1895 VFA season
| 1895 premiership season | |
|---|---|
| Teams | 13 |
| Premiers |
Fitzroy (1st premiership) |
| Matches played | 117 |
|
← 1894
1896 →
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The 1895 Victorian Football Association season was the 19th season of the Australian rules football competition. The season was opened on 4 May, and concluded on 21 September. Fitzroy won the premiership by six points, with a record of 12 wins, 5 draws and one loss. It was Fitzroy's first VFA premiership.
In 1895, the VFA competition consisted of thirteen teams of 20 on-the-field players each. Unless otherwise noted, matches began at 3pm. Because there was an odd number of teams, at least one team had a bye each week; the idle club often travelled to Ballarat to play one of the local senior clubs in a non-premiership match. When reporting match scores in 1895, the number of goals and behinds scored by each team is given; however, only the number of goals scored is considered when determining the result of a match.
The Association had no formal tie-breakers in cases where clubs were equal on premiership points.
Fitzroy was the winner of the 1895 premiership with 58 points, finishing six points clear of Geelong, Collingwood and Melbourne, who finished equal-second on 52 points. Fitzroy finished with fewer wins than either Geelong or Melbourne, and scored 51 goals fewer than Geelong, but it lost only one match for the season, and conceded 15 goals fewer than any other team. The premiership was the first in the history of the Fitzroy Football Club.
Fitzroy was unbeaten in its last fourteen matches, coming from behind to claim the premiership from Geelong and Melbourne. Geelong, who had begun the season with a ten-match winning streak, and Melbourne, who had begun the season with an eight-match winning streak, were considered most likely to win the premiership at mid-season, but both teams' form deteriorated in the second half of the season to finish 13–5.
Fitzroy officially clinched the premiership in Round 19, its last match for the season; both Fitzroy's draw against South Melbourne and Geelong's unusual 0.9 – 1.0 loss to Port Melbourne separately ensured that Fitzroy could not be matched or passed for first place.
The leading goalkicker for the season was Decoit of Geelong, kicking 42 goals. He finished comfortably ahead of the second-placed Archie Smith of Collingwood. The high-scoring Geelong team produced three of the top five goalkickers for the season.
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