Richmond News (newspaper) Best and Fairest
Please note this page contains the results of the Richmond News newspaper Best and Fairest from 1947- 1966
This is different that the club's official Best and Fairest award which can be found here.
Background:
From 1947 onwards, the Richmond News newspaper created their own 'Best and Fairest' award for the Richmond Football Club.
From 1947- 1950 the voting was that "The Richmond News representative will award three votes each match; the first vote will be worth six points, the second three (pts), and the third one point. The name of the player who is awarded the first vote will be published in the Richmond News after each match. After every four games the full details of the voting to those dates will be published". The votes were cast by Mr G. O'Callagan under the byline "Cal".
The 1947 trophy was provided by Mr Harris Knight and was on display at the Richmond News newspaper showroom on the corner of Bridge Road and Lennox Street.
Changes to the voting process over the years are listed below.
In 1960 the club's Annual Report thanked the paper's Michael Lucy for "a true picture of the activities of our club".
Voting Notes:
1947 and 1948 - no votes for Rd 16 due to Vic State team also playing that day. The award was presented at the AGM
1949 - no votes for Rd 13 and Rd 14 due to Interstate fixture
1950 - no votes for Rd 14 due to Interstate fixture
1951 - voting process changed to simply 3,2,1.
1952 - 1953 - for each game, 10 votes were distributed between players worthy of votes. (It ended up no player received more than 4 votes in a game)
| Year | Place | Winner | Votes |
| 1947 | 1st | Bill Morris | 24 |
| "Bill's consistent form, especially in the latter part of the season, richly merited his achievement in being adjudged best and fairest". | |||
| 2nd | Ron Durham | 19 | |
| 3rd | Ray Stokes | 19 | |
| 4th | Les Jones | 16 | |
| 5th | Jack Dyer | 15 | |
| 6th | Leo Merrett | 12.5 | |
| 7th | Bill Wilson | 10.5 | |
| =8th | Max Oppy + Fred Cook | 9 | |
| 10th | Bill Perkins | 6.5 | |
| =11th | Ron Evans + Frank Bourke + Fred Burge | 6 | |
| 13th | Laurie Taylor | 5 | |
| 14th | Wally Russell | 4.5 | |
| 15th | Leo Maguire | 4 | |
| =16th | Alby Pannam + Des Calverley | 3 | |
| =18th | Ken Roberts + Don Fraser | 1 | |
| 1948 | 1st | Bill Morris | 38 |
| 2nd | Ray Stokes | 21 | |
| 3rd | Bill Wilson | 18 | |
| =4th | Ron Durham + Havel Rowe | 12 | |
| = 6th | Fred Burge + Don Fraser | 9 | |
| =8th | Geoff Spring + Ron Evans | 8 | |
| =10th | Jack Dyer + Ray Poulter + Max Oppy | 7 | |
| 11th | Ken Sier | 6 | |
| 12th | Bill Perkins | 5 | |
| =13th | Leo Maguire + Ken Roberts + Ken Albiston + Jervis Stokes | 3 | |
| 15th} Fred Cook | 1 | ||
| 1949 | 1st | Don Fraser | 27 |
| 2nd | Bill Wilson | 25 | |
| 3rd | Ken Roberts | 16 | |
| 4th | Bob Wiggins | 15 | |
| =5th | Ray Poulter + Bill Morris | 14 | |
| 7th | Ray Stokes | 13 | |
| 8th | Leo Merrett | 9 | |
| =9th | Geoff Spring + Des Rowe + Kevin Dillon | 7 | |
| =11th | Ken Albiston + Ken Sier + Les Jones + Fred Burge | 4 | |
| 1950 | 1st | Don Fraser | 31 |
| 2nd | Bill Morris | 27 | |
| 3rd | Col Austen | 26 | |
| 4th | Ray Stokes | 20 | |
| 5th | Bill Wilson | 18 | |
| 6th | Max Currie | 12 | |
| 7th | John Nix | 9 | |
| 8th | Bob Wiggins | 7 | |
| =9th | Kevin Dillon + Jack O'Rourke | 4 | |
| 11th | Fred Burge | 3.5 | |
| 12th | Geoff Spring | 3 | |
| 13th | Ray Poulter | 2 | |
| =14th | Ray Horwood + Roy Wright + Max Oppy | 1 | |
| 16th | Des Rowe | 0.5 | |
| 1951 | 1st | Des Rowe | 19 |
| =2nd | Roy Wright + Ray Poulter | 12 | |
| 3rd | Ray Stokes | 11 | |
| 4th | Jack O'Rourke | 10 | |
| 5th | Col Austen | 9 | |
| =6th | Bill Wilson + Havel Rowe + Bill Morris | 4 | |
| =8th | Kevin Dillion + Max Oppy | 3 | |
| =10th | Geoff Spring + Alan Cooke | 2 | |
| =12th | Bob Wiggins + Brian Boland + Peter Schofield | 1 | |
| 1952 | 1st | Roy Wright | 30 |
| 2nd | Bill Wilson | 24 | |
| 3rd | John Nix | 21 | |
| =4th | Ray Poulter + Geoff Spring | 14 | |
| =6th | Don Fraser + Max Oppy | 12 | |
| 8th | Havel Rowe | 11 | |
| 9th | Col Austen | 10 | |
| 10th | Des Rowe | 6 | |
| 11th | Kevin Dillion | 3 | |
| =12th | Fred Clarke + Allan Cooke + Gerald Collins | 2 | |
| =14th | Brian Boland + Jack O'Rourke + Ray Gibb + Albert Western + Tom Allen | 1 | |
| 1953 | 1st | Des Rowe | 29 |
| 2nd | Havel Rowe | 28 | |
| 3rd | Max Oppy | 18 | |
| 4th | Bill Wilson | 16 | |
| 5th | Roy Wright | 15 | |
| 6th | Kevin Dillon | 14 | |
| 7th | Geoff Spring | 12 | |
| 8th | Ron Branton | 11 | |
| 9th | John Nix | 6 | |
| 10th | Jeff Patterson | 5 | |
| 11th | Frank Dunin | 4 | |
| =12th | Frank Ryan + Stan Morcom | 3 | |
| =14th | Pat Audas + Alan Cations | 2 | |
| 16th | Brian Davie + Ray Poulter | 1 | |
| 1954 | 1st | Roy Wright | 28 |
| 2nd | Des Rowe | 21 | |
| 3rd | Kevin Dillion | 18 | |
| 4th | Geoff Spring | 16 | |
| 5th | Bill Wilson | 14 | |
| 6th | Ron Branton | 13 | |
| 7th | Jim Deane | 11 | |
| 8th | Allan Cation | 8 | |
| =9th | Allan Cooke + Ray Poulter | 7 | |
| 11th | John Nix | 6 | |
| =12th | Havel Rowe + Brian Davie + Max Oppy + Frank Ryan | 4 | |
| 14th | Laurie Sharp | 2 | |
| =15th | Reg Hall + Frank Slater + Jim Walton | 1 | |
| 1955 | 1st | Des Rowe | 25 |
| 2nd | Ray Poulter | 24 | |
| 3rd | Jim Deane | 17 | |
| 4th | Ron Branton | 14 | |
| 5th | Ron McDonald | 10 | |
| =6th | Roy Wright + Havel Rowe + Kevin Dillion | 9 | |
| 8th | Allan Cations + Tom Hafey | 8 | |
| 9th | Frank Dunin + Geoff Spring | 6 | |
| 10th | Bob Dummett | 5 | |
| 11th | Reg Hall | 4 | |
| 12th | John Nix | 3 | |
| 13th | Laurie Sharp + John Robson | 2 | |
| 14th | Allan Cooke | 1 | |
| 1956 | 1st | Des Rowe | 23 |
| 2nd | Laurie Sharp | 23 | |
| 3rd | Roy Wright | 21 | |
| 4th | Ron Branton | 15 | |
| 5th | Ray Poulter | 14 | |
| 6th | Ken Ward | 11 | |
| 7th | Alan Cations | 10 | |
| =8th | Peter Morris + Ron McDonald | 9 | |
| 10th | Frank Dunin | 8 | |
| 11th | Tom Hafey | 7 | |
| =12th | Tom Simpson + Frank Ryan + Stan Morcom | 3 | |
| =14th | Ray Allsopp + John CLaxton + Col Saddington + Alan Cooke | 2 | |
| =16th | Frank Munro + Brian Davie + Havel Rowe | 1 | |
| * Note that the Richmond News announces that "Rowe was declared the winner* on 23 votes to Sharp's 22. | |||
| However Peter Foot's manual tallying of the results week by week indicated both players finished on 23 votes | |||
1957 and 1958 season not awarded.
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