The 1878 South Australian Football Association season was the 2nd season of the top-level Australian rules football competition in South Australia.

1878 SAFA premiership season
Norwood premiership team
Teams7
PremiersNorwood
1st premiership
Leading goalkickerWilliam Dedman
Norwood (12 Goals)
Matches played42
Highest3,000 (Round 13, Norwood vs Port Adelaide)
← 1877
1879 →

The SAFA competition was contested by seven teams with the admission of newly formed club Norwood, after Bankers and Woodville folded at the end of 1877.

Each team played each other twice this season, the first time a standardised fixture was in place.

In its first season, Norwood won their first premiership, going through the year undefeated.[1]

Pre season

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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.

South Australian vs. Victorian residents
Saturday, 11 May (Time pm) South Australians 1 def. Victorians 0 Adelaide Oval (crowd: 350) [2]

Premiership season

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Premiership matches are those that took place after 11 May.[3]

Round 1

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Round 1
Saturday, 18 May (3:15 pm) Norwood 1 def. South Adelaide 0 Adelaide Oval (crowd: 800) [4]
Saturday, 18 May (3:15 pm) South Park 0 def. by Port Adelaide 2 South Park Lands [5]
Saturday, 18 May (3:00 pm) Kensington 0 def. by Adelaide 5 Kensington Oval [4]

Round 2

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Round 2
Saturday, 25 May (3:45 pm) Norwood 1 def. Victorians 0 East Park Lands (crowd: 500) [6]
Saturday, 25 May (3:40 pm) South Adelaide 0 def. by Adelaide 1 Adelaide Oval [6]
Saturday, 25 May (3:00 pm) Kensington 0 def. by Port Adelaide 4 Kensington Oval [6]

Non Competition Match - Monday 27th May was Queen's Birthday Holiday.
Norwood (with a strong team) visited Gawler - Winning 7 goals to 1.[7]

Round 3

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Round 3
Saturday, 1 June (3:25 pm) South Adelaide 0 def. by Port Adelaide 1 South Park Lands (crowd: 300) [8]
Saturday, 1 June (3:30 pm) Kensington 0 def. by South Parks 1 Kensington Oval [8]
Saturday, 1 June (3:00 pm) Adelaide 2 drew with Victorians 2 Adelaide Oval [9]
  • The South Adelaide vs. Port Adelaide game was ended early due to the interference of rowdy larrikins.

Round 4

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Round 4
Saturday, 8 June (Time pm) Adelaide 0 def. by Norwood 1 Adelaide Oval [10]
Saturday, 8 June (3:00 pm) South Adelaide 1 v South Parks 0 South Park Lands [10]

The Port Adelaide vs. Victorian game was called off due to bad weather and rescheduled for 6 July despite Port kicking a goal.[11]

Round 5

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Round 5
Saturday, 15 June (3:15 pm) South Adelaide 2 def. Kensington 0 South Park Lands [12]
Saturday, 15 June (Time pm) Victorians 3 def. South Parks 0 Montefiore Hill [12]
Saturday, 15 June (Time pm) Port Adelaide 0 def. by Norwood 1 Glanville Estate (crowd: 600) [13]

Round 6

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Round 6
Saturday, 22 June (3:00 pm) Norwood 0 drew with South Parks 0 Park Lands, South Tce (crowd: 600) [14]
Saturday, 22 June (3:00 pm) Port Adelaide 2 def. Adelaide 0 Glanville Estate (crowd: 300) [14]
Saturday, 22 June (3:45 pm) Kensington 0 drew with Victorians 0 Kensington Oval [14]

Round 7

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Round 7
Saturday, 29 June (3:00 pm) Victorians 1 def. South Adelaide 0 Montefiore Hill (crowd: 1,100) [15]

Round 8

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Round 8
Saturday, 6 July (3:15 pm) Port Adelaide 1 drew with Victorians 1 Glanville Estate [11]
Saturday, 6 July (Time pm) Norwood 6 def. Kensington 0 East Park Lands (crowd: 300) [11]

Round 9

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Round 9
Saturday, 13 July (Time pm) Kensington 0 drew with Norwood 0 Kensington Oval [16]
Saturday, 13 July (3:15 pm) Adelaide 0 drew with Port Adelaide 0 Adelaide Oval [17]

Round 10

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Round 10
Saturday, 20 July (3:00 pm) South Adelaide 0 drew with Adelaide 0 South Park Lands (crowd: 600) [18]
Saturday, 20 July (3:15 pm) Port Adelaide 2 def. South Park 0 Glanville Estate [18]
Saturday, 20 July (3:30 pm) Victorian 1 def. Kensington 0 Montefiore Hill [18]

Round 11

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Round 11
Saturday, 27 July (3:30 pm) South Adelaide 0 drew with Norwood 0 South Park Lands (crowd: 700) [19]
Saturday, 27 July (3:00 pm) Victorian 0 drew with Port Adelaide 0 Montefiore Hill (crowd: 500) [19]
Saturday, 27 July (3:35 pm) South Park 0 drew with Kensington 0 South Park Lands [20]

Round 12

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Round 12
Saturday, 3 August (Time pm) Norwood 4 def. South Park 1 East Park Lands (crowd: 800) [21]
Saturday, 3 August (Time pm) Victorian 2 def. Adelaide 0 Montefiore Hill [21]

Round 13

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Round 13
Saturday, 10 August (3:00 pm) Norwood 0 drew with Port Adelaide 0 East Park Lands (crowd: 3,000) [22]
Saturday, 10 August (Time pm) Adelaide 4 v Kensington 1 Adelaide Oval [22]

Round 14

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Round 14
Saturday, 17 August (Time pm) Adelaide 1 v South Parks 0 Adelaide Oval [23]
Saturday, 17 August (Time pm) Port Adelaide 0 def. by South Adelaide 1 Glanville Estate (crowd: 300) [23]

Round 15

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Round 15
Saturday, 24 August (Time pm) Norwood 1 def. Adelaide 0 East Park Lands (crowd: 700) [24]

Round 16

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Round 16
Saturday, 31 August (3:00 pm) South Adelaide 0 v Victorian 0 South Park Land (crowd: 1,200) [25]
  • Victorian had kicked a goal, but it was deleted after a head count revealed they had 21 men on the ground.

Round 17

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Round 17
Saturday, 7 September (3:30 pm) Victorian 0 def. by Norwood 1 Montefiore Hill (crowd: 2,750) [26]

Ladder

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1878 SAFA Ladder
Pos Team Pld W L D PF PA PP Pts
1 Norwood 12 8 0 4 16 1 94.12 20
2 Port Adelaide 12 6 2 4 13 4 76.47 16
3 Victorian 12 4 2 6 7 6 53.85 14
4 South Adelaide 12 5 4 3 8 4 66.67 13
5 Adelaide 12 4 4 4 14 10 58.33 12
6 South Park 12 1 7 4 2 14 12.50 6
7 Kensington 12 0 9 3 1 25 3.85 3
Source: [citation needed]
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for.

References

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  1. ^ Full Points Footy's SA Football Companion By John P. Devaney, p. 370
  2. ^ "13 May 1878 - FOOTBALL". nla.gov.au.
  3. ^ "21 Sep 1878 - football THE PAST SEASON". nla.gov.au. 21 September 1878.
  4. ^ a b "21 May 1878 - FOOTBALL. NORWOODS V. SOUTH ADELAIDES". nla.gov.au. 21 May 1878.
  5. ^ "29 May 1878 - FOOTBALL. PORT V. SOUTH PARK". nla.gov.au. 29 May 1878.
  6. ^ a b c "27 May 1878 - FOOTBALL, NORWOODS v. VICTORIANS". nla.gov.au. 27 May 1878.
  7. ^ "GAWLER. - [From our own Correspondent.] May 27, 1878. - Kapunda Herald (SA : 1878 - 1951) - 31 May 1878".
  8. ^ a b "04 Jun 1878 - FOOTBALL. SOUTH A TDELAIDES V. PORTS". nla.gov.au. 4 June 1878.
  9. ^ "06 Jun 1878 - FOOTBALL. ADELAIDE V. VICTORIAN". nla.gov.au. 6 June 1878.
  10. ^ a b "10 Jun 1878 - FOOTBALL. ADELAIDE v. NORWOOD". nla.gov.au.
  11. ^ a b c "08 Jul 1878 - FOOTBALL. PORTS V. VICTORIANS". nla.gov.au.
  12. ^ a b "17 Jun 1878 - FOOTBALL. SOUTH ADELAIDE v. KENSINGTON". nla.gov.au.
  13. ^ "18 Jun 1878 - FOOTBALL. NORWOODS v. PORTS". nla.gov.au.
  14. ^ a b c "24 Jun 1878 - FOOTBALL. NORWOODS V. SOUTH PARKS". nla.gov.au.
  15. ^ "06 Jul 1878 - football. VICTORIANS v. SOUTH ADELAIDES". nla.gov.au.
  16. ^ "16 Jul 1878 - NORTH PARK V. WOODVILLE". nla.gov.au.
  17. ^ "16 Jul 1878 - FOOTBALL. ADELAIDES V. PORTS". nla.gov.au.
  18. ^ a b c "22 Jul 1878 - FOOTBALL. SOUTH ADELAIDE V. APP[?]". nla.gov.au.
  19. ^ a b "29 Jul 1878 - VICTORIAN V. PORT ADELAIDE". nla.gov.au.
  20. ^ "03 Aug 1878 - Football. MATCHES. NORWOOD v. SOUTH ADELAIDE". nla.gov.au.
  21. ^ a b "05 Aug 1878 - FOOTBALL. NORWOOD V. SOUTH PARK". nla.gov.au.
  22. ^ a b "12 Aug 1878 - FOOTBALL. NORWOODS v. PORT ADELAIDES". nla.gov.au.
  23. ^ a b "19 Aug 1878 - FOOTBALL. SOUTH PARKS v. ADELAIDE". nla.gov.au.
  24. ^ "26 Aug 1878 - FOOTBALL. ADELAIDE v. NORWOOD". nla.gov.au.
  25. ^ "02 Sep 1878 - FOOTBALL. SOUTH AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION ..." nla.gov.au.
  26. ^ "11 Sep 1878 - FOOTBALL. NORWOODS V. VICTORIANS". nla.gov.au.