President - Frank Grey Smith
Vice Presidents - Henry Harrison, Charles Forrester, Jas Byrne, George Aitken
Treasurer - Arthur Hunt
Secretary - J. Macdonald
Assistant Secretary - A. Smith
Captain - Howard Morrison
Vice-Captain - A. Edwards
Committee - Above plus G. Murdoch, J. Morris, H. Morrison J. Farquhar and F. Willis.
Second 20 Secretary - W. Lynar
The VFA further expanded - adding Footscray, Port Melbourne, Prahran, St Kilda and South Williamstown to the ranks of senior clubs. They also brought in measures to stamp out professionalism in the game, a move welcomed by the Melbourne club which had always played as amateurs.
For the first time games were played in 30 minute quarters rather hour long halves as a result of a vote at the Inter-Colonial Football Conference held in Melbourne the previous November. The rules were also altered to make 'little marks' have to travel two yards before counting and permitted the use of boundary umpires if the two sides agreed. Timekeepers, one from each club, were introduced.
After a number of seasons of disappointing play, Melbourne finally gave their fans something to look forward to - going on a seven game winning streak towards the end of the year before reverting to type and losing their last two matches.
During the year the Reds toured Tasmania, leaving on 7 July. The touring part was Bailey, Baird, Buscombe, Brayshay, Burns, Coulson, Dodds, Edwards, T. Elliott, Franks, Griffith, Garton, Hobbs, Johnson, Lynar, Murphy, Morgan, Morrison, Nuttall, O'Bern, Plant, Robinson and Strachan.
James Kelly (back), Ed Griffith, Harry O'Bern and Tuckfield (forward) were named in The Australasian newspaper's team of the year.
VFA Season
| Date | Opponent | Result | Score | ||||
| 1 May | Hotham | LOSS | 2-4 | ||||
| 8 May | Carlton | LOSS | 1-6 | ||||
| 15 May | South Melbourne | LOSS | 2-3 | ||||
| 29 May | Fitzroy | LOSS | 2-3 | ||||
| 5 June | Essendon | DRAW | 3-3 | ||||
| 12 June | Hotham | WIN | 2-1 | ||||
| 19 June | Prahran | WIN | 4-2 | ||||
| 26 June | Williamstown | WIN | 3-2 | ||||
| 3 July | Port Melbourne | LOSS | 1-4 | ||||
| 24 July | Richmond | LOSS | 4-5 | ||||
| 31 July | South Melbourne | LOSS | 1-6 | ||||
| 7 August | Fitzroy | WIN | 6-1 | ||||
| 14 August | Essendon | WIN | 3-2 | ||||
| 21 August | University | WIN | 6-0 | ||||
| 28 August | Carlton | WIN | 6-5 | ||||
| 4 September | Port Melbourne | WIN | 5-1 | ||||
| 11 September | Richmond | WIN | 5-2 | ||||
| 18 September | South Williamstown | WIN | 6-2 | ||||
| 25 September | Geelong | LOSS | 2-7 | ||||
| 2 October | Williamstown | LOSS | 3-4 | ||||
Other matches
| Date | Opponent | Result | |||||
| 17 April | Public Schools | WIN | 3-1 | ||||
| 28 April | Scotch College | WIN | 6-1 | ||||
| 22 May | South Ballarat | WIN | 5-4 | ||||
| 10 July | Launceston | WIN | 5-2 | ||||
| 14 July | Southern Tasmania | LOSS | 1-8 | ||||
| 17 July | Southern Tasmania | WIN | 3-2 | ||||
| 17 July | Kyneton | LOSS | 0-3 | ||||
Players
George Aitken, R. Aitken, WR Bailey, S. Baird, R. Brown, W. Burns, B. Buscombe, Billy Carroll, Cleary, A. Coulson, Charles Coulson, T. Dickeson, T. Dodds, A. Edwards, J. Elliott, T. Elliott, Finlay, F. Franks, C. Garton, Ed Griffith, F. Hallett, George Hallett, Henry, J Johnson, W. Johnson, James Kelly, Joe Kerrigan, Lacey, E. Lynar, S. Lynar, F. Lyons, E. Manifold, A. McCrindle, McEachern, McPhee, P. Millard, W. Morgan, Howard Morrison, Mouritz, J Murphy, PR Murphy, Harry O'Bern, O'Shannessey, P. Parsons, Fred Plant, H. Plant, T. Rand, Dick Robinson, W. Rushton, Ryan, Seymour, C. Spooner, G. Strachan, Staughton, H. Tuckfield, R. Wardrop, Wheeler, D. Willis, H. Wilmott
Goalkickers
S. Baird 22, E. Lynar 12, T. Dodds 9, Billy Carroll 6, R. Aitken 5, Ed Griffith 4, W. Burns 2, P. Murphy 2, R. Brown 1, B. Buscombe 1, T. Dickeson 1, J. Elliott 1, George Hallett 1, F. Lyons 1, P. Millard 1, J Murphy 1, PR Murphy 1, Harry O'Bern 1
Unofficial ladder
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | |
| 1 | Geelong | 27 | 24 | 3 | 0 | 208 | 55 |
| 2 | South Melbourne | 22 | 19 | 2 | 1 | 125 | 50 |
| 3 | Carlton | 22 | 15 | 1 | 6 | 122 | 81 |
| 4 | Port Melbourne | 24 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 85 | 60 |
| 5 | Fitzroy | 23 | 12 | 2 | 9 | 81 | 69 |
| 6 | Hotham | 22 | 10 | 5 | 7 | 70 | 75 |
| 7 | Melbourne | 24 | 13 | 1 | 10 | 81 | 79 |
| 8 | Essendon | 22 | 7 | 2 | 13 | 61 | 86 |
| 9 | Williamstown | 25 | 13 | 1 | 11 | 88 | 84 |
| 10 | South Williamstown | 16 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 56 | 41 |
| 11 | Footscray | 19 | 4 | 6 | 9 | 30 | 55 |
| 12 | St Kilda | 18 | 6 | 2 | 10 | 52 | 100 |
| 13 | Prahran | 17 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 42 | 82 |
| 14 | Richmond | 22 | 5 | 1 | 16 | 48 | 95 |
| 15 | University | 22 | 2 | 2 | 18 | 40 | 92 |
Second 20
| Date | Opponent | Result | Score | Goalkickers | |||
| 1 May | Hotham | UNKNOWN | ? | ||||
| 8 May | Carlton | WIN | 3 -2 | Morton, Lynar, Parson | |||
| 15 May | South Melbourne | WIN | 3.6 - 0.5 | Lynar 2, Morton | |||
| 29 May | Fitzroy | LOSS | 1.9 - 2.4 | ||||
| 5 June | Essendon | UNKNOWN | ? | ||||
| 12 June | Hotham | WIN | 4.9 - 3.4 | ||||
| 19 June | Prahran | WIN | 3.12 - 1.2 | Hubbard 2, Parsons 1 | |||
| 26 June | Williamstown | WIN | 4.9 - 0.1 | ||||
| 3 July | University | UNKNOWN | ? | ||||
| 10 July | St Kilda | WIN | 4.12 - 0.3 | Marshall, Dennis, Parsons, Plant | |||
| 17 July | Kyneton | LOSS | 0.1 - 3.10 | ||||
| 24 July | Richmond | DRAW | 1.3 - 3.9 | ||||
| 31 July | South Melbourne | DRAW | 1.8 - 1.2 | Morton | |||
| 7 August | Fitzroy | WIN | 3.7 to 1.5 | ||||
| 28 August | Carlton | 2.5 to 3.5 | Dennis 2 | ||||
| 4 September | Brighton | UNKNOWN | ? | ||||
| 11 September | Xavier College | UNKNOWN | ? | ||||
Notes
- Jas Byrne may have been James Byrne
- Newspapers list a match against Public Schools on Saturday 17 April as scheduled, but there are no reports in the Monday papers.
- Newspapers list a game against St Kilda Rovers on Monday 14/06 but no results are given the next day. This is probably a second 20's match.
- A match against Kyneton is shown as happening on the same day Melbourne were in Tasmania. This is therefore assumed to be a second 20 match.
Media
The Argus - 07/04/1886
The Australasian - 10/04/1886
Weekly Times - 10/04/1886
The Argus - 03/05/1886
Sydney Mail - 22/05/1886
The Argus - 07/07/1886
The Sydney Times - 17/07/1886
The Australasian - 17/07/1886
The Australasian - 24/07/1886
Weekly Times - 21/08/1886
Origins of Australian Football: Volume 3 by Mark Pennings
Links
Footystats Chronology
footytimeline.com
VFA Results and Tables