The 1898 VFL season was the second season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest-level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured eight clubs and ran from 14 May to 24 September, comprising a 14-round home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring all eight clubs.
won the premiership, defeating by 15 points in the 1898 VFL grand final; it was Fitzroy's first VFL premiership. Essendon won the minor premiership by finishing atop the home-and-away ladder with an 11âÂÂ3 winâÂÂloss record. 's Archie Smith won the leading goalkicker medal as the league's leading goalkicker.
In 1898, the VFL competition consisted of eight teams of 20 on-the-field players each, with no "reserves" (although any of the 20 players who had left the playing field for any reason could later resume their place on the field at any time during the match).
Each team played each other twice in a home-and-away season of 14 rounds.
Once the 14 round home-and-away season had finished, the 1898 VFL Premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the 1898 VFL finals system.
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|- style=background:#E6E6FA | 1 || align=left | || 14 || 11 || 3 || 0 || 756 || 374 || 202.1 || 44 |- style=background:#FEEAD3 | 2 || align=left | || 14 || 10 || 4 || 0 || 657 || 363 || 181.0 || 40 |- style=background:#E6E6FA | 3 || align=left | (P) || 14 || 10 || 4 || 0 || 568 || 467 || 121.6 || 40 |- style=background:#FEEAD3 | 4 || align=left | || 14 || 9 || 5 || 0 || 645 || 425 || 151.8 || 36 |- style=background:#E6E6FA | 5 || align=left | || 14 || 7 || 7 || 0 || 482 || 538 || 89.6 || 28 |- style=background:#FEEAD3 | 6 || align=left | || 14 || 5 || 8 || 1 || 529 || 545 || 97.1 || 22 |- style=background:#E6E6FA | 7 || align=left | || 14 || 3 || 10 || 1 || 382 || 634 || 60.3 || 14 |- style=background:#FEEAD3 | 8 || align=left | || 14 || 0 || 14 || 0 || 339 || 1012 || 33.5 || 0
Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for<br>Average score: 38.9<br>Source: AFL Tables<section end=ladder/></onlyinclude>
The VFL introduced a new system of finals for the 1898 season. The new system, which was used from 1898âÂÂ1900, allowed all clubs to compete for the major premiership, with the minor premiers having the right to challenge for the premiership.
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|- style=background:#FFFFBB | 1 || align=left | || 3 || 3 || 0 || 0 || 182 || 56 || 325.0 || 12 |- | 2 || align=left | || 3 || 2 || 1 || 0 || 132 || 77 || 171.4 || 8 |- | 3 || align=left | || 3 || 1 || 2 || 0 || 104 || 110 || 94.5 || 4 |- | 4 || align=left | || 3 || 0 || 3 || 0 || 37 || 212 || 17.5 || 0
Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for<br>Source: AFL Tables</onlyinclude>
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|- style=background:#FFFFBB | 1 || align=left | || 3 || 3 || 0 || 0 || 203 || 98 || 207.1 || 12 |- | 2 || align=left | || 3 || 2 || 1 || 0 || 210 || 88 || 238.6 || 8 |- | 3 || align=left | || 3 || 1 || 2 || 0 || 95 || 150 || 63.3 || 4 |- | 4 || align=left | || 3 || 0 || 3 || 0 || 71 || 243 || 29.2 || 0
Rules for classification: 1. premiership points; 2. percentage; 3. points for<br>Source: AFL Tables<section end=SectB ladder/></onlyinclude>
All starting times are local time. Source: AFL Tables
The following table can be sorted from biggest winning margin to biggest losing margin for each round. If two or more matches in a round are decided by the same margin, these margins are sorted by percentage (i.e. the lowest-scoring winning team is ranked highest and the lowest-scoring losing team is ranked lowest). Opponents are listed above the margins and home matches are in bold.
By winning the minor premiership and accruing at least eight premiership points from its three sectional matches, Essendon won the right to challenge the semi-final winner for the premiership.
Source: AFL Tables