1889 VFA season explained

Competition:VFA Premiership season
Year:1889
Teams:12
Count:4
Prevseason:1888
Nextseason:1890

The 1889 Victorian Football Association season was the 13th season of the Australian rules football competition.

The premiership was won by the South Melbourne Football Club. It was the fourth premiership in the club's history, and the second out of a sequence of three consecutive premierships won from 1888 to 1890.

Association membership

The number of teams contesting the Association premiership reduced from 16 senior teams to 12 in 1889.

The three Ballarat-based clubs – Ballarat, South Ballarat and Ballarat Imperial remained senior clubs, represented on the Association Board of Management and contested the Ballarat premiership, but matches played against them by metropolitan clubs (which often occurred during bye weeks) no longer qualified for the premiership.[1] University, after a winless 1888 season, dropped out of the Association and went into recess.

1889 VFA ladder

Teams did not play a uniform number of premiership matches during the season. As such, in the final standings, each team's premiership points were adjusted upwards proportionally to represent a 21-match season – e.g., South Melbourne played 19 matches, so its tally of premiership points was increased by a factor of 21/19. After this adjustment, there was no formal process for breaking a tie.

Notable events

See also

Notes and References

  1. News: The Australasian. 20 April 1889. The Victorian Football Association. 837. XLVI. 1203.
  2. News: The Weekly Times. 9 March 1889. 4. Football: the amended football rules. Melbourne, VIC.
  3. News: The Argus. Melbourne, VIC. Football: Geelong v. Fitzroy. 22 August 1887. 10.