to Geelong was its only for the season, and it finished as runners-up. finished third. Club senior records The below table details the playing records of the fifteen clubs in all matches during the 1886 season. Two sets of results are given: Senior results: based only upon games played against other VFA senior clubs Total results: including senior games, and games against intercolonial, up-country and junior clubs. The clubs are listed in the order in which they were ranked in the Sportsman newspaper. The VFA had no formal process by which the clubs were ranked, so the below order should be considered indicative only, particularly since the fixturing of matches was not standardised; this was more noticeably the case in the 1886 season than in other seasons, as the five new senior clubs played few matches against the stronger long-established clubs. South Williamstown, for example, finished with a positive record of 6–3–5 against senior clubs in its first season, but achieved it without playing any of the teams ranked in the top five by the Sportsman. The top three placings were later acknowledged in publications including the Football Record and are considered official. The Leader newspaper included the three Ballarat-based teams among its final standings. The newspaper listed South Ballarat, with a senior record of 13–4–1, ahead of Carlton as having the third-best record in the colony, but noted that the club's weak fixture (playing half of its games against the other Ballarat clubs, and most of its metropolitan games against weaker clubs) meant that it should not be entitled to third place. The Ballarat-based clubs' senior records are given below. Awards Phil McShane () set an Association record by kicking 51 goals for the season (40 in senior matches); the record stood until 1892. Intercolonial matches A New South Wales representative team toured Victoria during May, playing one fully representative match intercolonial match against an Association representative team. Notable events From 1886, Association matches were played in four quarters instead of two halves. This was primarily done to allow more frequent changes of end, to ensure that changing wind and sunlight conditions were more evenly shared between the teams. The Laws of the Game were first amended to allow for a game to be patrolled by up to four boundary umpires, at the agreement of the captains, to execute boundary throw-ins instead of the field umpire. They were used