| 1942 VFA premiership season | |
|---|---|
| Premiers | Premiership not contested |
The1942Victorian Football Association season was not played owing toWorld War II, which was at its peak at the time.
World War II commenced in Europe in September 1939, but the Association continued with a full program of football in the1940 and1941 seasons – with the sole exception thatSandringham had competed as an amateur club in the latter season.[1]
By 1942, the state of war had increased, and was now being fought againstJapan in thePacific, as well as against theAxis powers in Europe. Enlistments had reduced the number of able-bodied men available to play football, thewar effort had reduced the number of men able to commit time to running the football clubs in an administrative capacity, and the military had alreadycommandeeredNorth Port Oval andBeach Oval and was potentially going to commandeerPoint Gellibrand, theCoburg City Oval and Brunswick Oval.[2]
Despite this,Northcote,Coburg,Brunswick,Yarraville,Brighton andOakleigh wanted to play the season at the VFA’s April meeting, butPreston,Williamstown,Prahran,Camberwell,Port Melbourne and Sandringham had doubts or were outright against playing.[3] On 20 April, the Association board of management decided to cancel the premiership season for 1942. It is believed that had the season been played, no more than six of the twelve clubs would have been able to field a team.[4] The seconds premiership was also cancelled.[5] The Association premiership was not staged again until1945, although the seconds competition re-commenced in1944.
With the Association in recess, two of its grounds were used by League clubs whose grounds had been commandeered:Footscray played its games atYarraville Oval, andSt Kilda played its games atToorak Park.