Thursday 1 July - MCG
Crowd - 600
Melbourne 0.10
Norwood 2.10 (half time 0.3-2.5)
Norwood win by 2 goals
The visitors from South Australia had already played one match against Carlton during their tour of Victoria, and were stronger for the inclusion of a player who had been unable to turn out for them the previous Saturday.
A crowd of 12,000 had been expected, but due to bad weather the final attendance was down to a few hundred. They saw the visitors win despite the soft and slippery ground playing havoc with the quality of the match. Steady rain had fallen from 11am to 3pm and the surface was unfit to be played on. Many of Melbourne's players didn't turn up because they though the game would be cancelled in the difficult conditions. Ironically, considering the muddy surface, umpire Coulthard of Carlton became the first umpire ever to wear all-white while officiating a match.
The visitors attacked first and scored their first goal after 15 minutes. Melbourne attacked immediately from the restart but only managed a point and Norwood scored their second shortly after. The makeshift local lineup made the mistake of trying to pick the ball up while the South Australians dribbled it along the ground instead. The home side kept the ball in their attack for the first 10 minutes of the second half without a major, and Downes could have got one back for his side but missed a goal from five yards out in front.
No further goals were scored, making it the first ever loss by a Victorian side to an interstate team.
Best were Darlot, Adams and Swyer.
Selected team
J. Bennie (c), F. Baker (vc), J. Adams, D. Aitken, W. Boys, R. Booth, C. Cock, E. Darlott, HJ Downes, EW Longden, W. Longden, J Macdonald, J McKenzie, W Manifold, T. Nash, F. Power, WHL Roberts, E. Sylvester, CH Swyer, JF Watson.
Notes
The above team was named in the Thursday paper but J. Booth played.
Some sources show the scores as 2.8 to 0.5
Media
Argus - 01/07/1880, 02/07/1880
Express and Telegraph - 02/07/1880
Evening Journal - 02/07/1880
South Australian Register - 02/07/1880
Australasian - 03/07/1880
Observer - 03/07/1880