (76) Melbourne 16.12 (108) Lake Oval 18,860 7 June 1958
Hawthorn 11.14 (80) Footscray 8.10 (58) Glenferrie Oval 19,000 7 June 1958
Essendon 5.19 (49) Carlton 7.8 (50) Windy Hill 26,500 7 June 1958

Round 10

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Essendon 16.11 (107) Fitzroy 8.8 (56) Windy Hill 15,500 14 June 1958
Carlton 6.15 (51) Richmond 2.9 (21) Princes Park 16,000 14 June 1958
St Kilda 8.15 (63) Footscray 11.16 (82) Junction Oval 20,000 14 June 1958
North Melbourne 12.15 (87) South Melbourne 8.9 (57) Arden Street Oval 15,000 16 June 1958
Hawthorn 14.19 (103) Geelong 8.6 (54) Glenferrie Oval 16,000 16 June 1958
Melbourne 12.12 (84) Collingwood 10.13 (73) MCG 99,256 16 June 1958

Round 11

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
North Melbourne 8.12 (60) St Kilda 5.5 (35) Arden Street Oval 14,000 21 June 1958
Fitzroy 12.16 (88) Melbourne 6.11 (47) Brunswick Street Oval 22,000 21 June 1958
Richmond 15.11 (101) Hawthorn 13.9 (87) Punt Road Oval 16,000 21 June 1958
South Melbourne 8.13 (61) Essendon 15.13 (103) Lake Oval 18,500 21 June 1958
Geelong 9.12 (66) Collingwood 14.15 (99) Kardinia Park 18,313 21 June 1958
Footscray 11.8 (74) Carlton 10.24 (84) Western Oval 26,080 21 June 1958

Round 12

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Richmond 12.13 (85) South Melbourne 11.8 (74) Punt Road Oval 16,000 28 June 1958
Fitzroy 12.17 (89) North Melbourne 7.16 (58) Brunswick Street Oval 24,000 28 June 1958
Collingwood 12.13 (85) Footscray 10.14 (74) Victoria Park 21,514 28 June 1958
Carlton 9.14 (68) Melbourne 12.12 (84) Princes Park 23,883 28 June 1958
St Kilda 11.14 (80) Hawthorn 14.14 (98) Junction Oval 20,400 28 June 1958
Geelong 15.9 (99) Essendon 12.12 (84) Kardinia Park 15,988 28 June 1958

Round 13

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Footscray 14.12 (96) Richmond 2.11 (23) Western Oval 17,305 19 July 1958
Essendon 17.30 (132) St Kilda 8.9 (57) Windy Hill 14,300 19 July 1958
Melbourne 16.22 (118) Geelong 12.12 (84) MCG 21,395 19 July 1958
South Melbourne 19.6 (120) Fitzroy 11.22 (88) Lake Oval 12,000 19 July 1958
Hawthorn 12.14 (86) Collingwood 14.9 (93) Glenferrie Oval 22,500 19 July 1958
North Melbourne 8.9 (57) Carlton 6.9 (45) Arden Street Oval 18,000 19 July 1958

Round 14

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Melbourne 10.12 (72) North Melbourne 8.15 (63) MCG 30,489 26 July 1958
Footscray 8.15 (63) South Melbourne 14.12 (96) Western Oval 19,508 26 July 1958
Essendon 11.15 (81) Hawthorn 7.7 (49) Windy Hill 17,500 26 July 1958
St Kilda 10.12 (72) Richmond 9.10 (64) Junction Oval 14,160 26 July 1958
Fitzroy 15.15 (105) Collingwood 8.9 (57) Brunswick Street Oval 31,000 26 July 1958
Geelong 7.11 (53) Carlton 8.21 (69) Kardinia Park 14,482 26 July 1958

Round 15

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Hawthorn 12.15 (87) Melbourne 14.11 (95) Glenferrie Oval 17,500 2 August 1958
Collingwood 11.9 (75) Essendon 12.14 (86) Victoria Park 34,490 2 August 1958
Carlton 8.11 (59) St Kilda 7.12 (54) Princes Park 12,984 2 August 1958
South Melbourne 16.13 (109) Geelong 14.17 (101) Lake Oval 13,000 2 August 1958
North Melbourne 11.13 (79) Footscray 9.8 (62) Arden Street Oval 17,000 2 August 1958
Richmond 10.8 (68) Fitzroy 19.18 (132) Punt Road Oval 17,000 2 August 1958

Round 16

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
St Kilda 9.23 (77) South Melbourne 15.9 (99) Junction Oval 16,500 9 August 1958
Essendon 11.12 (78) Melbourne 10.15 (75) Windy Hill 25,000 9 August 1958
Carlton 7.11 (53) Collingwood 10.12 (72) Princes Park 24,000 9 August 1958
North Melbourne 7.18 (60) Hawthorn 13.14 (92) Arden Street Oval 11,500 9 August 1958
Richmond 12.18 (90) Geelong 9.15 (69) Punt Road Oval 8,500 9 August 1958
Footscray 20.11 (131) Fitzroy 5.11 (41) Western Oval 18,982 9 August 1958

Round 17

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Melbourne 21.11 (137) St Kilda 13.9 (87) MCG 27,500 16 August 1958
Essendon 8.14 (62) North Melbourne 11.14 (80) Windy Hill 27,500 16 August 1958
Collingwood 16.11 (107) Richmond 13.10 (88) Victoria Park 21,027 16 August 1958
South Melbourne 6.14 (50) Hawthorn 6.12 (48) Lake Oval 17,500 16 August 1958
Geelong 13.14 (92) Footscray 12.13 (85) Kardinia Park 12,147 16 August 1958
Fitzroy 15.11 (101) Carlton 13.18 (96) Brunswick Street Oval 20,000 16 August 1958

Round 18

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Home team Home team score Away team Away team score Venue Crowd Date
Footscray 8.11 (59) Melbourne 10.18 (78) Western Oval 21,132 23 August 1958
Collingwood 12.16 (88) North Melbourne 14.17 (101) Victoria Park 36,098 23 August 1958
Carlton 12.11 (83) South Melbourne 10.21 (81) Princes Park 17,897 23 August 1958
St Kilda 16.15 (111) Geelong 5.8 (38) Junction Oval 13,200 23 August 1958
Hawthorn 11.9 (75) Fitzroy 10.11 (71) Glenferrie Oval 15,650 23 August 1958
Richmond 15.11 (101) Essendon 16.13 (109) Punt Road Oval 20,000 23 August 1958

Ladder

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(P) Premiers
Qualified for finals
# Team P W L D PF PA % Pts
1 Melbourne 18 15 3 0 1608 1300 123.7 60
2 Collingwood (P) 18 12 6 0 1528 1235 123.7 48
3 Fitzroy 18 12 6 0 1551 1283 120.9 48
4 North Melbourne 18 11 7 0 1228 1324 92.7 44
5 Essendon 18 10 8 0 1519 1365 111.3 40
6 Hawthorn 18 9 9 0 1419 1298 109.3 36
7 Carlton 18 8 10 0 1158 1260 91.9 32
8 St Kilda 18 7 11 0 1340 1454 92.2 28
9 South Melbourne 18 7 11 0 1450 1634 88.7 28
10 Richmond 18 7 11 0 1425 1611 88.5 28
11 Footscray 18 6 12 0 1401 1440 97.3 24
12 Geelong 18 4 14 0 1192 1615 73.8 16

Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for
Average score: 77.9
Source: AFL Tables

Finals series

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Semi-finals

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Team 1 Qtr 2 Qtr 3 Qtr Final
Fitzroy 3.3 4.7 5.8 9.12 (66)
North Melbourne 2.2 4.6 8.8 10.10 (70)
Attendance: 68,213
Team 1 Qtr 2 Qtr 3 Qtr Final
Melbourne 5.0 6.4 8.5 11.12 (78)
Collingwood 1.0 2.4 3.8 4.9 (33)
Attendance: 77,350

Preliminary final

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Team 1 Qtr 2 Qtr 3 Qtr Final
Collingwood 5.5 6.5 11.8 14.12 (96)
North Melbourne 1.1 2.10 4.11 10.16 (76)
Attendance: 77,656

Grand final

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Team 1 Qtr 2 Qtr 3 Qtr Final
Melbourne 5.1 7.4 7.6 9.10 (64)
Collingwood 2.2 7.6 12.9 12.10 (82)
Attendance: 97,956

Consolation Night Series Competition

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The night series were held under the floodlights at Lake Oval, South Melbourne, for the teams (5th to 12th on ladder) out of the finals at the end of the season.

Final: St Kilda 16.13 (109) defeated Carlton 15.11 (101)

Season notes

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  • On Monday 2 June 1958, following his superb performance in Footscray's unexpected round 8 fifteen-point victory over Essendon, Sun News Pictorial journalist Rex Pullen christens Ted Whitten "Mr. Football".
  • As of June 2023 The game between Melbourne and Collingwood on Queen's Birthday Holiday drew a crowd of 99,256, which remains as the highest attendance for a home-and-away game in VFL/AFL history.
  • The sixteen match 1958 Australian National Football (ANFC) Carnival is held in Melbourne during a two-week break in the VFL competition, between rounds 12 and 13. ANFC President, Pat Rodriguez, remarked that the total attendance of 90,261 spectators at the sixteen matches was an insult to the rest of Australia by the Victorian football community.
  • In the last moments of the third quarter of the round 16 match between South Melbourne and St Kilda, South Melbourne winger Ian Tampion received a free kick. The siren went and Tampion, thinking that he was too far away from the goal to score, gave the ball the field umpire, Bill Barbour, and went to join the three-quarter-time South Melbourne team huddle. South Melbourne captain-coach, Ron Clegg, insisted that he "have a go" and not waste the chance. Tampion retrieved the ball from the umpire and kicked an 80-yard (73 m) drop-kick that scored a goal, travelling over the heads of the St Kilda defenders, who had moved up the field towards him, not expecting him to be able to kick such a distance.
  • Immediately after the round 18 matches were finished on Saturday 23 August, the evening newspaper The Sporting Globe announced that Neil Roberts, of St Kilda, was the winner of its Haydn Bunton Memorial Medal. The medal came with a cash prize of £100 and, by accepting the prize, Roberts, who up to that time had played as an amateur, turned professional.
    • Therefore, although playing the entire 1958 season as an "amateur", as did Don Cordner in 1946 and John Schultz in 1960, unlike both Cordner and Schultz, he was a professional when the winner of the Brownlow Medal was announced on Tuesday, 26 August.
  • Collingwood caused a Grand Final upset by unexpectedly thwarting Melbourne's attempt to equal Collingwood's record of four premierships in a row, from 1927 to 1930.
  • In order to increase the sales of the VFL's Football Record which, in addition to the selected player lists, also listed the number that each player would carry on the back of their club guernsey, the Grand Final teams (Collingwood and Melbourne) were ordered to change the "regular" (i.e. registered with the VFL) playing numbers for each player for that specific match, and only for that match. Unless one is aware that the numbers on the back of players' guernseys on that day did not correspond to the numbers they wore in every other match, one can be confused when viewing photographs or films of the game, or when looking at other references relating to that match, such as the Football Record.
    • By VFL convention, and unlike most other football codes that display playing-position-indicating-numbers on a team's kit/strip/uniform – e.g. Rugby union, Rugby league, Gridiron football,etc. – the number on the back of an Australian rules footballer's guernsey:
      • (a) had no connection with the position on the field that the individual occupied in any particular match,
      • (b) was issued by the player's football club prior to their first match with that club, and was then registered against that player's name, by the VFL,
      • (c) usually remained unchanged throughout a player's career with that club, and
      • (d) was often, as was the case of Ron Barassi's number 31, retained by a player when he transferred from one team to another.
      • (a) to (d) remain the convention with the AFL.
  • The reason for the last-minute move by the VFL to alter players normal numbers for the Grand Final was to nullify an attempt by university students to reduce VFL's income stream by issuing free team sheets – containing the Grand Final players' names, their (regular) guernsey numbers, and their official selected team positions (as announced on the Thursday evening prior to the match) – outside the Melbourne Cricket Ground on the day of the match.

Awards

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References

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  • Rogers, S. & Brown, A., Every Game Ever Played: VFL/AFL Results 1897–1997 (Sixth Edition), Viking Books, (Ringwood), 1998. ISBN 0-670-90809-6
  • 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. ISBN 0-670-86814-0

Sources

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