Victorian Football League

From The UCSC Wikipedia Trust Project

:For the former Victorian Football League now known as the Australian Football League, see Australian Football League.

Victorian Football League
General Information

Founded	1877, Melbourne
Previous Names	Victorian Football Association (VFA)
Current Clubs	Bendigo Bombers Box Hill Hawks Casey Scorpions (Springvale Football Club) Coburg Tigers Frankston Dolphins Geelong Cats North Ballarat Roosters Northern Bullants Port Melbourne Boroughs Sandringham Zebras Tasmanian Devils Werribee Tigers Williamstown Seagulls
Former Clubs	Albert Park Ballarat Ballarat Imperial Barwon\|Beechworth Bendigo Diggers Berwick Brighton Brunswick Camberwell Carlton Castlemaine Caulfield Collingwood Dandenong Dandenong Redlegs East Melbourne Essendon Association Essendon Essendon Town Fitzroy Footscray Frankston Geelong Association Geelong West Hawthorn Heidelberg Inglewood Kilsyth Melbourne Melbourne City Moorabbin Mordialloc Murray Kangaroos Hotham/North Melbourne Northcote Oakleigh Prahran Richmond Rochester St Kilda South Ballarat South Melbourne South Williamstown Sunshine Traralgon University Waverley West Melbourne Yarraville
Stadiums	Aurora Stadium AUSTAR Arena Australian Motor Finance Oval Bellerive Oval Box Hill Football Ground Burbank Oval Casey Fields Chirnside Park Coburg City Oval Frankston City Oval Northern Oval North Hobart Oval MC Labour Park Punt Road Oval Queen Elizabeth Oval Skilled Stadium TEAC Oval Trevor Barker Beach Oval Windy Hill
2006 Season
Premiers	Sandringham Zebras
Minor Premiers	Northern Bullants
Wooden Spoon	Port Melbourne
JJ Liston Trophy Winner(s)	Aaron Edwards
Highest Goal Kicker	Aaron Edwards, Frankston (100)
Total Attendance	Unknown
Average Match Attendance	Unknown

The Victorian Football League, formerly known as the Victorian Football Association (VFA), was the first Australian rules football league, formed in 1877. Today is it a regional Australian semi-professional competition featuring 13 teams from throughout Victoria and a representative side from Tasmania. It should not be confused with the national Australian Football League, which was a breakaway competition originally known as the Victorian Football League (VFL) until 1990 and sometimes still referred to as the VFL/AFL. After the VFL/AFL became recognised as the national competition, the VFA adopted the VFL name, which was effective from season 1996.

The VFL is regarded as Australia's third most competitive league after the AFL and the second most competitive regional league behind the South Australian National Football League^[1] and closely followed by the West Australian Football League^[2]. Many Victorian AFL clubs affiliate with VFL clubs, and as a result the league partly serves as a reserves competition for the AFL.

1 History
2 Audience
3 Clubs
- 3.1 Current Clubs
- 3.2 Past Clubs
4 External links
5 References

History

:Full Article History of Victorian Football League

The Victorian Football Association (VFA) was the first Australian rules football league. It was founded in 1877. Foundation Senior clubs of the VFA were Albert Park, Carlton, East Melbourne, Essendon, Hotham, Melbourne, St. Kilda & West Melbourne. After the 1896 season, eight clubs broke away to form the Victorian Football League (VFL). The VFA continued to run independently, although more clubs shifted to the VFL in 1908 (Richmond, University) and 1925 (Footscray, Hawthorn, North Melbourne).

The rules of the VFA sometimes differed slightly to those of the VFL (and later Australian Football League): for example, 16 players afield as opposed to the now typical 18 in the AFL. Also, the VFA pioneered night and Sunday games.

After years of losing ground to the VFL, the VFA's launch of Sunday games in 1960 was a turning point for the better. In 1966 Network Ten began to televise these games. Eventually, most games were played on a Sunday, while the VFL played its games on Saturdays. This was similar to the College/Pro football day divide still present in the US.

The Victorian Government supported the VFA's newfound vigour, and banned the VFL from holding games on Sundays. The VFA grew stronger. In 1982, the dominant sports radio station 3AW broadcast the Grand Final - a huge sign of support.

However, 1982 also saw the beginning of the VFA's demise. In that year the VFL moved the struggling South Melbourne Swans to Sydney. All Sydney Swans home games were played on Sunday and televised. This move basically destroyed the VFA's television ratings, and in 1986 Network Ten stopped broadcasting matches. This role was taken on by the ABC, but in a much smaller capacity.

In 1990, the VFL renamed itself the Australian Football League. The VFA renamed itself the Victorian Football League in 1995, after admitting North Ballarat and Traralgon to the competition. The new VFL adopted the original League logo, but featured a gold 'V' and football, to reflect the colours of the VFA logo. The logo reverted to the original blue and white VFL colours a few years later.

In part due to the AFL's greater "interstate" focus, the VFL experienced a resurgence in the early 1990's. In 1989 the ABC increased its television commitment, and eventually matches were rating better than at any time since the Network Ten broadcast matches.

In the 1990s, AFL sides began affiliating with VFL clubs, effectively making the VFL for some a reserves competition for Victorian clubs in the national competition. Some clubs thought of this as a means of not only improving their player list and onfield success, but to attract support from AFL fans and members. More recently, some clubs, such as Frankston and Port Melbourne have resisted or abandoned this trend and seen it as being more advantageous not to affiliate.

These days the VFL is mildly popular in Victoria, although not nearly as popular as the dominant Australian Football League.

Audience

Attendance

Attendances are small by AFL standards, and generally less than the SANFL and WAFL, with an average of between 1,000-2,000 in attendance. The exception is the Tasmanian Devils, which draw an average crowd of around 4,000 in Tasmania.

The VFL does not publish home and away attendance figures as some games are played as AFL curtain raisers, however various sources quote attendances for some games of the stronger clubs that maintain home records of their own.

Recent Finals Series

Year	Grand Final Clubs	Venue	Crowd	Total Finals Series Attendance
2006	Sandringham def Geelong	MC Labour Park	6,000	?
2005	Sandringham def Werribee	Optus Oval	9,000	45,118
2004	Sandringham def Port Melbourne	Optus Oval	?	38,656
2003	Williamstown def Box Hill	Optus Oval	10,500	43,573
2002	Geelong def Port Melbourne	Optus Oval	11,500	?

Television

ABC Television broadcasts one match a week live on Saturday afternoons during the home and away season, as well as broadcasting most finals matches. In 2006, ABC2 shows replays of VFL matches late on Wednesday nights^[3].

Radio

Sports Radio station SEN 1116 broadcasts one game on Saturday afternoons, as well as covering finals matches.

Clubs

Current Clubs

Club	City	Home Ground	AFL Affiliate
Bendigo Bombers	Bendigo, Victoria	Queen Elizabeth Oval	Essendon
Box Hill Hawks	Box Hill, Victoria	Box Hill Football Ground	Hawthorn
Casey Scorpions	City of Casey, Victoria	Casey Fields, Cranbourne East	St Kilda
Coburg Tigers	Coburg, Victoria	Coburg Football Ground	Richmond
Frankston Dolphins	Frankston, Victoria	Frankston City Oval	none
Geelong Cats	Geelong, Victoria	Skilled Stadium	Geelong
North Ballarat Roosters	Ballarat, Victoria	Northern Oval	Kangaroos
Northern Bullants	Preston, Victoria	Australian Motor Finance Oval (Preston City Oval)	Carlton
Port Melbourne Borough	Port Melbourne, Victoria	TEAC Oval	none
Sandringham Zebras	Sandringham, Victoria	Trevor Barker Beach Oval	Melbourne
Tasmanian Devils	Tasmania	North Hobart Oval and Aurora Stadium	Kangaroos
Werribee Tigers	Werribee, Victoria	Chirnside Park (Werribee)	Western Bulldogs
Williamstown Seagulls	Williamstown, Victoria	Burbank Oval	Collingwood

Past Clubs

The VFL has undergone significant format changes since its induction which means several clubs have either left the league or changed identity for different reasons.