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1874 Victorian football season

The 1874 Victorian football season was the fifth senior season of Australian rules football in the colony of Victoria.[1] Carlton was the premier club for the third time.[2]

Clubs

A number of football clubs were formed in Victoria in 1874 – most notably, South Melbourne, which was incorporated on 19 June 1874.[3] It was first known as "Cecil Football Club", but adopted the name "South Melbourne Football Club" four weeks later on 15 July.[4][5]

New clubs

Club Region Ref.
Belmont Provincial [6]
Braybrook Metropolitan [7]
Port Melbourne Metropolitan [8]
Rochester Provincial [9]
South Melbourne Metropolitan [10]
Stawell Provincial [11]
Portarlington Provincial [12]
West Melbourne Metropolitan [13]
Wunghnu Provincial [14]

Metropolitan

Five metropolitan clubs participated in senior football during the 1874 season: Albert-park, Carlton, Melbourne, North Melbourne and St Kilda.[15] North Melbourne and St Kilda were newly elevated from junior ranks to senior ranks for this season, while University – which was a senior club in 1873 but only played a minimal number of games – instead played in the Second Twenty competition.[16]

Carlton, which was undefeated during the season, was considered the premier club, with Melbourne runners-up (mostly by virtue of Carlton winning all four matches it played against Melbourne during the year).[17]

Melbourne was considered to have had a slightly better record against the remaining clubs, with Carlton having four draws against these clubs, but such was Carlton and Melbourne's dominance at the time that their matches against the other clubs had little influence on the premiership.[18]

Club records

The below table is set of results for senior clubs during the 1874 season across all matches, including those against senior, junior and intercolonial clubs.[17]

The Australasian and The Leader newspapers indicated Albert-park was the third best club, with North Melbourne fourth best, and St Kilda fifth.[18][17] Although North Melbourne's win–loss record appears superior to Albert-park's, its easier fixture (namely, four of its 11 matches were against junior teams) was taken into account.[18][17]

Tables published in The Argus from 1889 and in the Football Record from 1912 to 1923 recorded St Kilda as the third-placed club in 1874, but contemporary sources dispute this.[19][20]

Pos Team Pld W L D GF GA
1 Carlton (P) 17 12 0 5 33 6
2 Melbourne 18 12 5 1 35 10
3 Albert-park 19 7 6 6 17 13
– North Melbourne 11 7 2 2 11 4
– St Kilda 18 2 8 8 8 27

Source: [17][21][22][23][24]
(P) Premiers

Provincial

Geelong was the best performing provincial team of the 1874 season.[25] It was undefeated in provincial matches, and it held the newly established Western District Challenge Cup throughout the season, but lost three matches against metropolitan clubs.[26] Some sources from 1874 place Geelong in fourth (across all matches) or fifth (only matches against senior clubs) out of six clubs.[27]

Other known provincial teams in 1874 include Barwon,[28] Kardinia,[29] and Phoenix Foundry.[30]

Juniors

East Melbourne was the best performing junior club in 1874, winning nine of its 18 matches.[17]

Club records

Pos Team Pld W L D GF GA
1 East Melbourne (P)
2 Richmond
3 Carlton Imperial
4 Hawthorn 17 5 6 6 12 14
5 Essendon

Source: [31][32]
(P) Premiers

References

  1. ^ "FOOTBALL MATCHES". The Argus. 15 May 1874. p. 6. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
  2. ^ "1874". Blueseum. Archived from the original on 3 October 2024. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
  3. ^ "Birth of a club". Sydney Swans. 19 June 2023. Archived from the original on 13 April 2025. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
  4. ^ "SOUTH'S JUBILEE". The Herald. 28 January 1925. p. 6. Retrieved 13 April 2025 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ "Timeline: VFA era and the birth of a new club (1874 - 1897)". Sydney Swans. Archived from the original on 1 April 2025. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
  6. ^ "Honour the Past". South Barwon Football & Netball Club. Archived from the original on 13 December 2024. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
  7. ^ "Braybrook Football Club Committee, Life Members, Coaches, Captains, etc". Sunshine Historical Society. Archived from the original on 21 March 2025. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
  8. ^ "PMFC History - Overview". GameDay. Port Melbourne Football Club. 24 September 2012. Archived from the original on 13 April 2025. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
  9. ^ "Rochester Football Club". The Riverine Herald. 3 June 1874. p. 2. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
  10. ^ Blucher, Peter (11 May 2017). "Our history: South Melbourne foundations". Sydney Swans. Archived from the original on 13 April 2025. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
  11. ^ Andrews, Zoey (22 April 2024). "Stawell Football Netball Club set to celebrate 150 years". Wimmera Mallee News. Archived from the original on 22 April 2024. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
  12. ^ "Club History". Portarlington Football Netball Club. Archived from the original on 26 April 2024. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
  13. ^ "Football". The Age. 11 April 1874. p. 5. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
  14. ^ Barnstable, Josh (2 March 2011). "Vale Wunghnu Football Club". The Footy Almanac. Archived from the original on 13 April 2025. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
  15. ^ "FOOTBALL". The Age. 24 August 1874. p. 3. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
  16. ^ Fairplay (1 November 1873). "REVIEW OF THE SEASON". The Australasian. p. 11. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
  17. ^ a b c d e f Jones, Tom (10 October 1874). "The football season of 1874". Leader. p. 11. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
  18. ^ a b c "REVIEW OF THE SEASON". Fairplay. The Australasian. 21 November 1874. p. 12. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
  19. ^ "The Football Premiership". The Argus. 23 September 1889. p. 5. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
  20. ^ Wilson, Caroline (20 June 2014). "History of the AFL could be turned on its head". The Age. Archived from the original on 29 September 2023. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
  21. ^ Un Jouer a Ballon (24 September 1874). "THE FOOTBALL SEASON, 1874". The Record and Emerald Hill and Sandridge Advertiser. p. 3. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
  22. ^ "Carlton Football Club". The Australasian. 1 May 1875. p. 12. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
  23. ^ "Melbourne Football Club". The Australasian. 1 May 1875. p. 12. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
  24. ^ "1874 Fixture". Blueseum. Archived from the original on 17 January 2025. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
  25. ^ "FOOTBALL". The Ballarat Star. 28 May 1874. p. 4. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
  26. ^ Tippet, Harrison (15 September 2022). "Barwon Football Club: How a 1870s blue-collar rival and a riot shaped the Geelong Football Club". Geelong Advertiser. Archived from the original on 14 December 2023. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
  27. ^ "Geelong v. West End". Geelong Advertiser. 31 August 1874. p. 3. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
  28. ^ "Brief History". GameDay. South Barwon Football & Netball Club. Archived from the original on 13 April 2025. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
  29. ^ "Geelong v. Kardinia". Geelong Advertiser. 17 August 1874. p. 2. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
  30. ^ "Geelong v. The Phoenix F.C." Geelong Advertiser. 20 July 1874. p. 3. Retrieved 13 April 2025.
  31. ^ "Hawthorn Football Club statistics 1874". Early History of the Hawthorn Football Club 1873–1935. 1998. Retrieved 16 August 2004.
  32. ^ "1874 Chronology". Tigerland Archive. Archived from the original on 10 December 2024. Retrieved 12 April 2025.