1878 SAFA season

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
Teams	7
Premiers	Norwood 1st premiership
Leading goalkicker	William Dedman Norwood (12 Goals)
Matches played	42
Highest	3,000 (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

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

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

Round 1

	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

	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

	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

	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

	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

	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

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

Round 8

	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

	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

	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

	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

	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

	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

	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

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

Round 16

	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

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

Ladder

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.