(a) Week-day matches – except 24th May [Queen's Birthday] – shall not be recognised by the Association. and concluded that since the match wasn't specifically excluded by Rule 3a that it should be included. The Sportsman also noted that while Rule 18 related to the appointment of the umpires was contravened, that this should have been resolved by penalising the clubs, not by invalidating the match. The matter was discussed at the Association's general meeting on 12 August. Although there was no formal protest and the Association had no rules governing the premiership, delegates noted that "it was desirable, for the sake of the public, to answer the question of whether or not the match counted." Following discussion, a motion was carried that the match should be counted. Had Geelong been successful in having the match excluded from the premiership, ceteris paribus, it and Carlton would each have finished with only one defeat for the season, and a playoff match would likely have been arranged to decide the premiership. The 1887 season was the last premiership decided in this informal manner, and a formal Association-endorsed method for determining the premiership was introduced from 1888. Club senior records The below table details the records of the eighteen clubs in senior matches during the 1887 season. Saturday matches and matches played on Queen's Birthday were counted towards the premiership, but matches played on the celebration the Golden Jubilee were not counted. 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; however, the top three placings were later acknowledged in publications including the Football Record and are considered official. Notable events president Frank Grey Smith replaced James Garton as president of the Association. Garton had presided since 1882. Prior to the season, the distance between each goalpost and its adjacent kick-off post (behind post) was reduced from twenty yards to ten yards, greatly reducing the area through which a team would be credited a behind. See also Victorian Football Association/Victorian Football League History List of VFA/VFL Premiers History of Australian rules football in Victoria (1853-1900) References Victorian Football League seasons Vfa Season, 1887