1881 VFA season

Association membership

Prior to the start of the 1881 season, the West Melbourne Football Club resigned from the senior ranks of the Association, leaving seven clubs.

Premiership season

The 1881 premiership was won by the South Melbourne Football Club, with placing second.

The two clubs had almost equal records in senior matches played, with South Melbourne winning seven and drawing three of eleven matches, and Geelong winning seven and drawing two of ten matches. South Melbourne' sole loss was against Carlton, while Geelong's loss came against South Melbourne. It was thought that both could lay some claim to the premiership, but the consensus among the major newspapers was that South Melbourne was the premier club as the other match they played against Geelong had been drawn. finished third.

Club records

The below table details the playing records of the eight clubs in all matches during the 1880 season. Two sets of results are given:

• Senior results: based only upon games played against other VFA senior clubs
• Total results: including senior games, and games against intercolonial, up-country and junior clubs.

The clubs are listed in the order in which they were ranked in The Australasian. The VFA had no formal process by which the clubs were ranked, so the below order should be considered indicative only, particularly since the fixturing of matches was not standardised; however, the top three placings were later acknowledged in publications including the Football Record and are considered official.

It is noted that although East Melbourne was a senior club in 1881, it was very uncompetitive, so, in its review of the season the Australasian did not consider matches against East Melbourne amongst its senior results. As such, in the below table, the 'Senior Results' does not include matches against East Melbourne, but East Melbourne's results against the other senior clubs are given.

Some data is missing from the below table based on the availability of information.

Source: (P) Premiers

Awards

• The leading goalkicker for the season was Eddy Brookes (), who kicked 20 goals.

Intercolonial matches

Association representative teams played four intercolonial matches during 1881: two against New South Wales, and two against South Australia. All were played under Victorian rules.

References

References

1. (28 May 2014). "A Golden Era Begins: Football in 'Marvellous Melbourne', 1877 to 1885". Origins of Australian Football (Volume II).
2. "Victorian Football Association Season 1881". Elite to Grassroots.
3. "Game by Game for 1881". The VFA Project.
4. (11 May 2017). "Our history: South Melbourne foundations". Sydney Swans.
5. Paul Pey.. (1 October 1881). "Free kicks". Weekly Times.
6. (20 June 2014). "History of the AFL could be turned on its head". The Age.
7. (8 October 1881). "A review of the past season". The Herald.
8. (15 October 1881). "The football season of 1881". The Australasian.
9. "1881". Blueseum.
10. (2 July 1881). "Intercolonial Football Match". The Argus.
11. (8 August 1881). "The Intercolonial Match". The Sydney Morning Herald.
12. (25 August 1881). "Intercolonial Football Match". South Australian Register.
13. (29 August 1881). "Intercolonial Football Match". South Australian Register (Supplement).