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Victorian Football Association
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Victorian Football Association (1877-1995) or the VFA for short, was the first Australian Football body established in Australia, formed in 1877, almost 20 years before that of the Victorian Football League (VFL). However, Australian Football had been played in Victoria since 1858 (see Australian Rules Football - Early Years in Victoria), although matches had been played from the 1840's. These games were played primarily between Grammar schools;(Ballarat, Melbourne Grammar, Geelong Grammar and Scotch College) and played without many specified rules.
The VFA has now evolved into the Victorian Football League (VFL) due to the old (VFL) becoming the Australian Football League, (AFL) in the late 1980's.
Unlike today's leagues, the VFA only had eight teams on which to build the foundations of the association, they were Carlton FC, Essendon FC, Geelong FC, Melbourne FC, Albert Park FC, Hotham FC, St Kilda FC and East Melbourne FC.
Throughout those early years many clubs entered and exited as was the nature of football clubs at the time, with many merging and changing grounds depending on their circumstances.
But it wasn't until 1896 when a group of eight disgruntled clubs decided to form a break away league called the Victorian Football League (VFL) to rival that of the VFA. The foundation clubs of this new league were Carlton FC, Collingwood FC, Essendon FC, Fitzroy FC, Geelong FC, Melbourne FC, South Melbourne FC (now Sydney Swans) and St Kilda FC, leaving just five clubs to rebuild the broken VFA; *Port Melbourne FC, Footscray FC (now Western Bulldogs), North Melbourne FC (now Kangaroos), Richmond FC and Williamstown FC. This sequence of events would forever change the fortunes of the VFA. (*Port Melbourne, as a matter of interest were on the fringes of gaining entry into the new VFL if it hadn't been for their supporters, who had gained the reputation of being unruly on game day, something the new football body in the VFL wished to avoid, giving St Kilda FC the position instead...even though Port Melbourne FC had performed far better than that of St Kilda FC, who up to that point had not won a premiership).
During these early days of Australian Football the 'premiership' was given to the team with the most wins throughout the regular season, unlike the later system where teams were forced, if they were positioned high enough on the ladder, to compete in a finals series to determine the winner of the premiership season. This system of elimination is still used today, with only minor adjustments with reference to the amount of teams within the league.
Over the next few years the VFA slowly regained some of its former strength with the inclusion of teams such as Brunswick FC, Preston FC (now Northern Bullants), Essendon Town FC (known as Essendon Association from 1905 onwards), Prahran FC, Northcote FC, Brighton FC, West Melbourne FC and Ballarat Association FC, helping to create greater competition within the association and also to grow more support for the VFA as a whole by expanding the association. But unfortunately the VFA was delt another harsh blow when in 1908 Richmond FC left the association for the VFL, with Footscray FC, North Melbourne FC and Hawthorn FC following suit in 1925 after an invitation from the VFL.
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As the end of the Second World War drew near the head's of both the VFA and the VFL to begin talks about blending the two footballing bodies into a two division system. However talks broke down when the two bodies could not agree on the process of promotion and relegation between the two divisions, with the VFA wanting immediate promotion for the top team of Division Two, while the VFL wanted the bottom team of Division One to play off again the top team of Division Two to decide on the final position of the top division. Eventually talks were extinguished and the two bodies parted ways.
The Liston Trophy, named after John James Liston who was VFA President for 15 years from 1929-1943,and life time member of the association. The award was originally named the Recorder Cup until 1945 when the powers that be deemed it a fitting tribute to name it after the recent passing of John Liston in 1944. The award is given to the player voted the best and fairest of all players in the VFA, it is the highest honour that could be given on an individual level. Originally the award was an actual cup, as suggested in its previous name, but was then replaced by a small medal, similar to that of the Brownlow Medal, given to the best and fairest of the VFL/AFL competition.
Over the next few decades teams such as the Port Melbourne Boroughs, Williamstown Seagulls, Sandringham Zebras, Coburg Lions and Oakleigh FC cemented themselves as VFA powers, winning the majority of the Premierships through the 1930's, 40's and 50's. It was also in this period that the game began to change, with the institution of the 'throw-pass' in the 1940's to make the game faster and more entertaining for viewers. This allowed for a player to pass the football off without handballing it in the traditional fashion only if it was below shoulder height (however there are many other conditions to which this rule applies). This was just one of the many ideas that floated through the VFA at that time.
Also in 1950 the VFA competed in the Australian National Football Carnival held in Brisbane. In this competition the VFA defeated South Australia 6.6.42 to 4.10.34.
But it wasn't until Alex Gillon, legendary VFA President that the association regained its glory days, challenging the VFL as Victoria's premier league for the very first time. In that year 14 teams competed for the premiership; the Port Melbourne Boroughs, Williamstown Seagulls, Moorabbin FC, Northcote FC, Preston Bullants, Coburg Lions, Prahran FC, Box Hill Mustangs, Oakleigh FC, Brunswick FC, Yarraville Eagles, Brighton Penguins, Camberwell Cobras and Sandringham Zebras (Many of these teams conseqently survived till the very end of the VFA in 1995). In 1959, after numerous changes the number of players allowed on the field were reduced to 16, with the hope to open up the game by taking away the wingmen. This change remained until 1992 when the number was returned to 18 players, but by that time the change had become one of the most recognisable trait of theVFA. Then in 1963 a new team entered the association, Geelong West FC, surprising most involved due to their close proximity to VFL team the Geelong Cats. They became the 19th team in the VFA.
The growth of the VFA in this period was such that in 1960 a Second Division was created, allowing for promotion and relegation to take place between the two VFA leagues. It was in this 27 year reign by Gillon that the VFA, with the appeal of Sunday football and the 'Community Football' slogan saw an influx of support for the VFA with crowds rising up to 50,000. It was also in this era, in 1966 that Channel 0 (now Channel 10) began broadcasting VFA games on a Sunday. These amazing results can be seen from the attendance records between 1975 and 76' where the total grew from 591,665 to 603,637.
Unfortunately things began to spiral downwards as the VFL began the process of creating a national competition when they relocated the South Melbourne Swans to Sydney to become the Sydney Swans, airing their games on Sunday. In 1987 Moorabbin FC forfeited their last 14 games of the season, leaving the VFA for good. The VFA then reverted back to a 1 division competition, the first time since 1960. Then in 1995, after several years of questions the VFA played out its last season, only 9 teams competed, the lowest number for 70 years. Out of the 9 teams which were; Springvale Scorpions, Port Melbourne Boroughs, Preston Bullants, Coburg Lions, Williamstown Seagulls, Box Hill Mustangs, Frankston Dolphins, Sandringham Zebras and the Werribee FC, with the Springvale Scorpions defeated the Sandringham Zebras in the Grand Final 14.10.94 to 6.15.51. Only 6445 attended the game, signalling the end of an era. The Liston Trophy was won by Paul Satterley (18 votes) and the goal kicking went to Danny Sexton (64 goals).
In 1996 many of the clubs left over from the VFA began a new league called the Victorian Football League (this was new in the sense that the old VFL had disappeared due to the creation of the Australian Football League (AFL)), becoming an AFL second's division as affiliations between the two leagues grew. This allowed for the old VFA teams to survive along with adding new teams such as Traralgon FC and North Ballarat FC to strength the competition.
To this day the VFL is still going, with most teams joined with AFL teams, becoming the breeding ground for the AFL's young talent, with teams such as the Williamstown Seagulls, Port Melbourne Boroughs, Coburg Tigers (due to their affiliation with the Richmond Football Club), Frankston Dolphins, Box Hill Hawks (due to their affiliation with the Hawthorn Football Club), Northern Bullants (Preston FC), Casey Scorpions FC (Springvale FC), Sandringham Zebras and the Werribee Tigers, keeping the old VFA feel alive in this new league.
Kevin Sheedy - Prahan Football Club
Barry Round - Williamstown Football Club
Phil Cleary - Coburg Football Club
Norman Goss - Port Melbourne Football Club
Former Prime Minister of Australia John Curtin played for Brunswick FC as a junior.
http://www.afl.com.au - links to all AFL teams
http://vfl.footballvic.com.au/ - links to all VFL teams
http://www.vflfooty.com/index.php - website dedicated to VFL and VFA related subjects
The VFA - A History of the Victorian Football Association 1877-1995 by Marc Fiddian
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