1923 VFL grand final

1923 VFL Grand Final
1923 VFL Grand Final
8.15 (63)	6.10 (46)
Date	20 October 1923
Stadium	Melbourne Cricket Ground
Attendance	46,566
Umpires	Alec Mutch

The 1923 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Essendon Football Club and Fitzroy Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 20 October 1923. It was the 26th annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League, staged to determine the premiers for the 1923 VFL season. The match, attended by 46,566 spectators, was won by Essendon by a margin of 17 points, marking that club's fifth premiership victory.

The match was scheduled to take place a week earlier but was postponed because the ground had been flooded after heavy rain. As a result, this Grand Final coincided with the Caulfield Cup.

Fitzroy were the reigning premiers, while Essendon had not won a premiership since 1912. Essendon were known at this time as the "Mosquito Fleet" due to their large number of small and pacey players such as Charlie Hardy and George Shorten.

George Rawle made his VFL debut in the Grand Final.

Score

Team	1	2	3	Final
Essendon	3.2	4.10	6.13	8.15 (63)
Fitzroy	3.3	5.5	5.9	6.10 (46)

Teams

Essendon

Fitzroy

Essendon
B:	Vince Irwin	Fred Baring	Clyde Donaldson
HB:	Joe Harrison	Tom Fitzmaurice	Roy Laing
C:	Jack Garden	Charlie May	Rowley Watt
HF:	Tommy Jenkins	Justin McCarthy	George Shorten
F:	Syd Barker (c)	Greg Stockdale	Charlie Hardy
Foll:	Norm Beckton	George Rawle	Frank Maher
Coach:	Syd Barker

Umpire – Alec Mutch

Statistics

Goalkickers

Essendon:

Maher 2
McCarthy 2
Stockdale 2
Jenkins 1
Shorten 1

Fitzroy:

Freake 4
Carter 1
Rattray 1

Attendance

MCG crowd – 46,566

References

1923 VFL Grand Final statistics
The Official statistical history of the AFL 2004
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