The 1877 South Australian Football Association season was the inaugural season of the South Australian Football Association, the top-level league of Australian rules football in South Australia.

The clubs participating were Adelaide, Bankers, Kensington, Port Adelaide, South Adelaide, South Park, Victorian, Woodville.

and Victorian would share the premiership honours as there was no grand final playoff, while the Bankers Football Club, who finished last without a win and forfeited a number of games, folded before the end of the season.

Top Goalkickers for the season were: (1) John Young (Adelaide) - 14 goals (2) William (Billy) Dedman (South Adelaide) - 10 goals

South Australian Football Association The newly formed South Australian Football Association decided that the playing fields for the season must be between 180 and 200 yards (165-183m) long and 120-150 yards (110-137m) wide, with pushing from behind being prohibited. For clubs to gain membership of the association, they would need to pay two guineas for the year.

At a meeting on 14 May 1877 held at the Prince Alfred Hotel, the list of fixtures for the season was arranged by the match committee, and it was resolved that the Honorary Secretary advertise every Friday the matches for the following Saturday, and also that a tabulated card of the fixtures be printed for circulation.https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/159451063

Inaugural Senior Clubs

ClubColoursHome GroundCaptainMembershipAdelaide black, red Old Adelaide Ground (North Park Lands)R.E.N.Twoppeny50Bankers White Blue Shared with Adelaide - Old Adelaide GroundMr Cotton A. Crooks50Kensington Scarlet whiteKensington OvalP.Wood65Port Adelaide MagnetaGlanville Hall EstateW. Fletcher85South Adelaide Navy Blue WhiteSouth Terrace, AdelaideG.D.Kennedy85South Park Light Blue WhiteSouth Park Lands, AdelaideJ.H.Sinclair56Victorian Orange BlackMontefiore Hill, North AdelaideG.E.Downs76Woodville Dark Blue WoodvilleJ.R.Osborne

Premiership Season

Round 1

FOOTBALL. — ADELAIDES V. BANKERS will be played on the Old Adelaide Ground, near the Adelaide Bridge, Tomorrow (Saturday), May 5. Play will commence at 2.30 sharp. Adelaides in colored, Bankers in white jerseys.

Teams for the first games played on 12 May were advertised on the day as follows: Football matches will be played this afternoon between the Kensington and Port Adelaide clubs on the Kensington Oval, and Adelaide v. Bankers on the Adelaide ground, North Park Lands. A color match will also be played on the grounds of the South Park Club. The names of the Adelaide Club players are Messrs. M. Acraman, F. A. Bleechmore, G. Butterworth, W. Cate, Canaway, W. E. Dalton, A.Fesenmeyer, H. and C. Hughes, Morgan, Poole, A. and D. C.Scott, R. N.Twopeny, Wyatt, and Jas, Jno., and E. B. Young.

The players in the match between the Port Adelaide and Kensington Clubs are:— Port Adelaide — Messrs. E. Ede, W. Fletcher, J, S. Hawkes, W. Kelly, A. LeMessurier, J. A. Rann, H. Fletcher, J. Sidoli, A. Pickhaver, T. Wildrew, H. Dewar, T. Prideaux, F.Dewar, A. Dewar, F. A. Colman, T. Smith, D.Kettie, Et. LeMessurier, A. Wald, and Ed. LeMessurier, with W. Bennett, T. C. Neill, and W. Pyne, as emergency men. Kensington — Messrs. E.Woods, J. Woods, H. Goode, W. Day, F. Day, A. Frew, T. Burton, F. G. Stanton, P. Wood, C.A. Patterson, W. Gwynne, H. Muirhead, T.Pope, H. Stanton, A. Harrison, B. Hall, A. M. Hargrave, and Moulden, with C. T. Hargrave, H. W. Hargrave, J. Thomas, and T. James, as emergency men.

12 May - South Park played an internal colour match (Blue vs White) on South Park Lands.https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/159451057

Round 2 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/197700680

Round 3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/208185049

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/208185592

Round 7 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/40779665

Round 8 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/208185898

Round 9

Round 10

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Round 11

Round 12

Round 13 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/197702941

Round 14 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/33751936

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Round 19 (Postponed) FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION MATCHES for SATURDAY, 22 September. At Montefiore — Victorian v. South Adelaide. At South Park— Port v. South Park Football. — Two Association matches are announced for today one between the Port Adelaide and South Park Clubs on the ground of the latter, and the other between the Victorian and South Adelaide Clubs at Montefiore Hill. The latter match will decide the question of the championship of the season, and will, it is to be hoped, be largely attended, as a hat is to be passed round at half-time for the benefit of the sufferers by the Indian famine.

In consequence of the inclement weather on Saturday, 22 September, the football matches which were to have been played between the South Adelaide and Victorian Clubs and the Port Adelaide and South Park Clubs were postponed.

Round 19

Earlier in the season the teams played a scoreless drew at South's home ground. Victorians had only lost one game which was against Port Adelaide. South Adelaide was widely regarded as the best club in the competition during the course of the season. However, their lossless streak ended in the final game of the season. South Adelaide lost to Victorian, giving the two clubs an equal record of only losing one game.

Summary of matches Metro Clubs vs Country Clubs Thursday 24 May (Public Holiday) Adelaide, 4 goals defeated Kapunda 2 goals at Kapunda (An oval ball was used). Woodville 1 goal defeated Gawler 0 at Gawler. Woodville Team - Woodville team : J. R. Osborne, C.Formby, A. Formby, F. Terrell, C. Doran, J.Atkins, W. Terrell, Kauffmann, S. McPherson, Bennett, Reeves, Dennis, A. Quin, T. Letchford, J. Clark, Jones, A. Young, J. Darby, Nash, T. Bickers, H. Page, and A. Terrell.https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/208184995

Wednesday 21 June (Public Holiday) - Adelaide 1 goal drew with Gawler 1. Crowd 450 at Gawler

Monday 6 August Adelaide (colours Red and Black) 3 goals defeated Kapunda (Colour Blue) 2 goals at South Adelaide's Ground

Summary of other Matches Monday 6 August South Australians 3 goals defeated Victorians 1 goal. Played at Exhibition Ground. (Crowd 500 + 200 non paying)

Intercolonial Association Matches The proposed inaugural inter-colonial match between Associations was cancelled because the venue owners Melbourne University refused to allow admission fees to be charged. The match was then proposed to be moved to the Civil Service Cricket Ground, located at Flinders Park (near the current site of Rod Laver Arena). However, a suitable date could not be agreed upon as the SAFA wanted July 14 and the VFA July 21 therefore the match was cancelled.https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/143268313

Saturday 11 August Melbourne Football Club 1 goal defeated Victorian 0. Crowd: 2000 at Exhibition Grounds, Adelaide Monday 13 August Melbourne Football Club, 5 goals defeated South Australian Combined Team, 0. Crowd: 1000 at Exhibition Grounds, Adelaide The combined team comprised players selected from the following local Clubs: Victorians, G. Downs (Captain of the South Australian combatants), C. Warren, H.Barry, Knill, Kingsford, W. Lanjmey, H. Allen, and J. Sharp; Ports, T. Smith, A. LeMessurier, Fletcher, W. Frideaux, and Tysack; Woodvilles, T. Beeves, Letchford, G. Giffen, Aitken, and J. R. Osborne; South Parks, J. M. Sinclair and Cresswell.

Saturday 18 August - St Kilda Football Club 5 goals, defeated Adelaide 2 goals. Crowd 3500 at Adelaide Oval Monday 20 August - St Kilda Football Club 7 goals defeated South Australians 2 goals at Adelaide Oval.

Ladder It was declared and would be deemed joint Champion Club (premiers). which was also acknowledged by South Adelaide at their Annual Dinner on evening of Tuesday 2 October.

1877 SAFA Ladder TEAM P W L D PF PA PTS Adj Pts 1 (P) 13 10 1 2 22 1 22 28.77 1 Victorian (P) 14 10 1 3 30 5 23 27.93 3 Adelaide 17 11 3 3 31 13 25 25.00 4 15 9 4 2 23 13 20 22.67 5 Woodville 16 5 9 2 14 18 12 12.75 6 South Park 17 5 10 2 16 23 12 12.00 7 15 3 10 2 12 43 8 9.07 8 Bankers 15 0 15 0 4 36 0 0.00 Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, Adj Pts = Points adjusted for match ratio, (P) = Premiers

Note: Woodville were ranked above South Park on head-to-head record (2-1). Two out of their five wins were a result of forfeits by Bankers. It was reported at the end of the season that Bankers had forfeited 6 out of their 15 games. (Adelaide, Port Adelaide, South Adelaide, Kensington 1 each, and Woodville 2)

finished the season with eight more goals but a slightly inferior record than , but one should consider that played the Bankers twice whereas did not (their only scheduled match, in Round 6, was a forfeit when the Bankers could only muster 13 players). Further, while Adelaide finished with one more win than the other two clubs, they played 17 games to 13 and 14 respectively.

Top 4 Head to Head Results

Closing Matches Victorian Football Club closed their season on Saturday 13 October with a Ladies Bag Match played below Montefiore Hill.https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/207577013

See also

References

External links