| 1961 VFL Grand Final | ||||||||||||||||
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| Date | 23 September 1961 | |||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Melbourne Cricket Ground | |||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 107,935 | |||||||||||||||
| Favourite | Hawthorn | |||||||||||||||
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The1961 VFL Grand Final was anAustralian rules football game contested between theFootscray Football Club andHawthorn Football Club, held at theMelbourne Cricket Ground inMelbourne on 23 September 1961. It was the 64th annualGrand Final of theVictorian Football League, staged to determine thepremiers for the1961 VFL season. The match, attended by 107,935 spectators, was won by Hawthorn by a margin of 43 points, marking that club's first premiership victory.
Hawthorn, which was competing in its first VFL grand final since entering the competition in 1925, came into the game as minor premiers, favourites, and on a then-club record 11-game winning streak.[1] Footscray, who also entered the competition in 1925 and was in its second grand final (the first coming when it won the1954 premiership), had finished the home and away season in fourth place, and qualified after upsetting theRon Barassi-led Melbourne by 27 points in the preliminary final. It ended Melbourne's record sequence of seven consecutive grand final appearances, and was the first grand final not to feature any of the VFL's eight foundation clubs.
It was a young Footscray side, with only two players coming into the game with more than 80 VFL games experience them, although one of them was veteranTed Whitten. Hawthorn'sBrendan Edwards was playing in his 100th VFL game and dominated in the centre. Despite trailing at half time, Hawthorn won comfortably in the end after kicking six goals to one in a dominant third quarter.
The 1961 grand final is the earliest VFL grand final whose complete television footage has survived and been made available onDVD.
     Hawthorn |   Footscray |
Umpire: Frank Schwab
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hawthorn | 2.4 | 3.9 | 9.15 | 13.16 (94) |
| Footscray | 4.2 | 5.5 | 6.6 | 7.9 (51) |
Hawthorn:
| Footscray:
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