When did the AFL start?

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Oct 3, 2007
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Each year this conversation goes on between people outside of Victoria and inside Victoria, each with their own view of when it started based on how it suits their club generally at the time.

As a parochial West Aussie I tend to agree more with the Vics and the AFL that it did not start but it evolved.

Growing up in WA in the 70's and 80's the WAFL was king, we watched the winners on Sunday night but my recolection is the VFL scores did not even make the news over here. It was all WAFL, thats all we spoke of at school or at play. We wore WAFL jumpers to footy training, our hero's were WAFL players, christ I never new who Ted Whitten was until the erly 80's and even then it meant nothing to me compared to what my WAFL hero's did.

But one thing I always new was that of the 3 major state football leagues the VFL was the biggest. It attracted the biggest crowds and as the years went by it attracted the best players.

It was the only league that could of evolved into the AFL and it did it.

I don't know why people continue to argue over the what title the VFL premiers received in 1960? Because that competition evolved into what is now the AFL then it makes sense for that title to be a VFL/AFL flag.

Everyone knows that 1960 title meant no more to the winner than it did to the winner of the WAFL or SANFL in that same year. No club in 1960 was awarded an AFL premiership. This is why it is clearly labeled a VFL/AFL premiership, same comp yet vastly different titles.

I can't understand why people want history tarnished. A clubs history is it's history.

Yes it is hard to swallow that my own great club in West Perth are not in the AFL. maybe if the comp had been started differently then who knows but it is what it is.

I don't care when people think it started, give it any date you like. We all know what a state league flag and a national flag are.
Even the AFL know that's why they call them VFL/AFL.
What ever your history is treasure it, be proud of it and hope to repeat it.

Why keep trying to find a date?
 
There is no real date - between 1980 and 2000 was when most of the changes occurred making it difficult to draw a line, but here are some of them (forgive me if I forget any lol):

- Brisbane formed
- South Melbourne moving to Sydney
- Fitzroy merged with Brisbane
- West Coast formed
- Fremantle formed
- Adelaide formed
- Port Adelaide formed
- Phasing out of the suburban grounds
- SOO dying out

Smack bang in the middle of footys evolution was the rebranding of the VFL to the AFL

Looking at the changes it's pretty clear that a flag won in the 70s is quite different from one won the 2000s - for starters your odds were better in the 70s with less teams and there was no travel to factor in and of course back then footy wasn't as highly paid and many players didn't commit 100% to footy like they do nowdays

Either way, there was an evolution over some 20-odd years that changed the face of Australian football forever, call it what you will - ignoring the history of the game is just pure ignorance, but trying to argue that a flag from 50 years ago is worth the same as one today is just madness
 

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The AFL was formed as the VFL in 1897. In 1990 the name was changed from the VFL to the AFL.

/thread
 
There is no real date - between 1980 and 2000 was when most of the changes occurred making it difficult to draw a line, but here are some of them (forgive me if I forget any lol):

- Brisbane formed
- South Melbourne moving to Sydney
- Fitzroy merged with Brisbane
- West Coast formed
- Fremantle formed
- Adelaide formed
- Port Adelaide formed
- Phasing out of the suburban grounds
- SOO dying out

Smack bang in the middle of footys evolution was the rebranding of the VFL to the AFL

Looking at the changes it's pretty clear that a flag won in the 70s is quite different from one won the 2000s - for starters your odds were better in the 70s with less teams and there was no travel to factor in and of course back then footy wasn't as highly paid and many players didn't commit 100% to footy like they do nowdays

Either way, there was an evolution over some 20-odd years that changed the face of Australian football forever, call it what you will - ignoring the history of the game is just pure ignorance, but trying to argue that a flag from 50 years ago is worth the same as one today is just madness

lolwut? Formed?

No we were admitted into the AFL, but never "formed".
 
1990

end thread
Wrong.

The AFL did not start in 1990 - the VFL simply changed their name for that year

1982 - South Melbourne relocated to Sydney
1987 - West Coast and Brisbane admitted to the expanded VFL

The AFL has evolved, but if people wish to point to a "start" date then 1987 is more accurate than 1990.
 

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The AFL was formed as the VFL in 1897. In 1990 the name was changed from the VFL to the AFL.

/thread

This. You can call it the VFL/AFL for the contiguous league. However the AFL alone can be used to define the modern era, with salary caps, drafts instead of zoning, more teams, a truly national presence, etc.
 
Wrong.

The AFL did not start in 1990 - the VFL simply changed their name for that year

1982 - South Melbourne relocated to Sydney
1987 - West Coast and Brisbane admitted to the expanded VFL

The AFL has evolved, but if people wish to point to a "start" date then 1987 is more accurate than 1990.

Wouldn't it at least make sense to say that due to the name change, you can define the "AFL" as starting in 1990? Even though it was just a name change and it is a contiguous league since 1897. In light of the significant changes that occurred immediately prior to 1990 and further changes planned in the coming years (1991 Adelaide namely), the league decided to change its name to reflect this. Therefore, the AFL started in 1990. Even though, yes, it was just a name change.

I'm not saying any history prior is invalid or anything. The VFL/AFL history is still relevant, however the league itself calls it VFL/AFL history. Not AFL history.
 
I actually did a survey on this very issue down at the AFL's marketing department... and the consensus of opinion there is that AFL began in 1858.
But interestingly they called 1996 "100 years of Australian Football" - so the league is far older than the sport?
 
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