1897 VFA season

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1897 season
Teams	6
Premiers	Port Melbourne (1st premiership)
← 1896 1898 →

The 1897 Victorian Football Association season was the 21st season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won by the Port Melbourne Football Club, the first premiership in its history.

The 1897 season the VFA's first season as the second-tier senior football competition in Victoria. From 1877 until 1896, the VFA had been the top senior competition in the colony, but at the end of 1896, eight of the association's strongest clubs broke away, establishing the rival Victorian Football League, which immediately assumed the position as the highest level of competition.

Association membership

Through the 1890s, there had been several years of discontent amongst the Association clubs about the disparity between the stronger and weaker senior clubs. This discontent culminated on October 2, 1896, when eight of the thirteen clubs withdrew from the Association and established a rival senior competition, the Victorian Football League. The League clubs were: Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Fitzroy, Geelong, Melbourne, South Melbourne and St Kilda – clubs which had amongst them won all twenty of the Association premierships to date.^[1] The League became recognised as the highest level of senior competition in the colony of Victoria, and the Association became the second-tier senior competition, a position it has maintained since.

The establishment of the League left only five of the Association's existing senior clubs: Footscray, North Melbourne, Port Melbourne, Richmond and Williamstown. One junior club, Brunswick, was elevated to senior status to bring the numbers to six. The Argus reported in March that two other junior clubs would be elevated to bring numbers to eight, with Essendon District, Brighton, Hawksburn, Hawthorn or Geelong all cited as potential candidates,^[2] but this did not eventuate and the association size remained at six teams until 1899.^[3]

Upon its establishment, the League played under some slightly different rules to the Association: for example, the Association teams fielded eighteen players per team while the League continued to field twenty;^[3] and, the League introduced a system of finals while the Association premiership continued to be decided on the basis of rostered matches. However, both competitions adopted a new system of scoring which has since become the standard in Australian rules football: the awarding of six points for a goal and one point for a behind, with the result determined on total score instead of on goals.^[2]

Ladder

1897 VFA Ladder

TEAM

PTS

Port Melbourne (P)

1080

504

North Melbourne

770

681

Footscray

805

559

Williamstown

795

606

Brunswick

505

1111

Richmond

685

1091

Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, (P) = Premiers, PTS = Premiership points

Source^[3]

External links

References

↑ "New Football Association". The Argus (Melbourne, VIC). 3 October 1896. p. 10.
↑ 2.0 2.1 Observer (12 March 1897). "Next Winter's football". The Argus (Melbourne, VIC). p. 6.
↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Observer (13 September 1897). "Close of the Football Season". The Argus (Melbourne, VIC). p. 3.

v t e VFA/VFL seasons

VFA seasons	1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995

VFL seasons	1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

v t e Victorian Football League clubs

Current clubs	Bendigo Gold Box Hill Casey Scorpions Coburg Collingwood reserves Essendon reserves Footscray reserves Frankston Geelong reserves North Ballarat Northern Blues Port Melbourne Richmond reserves Sandringham Werribee Williamstown

Former clubs	Albert Park Ballarat Ballarat Imperial Berwick Brighton/Caulfield Brunswick Camberwell Carlton Collingwood Dandenong East Melbourne Essendon Essendon 'A' Fitzroy Footscray Geelong Geelong 'A' Geelong West Gold Coast Hawthorn Hotham/North Melbourne Kilsyth Melbourne Melbourne City Moorabbin Mordialloc Murray Kangaroos Northcote Oakleigh Prahran Richmond St Kilda South Ballarat South Melbourne South Williamstown Sunshine Tasmanian Devils Traralgon University Waverley West Melbourne Yarraville

Other clubs	Barwon Beechworth Castlemaine Heidelberg Inglewood Rochester Standard Victorian Railways Victoria United

v t e Australian rules football in Victoria

Representative side	Victoria

Governing bodies	AFL Victoria (metropolitan) Victorian Country Football League (country)

Professional clubs (AFL)	Carlton Collingwood Essendon Geelong Hawthorn Melbourne North Melbourne Richmond St Kilda Western Bulldogs

Statewide leagues	Victorian Football League TAC Cup (under-18) List of Australian rules football competitions in Victoria

Metropolitan leagues	Eastern Essendon District Northern Riddell District Southern VAFA Western Region

Regional leagues	Alberton Ballarat Bellarine Bendigo Central Highlands Central Murray Colac & District East Gippsland Ellinbank & District Geelong Geelong & District Gippsland Goulburn Valley Golden Rivers Hampden Heathcote Horsham & District Kowree-Naracoorte-Tatiara Kyabram & District Loddon Valley Mallee Maryborough Castlemaine Mid Gippsland Millewa Mininera Mornington Peninsula Murray North Central North Gippsland Omeo & District Ovens & King Ovens & Murray Picola & District South West Sunraysia Tallangatta Upper Murray Warrnambool Western Border Wimmera Yarra Valley Mountain

Women's leagues	Victorian Women's Football League AFL Victoria Youth Girls Competition

Defunct leagues	Benalla Lexton Plains Riviera List of former Australian Rules Football competitions in Victoria

Principal venues	Melbourne Cricket Ground Docklands Stadium Princes Park Kardinia Park

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