The 1878 South Australian Football Association season was the 2nd season of the top-level Australian rules football competition in South Australia.
In its first season, won the premiership, going through the year undefeated - 8 wins and 4 draws.Full Points Footy's SA Football Companion By John P. Devaney, p. 370
The SAFA competition was contested by seven teams with the admission of newly formed club , after Bankers and Woodville folded at the end of 1877.
Each team of twenty men were scheduled to play each other twice this season, the first time a standardised fixture was in place. Clubs also fielded second twentys and these games were also advertised on a weekly basis along with the first twenty games.
Preseason The SAFA clubs played inter club matches on 4 May.
An additional pre season game was played between some South Australian and Victorian residents who live in Adelaide.
Premiership season
SAFA Senior Clubs 1878 Season
ClubColoursHome GroundCaptainCommentsAdelaide Black, Red Old Adelaide Ground, North AdelaideDaltonPlayed majority of home games at Adelaide OvalKensington Scarlet WhiteKensington OvalMilneNorwood Dark blue RedEast Park Lands, AdelaideJ.R.OsborneNew club formed from leading players from WoodvillePort Adelaide Magneta WhiteGlanville Hall EstateW. FletcherSouth Adelaide Navy Blue WhiteSouth Terrace, Adelaide G.D.KennedySouth Park Light Blue WhiteSouth Park Lands, AdelaideJ.H.SinclairVictorian Orange BlackMontefiore Hill, North AdelaideG.E.Downs Premiership matches are those that took place after 11 May.
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6
Round 7
Round 8
Round 9
Round 10
Round 11
Round 12
Round 13
Round 14
Round 15
Round 16
Victorian had kicked a goal, but it was deleted after a head count revealed they had 21 men on the ground at the time. The mistake being unintentional when they took on two substitutes at the start of the game and one of their players Knill arrived late. After the headcount and the dispute which followed, which lasted half an hour, Knill was removed from the field and play continued. At a South Australian Football Association Committee meeting held on evening of 6th September 1878 it was decided that the match played between the South Adelaide and Victorian Clubs last Saturday should be declared a win for the former.
Round 17
1878 SAFA Home and Away Season
Ladder 1878 SAFA Ladder TEAM P W L D GF GA Pts Adj Pts 1 Norwood (P) 12 8 0 4 16 1 20 20.002Port Adelaide 11 5 2 4 13 4 14 15.273South Adelaide 12 6 4 2 8 4 14 14.004Victorian 11 4 3 4 10 6 12 13.095Adelaide 12 4 4 4 14 10 12 12.006South Park 11 1 7 3 2 14 5 5.457Kensington 11 0 8 3 1 25 3 3.00 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: Port Adelaide and Kensington and Victorian and South Park did not play return matches. South Adelaide were awarded a win following a disputed draw with Victoria (see Round 16)
1878 Norwood Club Song
Men of Norwood
Adelaide Metro (SAFA) vs Country (Gawler, Kapunda, Willunga) A match was played on Saturday afternoon, August 31, on the Adelaide ground, between a combined team of the South Australian Football Association and a picked team from the Gawler, Kapunda, and Willunga Country Clubs. Crowd - 600 to 700. Result - Metro 5 goals defeated Country 1.
The following were the players for the combined Association team: T. Smith, F. Stacey, W. Morgan, H. Meyer, H. Wyatt, Gibbs, W. A. Hughes (captain), T. Carter, S. M. Turner, H. Fletcher, C. Parker, H. Burnet, Terry, Woods, Waterhouse, Acraman (2), Suhard, Pettinger (vice-captain), T. Blinman, and Palmer. Combined Country team players: Kapunda - E. Brady, D. Cameron, Fisher, J. McLaren, M. McCarthy, J. S. Pearce and C. Rebbeck. Gawler - Bright, Couch, Donnell, Tardif and Thomson. Willunga - H. Allen, Dawe, Goss, Martin, Maverley and Richards. Colley and G.Goodfellow played as substitutes in the absence of Hall and Hezeltine.
Other Matches Some of the Adelaide Metro Clubs took their annual trips into the country. Norwood defeated the Gawler seven goals to one; Adelaide and Gawler, two goals each, played a draw; Kensington scored two goals to Kapunda one; South Parks beat Riverton three goals to, nil, and were defeated by Willunga two goals to one. (Thu 20 June 1878)
The Victorians visited Melbourne and were beaten twice by the Melbourne Club and once by Geelong, but were successful in the game played with the Ballarat Club.
There has been a large increase in the number of junior Clubs.
References