2024 VFL Season - Finals

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MortlockWatcher said:
We were supposed to have a 12 team state league in 1995 with eight metro clubs (Box Hill, Dandenong, Frankston, Port Melbourne, Preston, Sandringham, Springvale plus either Williamstown or Werribee) and four country clubs (North Ballarat, Traralgon plus teams from the Bendigo and O&M zones), each with seniors and reserves and have an alignment with a TAC Cup Under 18 team. The VFA was going to be renamed the VSFL (the name that was used by the reserves competition at that time). It was a logical step and would have brought Victoria into line with what was happening in the other states at state league level.

It never happened because the AFL clubs didn't want to give up their reserves competition and threatened to sack the AFL commission if they continued to carry out their plan.

The AFL have said in recent times that they aren't going to fund both an AFL reserves competition and also a VSFL/VFA/VFL any time soon.
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I'm a bit confused here so sorry if I've missed something. Why would the AFL reserves competition have been abandoned if the plan was to have a state league full of standalone clubs? If the VFA was going to take the VSFL name then surely the reserves competition could have just been renamed. Were they simply going to scrap the reserves altogether and have unselected players either spread out across the state league or just not play any match time?
 
AussieNick1999 said:
I'm a bit confused here so sorry if I've missed something. Why would the AFL reserves competition have been abandoned if the plan was to have a state league full of standalone clubs? If the VFA was going to take the VSFL name then surely the reserves competition could have just been renamed. Were they simply going to scrap the reserves altogether and have unselected players either spread out across the state league or just not play any match time?
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The AFL commission wanted each state set up the same way. A state league with clubs consisting of seniors, reserves and colts/under 19s. Every state except Victoria already had that in place, so the VSFL (which serves as the AFL's administrative body for Victorian football) was "asked" by the AFL commission to set up the same structure in Victoria, with 12 clubs to fit in with the TAC Cup structure.

The AFL reserves would have been abolished in order to suit this set up.

In essence, if Brad Pearce or Scott Camporeale was dropped by Carlton or was returning from injury, they would play for the VSFL club that he was aligned to (just like what happened in the WAFL, SANFL, QAFL and NSWAFL). The same happened when Chris Judd played at East Perth a few years later and when Nathan Buckley played a one-off for Williamstown.

This structure almost got up 15 years earlier in 1980 after Prahran president Sir Rupert Steele encouraged a merger between the VFA and VFL whereby the VFA would take the place of the VFL reserves. The First Division competition would have been increased from 10 to 12, then each club would have been aligned to a VFL club (e.g. Sandy to St Kilda, Port Melbourne to South Melbourne, Williamstown to Footscray, etc). The Second Division clubs would have either been part of a reduced VFA or else dispersed around the metro leagues (I cannot find out what the exact fate was to be as the merger didn't gain too much traction).

In the end the VFL and the VSFL merged to become the VFL in 2000 (third time lucky?).
 

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MortlockWatcher said:
The AFL commission wanted each state set up the same way. A state league with clubs consisting of seniors, reserves and colts/under 19s. Every state except Victoria already had that in place, so the VSFL (which serves as the AFL's administrative body for Victorian football) was "asked" by the AFL commission to set up the same structure in Victoria, with 12 clubs to fit in with the TAC Cup structure.

The AFL reserves would have been abolished in order to suit this set up.

In essence, if Brad Pearce or Scott Camporeale was dropped by Carlton or was returning from injury, they would play for the VSFL club that he was aligned to (just like what happened in the WAFL, SANFL, QAFL and NSWAFL). The same happened when Chris Judd played at East Perth a few years later and when Nathan Buckley played a one-off for Williamstown.

This structure almost got up 15 years earlier in 1980 after Prahran president Sir Rupert Steele encouraged a merger between the VFA and VFL whereby the VFA would take the place of the VFL reserves. The First Division competition would have been increased from 10 to 12, then each club would have been aligned to a VFL club (e.g. Sandy to St Kilda, Port Melbourne to South Melbourne, Williamstown to Footscray, etc). The Second Division clubs would have either been part of a reduced VFA or else dispersed around the metro leagues (I cannot find out what the exact fate was to be as the merger didn't gain too much traction).

In the end the VFL and the VSFL merged to become the VFL in 2000 (third time lucky?).
Click to expand...
You're a football historian personified.
Love your work!
 
MortlockWatcher said:
The AFL commission wanted each state set up the same way. A state league with clubs consisting of seniors, reserves and colts/under 19s. Every state except Victoria already had that in place, so the VSFL (which serves as the AFL's administrative body for Victorian football) was "asked" by the AFL commission to set up the same structure in Victoria, with 12 clubs to fit in with the TAC Cup structure.

The AFL reserves would have been abolished in order to suit this set up.

In essence, if Brad Pearce or Scott Camporeale was dropped by Carlton or was returning from injury, they would play for the VSFL club that he was aligned to (just like what happened in the WAFL, SANFL, QAFL and NSWAFL). The same happened when Chris Judd played at East Perth a few years later and when Nathan Buckley played a one-off for Williamstown.

This structure almost got up 15 years earlier in 1980 after Prahran president Sir Rupert Steele encouraged a merger between the VFA and VFL whereby the VFA would take the place of the VFL reserves. The First Division competition would have been increased from 10 to 12, then each club would have been aligned to a VFL club (e.g. Sandy to St Kilda, Port Melbourne to South Melbourne, Williamstown to Footscray, etc). The Second Division clubs would have either been part of a reduced VFA or else dispersed around the metro leagues (I cannot find out what the exact fate was to be as the merger didn't gain too much traction).

In the end the VFL and the VSFL merged to become the VFL in 2000 (third time lucky?).
Click to expand...
I believe 1999 was the first year that the VFL included reserves sides.

To be honest the scenario you're describing sounds pretty similar to what the VFL was in the 2000s, when most of the non-AFL clubs were involved in alignments. I think that was even the preferred model at the time. I wonder if it would have ended any differently if it had happened in 1980, or if the VFA clubs would have still lost all autonomy and been forced to adopt the colours and identity of their AFL affiliate.
 
I'm working on a book on the 1981 VFA season.

Included in the introduction is a pre-amble looking at the halcyon years in the 1970s and the changing fortunes around 1978-1979. After the review of the 1981 season is a chapter on the decline of the VFA from 1982-1995 (a look at why each club departed and how the VFA ended up as the VFL).

This sort of stuff is fresh in my head - today I spent an hour at the state library looking at how Northcote quit the VFA in November 1984, joined the DVFL two weeks later then re-joined the VFA in February 1985. In hindsight they should have stayed in the DVFL.
 
MortlockWatcher said:
The AFL have said in recent times that they aren't going to fund both an AFL reserves competition and also a VSFL/VFA/VFL any time soon.
Click to expand...
I think AFL Vic would have to step up to the plate again to be able to have a VSFL/VFA/VFL/Whatever competition
 
AussieNick1999 said:
To be honest the scenario you're describing sounds pretty similar to what the VFL was in the 2000s, when most of the non-AFL clubs were involved in alignments. I think that was even the preferred model at the time. I wonder if it would have ended any differently if it had happened in 1980, or if the VFA clubs would have still lost all autonomy and been forced to adopt the colours and identity of their AFL affiliate.
Click to expand...

I have seen some VFA documentation from the time but this wasn't noted in any detail as the association didn't agree with the proposal. From my readings the VFL was receptive to it and Dr Allen Aylett announced that the VFL would "guarantee the future of the VFA clubs" that agreed to Steele's plan - the cynic in me says that it was seen as a great way to eliminate the threat that the VFA presented to the VFL.

Sandringham publicly called on the VFA in August 1980 revisit the plan a few months after the VFA's initial rebuff but never came to anything - the VFA's response was to announce that it intended to expand to 24 clubs in 1981. If I am not mistaken, one or two clubs approached the VFL during 1980 to get them to get Steele's plan over the line.
 
MortlockWatcher said:
I'm working on a book on the 1981 VFA season.

Included in the introduction is a pre-amble looking at the halcyon years in the 1970s and the changing fortunes around 1978-1979. After the review of the 1981 season is a chapter on the decline of the VFA from 1982-1995 (a look at why each club departed and how the VFA ended up as the VFL).

This sort of stuff is fresh in my head - today I spent an hour at the state library looking at how Northcote quit the VFA in November 1984, joined the DVFL two weeks later then re-joined the VFA in February 1985. In hindsight they should have stayed in the DVFL.
Click to expand...
That's awesome to hear. Finding information on the VFA can be difficult sometimes and search results frequently give you V/AFL-related content so it's good to see more people document the VFA's history. I've got a copy of Marc Fiddian's book and I've heard that another book - The Football War by Xavier Fowler - is being released next month so hopefully I can grab a copy of that as well.
 

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Quarter Time
Werribee 1.2.8
Brisbane 2.4.16

Both teams setting up behind the footy. Plenty of dump kick turnovers. Brisbane probably should’ve been another goal up. Pretty good result for Werribee into the breeze
 
Three quarter time
Werribee 4.5.29
Brisbane 5.10.40

Werribee fans fuming at the umpiring despite leading the count

A late deliberate call was bad. But the free kick on siren was certainly there

Game on regardless
 
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2024 VFL Season - Finals

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