1899 SAFA season

1899 SANFL season
Teams	6
Premiers	South Adelaide 8th premiership
Minor premiers	South Adelaide 8th minor premiership
Magarey Medallist	Stan Malin Port Adelaide
Ken Farmer Medallist	Anthony Daly South Adelaide (32 Goals)
Matches played	44
Highest	(Grand Final, South Adelaide vs. Norwood)

The 1899 SAFA season was the 23rd edition of the top level of Australian Rules football to be played in South Australia. South Adelaide went on to record its 8th premiership.

Electorate football

The 1899 season saw the introduction of compulsory electorate football in Adelaide, forcing players to play for the club in the district in which they resided. Teams were also reduced from 20 to 18 players the same as Victoria.[1]

In the last decade, football in Adelaide had been suffering from reduced public interest, and the three weaker teams (West Adelaide, North Adelaide and West Torrens) always operated at a financial loss, exacerbated by their poor records on field.

It was thought that by introducing electorate football, the talent would be spread more evenly across the six teams, making for more entertaining matches and higher attendances across all teams.[2] The proposed changes were fought by South Adelaide and Port Adelaide, who threatened to leave the SAFA and form their own league if they were brought in. As a compromise, the scheme was brought in on a one-year trial basis, before ultimately being accepted permanently.[3]

Minor rounds

The minor rounds comprised twelve matches. South Adelaide finished as the minor premiers, one point ahead of Norwood.

1899 SAFA Minor Premiership Ladder

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	PF	PA	PP	Pts
1	South Adelaide (P)	12	9	3	0	580	387	59.98	18
2	Norwood	12	8	3	1	525	391	57.31	17
3	Port Adelaide	12	8	4	0	575	293	66.24	16
4	West Torrens	12	5	7	0	426	499	46.05	10
5	West Adelaide	12	4	8	0	347	573	37.72	8
6	North Adelaide	12	1	10	1	383	693	35.59	3

Source: [4]
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for.
(P) Premiers

Major rounds

The major premiership was contested under the system which had been adopted by the Victorian Football League in 1898, but adapted for six teams instead of eight. The six teams were broken into two sections: section A comprised South Adelaide (1st), Port Adelaide (3rd) and West Adelaide (5th); section B comprised Norwood (2nd), West Adelaide (4th) and North Adelaide (6th). Each section played an individual round-robin; then, the section winners played off in a final. The minor premiers, South Adelaide, would then have the right to challenge the winner of the final to a grand final for the major premiership.

Sectional matches

	Sectional matches – Section A
Saturday, 12 August	South Adelaide 11.11 (77)	def.	West Adelaide 6.7 (43)	Adelaide Oval	[5]
Saturday, 19 August	Port Adelaide 9.12 (66)	def.	West Adelaide 3.6 (24)	Jubilee Oval	[5]
Saturday, 26 August	South Adelaide 16.7 (103)	def.	Port Adelaide 1.4 (10)	Adelaide Oval	[5]

	Sectional matches – Section B
Saturday, 12 August	West Torrens 7.16 (58)	def.	North Adelaide 6.14 (50)	Jubilee Oval	[5]
Saturday, 19 August	Norwood 13.12 (90)	def.	North Adelaide 4.5 (29)	Adelaide Oval	[5]
Saturday, 1 September	Norwood 4.15 (39)	def.	West Torrens 3.7 (25)	Jubilee Oval	[5]

1899 Section A Ladder

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	PF	PA	PP	Pts
1	South Adelaide	2	2	0	0	180	53	77.25	4
2	Port Adelaide	2	1	1	0	76	127	37.44	2
3	West Adelaide	2	0	2	0	67	143	31.90	0

Source: ^[citation needed]
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for.

1899 Section B Ladder

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	D	PF	PA	PP	Pts
1	Norwood	2	2	0	0	129	54	70.49	4
2	West Torrens	2	1	1	0	83	89	48.26	2
3	North Adelaide	2	0	2	0	79	148	34.80	0

Source: ^[citation needed]
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) percentage; 3) number of points for.

Finals

	1899 SAFA Final
Saturday, 2 September	South Adelaide 5.2 (32)	def. by	Norwood 7.11 (53)	Adelaide Oval	[5]

	1899 SAFA Grand Final
Saturday, 9 September	South Adelaide	def.	Norwood	Adelaide Oval	[6]
	1.6 (12) 1.9 (15) 2.9 (21) 5.12 (42)	Q1 Q2 Q3 Final	0.0 (0) 1.0 (6) 1.0 (6) 2.2 (14)	Umpires: Henry "Ivo" Crapp
Daly 4, Gartrell		Goals	Miller 2

References

1. "Football Notes". trove.nla.gov.au. 20 May 1899. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
2. Goalpost (13 May 1899). "Football Notes". Adelaide Observer. Adelaide, SA. p. 20.
3. "The Football Difficult". Adelaide Observer. 6 May 1899.
4. Goalpost (7 August 1899). "Football – First Round Completed". South Australian Register. Adelaide, SA. p. 3.
5. "1899 SAFA premiership season". Australian Football. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
6. Goalpost (11 September 1899). "Football – South Adelaide wins the premiership". South Australian Register. Adelaide, SA. p. 3.