1879 SAFA season
# 1879 SAFA season

The 1879 South Australian Football Association season was the 3rd season of the top-level Australian rules football competition in South Australia.

The Norwood Football Club went on to record its 2nd consecutive premiership, going through the season undefeated. The Kensington Football Club received its second consecutive wooden spoon, failing to win a game, and extending its winless streak to 27. Several disputes between South Adelaide and the other clubs arose during the season.

## Pre season

| | South Australians vs. Allcomers | South Australians vs. Allcomers | South Australians vs. Allcomers | |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Day, 10 May (3:30 pm) | South Australians 0 | drew with | Allcomers 0 | Adelaide Oval (crowd: 1,200) |

## Premiership season

### Round 1

| | Round 1 | Round 1 | Round 1 | |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Saturday, 17 May (3:00 pm) | Norwood 1 | def. | South Adelaide 0 | East Park Lands (crowd: 2,000) |
| Saturday, 17 May (3:00 pm) | Kensington 3 | def. by | Adelaide 5 | Kensington Oval |
| Saturday, 17 May (3:00 pm) | Port Adelaide 2 | def. | South Park 0 | Adelaide Oval |
| During the Norwood vs. South Adelaide game when A. Terrell kicked Norwood's second goal much disagreement and disorder ensued. ||||||

### Round 2

| | Round 2 | Round 2 | Round 2 | |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Saturday, 24 May (3:00 pm) | Norwood 1 | def. | Victorian 0 | Adelaide Oval (crowd: 1,500) |

### Round 3

| | Round 3 | Round 3 | Round 3 | |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Saturday, 31 May (3:30 pm) | South Adelaide 1 | drew with | Port Adelaide 1 | South Park Lands (crowd: 1,500) |
| Saturday, 31 May (3:15 pm) | Adelaide 0 | drew with | Victorian 0 | Adelaide Oval (crowd: 550) |
| Saturday, 31 May (3:00 pm) | Kensington 0 | def. by | South Park 1 | Kensington Oval |

### Round 4

| | Round 4 | Round 4 | Round 4 | |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Saturday, 14 June (3:15 pm) | Port Adelaide 1 | def. by | Norwood 3 | Glanville Estate (crowd: 1,000) |
| Saturday, 14 June (3:00 pm) | Victorian 0 | drew with | South Park 0 | Montefiore Hill (crowd: 500) |

### Round 5

| | Round 5 | Round 5 | Round 5 | |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Saturday, 21 June (3:30 pm) | Adelaide 1 | drew with | Port Adelaide 1 | Adelaide Oval |
| Saturday, 21 June (3:00 pm) | Victorian 3 | def. | Kensington 0 | Montefiore Hill |

### Round 6

| | Round 6 | Round 6 | Round 6 | |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Saturday, 12 July (3:15 pm) | South Park 1 | drew with | Adelaide 1 | South Park Lands (crowd: 300) |

### Round 7

| | Round 7 | Round 7 | Round 7 | |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Saturday, 26 July (3:30 pm) | Kensington 0 | def. by | Norwood 7 | Kensington Oval |
| Saturday, 26 July | South Park 1 | drew with | South Adelaide 0 | South Park Lands |
| Saturday, 26 July | Port Adelaide 2 | def. | Adelaide 0 | Glanville Estate |

### Round 8

| | Round 8 | Round 8 | Round 8 | |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Saturday, 2 August (3:00 pm) | Port Adelaide 2 | def. | South Park 0 | Glanville Estate |
| Saturday, 2 August (Time pm) | Kensington 0 | def. by | Victorian 6 | Kensington Oval |

### Round 9

| | Round 9 | Round 9 | Round 9 | |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Saturday, 9 August (3:15 pm) | Norwood 4.15 (4) | def. | Adelaide 0.1 (0) | East Park Lands (crowd: 400) |
| Saturday, 9 August | Victorian 0.2 (2) | def. by | Port Adelaide 1.2 (1) | Montefiore Hill (crowd: 750) |

### Round 10

| | Round 10 | Round 10 | Round 10 | |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Saturday, 16 August (3:20 pm) | Norwood 2.18 (2) | drew with | South Park 2.2 (2) | East Park Lands |
| Saturday, 16 August (3:30 pm) | Victorian 1 | def. | Adelaide 0 | Montefiore Hill (crowd: 300) |
| Saturday, 16 August (3:40 pm) | Kensington 0.6 (6) | def. by | South Adelaide 1.7 (1) | Kensington Oval |

### Round 11

| | Round 11 | Round 11 | Round 11 | |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Saturday, 23 August (3:15 pm) | Norwood 1.7 (1) | def. | Port Adelaide 0 | East Park Lands (crowd: 3,000) |
| Saturday, 23 August (3:00 pm) | South Adelaide 2 | def. | Victorian 0 | South Park Lands |

### Round 12

| | Round 12 | Round 12 | Round 12 | |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Saturday, 30 August (3:20 pm) | Victorian 0.3 (3) | def. by | Norwood 3.4 (3) | Montefiore Hill |
| Saturday, 30 August (3:20 pm) | Adelaide 0.4 (4) | def. by | South Park 4.8 (4) | Adelaide Oval |
| A game scheduled at Glanville Estate on Saturday, 30 August between Port Adelaide and South Adelaide was abandoned due to disagreement regarding the umpires selected. ||||||

### Round 13

| | Round 13 | Round 13 | Round 13 | |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Saturday, 6 September (3:15 pm) | South Park 0.2 (2) | def. by | Victorian 1.4 (1) | South Park Lands (crowd: 550) |
| A game scheduled at Glanville Estate on Saturday, 6 September between Port Adelaide and Kensington was postponed due to illness amongst the Kensington players and the fact it was mail day. ||||||

### Round 14

| | Round 14 | Round 14 | Round 14 | |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Saturday, 13 September (3:00 pm) | South Park 0.0 (0) | def. by | Norwood 3.13 (3) | East Park Lands (crowd: 2,000) |
| The rescheduled match between Port Adelaide and Kensington for Saturday, 13 September was forfeited in the priors favour due to the latter club unable to field a team. ||||||

### Round 15

| | Round 15 | Round 15 | Round 15 | |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Saturday, 20 September | South Park 0.17 (0) | def. | Kensington 0.1 (0) | South Park Lands |

## Ladder

1879 SAFA Ladder :

| | TEAM | P | W | L | D | GF | GA | Pts | Adj Pts |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Norwood | 10 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 30 | 3 | 19 | 22.80 |
| 2 | Port Adelaide | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 6 | 12 | 16.00 |
| 3 | South Adelaide | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 15.42 |
| 4 | Victorian | 11 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 11 | 8 | 10 | 10.91 |
| 5 | South Park | 12 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 11 | 10 | 10.00 |
| 6 | Adelaide | 10 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 20 | 7 | 8.40 |
| 7 | Kensington | 9 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 27 | 1 | 1.33 |
| Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points, Adj Pts = Points adjusted for match ratio, (P) = Premiers | Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points, Adj Pts = Points adjusted for match ratio, (P) = Premiers | Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points, Adj Pts = Points adjusted for match ratio, (P) = Premiers | Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points, Adj Pts = Points adjusted for match ratio, (P) = Premiers | Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points, Adj Pts = Points adjusted for match ratio, (P) = Premiers | Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points, Adj Pts = Points adjusted for match ratio, (P) = Premiers | Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points, Adj Pts = Points adjusted for match ratio, (P) = Premiers | Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points, Adj Pts = Points adjusted for match ratio, (P) = Premiers | Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points, Adj Pts = Points adjusted for match ratio, (P) = Premiers | |

Notes:

* Following disputes between South Adelaide and other clubs, Adelaide (twice), Norwood, Port Adelaide, and Victorian (once each) all refused to play them: these five cancelled matches are not included in the above ladder.
* Kensington only played Norwood once, with their only scheduled match against Port Adelaide being forfeited due to a lack of players.
* Port Adelaide were ranked above South Adelaide on match ratio (only match was drawn), while Victorian were ranked above South Park (1-0-1) and South Park were ranked above Adelaide (1-0-1) on head-to-head record.

## Intercolonial matches

During 1879, a team representing the South Australian Football Association) toured Victoria, and played two intercolonial matches against an Association representative team; the first on a public holiday Tuesday, and the other on the following Saturday. The games were the first ever intercolonial matches between colony representative teams.

| | 1879 Intercolonial Matches | 1879 Intercolonial Matches | 1879 Intercolonial Matches | |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Tuesday, 1 July | Victoria 7 | def. | South Australia 0 | East Melbourne Cricket Ground (crowd: 10,000) |
| Saturday, 5 July | Victoria 4 | def. | South Australia 1 | East Melbourne Cricket Ground (crowd: 6,000) |
