| 1874 Victorian football season | |
|---|---|
 Carlton – 1874 Victorian premiers | |
| Senior teams | 5 |
| Premiers | Carlton 3rd premiership |
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]
A number of football clubs were formed in Victoria for the 1874 season, including 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]
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 season. [17] Melbourne had a slightly better record against the remaining senior clubs (Melbourne having a record of 6-1-1 to Carlton's record of 5-0-5), but such was Carlton's and Melbourne's dominance at the time that their matches against the other clubs had little influence on the premiership. [18]
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 and St Kilda fifth. [17] [18] Although North Melbourne's win–loss record appears superior to Albert-park's, its easier fixture (four of its 12 matches were played against junior teams) was taken into account. [17] [18]
Tables published in The Argus from 1889 and in the Football Record from 1912 to 1923 listed 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) | 18 | 12 | 0 | 6 | 33 | 6 |
| 2 | Melbourne | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 35 | 10 |
| 3 | Albert Park | 19 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 17 | 13 |
| – | North Melbourne | 12 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 11 | 4 |
| – | St Kilda | 18 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 27 |
Geelong was the best performing provincial team of the 1874 season. [26] 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. [27] Some sources from 1874 place Geelong in fourth (across all matches) or fifth (only matches against senior clubs) out of six clubs. [28]
Other known provincial teams in 1874 include Barwon, [29] Kardinia, [30] and Phoenix Foundry. [31]
East Melbourne was the best performing junior club in 1874, winning nine of its 18 matches. [17]
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | D | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | East Melbourne (P) | 18 | 9 | ||||
| 2 | Richmond | ||||||
| 3 | Carlton Imperial | ||||||
| 4 | Hawthorn | 17 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 12 | 14 |
| 5 | Essendon |
