Victorian Football Association

Season 1878

 

Season Notes

 

Senior clubs

Senior metropolitan clubs providing delegates to the Association in 1878 were:

== Albert Park

== Carlton

== Essendon (first season as a Senior club)

== Hotham

== Melbourne

== St Kilda

== West Melbourne (first season as a Senior club)

 

Provincial clubs

Senior provincial clubs providing delegates to the Association in 1878 were:

== Ballarat

== Barwon (this was to be their last season)

== Geelong

 

Games included

Only games not played at odds between the affiliated senior Metropolitan clubs and Provincial clubs are listed here.

These are the games that effectively decided the Premiership and are the ones used in calculations of the Final Ladder.

It should be noted the VFA did not officially endorse a system of ranking the clubs until the 1888 season.

 

Rules governing the game in 1878

Games were played in two halves. Four quarters were introduced commencing with the 1886 season.

Behinds were infrequently reported in match reports during 1878, so often only goal totals are listed in results below.

Behinds did not count towards the final score or in determining the result of matches until 1897.

 

 

Results

 

 

Round 1

 

24 May 1878

Geelong

-

2

Venue: Corio Oval

 

West Melbourne

-

0

Result: Geelong won by 2 goals

 

 

 

 

 

24 May 1878

Ballarat

2

5

Venue: Ballarat Cricket Ground

 

Melbourne

1

1

Result: Ballarat won by 4 goals

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Round 2

 

25 May 1878

Carlton

-

3

Venue: EMCG

 

Essendon

-

0

Result: Carlton won by 3 goals

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Round 3

 

1 June 1878

Albert Park

-

1

Venue: South Melbourne; Attendance: 1000

 

Carlton

-

3

Result: Carlton won by 2 goals

 

 

 

 

 

1 June 1878

Melbourne

0

0

Venue: MCG; Attendance: Considerable

 

Hotham

0

3

Result: Hotham won by 3 goals

 

 

Round 4

 

8 June 1878

Melbourne

0

2

Venue: MCG; Attendance: 5000

 

Carlton

0

1

Result: Melbourne won by 1 goal

The Argus noted the ground was heavy from recent rains. Also: 'The game was not commenced until a quarter part 3 o'clock owing to the inexcusable unpunctuality of seven or eight of the Melbourne team.'

8 June 1878

St Kilda

-

0

Venue: St Kilda

 

Essendon

-

0

Result: DRAW

 

 

 

 

 

8 June 1878

Albert Park

0

0

Venue: South Melbourne; Attendance: 1000

 

Hotham

1

1

Result: Hotham won by 1 goal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Round 5

 

15 June 1878

West Melbourne

0

1

Venue: Royal Park

 

Essendon

2

2

Result: Essendon won by 1 goal

 

 

 

 

 

15 June 1878

Albert Park

1

1

Venue: South Melbourne; Attendance: 1500

 

Melbourne

1

1

Result: DRAW

The Age: 'The ground, on account of recent rains, was quite unfit for play...'

15 June 1878

Carlton

4

5

Venue: Richmond Paddock (lower end)

 

St Kilda

0

0

Result: Carlton won by 5 goals

Original venue EMCG too wet, so play adjourned to lower end of Richmond paddock. The ground was very wet, and the numerous trees prevented good play being shown.

 

 

Round 6

 

22 June 1878

Carlton

1-6

2-9

Venue: MCG; Attendance: 5000

 

Hotham

0-1

1-4

Result: Carlton won by 1 goal

Hotham's O'Brien kicked a goal from 60 yards out on an angle

22 June 1878

Albert Park

-

1

Venue: South Melbourne

 

St Kilda

-

1

Result: DRAW

 

 

 

 

 

22 June 1878

Melbourne

0

1

Venue: EMCG

 

West Melbourne

1

1

Result: DRAW

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Round 7

 

29 June 1878

Geelong

0

2

Venue: Corio Oval; Attendance: 2500

 

Barwon

1

1

Result: Geelong won by 1 goal

 

 

 

 

 

29 June 1878

Hotham

-

1

Venue: Royal Park

 

West Melbourne

-

0

Result: Hotham won by 1 goal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Round 8

 

6 July 1878

Essendon

1-6

1-8

Venue: Essendon

 

Albert Park

0-0

1-14

Result: DRAW

 

 

 

 

 

6 July 1878

St Kilda

0

1

Venue: St Kilda

 

Melbourne

0

0

Result: St Kilda won by 1 goal

 

 

 

 

 

6 July 1878

Carlton

2

3

Venue: EMCG; Attendance: 1000

 

West Melbourne

0

0

Result: Carlton won by 3 goals

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Round 9

 

13 July 1878

Carlton

1-

1-12

Venue: EMCG; Attendance: 7000

 

Melbourne

2-

3-5

Result: Melbourne won by 2 goals

 

 

 

 

 

13 July 1878

Albert Park

0

0

Venue: Albert Park

 

West Melbourne

0

0

Result: DRAW

 

 

 

 

 

13 July 1878

Ballarat

2

3

Venue: Saxon Paddock

 

Geelong

2

7

Result: Geelong won by 4 goals

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Round 10

 

20 July 1878

Hotham

0

0

Venue: Madeline Street Reserve; Attendance: Large

 

Albert Park

0

0

Result: DRAW

Inclement weather. Game commenced 3:45pm but called off after 15 minutes due to a severe storm and declared a draw.

20 July 1878

Essendon

0

0

Venue: Essendon

 

West Melbourne

0

0

Result: DRAW

 

 

 

 

 

20 July 1878

Carlton

1-5

2-16

Venue: EMCG; Attendance: 1000

 

Barwon

0-6

0-7

Result: Carlton won by 2 goals

Heavy rain fell throughout

 

 

Round 11

 

27 July 1878

Carlton

1-18

2-25

Venue: EMCG; Attendance: Fairly large

 

Albert Park

0-1

1-5

Result: Carlton won by 1 goal

 

 

 

 

 

27 July 1878

Melbourne

0

0

Venue: Melbourne Football Ground; Attendance: 2500

 

Essendon

1

1

Result: Essendon won by 1 goal

 

 

 

 

 

27 July 1878

Geelong

-

2

Venue: Argyle Ground

 

Hotham

-

1

Result: Geelong won by 1 goal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Round 12

 

3 August 1878

Melbourne

2-

5-

Venue: Melbourne Football Ground; Attendance: Large

 

Albert Park

0-0

0-2

Result: Melbourne won by 5 goals

 

 

 

 

 

3 August 1878

Geelong

-

0

Venue: Corio Oval; Attendance: 2000

 

Barwon

-

0

Result: DRAW

Geelong had a goal disallowed.

 

 

 

3 August 1878

Essendon

-

3

Venue: Essendon

 

St Kilda

-

0

Result: Essendon won by 3 goals

 

 

 

 

 

3 August 1878

Carlton

5

6

Venue: EMCG

 

Ballarat

0

1

Result: Carlton won by 5 goals

This fixture instead of Carlton vs Hotham, as Carlton still refused to play Hotham. Mr T.W.Wills acted as central umpire.

 

 

Round 13

 

10 August 1878

Essendon

1

1

Venue: Essendon; Attendance: Large

 

Carlton

2

3

Result: Carlton won by 2 goals

The law relating to the ball hitting the goal post was changed (at the VFA Meeting of 23 August 1878) as a result of a decision by the goal umpire in this game. The ball hit the goal post, and came back into play from where it was kicked cleanly between the posts by the Carlton player Henry and awarded as a goal. The rule was changed so that a ball hitting the goal post is counted as a behind.

10 August 1878

Melbourne

0-4

0-

Venue: EMCG; Attendance: 3000

 

Hotham

0-7

0-

Result: DRAW

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Round 14

 

17 August 1878

Hotham

0-

1-2

Venue: Madeline Street Reserve

 

West Melbourne

0-

0-8

Result: Hotham won by 1 goal

 

 

 

 

 

17 August 1878

Ballarat

1

2

Venue: Saxon Paddock

 

Albert Park

0

1

Result: Ballarat won by 1 goal

Albert Park walked off 15 minutes from the end after a dispute with the central umpire's decision. Ballarat was awarded the match.

 

 

Round 15

 

24 August 1878

West Melbourne

-

2-6

Venue: Royal Park

 

Albert Park

-

0-4

Result: West Melbourne won by 2 goals

 

 

 

 

 

24 August 1878

Melbourne

1-2

2-3

Venue: Melbourne Football Ground; Attendance: 8000

 

Carlton

0-3

0-14

Result: Melbourne won by 2 goals

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Round 16

 

31 August 1878

Hotham

-

0-

Venue: Madeline Street Reserve

 

Albert Park

-

1-2

Result: Albert Park won by 1 goal

 

 

 

 

 

31 August 1878

St Kilda

0-0

0-0

Venue: St Kilda

 

Carlton

4-

6-

Result: Carlton won by 6 goals

 

 

 

 

 

31 August 1878

Essendon

-

1

Venue: Essendon

 

Melbourne

-

1

Result: DRAW

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Round 17

 

7 September 1878

Melbourne

0-1

0-1

Venue: Melbourne Football Ground

 

Albert Park

0-1

0-5

Result: DRAW

 

 

 

 

 

7 September 1878

Hotham

-

1

Venue: Madeline Street Reserve

 

Barwon

-

1

Result: DRAW

 

 

 

 

 

7 September 1878

Geelong

5

9

Venue: Corio Oval

 

Ballarat

0

0

Result: Geelong won by 9 goals

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Round 18

 

14 September 1878

Geelong

3-

3-7

Venue: Corio Oval; Attendance: 2000

 

Carlton

0-0

1-3

Result: Geelong won by 2 goals

 

 

 

 

 

14 September 1878

Melbourne

0-1

0-3

Venue: Melbourne Football Ground

 

West Melbourne

3-5

3-5

Result: West Melbourne won by 3 goals

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Round 19

 

21 September 1878

Albert Park

1-8

1-8

Venue: Albert Park; Attendance: 1000

 

Essendon

0-0

0-3

Result: Albert Park won by 1 goal

 

 

 

 

 

21 September 1878

Melbourne

0-3

2-13

Venue: Melbourne Football Ground; Attendance: 6000

 

Hotham

1-3

1-5

Result: Melbourne won by 1 goal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Round 20

 

28 September 1878

Geelong

3-10

4-19

Venue: Corio Oval

 

Barwon

0-0

0-1

Result: Geelong won by 4 goals

The match ended in a 'very unseemly manner'. The Footballer Annual 1878 noted: 'At ten minutes before the proper time the ground was rushed by Barwon supporters, and the game was discontinued'.

28 September 1878

Melbourne

1-3

3-

Venue: Melbourne; Attendance: 10000

 

Carlton

1-17

1-

Result: Melbourne won by 2 goals

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Round 21

 

5 October 1878

Melbourne

1

1

Venue: Melbourne Football Ground; Attendance: Nearly 10000

 

Geelong

1

5

Result: Geelong won by 4 goals

This match was arranged as an extra fixture and was effectively a play-off for the premiership between what were regarded as the two leading teams of the season. (For Melbourne's claim to a top two position see the notes below the ladder). The crowd included 500 travelling spectators from Geelong.

 

 

Ladder

 

 

Team

P

W

L

D

F

A

Points

Proportional Points

%

1

Geelong

9

8

0

1

34

7

34

64.22

485.71

2

Melbourne

17

6

6

5

22

25

34

34.00

88.00

3

Carlton

15

10

5

0

39

18

40

45.33

216.67

4

Hotham

11

4

4

3

10

8

22

34.00

125.00

5

Essendon

10

3

3

4

9

10

20

34.00

90.00

6

West Melbourne

10

2

5

3

7

10

14

23.80

70.00

7

Albert Park

14

2

6

6

8

18

20

24.29

44.44

8

St Kilda

6

1

3

2

2

15

8

22.67

13.33

9

Ballarat

5

2

3

0

11

24

8

27.20

45.83

10

Barwon

5

0

3

2

2

9

4

13.60

22.22

 

Total

102

38

38

26

144

144

204

 

 

 

Notes:

Proportional Points system (officially used only from the 1888 VFA season onwards) has been used to rank teams, except Melbourne for reasons explained below.

- Melbourne has been placed ahead of Carlton based on a head-to-head record of four wins to nil.

------ Games between Melbourne and Carlton were still considered paramount based on the dominance of the two clubs over the past 10 seasons.

------ Consequently, despite losing five games to other clubs prior to their final game, Melbourne was still considered the leading metropolitan team and therefore entitled to a premiership play-off match with Geelong.

- Where two teams are virtually level (less than 4.00 points separate) on Proportional Points then rankings are decided by head-to-head results between teams:

------ Hotham and Essendon did not play. Therefore, Hotham are ranked above Essendon on percentage.

------ West Melbourne played Albert Park 2 times (W1 D1), therefore West Melbourne rank above Albert Park

------ West Melbourne did not play St Kilda

------ Albert Park played St Kilda once and drew. Albert Park should be ranked higher than St Kilda based on number of games played.

- Barwon, and Ballarat played too few games to attain a ranking.

- Rule requiring a minimum of 18 games to qualify for the Premiership not in force until 1888

- Behinds were only occasionally recorded during this season. Behinds did not count towards the final score or in determining the result of matches.

- The percentage column of goals for divided by goals against is included as an indication only.

 

 

1878 premiers: Geelong

 

 

About this document

Prepared and maintained by Andrew Robinson

Author: Andrew Robinson (contact: andrew at elitetograssroots dot net)
First created:
15 July 2012
Last updated: 5 November 2014

(C) Copyright Andrew Robinson
You are free to copy this document in whole or part provided that proper acknowledgement is given to the author. All rights reserved.

 

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