The1980 VFL season was the 84th season of theVictorian Football League (VFL), the highest level seniorAustralian 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 theRichmond Football Club for the tenth time, after it defeatedCollingwood by 81 points in the1980 VFL Grand Final.

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

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

• Following persistent wrestling between ruckmenPeter Moore andGary Dempsey at centre bounces during the 1979 Preliminary Final betweenCollingwood andNorth Melbourne, theVFL 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.^[1] The rule was officially adopted at thenational level in November 1982.^[2]
• In Round 4, Essendon'sPhil Carman was reported for striking St. Kilda'sGarry Sidebottom and headbutting boundary umpire Graham Carberry atMoorabbin. He was suspended for a total of 20 matches—4 for striking Sidebottom and 16 for headbutting Carberry.
• North Melbourne'sKerry Good scored the winning goal after the final siren had sounded in the1980 Escort Championships Night Grand Final atVFL 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 byMalcolm Blight.Collingwood lost the match by only three points.
• The league threatened to kickFootscray off theWestern Oval and force it to play its games away from home, after theFootscray Council granted theFootscray J.U.S.T. (a soccer team playing in theNSL) 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.^[3]
• On 5 July, the VFL put together three separateVictorian representative teams to compete in different interstate games. The No. 1 team recorded a 21-point victory againstWestern Australia atVFL Park, and the No. 2 team recorded an 80-point win againstQueensland at theGabba; but, the No. 3 team suffered an upset 13-point loss against theA.C.T. atManuka Oval, prompting league presidentDr Allan Aylett to describe it as the worst team ever to represent Victoria.^[4]
• 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 the2019 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.

• The leading goal kicker wasMichael Roach ofRichmond with 112 goals
• TheBrownlow Medal was won by Footscray'sKelvin Templeton
• TheRichmond 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 byRichmond 15.13 (103) againstFitzroy 13.11 (89) in the under 19s Grand Final on 27 September.
• The reserves premiership was won byGeelong 24.15 (159) againstSouth Melbourne 19.12 (126) in the reserves Grand Final on 27 September.^[5]
• The seniors premiership was won byRichmond 23.21 (159) againstCollingwood 9.24 (78) in the seniors Grand Final on 27 September.

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

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

• Australian Football League seasons
• 1980 in Australian rules football

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