Hobart Football 1877-1879

Notes taken Monday 24 May 2010 at State library of Tasmania.

These are the notes I took and a table I drew up after visiting the library. I think that I recorded nearly all of the football games reported on in Hobart in the 1877–79 period.

Newspapers in Hobart (not incl Mercury) during that time
1877–79 Tasmanian Tribune, Tasmanian Mail
1879 Evening Star

I went through and listed all the games of football I could find in the randomly chosen Tasmanian Mail (a weekly published on Saturday). I also noted any peculiar or interesting information. The list is not completely thorough and the holding needs revisiting.

Tasmanian Mail (nb reports are on matches played the previous Saturday – unless noted otherwise)

Date of article	Date of game	Page	Game	Code (if indicated)	Score	Notes
4 Aug 1877		18	New Town v High School		1-0
1 Sep 1877		19	New Town v High School		0-10
1 Sep 1877		19	Richmond v City		0-0	‘It is only fair to say that they [City] were at a great disadvantage in having to make the great concession to their opponents of not “running with the ball.”’ [Richmond at this time play a non-running game.]
8 Sep 1877		18	Junior High v Hutchins School		17-0	Played previous Wednesday. Supposed to be U14 but HS had a number of over age players
8 Sep 1877		18	City School v City Club juniors		2-4	Football seems to peter out in September
11 May 1878		18	City FC scratch match			Played at Sandy Bay. Several goals kicked.
18 May 1878		17	City v City School			Poor turnout
1 June 1878		18				Report on the death of an English footballer in England.
8 June 1878		18	City snr v City Jr		5-1	11 v 16
15 Jun 1878		18	City v High School		5-0	First game of season
15 Jun 1878		18				Report on England v Scotland FA match – notable because of the way the description of the game differs from the local description.
22 June 1878		17	City v Collegiate School		7-1	Supplemented by a long piece on football controversy in Adelaide.
29 June 1878		19	City v Richmond		2-1	‘The Richmond team were evidently placed at a disadvantage by the novelty of the mark rule of which they made acquaintance for the first time.’ [We can conclude from this that Richmond play a non-running, non-marking game at this time – or that their mark is from another code]
20 July  1878		18	Lawyers & Merchants v Civil Servants & Bankers	Refs to “little marking” and drop kicking.	3-1	Played at Mr Butler’s Ground. Wales v Scotland FA report supplements.
20 July 1878		18				Report on England v Scotland FA match
27 July 1878		18	City School v New Town		2-0
27 July 1878		18	High school 3rd form v High School 2nd form		4-2	12 v 25
10 Aug 1878		17	City jr v Hutchins School	Refs to “carrying”	3-2	On Butler’s ground
17 Aug 1878		17	City v High School		3-1	“City v Richmond to be played this day.”
24 Aug 1878		17	Richmond v City	Playing the mark	0-1	By ‘Old Harrovian’. Announces games to come: City jr v Hutchins Aug 25 Fancy Costume match Sep 7
31 Aug 1878		18	Hutchins v City jr		2-0
31 Aug 1878		18	Richmond Jr v Tea Tree		7-0
31 Aug 1878		18	Launceston v Horton College		1-0	Played in Ross: “The first football match that has ever been played in the township.”
7 Sep 1878		18	City jr v Hutchins School		4-2
14 Sep 1878		17	Civil Servants & Bankers v Lawyers & Merchants		2-0
14 Sep 1878		17	Richmond v Oatlands		0-1
21 Sep 1878		17	New Town v City School		2-0
21 Sep 1878		17	Costume football match
Mercury 28 April 1879		2		Soccer +		City Club “The committee recommended the adoption of a fresh code of playing rules, as the present code entirely prevented the club from meeting any foreign team, recommending those of the English Football Association, with the addition of the drop kick. Captain Boddam was appointed captain!!
10 May 1879		19				City Club receives a request from Hotham to play in Tasmania. “Such an attention . . . from Victoria will demonstrate the necessity for the formation of an Association, uniformity of rules . . . The article suggests that rancour exits between the Hobart clubs formed. The Cricketers’ Football Club at their May 5 meeting adopted the English Association Rules. The vote was 10-9! Boddam and seconder preferred Rugby but realised the rules were too ‘complex’. [suggesting their motives are imperialist]. They were derisory in relation to Victorian Rules. New Town FC adopted VR with some modifications [indeed!]
17 May 1879		18				Railway Club adopts VR – but confusions reigns Railway, City – VR New Town – modified VR Cricketers – EAR
24 May 1879		19	New Town v High School		1-1	Opening game of season. Also – Mercury Club emerges. Reference to “Locomotives” [ahh Locomotiv Glenorchy – if only!]
31 May 1879		19	New Town v Cricketers	modified VR spherical ball	5-1	“hybred character of the New Town game, which while allowing handling the ball, prohibits it being carried so that a player catching the ball, must stand positively to be knocked down by an opponent charging him, for if he moves a yard to dodge him, a “free kick” is the penalty”.  The writer is scathing about the rules which he sees as a mockery of the Victorian game. City Club “maintain their in cognito” and play a scratch match.
31 May 1879		19	Hich School v Railway		1-1
7 June 1879		19	New Town v City	Oval ball	2-2	Clashed on rules
7 June 1879		19	City jr v City School		3-0	Railway scratch.
14 June 1879		19	Railway v City		1-0
14 June 1879		19	Cricketers v New Town	Soccer	0-0	“Morriss for the New Town causing special amusement by playing the ball with his head.” The writer complains of the ‘absurdity’ of the keeper being allowed to throw the ball.
21 June 1879		19	City v High School		1-3
21 June 1879			New Town v Hutchins		1-2	8 v 9
21 June 1879			Mercury Juniors v Battery Point Public School		2-0
21 June 1879		19	Oatlands v N Richmond	CNA	0-2
21 June 1879		19				Report on the first meeting of the Association on June 12 – where VR are adopted with one or two exceptions – one of which is a crossbar over which the ball must pass. The writer argues that Tasmanian Rules has emerged – a “hodge podge of the Rugby Union, English, and Victorian Rules”. The executive decided after the meeting to add the crossbar! Accusations of the committee being a “Star Chamber”
28 June 1879		19	Cricketers v Railway	Cross bar uniform	1-0
28 June 1879			City v New Town		1-0
28 June 1879			Battery Point PS  v Mercury Juniors		2-1
5 July 1879		19	New Town v Cricketers		4-1	Boddam scored for the cricketers. Notice that Launceston will play Richmond in mid July.
12 July 1879		19	Railway v City		1-2
12 July 1879			Cricketers v Richmond		0-0
12 July 1879			Longford v Launceston		1-4
19 July 1879		19	City v Cricketers		0-1	Unclear whether the ball is a “sphere” or an “oval”
19 July 1879			Railway v New Town		1-1
19 July 1879			Richmond v Launceston		1-0
26 July  1879		18	Cricketers v Railway		1-2
26 July  1879			New Town v City		1-1	New Town may have won. The report is contradictory.
2 Aug 1879		19	Yachy Club v Rowing Club	“new rules”	0-1
2 Aug 1879			City jr v Railway jr		3-0
2 Aug 1879			New Town jr v Hutchins School		1-2
9 Aug 1879		18	Hutchins School v High School		12-0
9 Aug 1879			City jr v City School		0-0
9 Aug 1879			Oatlands v City		1-2
16 Aug 1879		18	Richmond v City		1-2
16 Aug 1879			Railway v High School		2-1
16 Aug 1879			Mercury jr v Battery Point		2-2
23 Aug 1879		18	Railway v Launceston		0-0
23 Aug 1879			High School v City		0-2
23 Aug 1879			Hutchins School v City jr		3-0
23 Aug 1879			Mercury v Trinity Scholars		2-1
30 Aug 1879		19	Cricketers v Railway		5-1	Notice of New Norfolk v Railway Aug 30 Hutchins v Ross (????) Sep 6
30 Aug 1879			New Town v City		2-2
30 Aug 1879			Mercury jr v Tribune jr		2-0
6 Sep 1879		17	New Norfolk v Railway		0-10
13 Sep 1879		19	New Town v Railway		4-0
13 Sep 1879			City v Oatland		1-0
13 Sep 1879			Horton v Hutchins		2-2	Played in Ross
20 Sep 1879		19	Launceston v Cricketers 13th		0-2	Notice of end-of-season game, Tasmanians v All-Comers on 27th.
20 Sep 1879			Launceston v Richmond 12th		0-2
27 Sep 1879		19	High School v City		1-0
27 Sep 1879			Horton v Ross School		14-0
4 Oct 1879		19	Tasmanians v All-Comers		3-0	4000 present at Battery Ground. Tas won. Notice of a game, Longford v All-Comers. [note to self that entire report is worth copying – can’t quite remember why – perhaps that it summarised the year and layed out plans for the future]
11 Oct 1879		20	Railway v All comers		4-1
Mercury, 29 September 1879		3				[This is noted as a summary to the three years previous] Mr. GIBLIN proposed the toast of the evening, "Success to the Tasmanian Football Association." (Loud and prolonged cheers.) There was not the least doubt that the game of football had taken such a hold of the young men of Hobart Town that season such as none of them could remember before. (Hear, hear.) It was a grand winter game. Many of them loved cricket with an intense love, but in our climate cricket could not be played all the year round, and there was no game to be compared to the manly old English game of football. (Cheers.) [I’m struck that even after all the shenanigans that they see themselves as playing an English game.]
May 15 1880		19	Railway v High School		1-6
May 22 1880		19	Cricketers v City		1-0	Cricketers captained by George Bailey!!
May 22 1880		19	New Norfolk v Railway		0-1

Australian Soccer: Must We Always Forget the Past?

It is a given that the broader Australian culture cares little for the positive memorialisation of soccer. Yet the game itself is not much better at asserting its own legitimacy or remembering its own belonging. Forgetting the game’s history seems, at times, to be an imperative for soccer authorities. The transitions between significant stages of the game’s history in Australia are moments in which deliberate erasure and voluntary amnesia have seemed to be vital strategies.

The rebadging of the game as soccer in the 1920s threw off the ‘British’ name in an attempt to both domesticate and internationalise Association football in Australia. Even though still heavily reliant on migration from Britain, an amateur and domestically Australian-Anglo-Celtic culture emerged from the English and Scottish roots.

After the Second World War the rise to dominance of the continental European migrant clubs (and a concomitant emergence of professionalism) enabled the forgetting of that pre-war culture. For many today, soccer in Australia only really started in the 1950s. And many of the ‘ethnic’ clubs are guilty of ‘failing’ to remember their own history of supplanting a previous culture. South Melbourne Hellas is a case in point. A complex history of mergers between Australian-Anglo, Jewish and Greek clubs is lost in the club’s contemporary Greek-Australian identity.

The most recent act of substantial and brutal forgetting came in 2004 with the establishment of the FFA and the A-League, led by Frank Lowy and underpinned by the Crawford Report which advocated substantial and important changes to the constitution and management of the game. A policy of not just forgetting but also rejecting the game’s past was adopted largely because the new soccer authorities believed in the unassailability of the dominant myths, ones that are still in need of dismantling.

In the perceived absence of a sustained and convincing counter-narrative of soccer’s centrality to Australian culture, history became a no-go zone. Indeed the rejection of history was manifested in a 2006 World Cup advertising campaign expressing the Socceroos’ intentions to play well above the level of the national team’s historic mediocrity. Even if not intended, local history was a victim of the campaign and the powerfully significant contribution of the ethnic European clubs was forgotten in the blaze of negative memories of all that was ‘wrong’ with ‘wogball’.

When the Socceroos beat Uruguay on penalties in November 2005 they did more than fulfil a long-cherished dream of almost all Australian soccer supporters to participate again in the World Cup. The result also seemed effectively to justify, first, the decisions made about the changing of the game’s ethnic identity and, second, the obliteration of the many positive things that had come from the wogball period and the eighty years before that.

Yet a review of the names of the scorers in that penalty shootout enables a profoundly beautiful realisation to emerge. Kewell, Neill, Vidmar, Viduka, Aloisi: individual players representing and embodying a progression of waves of Australian immigration: English, Irish, Slovenian, Croatian, Italian. Add the names of the crucial game-time goal-scorer Bresciano and the goalkeeper Schwarzer, responsible for two heroic shootout saves, and the multicultural diversity of Australian soccer is revealed in all its power and glory. And that is something worth remembering.

The internal denial of history is an ongoing and crippling problem for Australian soccer. The game’s millions of stakeholders deserve to believe that there are reasons for optimism that the game’s profound lack of self-belief and feelings of illegitimacy and unbelonging can be turned around at both national and state level. Denying the contribution of wogball past and present is simply no way encourage that belief.

And by amazing co-incidence . . .

Melbourne Soccer also 150 years old in 2020

The AFL might well be shifting the history goalposts once more and moving its origin date back from 1987 to 1870. Preparations seem underway already to celebrate another 150th (didn't we just have one?) in 2020. I guess that's the way the AFL rolls.

However, here's a little snippet from my research that suggests soccer may also have a coincidental anniversary.

_________________________

Of the Australian colonies in the period 1860–1880, Victoria was the one in which English Association rules seemed the least present. Aside from the occasional reported attempts to advocate the formation of a football association, soccer is absent in the received story of football in Melbourne until 1883. Given this absence, the following report of a game that seems a lot like soccer is somewhat tantalising.

An amusing game of football will be played on the Metropolitan ground, Yarra-park, this afternoon, between the local club and a team chosen from the ranks of the Victorian police force, who will play under the guidance of Mr J Conway, of the Carlton Club. The game will be played something after the home style, and holding or running with the ball will not be allowed.[i]

When the Police team and Melbourne FC (the 1870 AFL premiers in the newly rewritten version of footy history) were scheduled to have a match it was felt that major rule modifications were needed to give the police team a chance to be competitive. The Australasian reported that as a result the game was to be played under 'home rules' (using the more definitive ‘rules’ rather than ‘style’). It said, ‘In order to make the game as equal as possibly both teams will play according to the “home rules”, which provide that there shall be no holding or running with the ball.’[ii] 

The Argus match report followed two days later. The Melbourne team had proved too strong for the police, who struggled to cope despite the modifications. The match,

as was expected, was a most amusing affair, and attracted a large number of spectators to the metropolitan ground. The toss was won by the police, who elected to kick down the hill. With the view of equalising the chances of the teams, the rules of the Melbourne Club were slightly departed from, neither ‘marks,’ holding, nor running with the ball being allowed.[iii]

To work out just what this game might have looked like is difficult. The Melbourne Rules of the time need to be imagined with three crucial aspects missing. Players could handle the ball but they could not claim a mark, hold on to it or run with it. Most likely they needed to kick it quickly after catching it to avoid being pummelled.

The notions of the ‘home style’ and ‘home rules’ are intriguing. The various prohibitions and the (presumed) absence of offside rule out Rugby and the public school games. The absence of offside would also rule out Association football as codified in 1863. If anything the ‘home’ game they most closely resemble is the football of the Sheffield rules (a game which is formative in the development of soccer) – though it too allowed a mark.

Ultimately it cannot yet be said one way or the other if this is a very early example of a soccer-derived game being played in Australia. Despite its being a close relative, nor can this modified game be claimed as an immediate progenitor of Australian soccer.

But the point that should also be made is that the game bears little resemblance to the written Melbourne Rules of the time and virtually no likeness to Australian rules as played today. Then again the Melbourne Rules of the time bear little resemblance to Australian rules of today either, which begs the question of when Australian Rules football actually began. The myth says 1858/1859. The principles that form the basis of a code – established and relatively stable rules agreed and conformed to by an associated community of clubs – says 1877, at the earliest.

The 1870 Melbourne v Police game lies under erasure, unbelonging in our football history. Too difficult to categorise. And still too easy to ignore.

---

[i] Argus, 9 July 1870, 4.

[ii]  Australasian, 9 July 1870, 11.

[iii] Argus, 11 July 1870, 5.

Qualifying is never easy: Australia’s World Cup history

Roy Hay

Australia will soon begin its fourth football World Cup finals campaign – the third successive tournament it has qualified for – with group stage matches against Chile, the Netherlands and Spain.

While some more recent Australian football fans might now view qualification for the World Cup as something we can take for granted, Australia’s earlier adventures in attempting to gain access to the pinnacle of the world game prove it wasn’t always thus.

Australia began trying to qualify for the World Cup soon after its FIFA membership was restored in 1963. Australia had been suspended because local clubs were signing up overseas players such as Leo Baumgartner and Sjel de Bruyckere, claiming they were just migrants who had arrived here and only wanted a game of football. Their European clubs were not receiving transfer fees and complained to FIFA, which suspended Australia.

Australia’s first attempt to get to the World Cup – the 1966 tournament in England – was very disappointing. The Australian team prepared in Cairns with a match against Ingham, while their opponent, North Korea, had about 35 competitive games before the two-match play-off in Phnom Penh. Australia lost both encounters comprehensively, then played a series of matches in Asia to help defray the trip’s costs.

Later, Australia learned to play warm-up games before the main event, not afterwards.

In 1967, in the middle of the Vietnam War with prime minister Harold Holt under pressure at home, it was decided that Australia should play in the Independence Day tournament in Saigon. The idea was to help demonstrate the superiority of democracy and boost morale among service personnel and the domestic population.

A young team led by Johnny Warren and coached by “Uncle” Joe Vlasits found itself interacting with Australian troops who would then go off to fight while they played and beat New Zealand, South Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia en route to the final against South Korea. The Australians threatened not to take part after being informed that there was no space in the stadium for the Australian military personnel who had been a huge support to the players on and off the field.

As it turned out, the service personnel were allowed in and the rest of the crowd supported Australia rather than the Koreans, much to the Australians' surprise. South Korea scored in the first minute, but the Australians responded brilliantly. Billy Vojtek produced a wonderful solo goal after 36 minutes and Atti Abonyi and Warren added the others in a 3-2 win to register Australia’s first international tournament victory.

The camaraderie in the face of adversity was an important element in the mindset that eventually helped Australia qualify for the World Cup in West Germany in 1974.

Led by Rale Rasic, a bunch of part-time players, some of whom had to give up their employment to take part, qualified by beating South Korea in another play-off, this time in Hong Kong. Everyone remembers Jimmy Mackay’s fierce shot that won the decisive game, but fewer remember Jimmy Fraser’s performances in goal that helped get Australia to that point.

Highlights from Australia’s 1974 World Cup qualification campaign.

In the finals, Australia lost to East and West Germany and drew with Chile. Chile, coincidentally, will be Australia’s first opponent in the 2014 tournament, and another draw would be an excellent result. That match against Chile in 1974 was marked by the appearance of Harry Williams as a substitute late in the game, the first recognised Indigenous player to represent Australia at a FIFA World Cup.

In 2005, after a wait of more than three decades, Australia qualified for another World Cup in a now-united Germany. People asked me before the tournament: “Will we qualify for Germany?” I would reply: “We always qualify for the World Cup in Germany.”

After the excruciatingly narrow loss to Iran at the MCG in 1997 on the away goals rule, getting to Germany depended once again on a series of brilliant saves by goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, who has recently retired from international football, and a penalty kick by John Aloisi to defeat Uruguay.

A penalty shootout sent Australia to the 2006 World Cup.

The nation united behind the team. It is estimated that some 60,000 Australians followed them to Germany, the largest outward movement of population since World War Two. Many did not have tickets but enjoyed the tournament in the fan fests in all of the World Cup cities.

At home, thousands got up in the middle of the night to watch Australia on big screens in cities across the country. Australia beat Japan with three very late goals, lost to Brazil, but then drew with Croatia to qualify for the knockout stages. Only a late penalty to the eventual winner, Italy, brought the campaign to an end.

Australia has since qualified for South Africa in 2010 – where it went out in the group stages after a win, loss and draw – and the tournament in Brazil is now about to start. Bring it on.

---

Roy Hay and Bill Murray’s new book, A History of Football in Australia, is published by Hardie Grant.

The 2014 AFL season: a Guide

Bob J. Penny recently sent us this piece. Now I'm not a big footy fan but this seemed so hilarious that I just had to publish it. Be interested in your responses.

You won’t believe what I got accused of the other day. Some reprobate suggested that I was one of those people. You know. The people who only care about AFL once a year.

What a disgusting accusation. I mean, sure I’m excited about the Phoody Phinals that’ll be starting in cloudy Melbourne (or as the locals don’t call it, “Mexico”) in September, but it’s not true that I only get interested in “the footification game” when the World Series play-offs are on.

In fact, I follow the sport passionately all year, every year. I am a particularly fanatical supporter of our local team, the Greater Wandering Giants (or as we traditional hardcore fans know them, the “grey and faded oranges”) and I have a deep familiarity with all the major footifiers on the VFL roster.

Smithy, Johnno, Billy, Shane, Johnno and Scotty. I am a walking encyclopaedia on every one of them, and I resent any implication that I am not. The truth is that I am pretty much the epitome of what Wikipedia is talking about when it says “the game is played on an oval field”.

In fact, it is to prove that I am no footifying dilettante that I am penning this article to give some of my considered thoughts on the likely outcomes and implications of the upcoming footy Bowl. If nothing else it should be an education for those of you who are not au fait with the game they play in Mexico.

First of all: can the Midgets win? I say yes. I say this not just because westie bogans have a lot more guts than latte-sipping Melbournians, who make up 90 per cent of the other teams involved in the tourney, but also because our coach Scotty Smith-Johnson has put together a squad full of men who can kick the ball incredibly hard.

Footy neophytes may not realise this, but the most important thing in footy is to kick the ball as hard as you can, to penetrate “the goals”, a technical term for the four sticks at each end of the field.

As my old footy teacher used to say, “a kick in the head never hurt anyone”, and I think it’s probably true. Never hurt me. The Giants’ team has a lot of extremely hard kickers, like Smithy and Scotty. It’ll be difficult for the defenders of traditionally less robust clubs like North Mexico and Western Mexico to withstand the force of these men’s feet.

Another thing in the Graters’ favour is the rule change, which will come into force next week and which no-one will understand, especially the umpires. I think it’ll be pretty difficult for defences to hold out the Gwestes’ attack using only their tiny latte hearts or their boofy bogan brains.

Then there is the coach himself: in contrast to previous supremo Johnno, Scotty is a canny operator who is well-known around the country for his tactical brilliance.

His adoption of the lethal ‘crane stance’ will serve the team well in Melbourne. Reports from training camp indicate that Scotty has also been putting a lot of emphasis on slowing down the play the ball, and this should provide plenty of opportunities for the Gigantor footifiers to implement their structures at the stoppage.

Of course, Gigantic premiership is far from a fait acccompli: there are other strong contenders from the title, such as the home team itself, the Demonised Melbourne Amateurs.

They are always a threat with their skilful basketball midfield and frequent stupidity. Their neighbours Collingwood will also be hard to beat due to their talented array of bogans and toothless.

And then of course there is the Cold Ghost Suns, which with a rapidly growing Mexican emigre class is set to become the next century’s footynomic powerhouse, wielding significant influence over the national political landscape, including footy.

But perhaps the biggest wildcard in this extremely wild pack is Port Adelaide Magpowers, which has a tradition of great footering stretching back through Smithy, Scotty, Johnno, and Smithy, and will be sure to be on a full-bogan in tribute to the spirit of racism that runs through the code.

So that’s phoody for you. It won’t be easy for the Enormities to win this one, but I think we can be pretty confident that as long as they all stay fit and healthy, keep a steady line and length, and kick the ball as hard as possible, come that one day in September skipper Johnny ‘Johnno’ Johnstone-Johnson will once again hold the ‘Auld Mug’ high above his head on the Victoria Park terraces.

But more importantly than that, even after the World Series is over, we diehard fans of the Sport of Kings will go on cheering week in, week out.

Good luck Gigantic Graters of Sydney!

NPLV results 26 May 2014

NPL

ROUND 10

• Bentleigh Greens SC 1 Heidelberg United SC 3(HT: 1-1) 
• Pascoe Vale SC 2 Oakleigh Cannons FC 0(HT: 1-0)
• Dandenong Thunder SC 3 (J. Nakic 2, D. King 1) Ballarat Red Devils SC 1 (D. O'Donnell 1)(HT: 0-0)
• Hume City FC 0 Green Gully SC 3 (M. Sanders 1, J. Hayne 1)(HT: 0-0)
• Melbourne Knights FC 3 (A. Colosimo 2, D. Visevic 1) Port Melbourne Sharks SC 1(HT: 0-1)
• Northcote City FC 3 (J. Kalifatidis 1, A. Chiappetta 1, T. Rixon 1) Goulburn Valley Suns FC 0(HT: 2-0)
• Werribee City FC 0 South Melbourne FC 1 (M. Lujic 1)(HT: 0-1) 

NPL1

ROUND 9

• Sunshine George Cross SC 1 (M. Sadik 1) Box Hill United SC 0(HT: 0-0)
• Avondale Heights SC 2 (J. Principato 1, Z. Pajic 1) Dandenong City SC 1 (A. Jerez 1)(HT: 2-0)
• Whittlesea Ranges FC 0 North Geelong Warriors FC 4 (R. Luka 3, M. Paleka 1)(HT: 0-2)
• FC Bendigo 1 (G. Slefendorfas 1) Springvale White Eagles FC 4 (A. Fesseha 3, H. Millar 1)(HT: 1-1) 
• Moreland Zebras FC 0 Richmond SC Seniors  1(HT: 0-1)
• St Albans Saints SC 4 (B. Devlin 2, J. Julardzija 1) Brunswick City SC 0(HT: 3-0) 

TABLES
NPL

                                                    P       W       L       D       F       A       GD      PTS    

1   South Melbourne FC               10      10      0       0       23      7       16      30     

2   Oakleigh Cannons FC              10      6       1       3       23      8       15      21     

3   Heidelberg United SC              10      7       3       0       27      14      13      21     

4   Dandenong Thunder SC           10      5       3       2       13      17      -4      17     

5   Bentleigh Greens SC                 9       4       3       2       16      14      2       14     

6   Northcote City FC                   10      4       5       1       18      17      1       13     

7   Hume City FC                         10      4       5       1       12      13      -1      13     

8   Werribee City FC                    10      4       5       1       14      18      -4      13     

9   Port Melbourne Sharks SC      10      3       4       3       17      19      -2      12     

10  Green Gully SC                       10      4       6       0       19      25      -6      12     

11  Ballarat Red Devils SC             9       3       5       1       15      22      -7      10     

12  Melbourne Knights FC            10      3       7       0       11      15      -4      9      

13  Pascoe Vale SC                      10      2       5       3       10      15      -5      9      

14  Goulburn Valley Suns FC        10      1       8       1       13      27      -14     4      

NPL1

                                                     P       W       L       D       F       A       GD      PTS    

1   Avondale Heights SC                 9       8       1       0       24      9       15      24     

2   Sunshine George Cross SC        9       6       2       1       18      13      5       19      

3   St Albans Saints SC                   9       7       2       0       22      11      11      18     

4   Box Hill United SC                    9       5       2       2       19      9       10      17     

5   FC Bulleen Lions                        8       4       1       3       21      11      10      15     

6   Kingston City FC                        8       4       3       1       18      15      3       13     

7   Richmond SC Seniors                 9       4       4       1       16      22      -6      13     

8   North Geelong Warriors FC        9       4       5       0       16      14      2       12     

9   Springvale White Eagles FC        9       4       5       0       21      24      -3      12     

10  Dandenong City SC                   9       3       5       1       17      21      -4      10     

11  Moreland Zebras FC                 9       2       6       1       15      17      -2      7      

12  Whittlesea Ranges FC                9       2       6       1       12      21      -9      7      

13  FC Bendigo                               9       2       6       1       15      24      -9      7      

14  Brunswick City SC                     9       1       8       0       8       31      -23     3