Team by team goalless at half time

Following on from my previous post, I will list the number of cases each team has been goalless at half time over four equal-length periods:

Scores Goalless at Half Time, 1897-2011
	1897-1924	1925-1953	1954-1982	1983-2011	TOTAL
Adelaide				1	1
Brisbane				2	2
Carlton	29	0	1	4	34
Collingwood	12	2	2	1	17
Essendon	12	1	2	1	16
Fitzroy	11	2	4	2	19
Footscray/Western Bulldogs		2	4	1	7
Fremantle				1	1
Geelong	12	0	2	0	14
Hawthorn		6	1	1	8
Melbourne	16	1	0	4	21
North Melbourne		8	2	0	10
Port Adelaide				0	0
Richmond	4	2	6	1	13
St. Kilda	32	3	3	2	40
Sydney/South Melbourne	18	2	5	3	28
University	4				4
West Coast				2	2
TOTAL	150	29	32	26	237

Some notes on this table:

1. Carlton were not goalless at half time between Round 16, 1924 (when they were scoreless at half time against South Melbourne) and Round 3, 1968 (when both they and Essendon were goalless at half time)
• The next time after their scoreless first half in 1924 Carlton were goalless at half time with their opponents having goaled was Round 11, 1991 at Footscray
2. The last time Geelong were goalless at half time was Round 12, 1977 v Carlton at Princes Park. It was the first match since 1927 where both teams scored three or fewer goals and the second since 1911.

   Round 12, 1977
   Carlton	1-4 (10)	1-7 (13)	3-11 (29)	3-13 (31)
   Geelong	0-3 (3)	0-4 (4)	0-6 (6)	2-12 (24)

3. The only other times since 1920 Geelong were goalless at half time they kicked the equal-second and fourth-highest scores by a team goalless at the long interval (see previous page)
4. The last time North Melbourne were goalless at half time was Round 12, 1979 v Essendon at Windy Hill:

   Round 12, 1979
   Essendon	3-5 (23)	10-8 (68)	13-9 (87)	15-11 (101)
   North Melbourne	0-3 (3)	0-7 (7)	1-12 (18)	6-18 (54)

5. In the last two times Essendon were goalless at half time their opponents also were. The last time Essendon were goalless at half time and had conceded a goal was in 1956 against Melbourne. At the time Melbourne had won fourteen on end and Essendon were seventh.

   Round 9, 1956
   Melbourne	2-3 (15)	9-10 (64)	13-14 (92)	15-17 (107)
   Essendon	0-4 (4)	0-7 (7)	1-11 (17)	4-15 (39)

Opponents Goalless at Half Time, 1897-2011
	1897-1924	1925-1953	1954-1982	1983-2011	TOTAL
Adelaide				3	3
Brisbane				3	3
Carlton	17	1	6	4	28
Collingwood	19	3	2	0	24
Essendon	16	1	4	2	23
Fitzroy	23	3	2	0	28
Footscray/Western Bulldogs		4	1	4	9
Fremantle				1	1
Geelong	23	4	4	2	33
Hawthorn		0	5	0	5
Melbourne	13	4	2	1	20
North Melbourne		1	1	2	4
Port Adelaide				2	2
Richmond	4	6	2	0	12
St. Kilda	7	0	3	1	11
Sydney/South Melbourne	26	2	0	0	28
University	2				2
West Coast				1	1
TOTAL	150	29	32	26	237

Some notable features from this table are:

1. The last time South Melbourne/Sydney held an opponent goalless up to half time was on a waterlogged Western Oval in Round 9 of 1953, in probably their best win during their long finals drought of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.
2. The last time Richmond held an opponent goalless to half time was in Round 10 of 1973, in a notable game that saw the debut of Graham Teasdale, later to become famous with the Tigers’ opponents South Melbourne, who at the time had lost 26 in a row.
3. The last time Collingwood held an opponent goalless to half time was in Round 9 of 1967, in a match more famous for Alex Ruskuclić kicking all of Fitzroy’s four goals.
4. The three cases between 1924 and 1994 of St. Kilda holding an opponent goalless to half time all occurred in 1961 - against Richmond (goalless for the full game), Footscray and South Melbourne.
5. Adelaide’s feat of holding three opponents goalless to half-time in 2009 was not equalled between 1962 and 2008. The four scores goalless at half time in 2009 was also the most since 1961.
6. The only times North Melbourne have held an opponent goalless to half time are:
1. Round 16, 1943 v Hawthorn
2. Round 18, 1965 v Richmond
3. Round 11, 1989 v Fitzroy
4. Round 19, 2004 v Adelaide
7. The five times Hawthorn held an opponent goalless to half time occurred in a span of twenty years - in 1956 twice, 1964, 1965 and 1975.
8. Hawthorn in 1965 and Fitzroy in 1936 are the only wooden spooners since 1919 to hold an opponent goalless to half time.

Goalless at half time: 1897 to 2011

In football, unlike in soccer or even rugby, a team failing to make a score in a half is a most exceptional occurrence. There have been only ten occurrences of a team being scoreless in the first half of a VFL or AFL match, and all but three of those occurred in the first seven years. Scores with no goals to half-time have occurred much more often, but with increasing rarity over the years. The following, as the first in a series of four, will have a look at these occurrences in detail.

• From 1897 to 2011, there were 237 scores goalless at half-time, or 0.85% of all scores
• Amongst these we have:
• Goalless at full-time: 24 scores (last Richmond 1961)
• Goaled only in final quarter: 39 scores (last West Coast 1992)
• Goaled only in third quarter: 41 scores (last Fremantle 2009)
• Goaled only in third and final quarters: 133 scores (last Hawthorn 2009)
• The most in one season was 19 in 1899
• The most since 1919 was 5 in 1953 and 5 in 1956
  
• The first season without a team goalless at half-time was 1904. Since then absent seasons have been 1916, 1926, 1929-1930, 1932, 1935, 1937-1938, 1940-1942, 1944-1945, 1949, 1954, 1960, 1966, 1969-1971, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1998-2001, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2011.

  Number of scores goalless at half time by season
  1897	17	1926	0	1955	1	1984	3
  1898	18	1927	3	1956	5	1985	1
  1899	19	1928	1	1957	1	1986	0
  1900	15	1929	0	1958	1	1987	1
  1901	13	1930	0	1959	1	1988	0
  1902	8	1931	2	1960	0	1989	1
  1903	8	1932	0	1961	4	1990	0
  1904	0	1933	2	1962	1	1991	2
  1905	3	1934	1	1963	1	1992	1
  1906	5	1935	0	1964	2	1993	1
  1907	2	1936	2	1965	3	1994	1
  1908	2	1937	0	1966	0	1995	2
  1909	3	1938	0	1967	1	1996	1
  1910	3	1939	1	1968	2	1997	3
  1911	5	1940	0	1969	0	1998	0
  1912	3	1941	0	1970	0	1999	0
  1913	2	1942	0	1971	0	2000	0
  1914	2	1943	1	1972	1	2001	0
  1915	4	1944	0	1973	1	2002	1
  1916	0	1945	0	1974	0	2003	0
  1917	4	1946	1	1975	1	2004	2
  1918	2	1947	2	1976	0	2005	1
  1919	4	1948	1	1977	1	2006	0
  1920	1	1949	0	1978	0	2007	1
  1921	4	1950	2	1979	3	2008	0
  1922	1	1951	1	1980	0	2009	4
  1923	1	1952	2	1981	1	2010	0
  1924	1	1953	5	1982	1	2011	0
  1925	2	1954	0	1983	0

• The most recent score goalless at half-time was in 2009, by Fremantle against Adelaide. It was the first score of fewer than three goals since Carlton in 1991 against Footscray, and the first with goals only in the third quarter since Fitzroy against North Melbourne in Round 11, 1989.

  Adelaide	5-4 (34)	10-9 (69)	12-14 (86)	19-16 (130)
  Fremantle	0-1 (1)	0-1 (1)	1-5 (11)	1-7 (13)

• The last eventual premiers with a goalless score at half-time was Carltonin 1995. They were on top of the ladder at the time; St. Kilda were bottom at 16th:

  St. Kilda	4-3 (27)	6-8 (44)	9-11 (65)	11-14 (80)
  Carlton	0-3 (3)	0-5 (5)	1-5 (11)	3-6 (24)

Other eventual premiers held goalless to half-time since 1919 are:

1. West Coast in Round 23, 1992 v Footscray
2. Essendon in Round 17, 1984 v Footscray*
3. Carlton in Round 3, 1968 v Essendon
4. Collingwood in Round 17, 1927 v Essendon*
5. Essendon in Round 10, 1923 v St. Kilda
6. Richmond in Round 11, 1920 v Carlton

* indicates won match

• There have been only four matches where both teams were goalless at half time, all won by Essendon:
1. Third Finals Round, 1897, v Melbourne
2. Round 3, 1899 v South Melbourne
3. Round 3, 1968 v Carlton
4. Round 17, 1984 v Footscray
• The last team to win after being goalless at half time was in 2004:

  Round 18, 2004
  Adelaide	0-3 (3)	0-10 (10)	2-17 (29)	5-19 (49)
  North Melbourne	1-7 (13)	1-8 (14)	2-10 (22)	5-12 (42)

• Overall, there have been 33 occasions when a team won after being goalless at half time, but only seven others since 1920:

  Round 17, 1927
  Collingwood	0-1 (1)	0-4 (4)	1-8 (14)	3-13 (31)
  Essendon	2-2 (14)	3-4 (22)	4-6 (30)	4-6 (30)
  Round 10, 1936
  North Melbourne	0-5 (5)	0-5 (5)	4-9 (33)	9-11 (65)
  Fitzroy	2-3 (15)	3-8 (26)	3-10 (28)	3-12 (30)
  Round 13, 1956
  Hawthorn	0-6 (6)	1-8 (14)	2-10 (22)	3-13 (31)
  Richmond	0-0 (0)	0-4 (4)	3-5 (23)	8-6 (54)
  Round 8, 1959
  Fitzroy	0-3 (3)	0-4 (4)	2-8 (20)	5-10 (40)
  Collingwood	1-1 (7)	2-4 (16)	2-8 (20)	3-12 (30)
  Round 9, 1964
  Geelong	0-3 (3)	0-9 (9)	4-11 (35)	10-15 (75)
  Hawthorn	2-2 (14)	2-4 (16)	3-6 (24)	3-8 (26)
  Round 3, 1968
  Carlton	0-6 (6)	0-7 (7)	1-10 (16)	1-11 (17)
  Essendon	0-1 (1)	0-5 (5)	3-6 (24)	7-8 (50)
  Round 17, 1984
  Footscray	0-3 (3)	0-7 (7)	0-8 (8)	3-14 (32)
  Essendon	0-6 (6)	0-7 (7)	3-9 (27)	4-10 (34)

• The highest full-time score by a team goalless at half-time is 90 points:

  Round 7, 1979
  Fitzroy	2-6 (18)	8-13 (61)	12-14 (86)	14-18 (102)
  Hawthorn	0-8 (8)	0-14 (14)	7-17 (59)	11-24 (90)