1940 Our Wackiest Scoreline
	Many Preston supporters will recall the furore when Dandenong were given a goal start in the 1971 Grand Final thanks to a free kick before the game had started, but that fades into insignificance compared to a "grand final" in 1940 when Preston Thirds had to concede a far greater start to win an odd little premiership . . .

Although modern histories show the introduction of the V.F.A. Thirds competition in 1952, there was a little-known and less remembered competition that commenced in1939 and lasted until the cessation of V.F.A. football following the end of the 1941 season.   

Several V.F.A. clubs had fielded Thirds and Fourths sides in junior competitions, but 1939 saw the formation of the first Preston Thirds team, and after competing against other teams that had existed for some years, they did a fine job to finish fourth, losing narrowly to Brunswick in the semi-final. 

The rules under which the clubs played have been lost over time, but it doesn't appear to have been a competition restricted to a specific age group as there are references to a couple of well-known former senior players amongst the ranks of other teams. The following season provided undoubtedly the wackiest score-line ever recorded by a Preston team when they missed out on a "premiership" by just eight points despite outscoring their opponents by 12 goals! 

The Thirds competition consisted of teams directly linked to several senior clubs (Port Melbourne, Prahran, Preston and Brunswick), a couple of teams sponsored by V.F.A. clubs (West Coburg/Coburg and Northcote Sons of Soldiers/Northcote), and a mixture of local and industrial teams. 

In 1940, a new team from Holeproof, the well-known clothing manufacturer, joined the ranks. Although they didn't win many games, Holeproof's early efforts were competitive, but became rather more modest (although perhaps by design) late in the season. 

The year was dominated by Newmarket, West Coburg, Brunswick and Prahran and a quick check of remaining records suggests that none of them dropped a game against a non-final four team. 

Perhaps the strength of the leading clubs was behind a decision by the competition's organisers to augment the normal final series with a second "handicap premiership" for the next four clubs that did not make the normal finals. Just when the series was organised is not clear from the few snippets remaining, but perhaps the Holeproof team saw an opportunity to "run dead" to help their chances of slipping under the handicapper's guard.

From what can be traced of the known scores, Preston missed the regular finals narrowly and were eventually handicapped on minus 20 points with Port Melbourne on "scratch", Northcote on plus 20 and the dark horses from Holeproof awarded a whopping 60 points start! 

Preston's 32 (or 12) point win over Port in the second semi-final was enough to get them to the Grand Final, but Northcote's 12.13.85 "victory" over Holeproof 10.7.67 left them well short of the 40 point margin required. 

The absurdity of the handicapping became obvious when Holeproof, although receiving 60 points from Port Melbourne, actually won the preliminary final outright,13.10.88 to 11.18.82 (realistically a 66 point victory). 

Many Preston supporters will recall the furore when Dandenong were given a goal start in the 1971 Grand Final thanks to a free kick before the game had started, but that surely fades into insignificance when Preston had to concede Holeproof a full 80 points to win this odd little premiership!

Certainly they gave it a fair shot, but inaccuracy proved costly and the final score of 14.18.102 to Holeproof's 4.6.30 left them just eight points short of the required margin. 

Although handicaps were common in the early days of football, it was invariably based on the number of players that took the field, usually 25 from junior clubs versus 20 seniors. 

This little final series in the V.F.A. Thirds of 1940 seems to be about the first and nearly last time that "points in" were used in a final series. The novelty of the handicap competition almost drew attention away from the real final series, where West Coburg, acting as the V.F.A. club's Thirds, won their fourth premiership in as many years. 

Results started appearing in the Monday dailies on May 4, the third round of the senior competition, so it is possible that earlier rounds were played, but in the results sighted, Newmarket were unbeaten through the home and away season. In so doing, they inflicted the first defeat on West Coburg's in nearly four years. before they crashed to the same team in the second semi-final and then in the preliminary final to Brunswick. 

The V.F.A. tried the handicap concept again the following year when the competition dropped away to just eight teams. From the surviving scores, all results were "legitimate" victories and it appears that the system may have changed to give teams their handicaps on the scoreboard before play commenced, leaving their opponents to overtake them rather than trying to adjust final scores. 

West Coburg's victory over Brunswick indicates the huge depth of football in the north-western suburbs area at the time, Coburg Seconds having won seven successive premierships between 1934 and 1939 and ten in the 13 years of the competition since 1928, with their neighbours Brunswick having captured the other three in consecutive years from 1931 to 1933.