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The 1980 VFL season was the 84th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 29 March until 27 September, and comprised a 22-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top five clubs.

The premiership was won by the Richmond Football Club for the tenth time, after it defeated Collingwood by 81 points in the 1980 VFL Grand Final.

Night series

North Melbourne defeated Collingwood 8.9 (57) to 7.12 (54) in the final.

Home-and-away season

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Round 19

Round 20

Round 21

Round 22

Ladder

Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for
Average score: 105.0
Source: AFL Tables

Finals series

Finals week 1

Finals week 2

Preliminary final

Grand final

Season notes

• Following persistent wrestling between ruckmen Peter Moore and Gary Dempsey at centre bounces during the 1979 Preliminary Final between Collingwood and North Melbourne, the VFL introduced for the 1980 season a dividing line drawn across the centre circle in the wing-to-wing direction; under the new rules, each ruckman was forced to begin and run from his side of the line at a centre bounce, to eliminate wrestling. The rule was officially adopted at the national level in November 1982.
• In Round 4, Essendon's Phil Carman was reported for striking St. Kilda's Garry Sidebottom and headbutting boundary umpire Graham Carberry at Moorabbin. He was suspended for a total of 20 matches—4 for striking Sidebottom and 16 for headbutting Carberry.
• North Melbourne's Kerry Good scored the winning goal after the final siren had sounded in the 1980 Escort Championships Night Grand Final at VFL Park—a goal that was highly controversial as the umpires had not heard the siren seconds before Kerry Good had marked the ball from a kick by Malcolm Blight. Collingwood lost the match by only three points.
• The league threatened to kick Footscray off the Western Oval and force it to play its games away from home, after the Footscray Council granted the Footscray J.U.S.T. (a soccer team playing in the NSL) a lease to play games at the ground on Sundays – in defiance of a League stipulation that League grounds could not be shared with other codes during winter. In the end, Footscray-J.U.S.T. played most of its games elsewhere, and the League was not forced to follow through on its ultimatum.
• On 5 July, the VFL put together three separate Victorian representative teams to compete in different interstate games. The No. 1 team recorded a 21-point victory against Western Australia at VFL Park, and the No. 2 team recorded an 80-point win against Queensland at the Gabba; but, the No. 3 team suffered an upset 13-point loss against the A.C.T. at Manuka Oval, prompting league president Dr Allan Aylett to describe it as the worst team ever to represent Victoria.
• 1980 was the first season in which neither of the top two teams of the home-and-away season reached the grand final. It would be the only such instance for nearly four decades, until the 2019 AFL season.
• To date, this is the only season in which the bottom placed side scored more points during the home & away season than the top finishing side.

Awards

• The leading goal kicker was Michael Roach of Richmond with 112 goals
• The Brownlow Medal was won by Footscray's Kelvin Templeton
• The Richmond Football Club set a unique record, with the club's three full-forwards each kicking more than 100 goals in the 1980 season.
  • The full-forward of its Senior team, Michael Roach, kicked 112 goals.
  • The full-forward of its Reserve team, Mark Jackson, kicked 131 goals (a record for the Reserve competition).
  • The full-forward of its Under-19 team, Peter Lane, kicked 116 goals.
• The under 19s premiership was won by Richmond 15.13 (103) against Fitzroy 13.11 (89) in the under 19s Grand Final on 27 September.
• The reserves premiership was won by Geelong 24.15 (159) against South Melbourne 19.12 (126) in the reserves Grand Final on 27 September.
• The seniors premiership was won by Richmond 23.21 (159) against Collingwood 9.24 (78) in the seniors Grand Final on 27 September.

References

1. Atkinson, Graeme (1989). 3AW Book of Footy Records. South Melbourne: Magistra Publishing Company Pty Ltd. p. 278. ISBN 1863210091..
2. Gerry Carmen (23 November 1982). "Centre line – it's official". The Age. Melbourne. p. 42.
3. "Ultimatum by VFL". The Age. Melbourne. 23 May 1980. p. 26.
4. Tony Bourke (7 July 1980). "Qld: thanks for the thrashing". The Age. Melbourne. p. 26.
5. Andrew Rule (29 September 1980). "Cats settle for seconds best". The Age. Melbourne. p. 34.

• Stephen Rogers and Ashley Browne (1998). Every Game Ever Played. 6th ed. Victoria: Penguin Books.

Sources

• 1980 VFL season at AFL Tables
• 1980 VFL season at Australian Football

• Australian Football League seasons
• 1980 in Australian rules football