between clubs Act as a tribunal to suspend players for misconduct The Association comprised a range of senior and junior clubs from Melbourne and around the colony of Victoria. There were five inaugural metropolitan senior clubs: Albert-park, , Hotham, and . Hotham was a revival of the former North Melbourne Football Club, which had disbanded and seen many of its players and members join Albert-park in 1876; the new club was mostly made up of players from the former North Melbourne Football Club as well as some from the Carlton Imperial Football Club, which had folded at the end of 1876. Provincial senior teams included Barwon, , Ballarat, Ballarat Albion, Kyneton and Sandhurst. There was also a wide range of affiliated junior clubs, including , West Melbourne, Brunswick, Warwick, Toorak, Hotham United, , Williamstown, Excelsior, Victorian Railways, Clifton, Northcote, Coburg and Sandridge. The formation of the Association was an important step in the organization of football, but it was effectively an administrative change only. Compared with the unaffiliated 1876 season, there was no significant change to the manner in which matches were scheduled and played or the premiership decided. 1877 VFA premiership The 1877 premiership was won by the Carlton Football Club, which played twenty-one matches during the year, winning fourteen and drawing four. finished second, having played twenty-three matches, winning sixteen and drawing four. At the time, Melbourne and Carlton were considered to be by far the strongest senior clubs, so Carlton's position as the top club was based almost entirely on head-to-head matches between the two clubs – of which Carlton won two, Melbourne won one, and one was drawn. In provincial competition, Barwon was the strongest team; was second. In the junior competition, West Melbourne was the strongest; it went undefeated against junior clubs, and its sole loss came against senior club ; was second. Club senior records The below table is set of results for the 1877 season, showing the records of the five senior metropolitan clubs. The list shows the record across all matches, including senior, junior and intercolonial matches. The clubs are listed in the order in which they were ranked in the Australasian 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