1880 SAFA season

1880 SAFA premiership season
Teams	7
Premiers	Norwood 3rd premiership
Leading goalkicker	Joe Traynor Norwood (7 Goals)
Matches played	38
Highest	3,000 (Round 2, South Adelaide vs. Norwood)
←  1879 1881  →

The 1880 South Australian Football Association season was the 4th season of the top-level Australian rules football competition in South Australia.

The season commenced on the 8th of May and drew to a close on the 18th of September.

Norwood went on to record its 3rd consecutive premiership.

Premiership season

Round 1

	Round 1
Saturday, 8 May	Norwood 5.17 (5)	def.	Port Adelaide 0.3 (0)	East Park Lands	[1]
Saturday, 8 May	Victorian 3	def.	Adelaide 0	Montefiore Hill	[1]
Saturday, 8 May	South Park 0	def. by	South Adelaide 1	South Park Lands	[1]
	Bye Kensington

Round 2

	Round 2
Saturday, 15 May (3:20 pm)	South Adelaide 0	def. by	Norwood 2.18 (2)	South Park Lands (crowd: 3,000)	[2]
Saturday, 15 May	South Park 0	def. by	Victorian 1	South Park Lands	[2] [3]
Saturday, 15 May	Port Adelaide 1.7 (1)	def.	Kensington 0	Alberton Oval	[4]
	Bye Adelaide
The match between Port Adelaide and Kensington was the first time Alberton Oval was used for premiership points.

Round 3

	Round 3
Saturday, 22 May (3:15 pm)	Norwood 3.22 (3)	def.	Kensington 0.1 (0)	Adelaide Oval (crowd: 600)	[5] [6]
Saturday, 22 May (3:00 pm)	Adelaide 1	drew with	South Adelaide 1	Adelaide Bridge (crowd: 350)	[5]
	Bye Port Adelaide, Victorian, South Park

Round 4

	Round 4
Saturday, 29 May	Adelaide 0.1	def. by	Norwood 7.29 (7)	Adelaide Bridge (crowd: 300)	[7] [8]
Saturday, 29 May	Kensington 0.1 (0)	def. by	South Park 2.20 (2)	Kensington Oval	[8]
	Bye Port Adelaide
Controversy regarding a goal kicked during the Victorian and South Adelaide game meant the result was not confirmed until it was referred to the SAFA committee. [8] The result of the game was eventually decided to not count towards the premiership. [9]

Round 5

	Round 5
Saturday, 5 June	Norwood 3.25 (3)	def.	South Park 0	Adelaide Oval	[10]
Saturday, 5 June	Victorian 0.8 (0)	drew with	Port Adelaide 0.2 (0)	Montefiore Hill	[10]
Saturday, 5 June	Kensington 5.12 (5)	def.	Adelaide 1.3 (1)	Kensington Oval	[10]
	Bye South Adelaide
Kensington's win over Adelaide was its first since 1877, ending a winless streak of 30 matches.

Round 6

	Round 6
Saturday, 12 June	Norwood 2.11 (2)	def.	Victorian 1.2 (1)	Adelaide Oval (crowd: 2,000)	[11]
Saturday, 12 June	Port Adelaide 3.17 (3)	def.	Adelaide 0.3 (0)	Alberton Oval	[11]
Saturday, 12 June	South Adelaide 1.6 (1)	def.	Kensington 0.9 (0)	South Park Lands	[11]
	Bye South Park

Round 7

	Round 7
Saturday, 19 June (3:30 pm)	South Adelaide 3.10 (3)	def.	Port Adelaide 1.1 (1)	South Park Lands	[12]
Saturday, 19 June	Kensington 1.8 (1)	def.	Victorian 0.3 (0)	Kensington Oval	[12]
Saturday, 19 June	Adelaide 2	def.	South Park 0	Adelaide Oval	[13]
	Bye Norwood
Norwood began a trip to Victoria on 19 June to play a series of matches against VFA clubs and would not participate in the SAFA for the next four rounds. [14]

Round 8

	Round 8
Saturday, 26 June	Victorian 3.4 (3)	def.	South Park 1.5 (1)	Adelaide Oval	[15]
Saturday, 26 June (3:30 pm)	South Adelaide 6.20 (6)	def.	Adelaide 1	South Park Lands	[15]
Saturday, 26 June (3:30 pm)	Kensington 2.4 (2)	drew with	Port Adelaide 2.12 (2)	Kensington Oval	[15]
	Bye Norwood

Round 9

	Round 9
Saturday, 3 July	Port Adelaide 3.8 (3)	drew with	South Adelaide 3.4 (3)	Alberton Oval (crowd: 300)	[16] [17]
Saturday, 3 July (3:30 pm)	Adelaide 0.3 (0)	def. by	Victorian 1.15 (1)	Adelaide Oval (crowd: 350)	[17]
Saturday, 3 July	South Park 1	def. by	Kensington 2	South Park Grounds	[18]
	Bye Norwood

Round 10

	Round 10
Saturday, 10 July (3:30 pm)	South Adelaide 2.7 (2)	def.	South Park 0.4 (0)	South Park Lands	[19]
Saturday, 10 July	Port Adelaide 0.5 (0)	drew with	Victorian 0.3 (0)	Alberton Oval (crowd: 600)	[19]
Saturday, 10 July (3:30 pm)	Adelaide 1.4 (1)	drew with	Kensington 1.4 (1)	Adelaide Oval	[19]
	Bye Norwood

Round 11

	Round 11
Saturday, 17 July	Port Adelaide 0.4 (0)	drew with	Norwood 0.18 (0)	Alberton Oval (crowd: 750)	[20]
Saturday, 17 July (3:00 pm)	Kensington 3.2 (3)	def.	South Adelaide 1.15 (1)	Adelaide Oval	[20]
Saturday, 17 July	South Park 4.16 (4)	def.	Adelaide 0.1 (0)	South Park Lands	[20]
	Bye Victorian

Round 12

	Round 12
Saturday, 24 July (3:30 pm)	Norwood 2.16 (2)	def.	South Adelaide 1.1 (1)	East Park Lands (crowd: 2,000)	[21] [22]
Saturday, 24 July	South Park 1.11 (1)	def.	Port Adelaide 0.9 (0)	Adelaide Oval	[21]
Saturday, 24 July (3:30 pm)	Victorian 1.16 (1)	drew with	Kensington 1.0 (1)	Montefiore Hill	[22]
	Bye Adelaide

Intercolonial Matches

Three Intercolonial Matches were played between 14th August to 21st August inclusive.

South Adelaide expelled and their matches cancelled

A SouthH Australian Football Association meeting of the delegates of the different clubs of this Association was held at the Prince Alfred Hotel on Thursday, August 23, to consider the action of the South Adelaide Football Club in not allowing their members to play in the late intercolonial football matches.
Mr. T. A. Caterer occupied the chair. Mr. Diamond, after a few preliminary remarks, made the following proposition" That in the opinion of this meeting the South Adelaide Club has deliberately broken Rule 2, and has shown by a hostile attitude in the Association during the late visit of the Victorian team its unfitness to hold the position of an associated club, and is therefore expelled from the Association." The proposition was seconded by Mr. Creswell. An amendment was proposed by Mr. Smith to the following effect—" That a vote of censure he passed on the South Adelaide Club, as it was their first offence".
After the pros and con's of the matter had been fairly discussed, the motion was put to the meeting and carried by a large majority. The South Adelaide is therefore no longer an associated club, and all matches yet on the programme in which they are engaged will be cancelled. ^[23]

Round 13

	Round 13				[24]
Saturday, 28 August (3:15 pm)	Adelaide 0	def. by	Port Adelaide 4	Adelaide Oval	[25] [26]
Programme Matches SOUTH AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION. August 28,1880. First Twenties—KENSINGTON v. NORWOOD, ADELAIDE - v. PORT. Second Twenties—NORWOOD v. KENSINGTON, PORT v. ADELAIDE.- Each-match to be played on the ground of the first-named Club and to commence at 3 o'clock sharp. JAS. H. SINCLAIR, Hon. Sec. [27] The match scheduled for Saturday, 28 August between Kensington and Norwood was cancelled with mutual consent. [28]

Round 13 (Non SAFA sanction game)

	Round 13
Saturday, 28 August (3:30 pm)	South Adelaide 0.5 (0)	drew with	Victorian 0.4 (0)	South Park Lands (crowd: 300)	[25] [26]
Footnote - Notwithstanding the fact that the South Australian Football Association, at a general meeting held on Thursday evening last, resolved to expel the South Adelaide Club the match went ahead with the Victorian Club but the result was not included in the end of season premiership table. This match was also not advertised by the Association.

Round 14

	Round 14				[29]
Saturday, 11 September the scheduled game of the round was Norwood vs South Park. Matches for the 1st and 2nd twenties of Norwood and South Park was advertised by the Association. Football Notices. SOOTH AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION. FIRST TWENTIES : NORWOOD V. SOUTH PARK. SECOND TWENTIES : SOUTH PARK V. NORWOOD. Each match to he played on the ground of the first-named club this Day, and play to commence at 3 sharp. JOHN CRESWELL. Hon. Sec. [30] On Monday 13 September it was reported, the only match arranged by the Association for Saturday was South Park v. Norwood, but owing to the wet weather the latter club declined to play, although the South Parks had a team on the ground. The latter club claims the match, but the Norwoods dispute their being awarded it, on the grounds that the Parks had not a full team at 3 o'clock, that the umpire was not on the ground at the appointed time, and that the ground was unfit to play on. The Parks say, in reply, that they were prepared to go on with the game. The matter is likely to engage the attention of the Association. The end of season table shows that South Park were awarded a win. [31]

Round 15

	Round 15				[32]
Saturday, 18 September (3:00 pm)	Victorian 2.7 (2)	def.	Norwood 1.10 (1)	North Park Lands	[33]
Saturday, 18 September	Port Adelaide 2.3 (2)	def. by	South Park 4.4 (4)	Alberton Oval	[33]
	Bye South Adelaide, Adelaide, Kensington
This was Norwood's first loss after 30 matches in the competition.

Ladder

In the original published end of season table from 25 Nov 1878 South Park were ranked above Kensington and Port Adelaide on the number of wins. This has been maintained in the below table. There was also a publication error for Port Adelaide would should have read 4 losses not 3. This has been corrected. The number of goals scored and against by each team has been tabulated from the match reports.

1880 SAFA Ladder
	TEAM	P	W	L	D	GF	GA	Pts	Adj Pts
1	Norwood (P)	10	7	2	1	25	4	15	18.00
2	Victorian	10	5	2	3	12	6	13	15.60
3	South Adelaide	10	5	3	2	19	14	12	14.40
4	South Park	12	5	7	0	13	14	10	10.00
5	Kensington	11	4	4	3	15	14	11	12.00
6	Port Adelaide	12	3	4	5	16	18	11	11.00
7	Adelaide	11	1	8	2	6	36	4	4.36
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									[9]

Notes:
(1) The result of the disputed game Victorian v. South Adelaide (Rd 4) has been excluded.
(1) The game South Adelaide v. Victorian (Rd 13) has not been included due to South Adelaide's expulsion on 23rd August.
(3) The match between Kensington and Norwood (Rd 13) was cancelled by mutual consent.
(4) South Park were awarded a walkover win against Norwood (Rd 14).
(5) The additional special match between the Port Adelaide and Victorian on 4th September also is not included in the table.

1880 SAFA Home and Away Season

Home \ Away	NOR	VIC	SAD	SPK	KEN	PAD	ADL
Norwood		2–1	2–1	3–0	3–0	5–0
Victorian	2–1			3–1	1–1	0–0	3–0
South Adelaide	0–2			2–0	1–0	3–1	6–1
South Park		0–1	0–1		1–2	1–0	4–0
Kensington		1–0	3–1	0–2		2–2	5–1
Port Adelaide	0–0	0–0	3–3	2–4	1–0		3–0
Adelaide	0–7	0–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	0–4

Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Intercolonial matches

A Victorian Association representative team toured South Australia in August, playing three intercolonial matches – two at even strength against the South Australian Football Association representative team, and one against a team of twenty-three South Australian-born players – and winning all three. J. Gibson (South Melbourne) served as captain of the Victorian Association team. ^[34]

	1880 Intercolonial Matches
Saturday, 14 August	South Australia 2.7 (2)	def. by	Victoria 5.13 (5)	Adelaide Oval (crowd: 4,000)	[35]
Wednesday, 18 August	South Australian-born (23) 1.1 (1)	def. by	Victoria 5.17 (5)	Adelaide Oval (crowd: 1,500)	[34]
Saturday, 21 August	South Australia 0.6 (0)	def. by	Victoria 3.21 (3)	Adelaide Oval (crowd: 2,500)	[36]

Additional matches

Controversy regarding a goal kicked during the Victorian and South Adelaide game meant the result was not confirmed until it was referred to the SAFA committee. ^[8] The result of the game was eventually decided to not count towards the premiership. ^[9]

	Victorian vs. South Adelaide
Saturday, 29 May	Victorian 1.5 (1)	def.	South Adelaide 0.2 (0)	Adelaide Oval (crowd: 600)	[7] [8]

The Port Adelaide and Victorian football clubs decided to play another game against each other as their two previous matches during the season resulted in draws.

	Port Adelaide vs. Victorian
Saturday, 4 September	Port Adelaide 0.5 (0)	def. by	Victorian 2.11 (2)	Alberton Oval (crowd: 500)	[37]

References

1. "FOOTBALL". South Australian Register . Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 10 May 1880. p. 6. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
2. "FOOTBALL,". The South Australian Advertiser . Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 17 May 1880. p. 7. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
3. "FOOTBALL". South Australian Register . Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 17 May 1880. p. 6. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
4. "FOOTBALL SEASON, 1880". Adelaide Observer . SA: National Library of Australia. 22 May 1880. p. 15. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
5. "FOOTBALL SEASON, 1880". South Australian Register . Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 24 May 1880. p. 7. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
6. "FOOTBALL". The South Australian Advertiser . Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 24 May 1880. p. 7. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
7. "FOOTBALL". South Australian Register . Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 31 May 1880. p. 2 Supplement: SUPPLEMENT TO THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN REGISTER. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
8. "FOOTBALL". The South Australian Advertiser . Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 31 May 1880. p. 7. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
9. "FOOTBALL SEASON, 1880". Adelaide Observer . National Library of Australia. 25 September 1880. p. 19. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
10. "FOOTBALL". South Australian Register . Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 7 June 1880. p. 6. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
11. "FOOTBALL". South Australian Register . Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 15 June 1880. p. 3 Supplement: Supplement to the South Australian Register. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
12. "FOOTBALL". South Australian Register . Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 21 June 1880. p. 6. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
13. "FOOTBALL". South Australian Register . Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 24 June 1880. p. 7. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
14. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/43152592
15. "FOOTBALL SEASON. 1380". South Australian Register . Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 28 June 1880. p. 2 Supplement: SUPPLEMENT TO THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN REGISTER. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
16. "FOOTBALL". South Australian Register . Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 5 July 1880. p. 6. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
17. "FOOTBALL". The South Australian Advertiser . Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 6 July 1880. p. 1 Supplement: Unknown. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
18. "FOOTBALL FOOTBALL FIXTURES". Adelaide Observer . National Library of Australia. 10 July 1880. p. 14. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
19. "FOOTBALL SEASON, 1880". South Australian Register . Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 12 July 1880. p. 6. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
20. "FOOTBALL". South Australian Register . Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 19 July 1880. p. 6. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
21. "FOOTBALL SEASON, 1880". South Australian Register . Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 26 July 1880. p. 2 Supplement: SUPPLEMENT TO THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN REGISTER. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
22. "FOOTBALL". The South Australian Advertiser . Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 28 July 1880. p. 1 Supplement: Unknown. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
23. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/160135886
24. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/207660494
25. "FOOTBALL". South Australian Register . Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 30 August 1880. p. 6. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
26. "FOOTBALL". The South Australian Advertiser . Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 30 August 1880. p. 7. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
27. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/43151235
28. "FOOTBALL SEASON, 1830". South Australian Register . Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 27 September 1880. p. 1 Supplement: SUPPLEMENT TO THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN REGISTER. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
29. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/73197575
30. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/73197575
31. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/197745010
32. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/73196963
33. "FOOTBALL". South Australian Register . Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 20 September 1880. p. 7. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
34. "Intercolonial Football Match". South Australian Register. Adelaide, SA. 19 August 1880. p. 6.
35. "The Intercolonial Football Match". South Australian Register. Adelaide, SA. 16 August 1880. p. 6.
36. "Intercolonial Football Match". The South Australian Advertiser. Adelaide, SA. 23 August 1880. p. 6.
37. "[No heading]". South Australian Register . Adelaide: National Library of Australia. 6 September 1880. p. 2 Supplement: SUPPLEMENT TO THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN REGISTER. Archived from the original on 11 March 2020. Retrieved 14 January 2015.