1897 SAFA season
| 1897 SAFA premiership season | |
|---|---|
 21st SAFA season Photo of the 1897 Port Adelaide premiership team. | |
| Teams | 6 |
| Premiers |  Port Adelaide3rd premiership |
| Leading goalkicker | Jimmy Tompkins Port Adelaide (27 Goals) |
| Matches played | 51 |
The 1897 South Australian Football Association season was the 21st edition of the top level of Australian rules football to be played in South Australia. Port Adelaide won its 3rd premiership.
This was the first season of football in South Australia where behinds contributed to the total score, not just goals.
Ladder
| ||||||||||||
| TEAM | P | W | L | D | PF | PA | % | PTS | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Port Adelaide | 17 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 782 | 294 | 72.68% | 29 | |||
| 2 | South Adelaide | 17 | 13 | 4 | 0 | 1050 | 391 | 72.87% | 26 | |||
| 3 | Norwood | 17 | 11 | 5 | 1 | 765 | 402 | 65.55% | 23 | |||
| 4 | North Adelaide | 17 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 535 | 609 | 46.77% | 14 | |||
| 5 | West Torrens | 16 | 3 | 13 | 1 | 256 | 1082 | 19.13% | 7 | |||
| 6 | West Adelaide | 16 | 1 | 15 | 1 | 211 | 821 | 20.45% | 3 | |||
| Key: P = Played, W = Won, L = Lost, D = Drawn, PF = Points For, PA = Points Against, (P) = Premiers | [1] | |||||||||||