• Owing to the military takeover of
Corio Oval,
Geelong moved its home games to
Kardinia Park. • During March, the players of the
Geelong Football Club went on strike and refused to train over a pay dispute. The players were seeking £3 per week, but the club was offering £1/10/– per week, which upset the players as they had received pay cuts in 1940 (from £3 to £1) when the club had made the finals and finished the year in a strong financial position. In response, the club claimed the lower offer was due to the extra expense of moving from Corio Oval to Kardinia Park, and increased payments to war funds drove the decision. The majority of players acquiesced and accepted the £1/10/– offer, but five senior players did not. Three of those crossed to the
Victorian Football Association without a clearance –
Allan Everett going to
Preston,
Bernie Hore going to
Coburg, and
Alan "Nipper" Marsham to
Williamstown – while the other two,
George Dougherty and
Tom Arklay, having trained in the pre-season with the VFA clubs Coburg and Preston (respectively), eventually returned to play with Geelong in the 1941 season. • In the Round 2 match between
Carlton and
Richmond, 11 players were injured, while highly talented Carlton rover
Jack Hale, who broke his leg in an accidental collision with Richmond centreman
Bernie Waldron, never played again. • The VFL postponed its Round 5 matches and conducted its second patriotic
lightning carnival at the
Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday 24 May 1941.
Collingwood won the carnival, defeating
Melbourne 3.2 (20) to 3.1 (19). The carnival raised £1,526 for the war effort. • On 31 July 1941,
Melbourne rover
Ron Barassi Sr. was killed in action at the
Siege of Tobruk. He was the first VFL player to be
killed in the Second World War. On 16 August 1941, a brief, moving memorial tribute to Barassi was conducted (including a bugler playing "The Last Post") at the
Melbourne Cricket Club by spectators, players, trainers, and officials of
Melbourne and
Collingwood. • In the last minutes of the last quarter of the Second Eighteens Grand Final, played at the MCG on 27 September 1941, which
Essendon, captain-coached ex-Collingwood player
Harry Collier, won (beating
Fitzroy 12.16 (88) to 9.17 (71)), a Fitzroy player felled an Essendon player and fights broke out all over the ground. As the final bell was sounding, a vicious bench-clearing brawl broke out involving almost every player, with many of the players felled by punches and kicks. Both teams were reported for "unseemly conduct", and following the VFL investigation committee's hearing conducted on 14 October 1941, each club was fined £10. • In a lop-sided senior Grand Final,
Melbourne, missing at least twelve of its 1941 senior players through either injury or military service, was 47 points ahead at three quarter time, and went on to beat
Essendon by 29 points: 19.13 (127) to 13.20 (98). • After defeating
Collingwood in Round 5,
Carlton had a winning record over every other team in the competition in combined regular season and finals matches. They would hold this distinction until Round 8 of the
1954 VFL season. ==Awards==