1881 VFA season
| 1881 VFA season | |
|---|---|
| Overview | |
| Date | 30 April – 1 October 1881[1] |
| Teams | 7 |
| Premiers | South Melbourne 1st premiership |
| Leading goalkicker | Eddy Brookes (Carlton − 20 goals) |
The 1881 VFA season was the fifth season of the Victorian Football Association (VFA), the highest-level senior Australian rules football competition in the colony of Victoria.[2][3]
South Melbourne won the premiership for the first time, after finishing the season with seven wins from its eleven senior matches.[4][5]
Association membership
[edit]Prior to the start of the 1881 season, the West Melbourne Football Club resigned from the senior ranks of the Association, leaving seven clubs.
Premiership season
[edit]The 1881 premiership was won by the South Melbourne Football Club, with Geelong placing second.
The two clubs had almost equal records in senior matches played, with South Melbourne winning seven and drawing three of eleven matches, and Geelong winning seven and drawing two of ten matches. South Melbourne' sole loss was against Carlton, while Geelong's loss came against South Melbourne. It was thought that both could lay some claim to the premiership,[6] but the consensus among the major newspapers was that South Melbourne was the premier club as the other match they played against Geelong had been drawn. Carlton finished third.
Club records
[edit]The below table details the playing records of the eight clubs in all matches during the 1880 season. Two sets of results are given:
- Senior results: based only upon games played against other VFA senior clubs
- Total results: including senior games, and games against intercolonial, up-country and junior clubs.
The clubs are listed in the order in which they were ranked in The Australasian. The VFA had no formal process by which the clubs were ranked, so the below order should be considered indicative only, particularly since the fixturing of matches was not standardised; however, the top three placings were later acknowledged in publications including the Football Record and are considered official.[7]
It is noted that although East Melbourne was a senior club in 1881, it was very uncompetitive, so, in its review of the season the Australasian did not consider matches against East Melbourne amongst its senior results. As such, in the below table, the 'Senior Results' does not include matches against East Melbourne, but East Melbourne's results against the other senior clubs are given.
Some data is missing from the below table based on the availability of information.
| Pos | Team | Senior results | Total results | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pld | W | L | D | Pld | W | L | D | GF | GA | ||
| 1 | South Melbourne (P) | 11 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 19 | 15 | 3 | 1 | 63 | 15 |
| 2 | Geelong | 10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 18 | 15 | 1 | 2 | 94 | 20 |
| 3 | Carlton | 11 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 24 | 18 | 3 | 3 | 107 | 33 |
| Melbourne | 14 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 24 | 14 | 6 | 4 | 79 | 44 | |
| Hotham | 12 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 19 | 5 | 10 | 4 | 35 | 41 | |
| Essendon | 10 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 18 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 26 | 42 | |
| East Melbourne | 12 | 0 | 9 | 3 | 21 | 6 | 10 | 5 | 29 | 55 |
Source: [1][4][8][9]
(P) Premiers
Awards
[edit]- The leading goalkicker for the season was Eddy Brookes (Carlton), who kicked 20 goals.[1][8]
Intercolonial matches
[edit]Association representative teams played four intercolonial matches during 1881: two against New South Wales, and two against South Australia. All were played under Victorian rules.
| 1881 Intercolonial Matches | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friday, 1 July | Victoria 9.24 | def. | New South Wales 0.1 | Melbourne Cricket Ground (crowd: 3,000) | [10] |
| Saturday, 6 August | New South Wales 1.8 | def. by | Victoria 9.16 | Association Cricket Ground (crowd: 5,000) | [11] |
| Saturday, 20 August | Victoria 8.24 | def. | South Australia 1.8 | East Melbourne Cricket Ground | [12] |
| Wednesday, 24 August | Victoria 4.14 | def. | South Australia 1.5 | East Melbourne Cricket Ground (crowd: 1,000) | [13] |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c Pennings, Mark (28 May 2014). "A Golden Era Begins: Football in 'Marvellous Melbourne', 1877 to 1885" (PDF). QUT. Origins of Australian Football (Volume II). Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 May 2025. Retrieved 3 June 2025.
- ^ "Victorian Football Association Season 1881". Elite to Grassroots. Archived from the original on 7 April 2025. Retrieved 2 June 2025.
- ^ "Game by Game for 1881". The VFA Project. Archived from the original on 30 April 2025. Retrieved 2 June 2025.
- ^ a b Mark, Little (8 October 1881). "A review of the past season". The Herald. p. 2. Retrieved 2 June 2025.
- ^ Blucher, Peter (11 May 2017). "Our history: South Melbourne foundations". Sydney Swans. Archived from the original on 13 April 2025. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
- ^ Paul Pey. (1 October 1881). "Free kicks". Weekly Times. Melbourne, VIC. p. 20.
- ^ Wilson, Caroline (20 June 2014). "History of the AFL could be turned on its head". The Age. Archived from the original on 29 September 2023. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
- ^ a b Pindar, Peter (15 October 1881). "The football season of 1881". The Australasian. p. 12. Retrieved 2 June 2025.
- ^ "1881". Blueseum. Archived from the original on 7 November 2024. Retrieved 2 June 2025.
- ^ "Intercolonial Football Match". The Argus. Melbourne, VIC. 2 July 1881. p. 8.
- ^ "The Intercolonial Match". The Sydney Morning Herald. Melbourne, VIC. 8 August 1881. p. 6.
- ^ "Intercolonial Football Match". South Australian Register. Adelaide, SA. 25 August 1881. p. 6.
- ^ "Intercolonial Football Match". South Australian Register (Supplement). Adelaide, SA. 29 August 1881. p. 1.