1884 VFA season

Association membership

The senior metropolitan membership of the Association (including Geelong) increased from six to eight clubs in 1884. The two new clubs were the Williamstown Football Club, which was elevated from junior status after merging with , and the newly established Fitzroy Football Club.

At this time, three other provincial senior clubs were full Association members represented on the Board of Management: Ballarat, South Ballarat (formerly known as Albion Imperial) and Horsham Unions. Due to distance, these clubs played too few matches against the rest of the VFA to be considered relevant in the premiership.

1884 VFA premiership

The 1884 premiership was won by the Geelong Football Club, which won twenty-two and drew one of its twenty-five matches. finished second with sixteen wins and two draws from twenty-four matches; Hotham finished third.

Club records

The below table details the playing records of the eight clubs in all matches during the 1884 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 Sportsman newspaper. 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.

Source: (P) Premiers

References

References

1. (28 May 2014). "A Golden Era Begins: Football in 'Marvellous Melbourne', 1877 to 1885". Origins of Australian Football (Volume II).
2. (15 July 2019). "Geelong's Premiership History". Geelong Football Club.
3. (11 August 2019). "The Evolution of 'the Premiership' 1870−1888". Hidden Footy Histories.
4. (9 October 1886). "Review of the Season". Williamstown Advertiser.
5. (26 April 1884). "Victorian Football Association". The Argus.
6. (20 June 2014). "History of the AFL could be turned on its head". The Age.
7. (1 October 1884). "FOOTBALL GOSSIP". Sportsman.
8. (1 October 1884). "TABLE OF SENIOR FOOTBALL MATCHES". Sportsman.
9. (4 October 1884). "The football season of 1884". The Australasian.