Recurrent scores in drawn matches

At Rogers Results, there is a short site on drawn games in the V/AFL.

Since I was given a table of all matches won with fewer goals, I have wanted to look at how many of the 143 drawn scorelines are actually unique, which I have done at home with matches won with fewer goals.

A scoreline can be deemed to be unique if and only if each team’s goals, behinds and points is not replicated immediately or by simply swapping the home and away teams. If the scores are equal, the number of goals and behinds by each team or after swapping home and away teams must be the same for a scoreline not to be unique.

In the 143 drawn games, the following set of scores has recurred on four occasions:

	Home team	G	B	P	Away team	G	B	P
Round 9, 1944	Fitzroy	12	11	83	Essendon	11	17	83
Round 16, 1950	Carlton	12	11	83	St. Kilda	11	17	83
Round 9, 1960	Richmond	11	17	83	Geelong	12	11	83
Round 22, 1980	North Melbourne	11	17	83	St. Kilda	12	11	83

The following four sets of scores have recurred on three occasions each:

	Home team	G	B	P	Away team	G	B	P
Round 7, 1963	Geelong	9	12	66	Hawthorn	9	12	66
Round 3, 1971	Essendon	9	12	66	Collingwood	9	12	66
Round 8, 1974	Carlton	9	12	66	Footscray	9	12	66
Round 13, 1922	St. Kilda	10	15	75	South Melbourne	11	9	75
Round 5, 1929	Footscray	10	15	75	Melbourne	11	9	75
Round 2, 1972	Collingwood	10	15	75	Carlton	11	9	75
Round 11, 1952	Essendon	10	16	76	Geelong	11	10	76
Round 5, 1954	Fitzroy	10	16	76	St. Kilda	11	10	76
Round 11, 1999	Footscray	10	16	76	Hawthorn	11	10	76
Round 9, 1951	Fitzroy	12	13	85	South Melbourne	12	13	85
Round 18, 2007	Footscray	12	13	85	St. Kilda	12	13	85
Round 16, 2009	Richmond	12	13	85	North Melbourne	12	13	85

The following sixteen sets of scores have recurred twice:

	Home team	G	B	P	Away team	G	B	P
Round 10, 1904	Geelong	4	11	35	Carlton	5	5	35
Round 12, 1991	Footscray	4	11	35	Sydney	5	5	35
Round 3, 1916	Fitzroy	7	8	50	Collingwood	6	14	50
Round 6, 1917	Richmond	7	8	50	Collingwood	6	14	50
Round 8, 1973	North Melbourne	8	8	56	Footscray	8	8	56
Round 5, 2002	St. Kilda	8	8	56	Sydney	8	8	56
Round 1, 1914	Geelong	8	13	61	Essendon	8	13	61
Second Semi, 1972	Carlton	8	13	61	Richmond	8	13	61
Round 2, 1945	Fitzroy	8	16	64	Essendon	9	10	64
Round 6, 2008	North Melbourne	9	10	64	Sydney	8	16	64
Round 6, 1932	Geelong	9	15	69	Richmond	9	15	69
Round 15, 1947	South Melbourne	9	15	69	Collingwood	9	15	69
Round 5, 1921	South Melbourne	10	10	70	Carlton	10	10	70
Round 13, 1926	Hawthorn	10	10	70	North Melbourne	10	10	70
Round 15, 1919	Geelong	11	9	75	Fitzroy	11	9	75
Round 12, 1953	Melbourne	11	9	75	Richmond	11	9	75
Round 4, 1939	Fitzroy	10	17	77	Hawthorn	11	11	77
Round 1, 1957	Geelong	11	11	77	Footscray	10	17	77
Round 15, 1956	Hawthorn	10	18	78	South Melbourne	12	6	78
Round 10, 2000	Port Adelaide	10	18	78	Geelong	12	6	78
Round 1, 1933	North Melbourne	11	13	79	Fitzroy	11	13	79
Round 8, 1961	North Melbourne	11	13	79	Geelong	11	13	79
Round 16, 1964	Carlton	11	13	79	Collingwood	12	7	79
Round 14, 1994	St. Kilda	12	7	79	Adelaide	11	13	79
Round 18, 1961	Essendon	12	16	88	Collingwood	13	10	88
Round 8, 1967	North Melbourne	12	16	88	Essendon	13	10	88
Round 17, 1988	Collingwood	14	8	92	North Melbourne	13	14	92
Round 5, 1992	Brisbane	14	8	92	West Coast	13	14	92
Round 1, 1960	Carlton	14	14	98	Richmond	14	14	98
Round 7, 1977	St. Kilda	14	14	98	South Melbourne	14	14	98
Round 5, 1934	Geelong	16	13	109	Collingwood	16	13	109
Round 3, 2003	North Melbourne	16	13	109	Brisbane	16	13	109

That leaves a total of eighty-nine drawn scores that are unique and have occurred only once.

Of these eighty-nine scores:

• forty-six had the same number of goals and behinds by both sides
• forty-six had one fewer goal and six more behinds by one side
• five (two in 1914, one each in 1966, 1968 and 1995) had two fewer goals by one side
• two (in 1935 and 1948) had three fewer goals by one side (Essendon against Melbourne; Carlton against Footscray)

This confirms to the general pattern of goals score in drawn games. The difference is goals between two sides drawing a game is 0 or 1 with very nearly equal frequency, whilst the nine matches drawn where the difference in goals scored was greater than one stand as very major scoring oddities.