140 years ago there was a revolution in the game of Australian football. The formation of the South Australian and Victorian Football Associations brought about a dramatic and wide reaching change in the conditions, attitudes and operations of the Australian game forever.
1877 was a monumental year in Australian football. After many seasons of club organised matches in South Australia and Victoria, the new season heralded matches that were played with consistent rules and under the management of an Association of clubs for the first time.
The prelude to the 1877 season
The Conditions
At the commencement of the 1877 season In South Australia and Victoria the game had become more popular than ever as the number of clubs and players were dramatically increasing.
In 1876 the game of football in South Australia developed incredible support, even though it was still in its formative years. Years of experimentation had produced marvellous entertainment. The major achievement for the development of the game was the adoption of agreed rules by the clubs in Adelaide. Laws of the Game were adopted at a meeting of members of various clubs, held at the Prince Alfred Hotel, Adelaide, on 20th July, 1876. The committee responsible for securing the adoption of agreed and common rules were: Messrs. Alexander Crooks, Tom Letchford, Charles Kingston, Joe Osborn and Charles Perkins.
Leading Adelaide clubs made another set of rule changes, which removed the distinctive goalposts and the restriction on the distance that players were allowed to run with the ball.
The confusion with two different sets of rules (Adelaide and Kensington) had seen the game flounder in the previous seasons, with disputes between participants common. Old Adelaide, Kensington and rules both had their supporters.
In South Australia the situation was dire with the major clubs playing games under different rules. It had a dramatic disabling effect on the organisation and staging of matches between clubs. The Adelaide Football Club refused to play under the Kensington Club’s code of rules and had gone into lapse over the issue. Port Adelaide swung between playing against Adelaide under its rules and Kensington under its rules, which created great confusion and limitations on the play of its players.
In Victoria there were agreed rules, but the interpretation and application of them caused disputes between the clubs. The determination of the 1876 premiership between Carlton and Melbourne was a cause of huge controversy, because there was disagreement as to how an umpire’s decision impacted on the game and there was no opportunity to dispute the outome.
The decision to form Associations gave the game great impetus both immediately and in its prospects for the future.
The attitudes
Prior to the formation of the associations in Adelaide and Melbourne, clubs were independent bodies answerable to no one but themselves, in both the way they played the game and who they would agree to contest matches.
With the formation of the Associations, clubs had to change their attitude, to one in which they had to abide by decisions made by the controlling body, to continue their participation.
This certainly did not mean the end of club disputes, but as in the case with Barwon and Geelong who refused to play each other and Adelaide who had previously refused to play matches against Kensington the formation of the Association impacted on their decision making in such matters.
At the end of the 1877 season there would have been plenty of satisfaction amongst the football community, as football clearly took its place as a popular sport in the South Australian colony because of the success of the SAFA. The season demonstrated that football could have a future as the great national game, with the first intercolonial matches.
The formation of the SAFA improved the game, significantly from its rough and ready situation, where there were a number of disputes due to different rules for the matches played. A uniform approach to football was achieved, as the members achieved a common set of playing rules, based on those used in Melbourne. The new rules allowed all men with various talents to use them and the old feature of play, where a few men, possessed of great physical attributes, had matters all their own way, was replaced with a far greater range of expertise required throughout a team, with each member making a unique contribution to the team’s performance. This created a much more common sense of achievement from all members. The running men of the team played a role, as did the heavy men with their strength, youngsters had a chance to dodge and elude opponents and the placed men each had particular requirements of judgement and positioning necessary for the team.
The adoption of a common and new set of rules in itself had a great deal to do with the massively increased popularity of the game from the previous season and the attendance of respectable citizens was considered an important feature. The games of 1876 had 50/60 spectators and this was transformed into hundreds for the matches of 1877 and even thousands for the intercolonial matches and always included a number of ladies. The sport of football was acknowledged as worthy of the patronage of every citizen and a number of prominent supporters of the game served to boost the acceptance of the sport in Adelaide society’s ruling class.
Over fifty matches were conducted between the eight member clubs during the season and it was predicted that football would overtake cricket as the most popular sport, given the enormous increase in attendances that occurred.
The operations
Most immediately the Association created the basis for intercolonial matches to be held which was a richly enticing prospect for the young game in the colonies. This held the allure of great status and development of the game. Unfortunately the two Associations could not come to an agreement and it would be another two seasons for this to eventuate. In 1877 the innovation of intercolonial football matches was achieved through the initiatives of the clubs.
The commencement of organised interclub competition in South Australia, through the formation of the South Australian Football Association (SAFA) in April, facilitated the first managed and structured football season in the growing young colony and this positive initiative resulted in a quantum leap in the development of the sport. The historic season gave the game much more impetus than it ever had before and during the season the game progressed rapidly and uninterruptedly.
The events of the 1877 season reflected the massive changes in the game
The Formation of the Associations
The Register newspaper in its preview of the South Australian Football season, on Monday April 9, suggested that the first step for the advancement of football in the colony should be the formation of an association, along the same lines as the South Australian Cricket Association (SACA). Club meetings, in and around Adelaide, brought a significant influx of new members and indicated a strong groundswell of support for an organisation of football through an association of clubs.
On April 16 a letter written by “Etonian” was published in the Register newspaper that strongly urged the amalgamation of all clubs to form a football association. The reasons were laid out very clearly and the successful example of the impact on cricket through its association was referred to as another compelling reason. Just three days later an advertisement appeared in the Register newspaper.
The formation of the South Australian Football Association owed a great deal to the enthusiastic work of: George Kennedy, the highly experienced captain of the South Adelaide Football Club; Joseph Osborn, the captain of the Woodville Football Club and Nowell Twopeny, the young captain of the Adelaide Football Club (at just twenty years of age). After some initial consultation, they decided to call a meeting on April 19, to create an association of clubs. The three men had the opinion that there would be many benefits arising from membership of and involvement in a formal organisation, which would undertake executive duties in relation to football, its rules of play and also to manage general administrative matters.
On Friday April 20 a notice was placed in the Register newspaper by Kennedy, as temporary honorary secretary, to advertise that a meeting of two delegates from each of the football clubs in the South Australian colony, would be held for the purpose of forming a code of rules to be observed by all clubs that made the decision to join the association.
The South Australian Football Association came into operation on Monday April 30, when a meeting of two delegates from each football club in the colony was held at the Prince Alfred Hotel on King William Street in Adelaide. The rules of the new association were formed and agreed to at the meeting.
The Victorian Football Association (VFA) was established on 17 May 1877. The formation of the South Australian Football Association (SAFA) on April 30, 1877, had helped create the impetus for the meeting of Victorian clubs, which formed the VFA.
The Australasian’s football reporter, Peter Pindar in his end of season review stated that the first important event of the season was the establishment of the Victorian Football Association, which was composed of two delegates from each of the senior clubs. The new body had responsibility for the promotion and extension of football throughout the colony, was to have control of all intercolonial matches and to adjudicate upon and supervise all matters connected with the game. As opposed to the situation in Adelaide, The clubs still organised their own program of matches through the means of a preseason meeting of the club secretaries.
Intercolonial Matches
The expectations of an intercolonial match between South Australia and Victoria were unfortunately not fulfilled. A match with Victoria was instigated by the SAFA in May, with a letter sent to the Victorian Football Association (VFA). In anticipation of a positive response, an association team was selected on Monday June 4. Victorian newspaper reports indicated that it was likely to agree to a July 14 date, but, owing to difficulties, there appeared little chance of the match being held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and an alternative venue was sought.
The intended match fell through due to communication issues, which included a lack of a reply from the VFA to a letter and two subsequent telegrams from the SAFA. One of them requested an urgent reply. Finally the answer from the VFA to SAFA secretary Nowell Twopeny’s telegram stated: “Can give no definite answer until next week owing to ground obstacle.”
The conduct of the VFA in this matter was considered a gross act of incivility in South Australia. The situation in Melbourne, was that the University of Melbourne Council refused to allow a charge for admission to a match on the Carlton ground and consequently the costs of the match would have to be raised by private subscription.
The VFA, when it finally replied, stated that it would later inform the SAFA, if it could raise sufficient funds to stage the match. It then confirmed the date for the match as July 21. The SAFA meeting held on Tuesday July 3 had already resolved that the secretary write to the VFA stating that it would not play a match in the current season. It was further resolved by the SAFA to play two Association matches on August 6 and on September 22 between South Australian born players and Victorians resident in South Australia, with teams selected by an association committee and that the matches be played for the benefit of the Adelaide Hospital.
In the interim the VFA supported Carlton’s trip to Sydney where the Blues played two games against the local club Waratah; the first with rugby rules and the second with Victorian rules.
June 23 Waratah 2 defeated Carlton 0 Albert Ground (rugby rules)
June 25 Carlton 6 defeated Waratah 0 Albert Ground
The Adelaide Football Club created an enormous surprise, when it announced it resolved to organise a visit from a Melbourne Football Club. The club applied to the South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) for the use of the Adelaide Oval and the Saint Kilda club accepted the challenge to play two matches in Adelaide in August. Saint Kilda played the first match against Adelaide and the second against a team of South Australian born players.
The Victorian Club took the honour for the first Adelaide Club to host a Victorian Club, however, when it invited the Melbourne Football Club, one of the premier clubs in Melbourne. There was a large amount of criticism that the Victorian Club’s approach was perceived as more concerned about commerce than promoting the game of football, (for which the Adelaide Club had gained great credit.) In the Licensed Victuallers Gazette and Sporting Chronicle newspaper, negative comments were made about the arrangements made by the Victorian Club to bring the Melbourne Football club, because Adelaide had already made arrangements with Saint Kilda and even though the SACA committee had promised Twopeny the use of the Adelaide oval on August 18, the Victorian club endeavoured to influence the SACA committee to allow the use of its oval before Adelaide.
Charles Kingston a member of the South Adelaide Football Club, publicly criticised the Victorian Club in a newspaper letter, in which he described its intercolonial matches as a commercial venture to bring money to the pockets of the club, or perhaps even an enterprising individual, who arranged the match.
Kingston indicated in his letter that the club or individual had abandoned the courtesies generally observed within the SAFA, which had been formed to foster the development of the sport. He criticised the Victorian club for setting up the match after Adelaide had commenced negotiations for its intercolonial matches, for scheduling the match before Adelaide’s and attempting to access the Adelaide Oval.
Kingston expressed the view that Victorians had then secured the Exhibition ground to “Take the sails out of the Adelaide Club’s enterprise.” He viewed a match played as speculation, a highly unwelcome innovation in the football community that should not be tolerated by the association.
He proposed that anyone who had the best interests of the game at heart would not organise a match where the question of gate money was uppermost in the mind of the organisers. Kingston described the match as the thin end of the wedge to the movement of professionalism, as had developed in cricket.
Kingston asked that the press and public put a stop to the match. Kingston’s club, South Adelaide decided that no members of its club would play for the combined team against Melbourne. Some bad feeling occurred between the Adelaide and Victorian clubs over the issue and both clubs withdrew men who were selected in combined teams.
Melbourne was the first team to arrive in Adelaide, having left Melbourne on Tuesday August 7. The visiting party was met at Glenelg by the patron of the Victorian Club and the vice president, secretary and committee and was taken by Hill and Co. coaches to their accommodation at the Imperial Hotel in Adelaide’s centre.
The Melbourne players had practice on the Adelaide ground on Thursday afternoon, in preparation for its first match. Melbourne was able to win the match on Saturday August 11 against Victorians and won again on Monday August 13 against a combined team.
On Monday evening a dinner was held for the visitors by the Victorian club at the Imperial Hotel, King William Street, with about 60 men present and the Patron of the Victorian Club Mr. Pratt in the chair. The president stated that although some of the ruling spirit of some football clubs and a portion of the press had tried to upset the arrangements, the matches had overcome all obstacles. George Downs, the Victorian’s captain, gave a toast to the success of the Melbourne Football Club and acknowledged the courtesy of its players and the fine exhibition of football they gave. In response, the Melbourne captain, Mr Byrne gave a toast to the success of the Victorian Football Club, in which he spoke of the hospitality and courtesy his men had received in Adelaide and that it was a great honour to be a member of the first team to play an intercolonial match in Adelaide. The team left from Port Adelaide on the Tuesday afternoon steamer “South Australian” to return to Melbourne.
The intercolonial matches highlighted very strong interest in football in the colony and some differences in the style of play of the Victorian teams to that of the local clubs. In South Australia, shepherding was not used to any great extent and it was common to see two or three players from the same team attempting to mark a high ball in competition with each other and consequently spoil each other’s efforts.
The results of the matches showed better results by club teams than combined teams. There was some media comment in the Licensed Victuallers’ Gazette and Sporting Chronicle, that the combination teams were not as effective without any practice together and that in both matches, the teams were not properly represented. The Melbourne match saw four of the clubs not represented and against Saint Kilda the South Australian born requirement prevented selection of several of the best players in South Australia.
On May 21st the South Australian Advertiser newspaper reported that it understood negotiations had been opened with the SAFA by one of the Melbourne Clubs to have a visit to Melbourne by a South Australian team. A sum of money was guaranteed by this Melbourne club to cover the necessary expenses. It much later eventuated that South Adelaide was invited by Carlton to visit Melbourne for matches. Early in September however the Carlton committee advised South Adelaide that it was unable to arrange a match in consequence of the Melbourne University Senate refusing to allow football to be played on its reserve.
August 11 Exhibition Ground Melbourne 1 defeated Victorian 0 August 13 Exhibition Ground Melbourne 5 defeated Combined South Australia 0 August 18 Adelaide oval Saint Kilda 5 defeated Adelaide 2 August 20 Adelaide Oval Saint Kilda 7 defeated SA Natives 2
The rules revised
There was some criticism of the Association for somewhat faulty working arrangements and not ensuring the administration of some of its rules during the season, especially:
Rule 1V- no person would be able to play with more than one club during the season, unless it had the consent of the committee.
Rule IX- before the commencement of the game each team was to appoint a goal umpire.
Rule V- two kick off posts were to be erected as a distance of 20 yards on each side of the goal posts.
The action of the Association committee was criticised by a member of the SAFA who wrote to the South Australian Advertiser newspaper on October 6 to protest its decision made for the September match between Victorian and South Park.
He stated that a group had set aside the Association rules, which had been confirmed in the May general meeting to make its decision. Rule 10 stated that no rule or playing rule of the association could be altered except at a general or special meeting of the association. Rule 11 stated that the decision of the umpire shall in every case be final with any club disputing the decision losing the match.
In his view the Association meeting that decided the disputed game as a draw was not a general or special meeting. The writer stated that the umpire who made the decision was a member of the Victorian club and was therefore more likely to give a decision in favour of his own club rather than the other way and if there was any doubt in his mind on being appealed to, he gave a goal in favour of the Victorians.
Not until the season closed did the Association take it upon itself to revoke his decision. A similar incident occurred in the South Adelaide and Victorian match when the umpire for South Adelaide on appeal awarded a no goal to Victorians and that was very much to the surprise of the spectators and many of the players, but the Victorian players treated the decision with respect.
The writer explained, that had they disputed the goal they could have under the resolution passed on Friday, claimed a win of two goals instead of one. The writer hoped the committee would rescind the resolution as it would place itself in a better opinion of the whole football Association.
The Premiership
The premiership list and games used to calculate the premiership were an innovation in Adelaide.
Prior to the SAFA, the matter of who was the best team for the year was something that was left to the opinion of supporters and newspaper reporters, because matches had been conducted by individual clubs in negotiation with each other. Players moved freely between clubs, often playing with different teams in the same season. This all changed with the organisation of the SAFA.
The honour of occupying first position in the inaugural Association season was shared between the South Adelaide and Victorian Clubs. South played every team in the Association twice, apart from receiving a forfeit against Bankers and had only one goal scored against it. It lost one match to Victorian. South scored eight less goals than Victorian and nine less than Adelaide, but both of these clubs scored 12 and 13 goals respectively from wins against Bankers, by far the weakest team in the competition.
Victorian also claimed first position, losing only once to Port Adelaide and defeated South Adelaide in the final match of the season. Adelaide finished third with a strong winning record over the season. The top three teams each showed out in particular facets of the game. South Adelaide was the only team that consistently shepherded well. Victorians shone out with splendid little marking and Adelaide had the feature of working the ball first down the side of the ground and then up to its goalsneaks.
The Carlton Football Club was recognised as the premier club in the inaugural VFA season. Melbourne finished second. The order of the other teams was Hotham, Albert Park, Saint Kilda, Barwon and Geelong. This is as idenitified in “the Australian Game of Football Since 1858.”
The Clubs
In Adelaide the inaugural SAFA clubs were Adelaide (1860) South Adelaide (1875), Victorian (1873), Port Adelaide (1870), Kensington and Woodville. They were joined by new clubs South Park and Bankers
The inaugural VFA clubs were Carlton, Melbourne, Hotham, Albert Park, Saint Kilda, Barwon and Geelong. This is as idenitified in “the Australian Game of Football Since 1858.”
The Players
The best players for the season in Adelaide were nominated by the Australian Star newspaper and grouped into categories of class. Class 1 players were: Morley Acraman and F Stephens (Adelaide), Julian Woods (Kensington), Tom Smith (Port Adelaide), William Dedman, Kirk Kennedy, Sam Wallace and Arney Mehrtens (South Adelaide), James Sinclair (South Park) and Harry Barry and G Kingsford (Victorians).
Class 2 players were identified as: John Acraman, F Bleechmore, Charles Hughes and Nowell Twopenny (Adelaide), Hall, Harrison and Ted Woods (Kensington), Tom Prideaux and Sam Tyzack (Port Adelaide), R Absalom, Tom Blinman and Edward Colbey (South Adelaide), Hurtle Allen and George Downs (Victorians) and J Atkins and George Giffen (Woodville).
Class 3 players were: Edwin Colton (Bankers), Peter Wood (Kensington), the Le Messurier brothers (Port Adelaide), Green (South Adelaide), John Creswell, Aldam Pettinger and SM Turner (South Park), William Knill and Charles Warren (Victorians) and Alf Formby and Joe Osborn (Woodville).
Class 4 players were: H Wyatt and Harry Burnett (Adelaide), Alexander Crooks (Bankers), Clark and Day (Kensington), William Fletcher and Tom Tulloch (Port Adelaide), Jack Coward (South Park), C Curtis, W Jones and Ben Mehrtens (South Adelaide), William Osborne (Victorians), Charles Formby, T Reeves and A Young (Woodville).
Peter Pindar in his end of season review stated that the best players in the VFA game were necessarily the followers as they were in the play by far the most. “To begin at the most deserving, there can be no two opinions regarding which are the men who bear the brunt of the battle. These are the followers. So I shall put down Traynor, Longden, McMichael, and Pollock for first mention as fine, hard, honest untiring players, men who play for the ball and rarely miss it a quartette one of which does more real work in a match than any other two, and I may just add that the first three are so equal in point of merit that if anyone objects to the order in which they are placed he can just turn them about and read them that way.”
Peter Pindar’s complete list of best players in the Association was in The Australasian newspaper at the end of the season reported the best players for the season as follows: The best followers were: Joe Traynor (Hotham), E. Longden (Melbourne), Alf McMichael (Carlton) and Joe Pollock (Albert Park). The best backs were: Jim McKie (Melbourne), S. Lamrock (Melbourne), William Goer (Carlton), George Coulthard (Carlton), James Robertson (Hotham), W. Dellitt (Hotham), Charles Thomas (Albert Park), Gilbert Major (Albert Park), Jim Terry (St Kilda) and H. Oakley (St Kilda). The best half backs were: Robert Sillett (Melbourne), James Gardiner (Hotham) and Thomas Nash (Albert Park). The best centre forwards were: Fred Baker (Melbourne), George McGill (Carlton) and George Bruce (Hotham). The best wings were: Paddy Gunn (Carlton), Barnie Murphy (Carlton), W. Moffatt (Melbourne), James McDonald (Melbourne), J. Lowe (Albert Park), G. O’Neill (Albert Park), A. Sutcliffe (Hotham) and E. Slatter (Hotham). The best forwards were: Charles Baker (Melbourne), Loch Bracken (Carlton) and Owen Pierce (St Kilda).
The grounds
An important development during the first Victorian Association season was the use of two enclosed grounds. The Carlton ground was in splendid condition and the Melbourne ground was enclosed with picket fences.
Melbourne Melbourne Ground; Carlton Madeleine Street Reserve; Saint Kilda St Kilda Park; Albert Park Albert Park Oval; Hotham Royal Park; Barwon Communna-na-Feinne; Geelong Argyle Park and a match was played on the MCG
The issue of spectators encroaching onto the playing field and the management and control of football grounds was a hot topic during the season. The Argus July 9 article. The growth of this sport in popular estimation is shown by the large attendance of spectators at Saturday matches. To the interest taken by the public in football may all improvement in play-the substitution, for example, of skill for roughness, which by the end of the present season will be reduced to a minimum be directly traced. Now, however, that spectators muster in thousands, the players find them often a serious obstruction. None of the metropolitan clubs possess a ground which they can call their own. The Carlton Club, which has been deprived of the power to levy a charge at the portion of the University-reserve of which it has had the use for some time, and now almost of the right even to play there, reported on Saturday last to the novel plan of placing an offertory box at the gate, with very fair results. The money was needed to help the club to clear off the debt it had incurred in the erection of fences. By united action the metropolitan clubs might obtain the use of a suitable area in a central locality for important matches. The proceeds of a few contests would soon clear off the cost of improvements, and a fund might be formed to defray the expense of intercolonial matches. The portion of Yarra Pork occupied by the Melbourne ground is situated on a slope, and the times that the ball spends out of bounds must amount in the aggregate to half or three quarters of an hour every afternoon.”
In Adelaide the clubs grounds were: South Adelaide; South Park Lands, South Park; South Park Lands, Victorian; Foot of Montiefiore Hill, Port Adelaide; Glanville, Kensington; Kensington Park Oval, Adelaide; Old Adelaide Ground and Woodville; Woodville Ground.
For the first time the Adelaide Oval and Exhibition Ground were used for football matches when they were used for Intercolonial matches.
The ball
The VFA rule for the ball to be used shall be No. 2 Size (26in. in circumference).
The balls used in each colony were significantly different as noted when the first intercolonial match in Adelaide between Victorian and Melbourne clubs was played.
There was some excellent kicking from both teams. Melbourne was considerably the stronger team and play was one sided, as it had the ball near the Victorian’s goal for most of the match, but it failed to kick well from its marks as it was unaccustomed to the much larger no. 6 size ball instead of its usual no. 2 size ball.
The umpires
VFA rule 13. Before the commencement of a match each side shall appoint an umpire and they shall be the sole judges of goals and of cases of the ball going behind goal. A field umpire shall also be appointed who shall decide in all other matters, and may appeal to the goal umpire.
The umpires were often not named in match reports
Identified VFA umpires in 1877 were:
Games
2 D Thomas
1 T Power, T Wills, J Bottomley, A Cumming, Woollard and Canning
Identified SAFA umpires in 1877 were:
Games
6 T Tidswell
5 R Whitfield,
4 CF McAlister
2 R Smart, Henry Hughes, Walter Andrews
1 George Kennedy, A Quin, TA Caterer, Sam Tyzack, Charles Kingston*, H Edwards*, James Young, Lyons, William Dedman, Simpson, Charles Ashwin, TA Reeves, McClure, Charles Hughes, T Davidson, Ted Colbey, JA Atkins, Joseph Osborn, John Creswell
1877 Intercolonial Match umpires:
Games
2 George Kennedy
1 BJ Furnell, Henry Hughes
The Scores
Seven drawn games in Adelaide
June 9 Kensington Park Oval Kensington 0Adelaide 0
June 16 Old Adelaide Adelaide 1 Victorian1
June 23Glanville Port Adelaide 1 Woodville 1
June 30 South Parklands South Adelaide 0 Victorian 0
July 7 South Parklands Woodville 0 South Adelaide 0
August 4 South Parklands South Park 1 drew Kensington 1
September 15 South Parklands Victorian 0 draw South Park 0
Four drawn matches in Melbourne
Melbourne 1 1 drew with Hotham 0 1
Saint Kilda 1 1 drew with Albert Park 1 1
Barwon 0 1 drew with Albert Park 1 1
Melbourne Ground Carlton 2.5 2.7 drew with Melbourne 0.1 2. 2
Highest Scoring Games
SAFA
11 Woodville 8 defeated Kensington 3 Kensington July 21
9 Adelaide 9 defeated Bankers 0 Adelaide July 7
8 Adelaide 6 defeated Kensington 2 Adelaide Ground August 11
7 South Adelaide 7 defeated Kensington 0 Kensington Park Oval July 28
7 Victorian 7 defeated Bankers 0 Montefiore Hill June 23
6 Victorian 5 defeated Bankers 1 Montefiore Hill July 21
5 Adelaide 4 defeated Bankers 1 Old Adelaide May 12
5 Adelaide 3 defeated Port Adelaide 2 Old Adelaide Ground May 19
5 Kensington 4 defeated Bankers 1 Adelaide July 14
5 South Park 5 defeated Woodville 0 Woodville August 11
VFA
7 Carlton 7 defeated Saint Kilda 0 0
6 Melbourne 6.20 defeated St Kilda 0.2 Melbourne Ground
5 Carlton 5 defeated Hotham 0
5 Hotham 5.4 defeated Melbourne 0.13
5 Melbourne 4 defeated Saint Kilda 1
4 Carlton 4 defeated Melbourne 0 Madeline Street Reserve
4 Barwon 4 defeated Carlton 0
Biggest Winning Margins
SAFA
9 Adelaide 9 defeated Bankers 0 Adelaide July 7
7 South Adelaide 7 defeated Kensington 0 Kensington Park Oval July 28
7 Victorian 7 defeated Bankers 0 Montefiore Hill June 23
5 Woodville 8 defeated Kensington 3 Kensington July 21
5 South Park 5 defeated Woodville 0 Woodville August 11
VFA
7 Carlton 7 defeated Saint Kilda 0 0
6 Melbourne 6.20 defeated St Kilda 0.2 Melbourne Ground
5 Carlton 5 defeated Hotham 0
5 Hotham 5.4 defeated Melbourne 0.13
4 Carlton 4 defeated Melbourne 0 Madeline Street Reserve
4 Barwon 4 defeated Carlton 0
Highest Scores
SAFA
9 Adelaide 9 defeated Bankers 0 Adelaide July 7
8 Woodville 8 defeated Kensington 3 Kensington July 21
7 South Adelaide 7 defeated Kensington 0 Kensington Park Oval July 28
7 Victorian 7 defeated Bankers 0 Montefiore Hill June 23
6 Adelaide 6 defeated Kensington 2 Adelaide Ground August 11
5 Victorian 5 defeated Bankers 1 Montefiore Hill July 21
5 South Park 5 defeated Woodville 0 Woodville August 11
VFA
7 Carlton 7 defeated Saint Kilda 0 0
6 Melbourne 6.20 defeated St Kilda 0.2 Melbourne Ground
5 Carlton 5 defeated Hotham 0
5 Hotham 5.4 defeated Melbourne 0.13
4 Carlton 4 defeated Melbourne 0 Madeline Street Reserve
4 Barwon 4 defeated Carlton 0
Most Goals in a Match
SAFA
4 REN Twopeny, Adelaide v Bankers, Adelaide
3 A Le Messurier, Port Adelaide v Kensington, Glanville Ground
3 T Letchford, Woodville v Kensington, Kensington
3 M Acraman, Adelaide v Kensington, Adelaide Ground
VFA
5 W Bracken Carlton v Vic Railways, Madelaeine Street Reserve
5 Upton Geelong v Colac/Camperdown, Argyle Paddock
4 Boyd Barwon v Exselsior 23, Comunn-na-Feinne,
3 C Baker Melbourne v Saint Kilda, Saint Kilda
3 G Coulthard Carlton v Saint Kilda, Saint Kilda
The uniforms
In both colonies uniforms were described as: Colour(s) of jersey. Colour of knickerbockers, colour(s) of hose and colour(s) of cap.
The exception was Kensington who wore trousers
The publicity
There was extensive media coverage of the 1877 Football season provided by both daily and weekly newspapers, dedicated football publications presented by some notable football reporters.
In Adelaide the daily newspapers were The South Australian Advertiser and South Australian Register. Weeklies were Australian Star, Licenced Victuallers Sporting Chronicle, Adelaide Observer and South Australian Chronicle and Weekly Mail.
Reporters were: Centre-Forward for Licenced Victuallers Sporting Chronicle. Agag for Australian Star and Goalpost for Adelaide Observer
In Melbourne the daily newspapers were the Argus and the Age and the Geelong Advertiser.
Weeklies were The Australasian, the Leader and Weekly Times
Nomad was the football reporter for the Leader. Mark was the football reporter for the Weekly Times. Peter Pindar was probably the most notable, as the writer for the Australasian.
Dangers of the Game
A most tragic event occurred in the season with the death of young Bankers’ player Charles Poole on June 5th from the effects of injuries sustained in an association football match on May 19. Mr. Ward the city coroner did not receive information about his death and no inquest was held which might have ascertained the exact cause of the death.
The terribly sad incident created widespread grief in the football community and also served to deepen anti game sentiment, due to its roughness and danger. Newspapers in Adelaide featured a number of anti football letters which included arguments that the majority of players were physically unfit for such exhaustive participation in the game, violent exercise created chances of awkward and violent falls and excessive perspiration caused by exertion, followed by rest could cause chills to the lungs. The newspaper debate also brought forward the game’s good qualities of courage, coolness, control over temper, discipline and obedience.
The death had enormous impact on the season itself and the Kensington Club at its meeting on Thursday June 7th discussed the circumstances surrounding the incident. Mr Bayfield Moulden the association delegate, indicated his intention to have the rule as to holding changed to a free kick in the event of the player carrying the ball more than a limited number of yards.
He stated that the rule was the cause of many quarrels on the football field and he had the view that it should be changed. The rule in place was to the effect that when a player holding the ball was collared he should let the ball go out of his hands. In the tragic incident, Mr Poole did not do so and the other players in attempting to kick the ball inflicted an injury that was fatal. The kick that helped cause the death of Mr Poole would probably not have occurred if he had kept to the rules.
Issues about rough play and the danger of the game were raised during the season with letters published about the death of the Bankers’ player Charles Poole in Adelaide and measures that could be taken with the rules to make the game safer.
Argus June 13 “A death from football has excited a good deal of attention of late, and an effort has been made to bring public opinion to bear to make the game less dangerous. Two or three weeks ago the Bankers and South Park Clubs were playing a match. Among the players was a young bank clerk named Poole, who, it appeared, held the ball after he had been collared. This being contrary to rule, the other players attempted to kick it while it was in his hands. They failed in this, and accidentally kicked Poole instead, inflicting such injuries upon him as to eventuate in his death. Of course no one is more sorry for the untoward event than the members of the football clubs, but they say it is impossible to provide that accidents shall never happen. They contend that fewer deaths are caused by football than by cricket, and that to eliminate the spice of danger which has always been associated with it would be to destroy the game altogether. Many poisons, however, think that the laws might be so modified as to lender injury to life and limb less liable than at present. A fair team has been selected for the intercolonial match, which is to take place in Melbourne in July, and the players are vigorously practising, determined to make the contest as hot as possible for our men.”
A letter to the editor titled a Football Grievance published in the Argus on September 10 “Sir,-During the present season several deaths and a large number of accidents have taken place in different football matches throughout the Australian colonies. Under these circumstances it would be desirable to adopt any modification of the rules which would tend to ensure the better safety of the players, and prevent a manly sport from degenerating into a pugilistic encounter. I beg, therefore, to call your attention to one most objectionable practice which prevails in the game as played in Victoria, namely, that of pushing over a player when he is in the air jumping to secure a mark. It is quite clear that a person in such a position is powerless to help himself, and might be most seriously hurt by means of a fall caused by the clumsy blow of some player behind him. The Victorian Football Association should put a stop to this practice, for it promotes neither pluck nor play, and, no doubt, has produced, and will produce, dangerous accidents. Trusting that I may not appeal in vain for your aid in endeavouring to promote this. I refoim in the game – JL Cuthbertson September 7.”
Conclusion
My latest publication Football in Australia 140 Years Ago: 1877 fully documents the events of this momentous season, with every match and every player described in detail.
I have styled and formatted the book consistent with the presentation of my 1877 to 1906 South Australian football season reports. There is an introduction, which provides a description of the main features and events of the season. A profile of the clubs provides information about the meetings, officials and major events of the season. All matches of the season are presented in chronological order and include descriptions of the play, as documented in newspaper reports, together with my summary. Player match records for the season are presented in a table format, which provides match by match details, including players, scores, venue, date and teams. Finally, I have included a description for each known player for the season, with their notable events and circumstances.
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