The 1890 South Australian Football Association season was the 14th season of the top-level Australian rules football competition in South Australia.
Background and Programme
The start of the season on 5 May was delayed due to a dispute between the Association and Burnside District Council which owned the Kensington Oval. Initially only 4 matches were programmed for Kensington Oval whilst 17 were for Adelaide Oval. Burnside counter proposed 8 for Kensington and 13 for Adelaide Oval. The matter was settled when the Association presented a revised programme of 6 matches for Kensington Oval. The Game between South Adelaide and Gawler for Kensington Oval was postponed to later in the year.
Despite protests from Gawler the 1890 Programme gave them only five home games (one each against the other clubs) and two away games in Adelaide against each of the city clubs. They forfeited both of their games against Port Adelaide at Alberton and ended up collecting the wooden spoon. The end of year report stated they had a good deal to put up with in the way of a badly arranged programme, for they were brought down to town Saturday after Saturday, and sometimes to play the same team on two successive Saturdays. Despite rumours during the season that they were going resign they voted to complete their scheduled games.
The Gawler Football Association subsequently withdrew their Senior Club from the SAFA before the beginning of 1891 season and continued its own competition with 3 local teams - Gawler South, Gawler Central and Willaston, the predecessor of the current Barossa Light and Gawler Football Association. The Gawler Football Association made a number of attempts over the decades to have a senior readmitted, which was only successful once in December 1912 to fill the vacant 8th place, but they withdrew before the 1913 Season commenced.
Premiership Matches Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6
Round 7
Round 8
Round 9
Round 10
Round 11
Intercolonial Matches On the weekends of 5 July and 12 July intercolonial matches were held and SAFA premiership matches suspended.
Round 12 Medindie vs Gawler at Kensington Oval – Game abandoned due to the weather and ground. On Saturday 12 July 1890 the Gawlers journeyed to Kensington to fufil their engagement with the Medindie club. The weather was wretchedly bad, and after the Gawlers had 'stripped' and were in the field the Medindie captain refused to play, and appealed to the umpire, Mr. McIntyre, who acquiesced, and would not sanction the game owing to the bad state of the weather and the grounds, notwithstanding the fact that the Gawlers had a fully representative team on the field practising to keep themselves warm. When the result was made known to the Gawler players it was received with great dissention, and references were made to the Victorian Association, where engagements are kept whether playing in a lake or in a mud puddle.
Round 13
Round 14
Round 15
Round 16
Round 17
Round 18
Round 19
A game was scheduled between and Gawler at Alberton Oval but Adelaide forfeited due to most of their players wanting to watch the Port Adelaide vs Norwood Match at the Adelaide Oval. Initially this was showing in the published table on Monday 1 September as a win for Gawler but in the Final Table at the end of the year the game has been removed.
Round 20
Round 21
Round 22
Round 23
Ladder 1890 SAFA Ladder TEAM P W L D GF BF GA BAPtsAdj Pts 1 Port Adelaide (P) 18 16 2 012417232703232.002Norwood18153012015845813030.003South Adelaide1898171126801371919.004Adelaide175102481051131421212.715Medindie15212139768914156.006Gawler14012213405610622.57 Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, GF = Goals For, BF = Behinds For, Georgia = Goals Against, BA = Behinds Against, Pts = Points, Adj Pts = Points adjusted for match ratio, (P) = Premiers Notes: Medindie played each Club 3 times. Gawler also played each Club 3 times (except Adelaide who they played only twice) See Round 15 – Adelaide forfeited to Gawler. Match was to be played at Alberton Oval.Gawler were programmed one home game and two away games against all the clubs. All the other clubs played each other 4 times.
References