The 1898 Victorian Football League (VFL) season was the second season of the VFL. The season saw 138 Australian rules footballers make their senior VFL debut and six players transferring to new clubs having previously played in the 1897 VFL season.

Summary + Summary of debuts in 1898 Club VFL debuts Change of club 22 0 6 1 10 0 12 0 12 0 20 2 33 3 South Melbourne 23 0 Total 138 6

Debuts

Name Club Age at debut Round debuted Games Goals Notes 56 7 48 12 47 0 21 2 15 4 Brother of Dan, Mick and Laurie Pender. 15 1 13 8 12 1 12 2 10 0 10 4 6 0 5 0 4 0 Brother of Jim, Mick and Laurie Pender. 3 1 2 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 Brother of Dan, Jim and Laurie Pender. 11 1 0 1 0 173 92 Brother of Fred and Ted Leach. Previously played for Essendon. 116 21 19 1 14 15 7 4 6 0 1 0 73 61 27 22 19 18 12 0 Brother of Eric Gardner. Represented Australia at the 1904 Summer Olympics. 12 10 5 0 3 1 2 0 1 1 1 0 110 33 91 3 75 5 60 8 59 28 Father of Roy McDougall. 57 9 Brother of John G. Dalton. 10 2 8 0 5 1 2 0 2 0 1 0 63 0 29 18 22 1 22 3 14 10 9 1 6 3 5 0 4 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 75 3 55 6 50 15 At 43, the oldest player to have played in the VFL. Brother of Cec Cumberland. 24 11 20 1 16 1 Previously played for Collingwood. 68 3 8 0 6 2 5 1 5 4 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 Brother of Les and Norm Rippon. 4 0 Previously played for Carlton. First player in the VFL to play senior premiership matches for two clubs in the same season. 4 1 3 1 3 0 2 0 1 0 Brother of Les and Harold Rippon. 1 0 95 6 49 47 Brother of George and Walter Stewart. 29 3 24 4 Previously played for Carlton. 23 3 16 1 10 0 10 0 10 0 10 0 10 1 10 1 8 3 7 0 7 2 Previously played for Carlton. 5 0 5 1 Previously played for South Melbourne. 4 0 3 0 3 0 2 2 Brother of Herbert and Norman Brookes. 2 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 Brother of Hugh Purse. 1 0 South Melbourne 79 12 Born in Switzerland. South Melbourne 65 0 South Melbourne 37 43 South Melbourne 16 2 South Melbourne 16 18 Captained the Australian cricket team. South Melbourne 14 2 South Melbourne 13 0 South Melbourne 10 6 South Melbourne 7 0 South Melbourne 7 0 South Melbourne 5 1 South Melbourne 5 0 South Melbourne 5 3 South Melbourne 5 0 South Melbourne 3 0 South Melbourne 3 2 South Melbourne 3 2 South Melbourne 2 0 Father of Bill Kenny. South Melbourne 2 0 South Melbourne 2 0 South Melbourne 2 1 South Melbourne 1 0 South Melbourne 1 0

References