The 1897 Victorian Football Association season was the 21st season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won by the Port Melbourne Football Club, the first premiership in its history. The 1897 season the VFA's first season as the second-tier senior football competition in Victoria. From 1877 until 1896, the VFA had been the top senior competition in the colony, but at the end of 1896, eight of the association's strongest clubs broke away, establishing the rival Victorian Football League, which immediately assumed the position as the highest level of competition. Association membership During the 1890s, there was an off-field power struggle within the VFA between the stronger and weaker clubs, as the stronger clubs sought greater administrative control commensurate with their relative financial contribution to the game. This came to a head during 1896 when it was proposed that gate profits, which were always lower in matches against the weaker clubs, be shared equally amongst the Association clubs; in response to the threat that this could be endorsed on the votes of the weaker clubs, six of the strongest clubs – , , , , and – seceded from the VFA, inviting and to join them, to form a rival senior competition, the Victorian Football League. The League became recognised as the highest level of senior competition in the colony of Victoria, and the Association became the second-tier senior competition, a position it has maintained since. The establishment of the League left only five of the Association's existing senior competing clubs: , , Port Melbourne, and Williamstown. The VFL gave those five clubs the opportunity to compete as a junior competition under and without representation on the VFL's administration, but they rejected the offer and continued as an independent body. One junior club, Brunswick, was elevated to senior status to bring the numbers to six. The Argus reported in March that two other junior clubs would be elevated to bring numbers to eight, with Essendon District, Brighton, Hawksburn, Hawthorn or Geelong all cited as potential candidates, but this did not eventuate and the association size remained at six teams until 1899. The three Ballarat-based clubs – Ballarat, Ballarat Imperial and South Ballarat – had been members of the Association with representation on the Board of Management, but had not actively competed for the Association premiership. As there was no longer a strong administrative benefit to belonging to