1873 Victorian football season
A match betweenCarlton andMelbourne
Senior teams	5
Premiers	Carlton 2nd premiership
← 1872 1874 →

The1873 Victorian football season was the fourth senior season ofAustralian rules football in thecolony of Victoria.^[1]Carlton was the premier club for the second time.^[2][3]

A number of football clubs were formed in Victoria in for the 1873 season, includingSt Kilda, which was officially established on 2 April 1873.^[4][5]

Club	Region	Ref
Maldon	Provincial	[6]
St Kilda	Metropolitan	[7]

Four metropolitan clubs participated in senior football during the 1873 season:Albert Park,Carlton,Melbourne andUniversity, although University played too few games and its record is not shown below.

Notable for its absence wasSouth Yarra, which folded in July 1873 after being a powerhouse of the 1860s.^[8] Many of its players went to the newly-established and nearbySt Kilda Football Club, which was elevated to senior ranks in1874.^[9]

Carlton and Melbourne were considered the dominant clubs in the city, so the premier club was decided based entirely on the head-to-head record between the clubs. In their four meetings, Carlton won two matches and the other two were drawn, meaning Carlton was recognised as the season's premier club.^[10]

The below table shows the results for senior clubs during the 1873 season across all matches (senior, junior, and at odds), excluding abandoned matches played byCarlton againstAlbert Park andUniversity.^[10]

Geelong was the strongest provincial team, being undefeated in provincial matches and suffering its only loss of the season against Melbourne. According to the official tables published inThe Argus from 1889^[11] and in theFootball Record from 1912 to 1923, Geelong was the third-placed club in the Victorian premiership in 1873.^[12]

Source:^[10]
(P) Premiers

Of the 12 junior clubs that competed at a relatively even standard –Carlton Imperial,Collingwood,East Melbourne,Essendon,Hawthorn,North Melbourne,Richmond,St Kilda,Southern,South Park,Studley Park andWilliamstown – none managed an unbeaten record in matches against the other juniors.^[10] The numbers advantage to juniors clubs in matches at odds against senior clubs was reduced in 1873, with the junior club usually fielding 20 men to the senior club's 18.^[13]

It has been rumoured thatbushrangerNed Kelly played 11 games forWilliamstown during the 1873 season.^[14] The claim was supported by Williamstown's longest-servving club president, Trevor Monti, who said in 2014 that Kelly was on track to win the club'sbest and fairest before he was reported for headbutting an umpire in his last game.^[15] The claim has been disputed, as Kelly was only known to be in theWilliamstown area for six months in 1873 as a prisoner.^[16] In 1928, the club discovered a prototype of thearmour that Kelly later used during his last stand in 1880.^[15]

Although there was no clear premier junior club for the 1873 season, a rough ladder includesNorth Melbourne andSouthern as some of the best-performing teams.^[17]

Source:^{[17][18][19][20][21][22]}
(P) Premiers

• From 1873, clubs began wearing distinctive uniforms to assist in distinguishing between the two teams. Prior to 1873, the colour of the players' caps was usually the only distinguishing feature.^[10]
• The sole match between Carlton and Albert-park was abandoned when Carlton disputed the umpire's decision to award a mark to Albert-park in front of goal. Albert-park refused to play another match against Carlton during the year following the incident.^[10]

• Victorian football seasons
• 1873 in Australian rules football

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