1901 SAFA season

1901 SAFA premiership season
1901 SAFA premiership season
Teams	7
Premiers	Norwood ; 12th premiership
Minor premiers	Norwood ; 3rd minor premiership
Magarey Medallist	Phil Sandland ; North Adelaide
Leading goalkicker	William Miller ; Norwood (44 Goals)
Matches played	64
Highest	7,000 (Grand Final, Norwood vs. Port Adelaide)
	← 1900 1902 →

Last updated November 24, 2024

The 1901 South Australian Football Association season was the 25th season of the top-level Australian rules football competition in South Australia. Minor premier Norwood won its 12th premiership. The season marked the formation and debut of the new Sturt Football Club.

Season

The season was played under conventions similar to, but was amended from, the previous two seasons and the 1898 VFL finals system used in the VFL in 1898–1900.

In the minor round, all seven clubs played a double round-robin of twelve matches, and in the major round, all seven clubs played a single round-robin of six matches.

If the minor premiers won the major round, then that team would automatically win the major premiership. If they did not, then the major round winner would be required to defeat the minor premiers in two separate challenge finals to claim the premiership, effectively giving the minor premiers a triple chance to win the premiership.^[1]

The minor premier was Norwood, which finished two games clear on top of the ladder with a 10–2 record; however, the club's major round performance was mediocre, finishing fourth with a record of 3–3. Conversely, Port Adelaide, who had finished fourth in the minor rounds with a 6–6 record, was the undefeated winner of the major round.

Norwood then defeated Port Adelaide by four points in the first challenge match to win the club's twelfth premiership.

Final competition placings were based on the combined major and minor round results. As such, Sturt – which was second-last in both the major and minor rounds – was finished in last place overall and is recognised as wooden spooner in its inaugural season.

Minor round

1901 SAFA Minor Premiership Ladder
Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PP	Pts
1	Norwood (P)	12	10	2	684	380	64.29	20
2	North Adelaide	12	8	4	684	494	58.06	16
3	West Torrens	12	6	6	573	489	53.95	12
4	Port Adelaide	12	6	6	523	459	53.26	12
5	South Adelaide	12	5	7	400	590	40.40	10
6	Sturt	12	4	8	409	664	38.12	8
7	West Adelaide	12	3	9	467	664	41.29	6

Source: ^[1]
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for.
(P) Premiers

Major round

1901 SAFA Major Premiership Ladder
Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	PF	PA	PP	Pts
1	Port Adelaide	6	6	0	306	176	63.49	12
2	North Adelaide	6	4	2	272	240	53.13	8
3	West Adelaide	6	4	2	184	200	47.92	8
4	Norwood	6	3	3	233	233	50.00	6
5	South Adelaide	5	1	4	217	149	59.29	2^[a]
6	Sturt	5	1	4	127	191	39.94	2^[a]
7	West Torrens	6	0	6	198	310	38.98	0

Source: ^[2]
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for.
Notes:

1 2 See notable events below

Challenge Final


	1901 SAFA Final
Saturday, 5 October	Norwood	def.	Port Adelaide	Adelaide Oval (crowd: 6,000–7000)	^[3]
	1.1 (7) 1.3 (9) 4.5 (29) 4.9 (33)	Q1 Q2 Q3 Final	2.1 (13) 2.2 (14) 2.5 (17) 4.5 (29)


Dawson, Kirkwood, MacFarlane, Webb		Goals	J. Davis 2, Healey, Quinn




Had Port Adelaide won the match, Norwood would have been entitled to one further challenge match for the major premiership.

Notable events

South Adelaide did not play its final two major round matches, scheduled for 21 and 28 September against West Adelaide and Sturt. The match against West Adelaide was ruled to have been forfeited by the SAFA after the Jubilee Oval had been double-booked, meaning that West Adelaide arrived at the ground to discover there was a cricket match in progress. The match against Sturt was scratched as the ladder would not be affected; this is historically considered to be an unplayed game, with no competition points awarded to either team.^[4]

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References

1 2 Goalpost (17 August 1901). "Football notes". Evening Journal. Adelaide, SA. p. 7.
↑ Goalpost (30 September 1901). "Football notes". Evening Journal. Adelaide, SA. p. 4.
↑ Goalpost (7 October 1901). "Football – the Deciding Match". Evening Journal. Adelaide, SA. p. 4.
↑ Goalpost (7 October 1901). "Retrospect of the season: Premiership won by Norwood". Evening Journal. Adelaide, SA. p. 4.

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[table_hth_STU0.52651363123512-2] 1 2 See notable events below

[review-1] 1 2 Goalpost (17 August 1901). "Football notes". Evening Journal. Adelaide, SA. p. 7.

[3] Goalpost (30 September 1901). "Football notes". Evening Journal. Adelaide, SA. p. 4.

[4] Goalpost (7 October 1901). "Football – the Deciding Match". Evening Journal. Adelaide, SA. p. 4.

[5] Goalpost (7 October 1901). "Retrospect of the season: Premiership won by Norwood". Evening Journal. Adelaide, SA. p. 4.

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v t e SANFL seasons
Pre SAFA	1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876
SAFA 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
SAFL seasons	1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915
Patriotic League (unsanctioned)	1916 1917 1918
SAFL seasons	1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926
SANFL seasons	1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941
SANFL war-merger seasons	1942 1943 1944
SANFL seasons	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 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

1901 SAFA premiership season
Teams	7
Premiers	Norwood 12th premiership
Minor premiers	Norwood 3rd minor premiership
Magarey Medallist	Phil Sandland North Adelaide
Leading goalkicker	William Miller Norwood (44 Goals)
Matches played	64
Highest	7,000 (Grand Final, Norwood vs. Port Adelaide)
← 1900 1902 →