1880 SAFA season

The 1880 South Australian Football Association season was the 4th season of the top-level Australian rules football competition in South Australia.

1880 SAFA premiership season
Teams	7
Premiers	Norwood 3rd premiership
Leading goalkicker	Joe Traynor Norwood (7 Goals)
Matches played	38
Highest	3,000 (Round 2, South Adelaide vs. Norwood)
← 1879 1881 →

The season commenced on the 8th of May and drew to a close on the 18th of September.

Norwood went on to record its 3rd consecutive premiership.

Premiership season

Round 1

	Round 1
Saturday, 8 May	Norwood 5.17 (5)	def.	Port Adelaide 0.3 (0)	East Park Lands	[1]
Saturday, 8 May	Victorian 3	def.	Adelaide 0	Montefiore Hill	[1]
Saturday, 8 May	South Park 0	def. by	South Adelaide 1	South Park Lands	[1]
	Bye Kensington

Round 2

	Round 2
Saturday, 15 May (3:20 pm)	South Adelaide 0	def. by	Norwood 2.18 (2)	South Park Lands (crowd: 3,000)	[2]
Saturday, 15 May	South Park 0	def. by	Victorian 1	South Park Lands	[2][3]
Saturday, 15 May	Port Adelaide 1.7 (1)	def.	Kensington 0	Alberton Oval	[4]
	Bye Adelaide
The match between Port Adelaide and Kensington was the first time Alberton Oval was used for premiership points.

Round 3

	Round 3
Saturday, 22 May (3:15 pm)	Norwood 3.22 (3)	def.	Kensington 0.1 (0)	Adelaide Oval (crowd: 600)	[5][6]
Saturday, 22 May (3:00 pm)	Adelaide 1	drew with	South Adelaide 1	Adelaide Bridge (crowd: 350)	[5]
	Bye Port Adelaide, Victorian, South Park

Round 4

	Round 4
Saturday, 29 May	Adelaide 0	def. by	Norwood 7.26 (7)	Adelaide Bridge (crowd: 300)	[7][8]
Saturday, 29 May	Kensington 0.1 (0)	def. by	South Park 2.20 (2)	Kensington Oval	[8]
	Bye Port Adelaide
Controversy regarding a goal kicked during the Victorian and South Adelaide game meant the result was not confirmed until it was referred to the SAFA committee.[8] The result of the game was eventually decided to not count towards the premiership.[9]

Round 5

	Round 5
Saturday, 5 June	Norwood 3.25 (3)	def.	South Park 0	Adelaide Oval	[10]
Saturday, 5 June	Victorian 0.8 (0)	drew with	Port Adelaide 0.2 (0)	Montefiore Hill	[10]
Saturday, 5 June	Kensington 5.12 (5)	def.	Adelaide 1.3 (1)	Kensington Oval	[10]
	Bye South Adelaide
Kensington's win over Adelaide was its first since 1877, ending a winless streak of 30 matches.

Round 6

	Round 6
Saturday, 12 June	Norwood 2.11 (2)	def.	Victorian 1.2 (1)	Adelaide Oval (crowd: 2,000)	[11]
Saturday, 12 June	Port Adelaide 3.17 (3)	def.	Adelaide 0.3 (0)	Alberton Oval	[11]
Saturday, 12 June	South Adelaide 1.6 (1)	def.	Kensington 0.9 (0)	South Park Lands	[11]
	Bye South Park

Round 7

	Round 7
Saturday, 19 June (3:30 pm)	South Adelaide 3.10 (3)	def.	Port Adelaide 1.1 (1)	South Park Lands	[12]
Saturday, 19 June	Kensington 1.8 (1)	def.	Victorian 0.3 (0)	Kensington Oval	[12]
Saturday, 19 June	Adelaide 2	def.	South Park 0	Adelaide Oval	[13]
	Bye Norwood
Norwood began a trip to Victoria to play a selection of VFA sides and would not participate in the SAFA for the next four rounds.

Round 8

	Round 8
Saturday, 26 June	Victorian 3.4 (3)	def.	South Park 1.5 (1)	Adelaide Oval	[14]
Saturday, 26 June (3:30 pm)	South Adelaide 6.20 (6)	def.	Adelaide 1	South Park Lands	[14]
Saturday, 26 June (3:30 pm)	Kensington 2.4 (2)	drew with	Port Adelaide 2.12 (2)	Kensington Oval	[14]
	Bye Norwood

Round 9

	Round 9
Saturday, 3 July	Port Adelaide 3.8 (3)	drew with	South Adelaide 3.4 (3)	Alberton Oval (crowd: 300)	[15][16]
Saturday, 3 July (3:30 pm)	Adelaide 0.3 (0)	def. by	Victorian 1.15 (1)	Adelaide Oval (crowd: 350)	[16]
Saturday, 3 July	South Park 1	def. by	Kensington 2	South Park Grounds	[17]
	Bye Norwood

Round 10

	Round 10
Saturday, 10 July (3:30 pm)	South Adelaide 2.7 (2)	def.	South Park 0.4 (0)	South Park Lands	[18]
Saturday, 10 July	Port Adelaide 0.5 (0)	drew with	Victorian 0.3 (0)	Alberton Oval (crowd: 600)	[18]
Saturday, 10 July (3:30 pm)	Adelaide 1.4 (1)	drew with	Kensington 1.4 (1)	Adelaide Oval	[18]
	Bye Norwood

Round 11

	Round 11
Saturday, 17 July	Port Adelaide 0.4 (0)	drew with	Norwood 0.18 (0)	Alberton Oval (crowd: 750)	[19]
Saturday, 17 July (3:00 pm)	Kensington 3.2 (3)	def.	South Adelaide 1.15 (1)	Adelaide Oval	[19]
Saturday, 17 July	South Park 4.16 (4)	def.	Adelaide 0.1 (0)	South Park Lands	[19]
	Bye Victorian

Round 12

	Round 12
Saturday, 24 July (3:30 pm)	Norwood 2.16 (2)	def.	South Adelaide 1.1 (1)	East Park Lands (crowd: 2,000)	[20][21]
Saturday, 24 July	South Park 1.11 (1)	def.	Port Adelaide 0.9 (0)	Adelaide Oval	[20]
Saturday, 24 July (3:30 pm)	Victorian 1.16 (1)	drew with	Kensington 1.0 (1)	Montefiore Hill	[21]
	Bye Adelaide

Round 13

	Round 13
Saturday, 28 August (3:30 pm)	South Adelaide 0.5 (0)	drew with	Victorian 0.4 (0)	South Park Lands (crowd: 300)	[22][23]
Saturday, 28 August (3:15 pm)	Adelaide 0	def. by	Port Adelaide 4	Adelaide Oval	[22][23]
	Bye South Park
A match scheduled for Saturday, 28 August between Kensington and Norwood was cancelled with mutual consent.[24]

Round 14

	Round 14
Saturday, 18 September (3:00 pm)	Victorian 2.7 (2)	def.	Norwood 1.10 (1)	North Park Lands	[25]
Saturday, 18 September	Port Adelaide 2.3 (2)	def. by	South Park 4.4 (4)	Alberton Oval	[25]
	Bye South Adelaide, Adelaide, Kensington
This was Norwood's first loss after 30 matches in the competition.

Ladder

1880 SAFA Ladder
	TEAM	P	W	L	D	GF	GA	Pts	Adj Pts
1	Norwood	10	7	2	1	25	4	15	18.00
2	Victorian	10	5	2	3	12	6	13	15.60
3	South Adelaide	10	5	3	2	19	14	12	14.40
4	Port Adelaide	11	3	3	5	16	18	11	12.00
5	Kensington	12	4	5	3	15	14	11	11.00
6	South Park	12	5	7	0	13	14	10	10.00
7	Adelaide	11	1	8	2	6	36	4	4.36
Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, GF = Goals For, GA = Goals Against, Pts = Points, Adj Pts = Points adjusted for match ratio, (P) = Premiers									[9]

Note: Victorian were ranked above South Adelaide on match ratio (only match was drawn), while Port Adelaide were ranked above Kensington on head-to-head record (1-0-1), and Kensington were ranked above South Park on match ratio (both teams were 1-1 head-to-head).

Intercolonial matches

An Association representative team toured South Australia in August, playing three intercolonial matches – two at even strength against the South Australian Football Association representative team, and one against a team of twenty-three South Australian-born players – and winning all three. J. Gibson (South Melbourne) served as captain of the Association team.^[26]

	1880 Intercolonial Matches
Saturday, 14 August	South Australia 2.7 (2)	def. by	Victoria 5.13 (5)	Adelaide Oval (crowd: 4,000)	[27]
Wednesday, 18 August	South Australian-born (23) 1.1 (1)	def. by	Victoria 5.17 (5)	Adelaide Oval (crowd: 1,500)	[26]
Saturday, 21 August	South Australia 0.6 (0)	def. by	Victoria 3.21 (3)	Adelaide Oval (crowd: 2,500)	[28]

Additional matches

Controversy regarding a goal kicked during the Victorian and South Adelaide game meant the result was not confirmed until it was referred to the SAFA committee.^[8] The result of the game was eventually decided to not count towards the premiership.^[9]

	Victorian vs. South Adelaide
Saturday, 29 May	Victorian 1.5 (1)	def.	South Adelaide 0.2 (0)	Adelaide Oval (crowd: 600)	[7][8]

The Port Adelaide and Victorian football clubs decided to play another game against each other as their two previous matches during the season resulted in draws.

	Port Adelaide vs. Victorian
Saturday, 4 September	Port Adelaide 0.5 (0)	def. by	Victorian 2.11 (2)	Alberton Oval (crowd: 500)	[29]