Team	1	2	3	Final
Fitzroy Fitzroy Football Club The Fitzroy Football Club, formerly nicknamed The Lions, is an Australian rules football club formed in 1883 to represent the inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, Victoria and was a foundation member club of the Victorian Football League on its inception in 1897...	0.1	2.4	2.6	3.9 (27)
South Melbourne Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans Football Club is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The club, founded in 1874, was known as the South Melbourne Football Club until it relocated to Sydney in 1982 to become the Sydney...	2.3	2.3	3.7	3.8 (26)

The 1899 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football

Australian rules football

Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

 game contested between the Fitzroy Football Club

Fitzroy Football Club

The Fitzroy Football Club, formerly nicknamed The Lions, is an Australian rules football club formed in 1883 to represent the inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, Victoria and was a foundation member club of the Victorian Football League on its inception in 1897...

 and South Melbourne Football Club

Sydney Swans

The Sydney Swans Football Club is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The club, founded in 1874, was known as the South Melbourne Football Club until it relocated to Sydney in 1982 to become the Sydney...

, held at the St Kilda Cricket Ground

Junction Oval

The Junction Oval is an historic sports ground in the suburb of St Kilda in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its location near the St Kilda Junction gave rise to its nickname...

 in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

 on 16 September 1899. It was the 2nd annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League

Australian Football League

The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...

, staged to determine the premiers for the 1899 VFL season

1899 VFL season

Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League season of 1899.-Premiership season:In 1899, the VFL competition consisted of eight teams of 18 on-the-field players each, with no "reserves" .Each team played each other twice in...

. The match, attended by 4,823 spectators, was won by Fitzroy by a margin of 1 point, becoming the first club to claim back to back VFL premierships.

Lead-up

Fitzroy had won the minor premiership in the 1899 season, while South Melbourne had finished sixth after the home-and-away season. In the sectional rounds, Fitzroy and South Melbourne each finished with records of 3–0 to qualify for the final.

Had South Melbourne won the match, it would not have immediately won the premiership; Fitzroy, as the minor premiers, would have had the right to challenge South to a rematch for the premiership on the following Saturday.

Summary

Due to an expanded finals system, South Melbourne had made their inaugural Grand Final despite finishing the home and away season in sixth position. Rain the wind favoured South Melbourne in the opening quarter and Harry Lampe slotted the first two goals of the match. Fitzroy then had the advantage the following quarter and goals to Mick Grace and Fred Fontaine had them ahead at half time. Charlie Colgan gave South Melbourne the lead with the only goal of the third term but Fitzroy finished strongly and Bill McSpeerin's goal 15 minutes into the final quarter gave Fitzroy the win.

Teams

• Umpire - Ivo Crapp
  Henry 'Ivo' Crapp
  Henry 'Ivor' Crapp , was a leading Australian rules football field umpire in the Victorian Football League at its formation in the 1890s, and with the West Australian Football League in the early 1900s...
  
  

Goalkickers

Fitzroy:

• Fontaine 1
• M.Grace 1
• McSpeerin 1

South Melbourne:

• Lampe 2
• Colgan 1

See also

• 1899 VFL season
  1899 VFL season
  Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League season of 1899.-Premiership season:In 1899, the VFL competition consisted of eight teams of 18 on-the-field players each, with no "reserves" .Each team played each other twice in...