The 1898 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Essendon Football Club and Fitzroy Football Club, held in Melbourne on 24 September 1898. The match was played to determine the premiers for the 1898 VFL season. Fitzroy won the match by 15 points. The game was played under atrocious ground conditions, in front of 16,538 people, at the Junction Oval. Both the Fitzroy back-pocket Stan Reid and the Essendon full-forward Charlie Moore later died in South Africa in active service during the Anglo-Boer War; Moore on 5 May 1901 and Reid on 23 June 1901.