The Challenge Cup was the name of several football trophies contested in Melbourne , Australia, during the 1860s and 1870s under the Melbourne Football Club rules and the Victorian rules (which were early versions of Australian rules football ).
91-547: Football in Victoria was played under an informal administrative structure prior to the formation of the Victorian Football Association in 1877. As such, any trophies or competitions were unofficial, and were arranged entirely at the agreement of the participating clubs. Trophies were either purchased by the clubs or donated by a third party. There were three Challenge Cups which were contested among
182-702: A VFL club, so embarked upon a period of expansion to represent the four under-18s teams from country Victoria, as well as Tasmania (which was represented in the competition for a period of time). In this expansion, existing powerhouse country clubs North Ballarat and Traralgon joined the league in 1996, with new clubs established in Bendigo , Albury (the Murray Kangaroos , representing the Ovens & Murray region ) and Tasmania between 1998 and 2001. The regional senior clubs struggled to be financially viable in
273-448: A cancellation and not a forfeiture. Albert-park ultimately gave the Cup back to South Yarra at the end of the year, but maintained its position that it had won it outright and was making the gift in its capacity as the trophy's owner. The South Yarra Challenge Cup was again put up for competition again in 1871. While Albert-park declined to contest it, it continued to play senior games against
364-463: A crowd in the 10,000–14,000 mark. 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. Television coverage has been critical to the exposure of the VFA/VFL during its history, and has typically taken the form of the match of
455-557: A desire to provide a formal administrative structure to the governance of the sport, and it had the power to impose binding decisions on its members on matters including the Laws of the Game, player eligibility and other disputes, as well as to facilitate intercolonial football. Decisions were made based on a vote of the Board of Management, which was composed of two delegates from each senior club,
546-562: A greater number of former and fringe VFL players joining the VFA gave it a product which allowed it to flourish in the Sunday timeslot. The VFA at this time comprised twenty clubs, ten in each division, with a constant membership between 1966 and 1981. Attendances at matches more than doubled between 1967 and 1975. The VFA's relationship with the VFL and ANFC again deteriorated during the 1960s. In 1965,
637-446: A lack of money, grew large and the popularity of the competition declined. Alex Gillon presided over the VFA from 1954 until 1980. During that time, the VFA underwent a series of changes to reinvigorate it after its post-throw pass decline of the 1950s. Major strategic changes were undertaken, including: All of these changes resulted in the VFA enjoying a successful period during the 1970s. Increased sponsorship, public awareness, and
728-408: A little after the station commenced operations in 1935. The commentator was former Geelong VFL player Wallace "Jumbo" Sharland who had earlier been the first to describe VFL matches, that being on 3AR in 1923. In 1954 3AK began broadcasting VFA games, albeit only for a season or two. The 1970s also saw broadcasts on 3UZ , and local Geelong station, 3GL , broadcast all Geelong West matches. In 1982,
819-441: A new club from Preston (1926), Yarraville (1928), Oakleigh (1929) and Sandringham (1929) expanded the VFA back to twelve teams. The relationship with the VFL improved, and a new permit reciprocity agreement was established in 1931. In 1938, the VFA made a bold rule change by legalising throwing of the football in general play, provided the throw was underarm with both hands below shoulder height. The change helped to speed up
910-420: A scheduled game due to only fourteen players turning up. In claiming the walkover, Albert-park players took to the field against no opposition and scored two goals, in a similar manner to the traditional ceremony of an unopposed horse "walking over" the track to claim a walkover victory, something one sportswriter described at the time as "simply absurd and unprecedented," but which later became common practice in
1001-400: A significant downturn in most VFA clubs during the 1950s. On-field, the competition became dominated by the few clubs with strong community links such as Port Melbourne , Williamstown , Sandringham , Oakleigh and Moorabbin (who had joined the VFA alongside Box Hill in 1951); the gap between those clubs and the weaker clubs, many of whom were periodically forced to play as amateurs due to
SECTION 10
#17327824616601092-545: A similar standard to Tasmania as the fourth- or fifth-best team in the competition. However, joining the ANFC also stripped the VFA of the throw-pass, and therefore of the on-field distinctions which allowed it to compete with the VFL for fans; this, coupled with the increased mobility of suburban Melburnians – who, due to the increased affordability of cars and the lifting in 1950 of wartime travel restrictions, were no longer captive audiences for their local VFA teams – resulted in
1183-547: A structure which was retained until the late 1980s. It replaced a system under which the secretaries of the senior clubs met at the beginning of each year to decide on matters of mutual interest, but the system was informal and disputes often went unresolved. The five foundation senior clubs in the Melbourne metropolitan area were Albert-park , Carlton , Hotham (later North Melbourne) , Melbourne and St Kilda . Provincial clubs were also eligible for senior representation on
1274-416: A terrific job bringing games to the wider public. The station gave a start to such broadcasters as Nigel Carmody, Darren Parkin and Tristan Foenander and has proven a terrific breeding ground for emerging sports broadcasters. The station still broadcasts the league today, combined with doing the local league down in Melbourne's southeast. VFL Radio is produced by BPM Media who broadcast live at least one game
1365-464: A thirteenth club, Collingwood , in 1892. Three Ballarat-based clubs – Ballarat , Ballarat Imperial and South Ballarat – were also voting members of the VFA through this time, but were not involved in the onfield premiership. During the 1890s, there was an off-field power struggle within the VFA between the stronger and weaker clubs, as the stronger clubs sought greater administrative control commensurate with their relative financial contribution to
1456-415: A typical season, a club could play against other VFA teams, non-VFA clubs, at odds against junior teams (usually twenty players against twenty-three), and in some seasons against intercolonial teams; although as the number of senior clubs increased, the number of matches against non-VFA clubs declined. Prior to the 1888 season, there was no formally endorsed system for awarding a VFA premiership: as had been
1547-526: A variety of issues, including representation at board level, Australian National Football Council representation, and a promotion and relegation structure between the VFA and VFL. In the end, the two bodies never amalgamated, but the schism ended in 1949 when the bodies re-established a permit reciprocity agreement and the VFA was granted a non-voting position on the Australian National Football Council, later upgraded to
1638-405: A voting position in 1953; as a condition of joining, it was forced to abandon the throw-pass rule and adopt the national standard rules. These changes benefitted Victorian football as a whole, gave the VFA a say in national administration of the game. It also gave the VFA the right to compete in interstate matches , and at interstate carnivals over the 1950s and 1960s, the VFA generally competed at
1729-526: A week during the regular season plus each day of the finals series. The coverage is broadcast on the Vision Australia Radio network throughout Victoria on analogue radio, by Aussie digital radio (SEN 2) and on the internet at vfl.com.au or bpmmedia.com.au. The Victorian Football League operates on a single ladder system, with no divisions, conferences nor promotion and relegation from other leagues. Twenty-one clubs are currently playing in
1820-484: The Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in eastern states of Australia : Victoria , New South Wales and Queensland , including reserves teams for the eastern state AFL clubs. It succeeded and continues the competition of the former Victorian Football Association ( VFA ) which began in 1877. The name of
1911-418: The J. J. Liston Trophy , named after long-term Association president John James Liston , who died in 1944. The VFL is classed as a semi-professional competition. In 2007 the league had a salary cap of $ 185,000, excluding service payments. There are a significantly higher number of AFL reserves due to affiliations with Victorian clubs, but player payments for these appearances is apparently not included in
SECTION 20
#17327824616602002-672: The South Melbourne Football Club in May 1867. It changed its name to Emerald-hill in April 1868, then to Albert-park in May 1869. It played its home games at the Emerald-hill Ground. The club quickly became one of the main senior clubs competing at the time. The best performance in its history was in the 1870 season ; it was undefeated, but it finished second for the premiership behind Melbourne , which
2093-520: The Victorian Junior Football Association . From its inception until 1979, the seconds team played on Saturday afternoons, playing at home when the senior team played away and vice versa. Since 1980, seconds matches have been played as curtain-raisers to senior matches, on Saturdays or Sundays as necessary. The competition was later renamed the reserves, and then from the beginning of the 2012 season it has been known as
2184-575: The unaffiliated era of Victorian football. Albert Park was a founding senior member of the Victorian Football Association (VFA) in 1877, before amalgamating with neighbouring South Melbourne (now known as Sydney ) in 1880. A newer, unrelated club called the Albert Park Football Club currently competes in the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA). The club was established as
2275-493: The 1916 and 1917 seasons cancelled and the 1915 and 1918 seasons shortened. Over the first thirty years of the VFA's independence, its relationship with the VFL was, in general, mutually antagonistic. At different times (1913–1918 and 1923–1925), the two competitions had permit reciprocity agreements in place to prevent one competition from poaching players from the other without a clearance , but these were sporadic and remained in place only when convenient to both competitions. At
2366-479: The 1994, with the statewide under-19s competition (the present day NAB League ) replacing its function as an under-18s competition. Albert Park Football Club (VFA) The Albert Park Football Club (historically styled as Albert-park ) was a 19th-century Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Albert Park . The club was one of the main first-rate senior football clubs during
2457-423: The 1995 season but, in 1996, renamed the competition Victorian Football League ( VFL ), The Australian Football League 's former name until 1990. The VSFL sought to align the competition with the under-18s competition, with each former VFA club affiliated with an under-18s team to provide a developmental pathway from under-18 football into state-level senior football. In doing this, the number of metropolitan teams
2548-491: The 2017 season, the competition was reconfigured to affiliate teams more closely with AFL clubs. In 2018, the league comprised thirteen teams; twelve were based in Victoria and nine were affiliated with AFL clubs, with one in the Northern Territory . The league ran from May to September, running concurrently with the VFL. The VFA/VFL operated a seconds or reserves competition from the 1920s, initially emerging from
2639-764: The ABC until 2014, and since 2015 by the Seven Network as a lead-in to its AFL coverage. The 2020 VFL season was cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic . Upon the VFL's resumption in 2021, the North East Australian Football League (NEAFL) – which had served as the state league in Australian Capital Territory , New South Wales , Northern Territory and Queensland – was wound up and absorbed into
2730-593: The AFL Victoria Development League, a move that coincided with the introduction of the AFL Victoria Development Academy which provides development opportunities for up to 25 selected VFL players per year. For most of the VFA's history, fielding a team in the seconds grade was mandatory for all senior teams, but in the state league era many regional clubs – as well as all AFL clubs fielding their reserves teams in
2821-472: The ANFC as a non-voting member in 1987, and replaced the board of club delegates with an independent executive committee in 1988, and also regained weekly television coverage from the 1988 season onwards, with the ABC broadcasting a match each Saturday. The VFA eventually returned to the standard 18-per-side rules in 1993. Despite the rationalisation to its twelve strongest teams and improved television coverage,
Challenge Cup (Australian rules football) - Misplaced Pages Continue
2912-461: The Association as a paying senior member. The affiliation fee for senior clubs was initially set at one guinea. Through the first decade of the VFA's existence, the structure of the football season did not change significantly from the informal system which had evolved over previous years . Setting of fixtures was the responsibility of club secretaries rather than the Association itself, and in
3003-433: The Association, even though most seldom played matches against the metropolitan teams; Geelong , the nearest provincial club to the metropolis, was the most prominent provincial club, joining the Association in 1877 and playing regularly against metropolitan clubs by 1880. There was no formal system of promotion and relegation between the senior and junior levels, with it largely at a club's discretion whether or not it joined
3094-625: The Athletic Sports Committee 1865" – was long thought to have been lost. It resurfaced unexpectedly in 2007, having been inherited by a man in Bristol, England with no obvious connection to 1860s football. It was subsequently loaned to be put on display at the National Sports Museum. The South Yarra Football Club decided to purchase and donate a new trophy for competition in 1870. As with the previous cups, it
3185-494: The Cup during the 1870 season: Melbourne, Carlton, South Yarra, Albert-park and Railway . Albert-park took possession of the trophy from South Yarra in the first game it was contested, and then claimed three wins and five draws from its next eight games to claim permanent ownership of the cup, but South Yarra and other clubs disputed the claim, arguing that the club's second victory, a walk-over after Railway forfeited when only fourteen of its players arrived, should have counted as
3276-441: The VFA between its establishment in 1877 and its becoming defunct in 1994. From the 2016 season, a statewide women's football league aligned with the VFL was established by AFL Victoria. The competition initially comprised the six Premier Division clubs and the top four Division 1 clubs from the now-defunct Victorian Women's Football League (VWFL), and was aligned and co-branded with the VFL to improve market penetration. Following
3367-548: The VFA could fill a new role as top state level league in Victoria when this happened; however, it believed that the VFA would need to be rationalised to a competition of twelve financially stable teams for this to occur. Andersen attempted but failed to obtain a mandate from the clubs to impose this rationalisation, but the VFA under his guidance nevertheless contracted, as it showed no lenience in suspending clubs who failed to meet minimum requirements. Several long-term second division clubs, struggling with rising costs and foreseeing
3458-439: The VFA stopped recognising its permit reciprocity agreement in retribution for two takeovers of VFA club grounds by VFL clubs ( St Kilda at Moorabbin and North Melbourne at Coburg ); then in 1967, the VFL stopped recognising the agreement in retribution for the VFA's the introduction of excessive transfer fees on its players. After the VFA refused to comply with an ANFC demand that a new reciprocal permit agreement be established,
3549-423: The VFA was expelled from the ANFC in 1970. The decline of the VFA is often said to have commenced in 1982 when the VFL's struggling South Melbourne Swans moved to Sydney, as all Sydney Swans home games were played on Sunday and televised, ending the VFA's monopoly on Sunday football; Network Ten ended its weekly VFA coverage in the same year. However, this was not the sole cause for decline, which had started in
3640-560: The VFA was independent from the VFL (and, upon its establishment in 1906, the Australasian Football Council ), the VFA had the power to set its own rules. The VFA reduced the number of on-field players from twenty to eighteen in 1897, a move followed by the VFL two years later. The VFA tried reducing the number of players further to 17 in 1908, then to 16 in 1912, before reverting to the national standard 18 in 1919. The VFA went into recess during World War I , with
3731-861: The VFA, inviting Carlton and St Kilda to join them, to form the Victorian Football League (VFL), which became the leading senior football body in Victoria. The remaining VFA clubs – Footscray, North Melbourne, Port Melbourne, Richmond and Williamstown – were given the opportunity to compete as a junior competition under and without representation on the VFL's administration, but rejected the offer and continued as an independent body. The two new competitions competed in parallel from their respective 1897 seasons. The VFA rebuilt to ten clubs over its first independent decade, mostly by adding leading junior clubs to its ranks such as Brunswick , Prahran , West Melbourne , Essendon Town/Association , Preston , Brighton , Northcote and Hawthorn . Because
Challenge Cup (Australian rules football) - Misplaced Pages Continue
3822-462: The VFL in 2024 . The VFA and VFL have undergone significant format changes since its induction which means several clubs have either left the league or changed identity for different reasons. Excluded from this list are provincial clubs who were full administrative members of the VFA in its first decade, but who never played enough games against other clubs to be considered relevant in the premiership. The following men served as president of
3913-503: The VFL seniors – opted not to contest the minor grade. The Development League was abolished after the 2017 season with all VFL clubs' reserve players now play suburban football when not playing with the VFL seniors. The VFA operated an under-19s competition, initially known as the Thirds, between 1952 and 1994. The Under-19s was disbanded when the AFL's VSFL took over the VFA competition after
4004-439: The VFL were estimated to be $ 500,000 per year in 2011. Through this period, the VFL remained moderately popular in Victoria, although not nearly as well-supported as the dominant Australian Football League . Matches attracted both traditional fans of the VFA/VFL clubs, and fans of affiliated AFL clubs keen to watch their reserves players in action. The match of the week and most finals continued to be televised live in Melbourne by
4095-403: The VFL's salary cap. Following the 2013 VFL season , it was revealed that several clubs were lobbying VFL executives to increase the salary cap in a bid to keep high-level players who had relieved themselves of participating in the league to accept more attractive financial offers in local football competitions, where such caps are far less regulated. As of the 2022 season , standalone clubs in
4186-519: The VFL, played on Saturdays. In 1995, the VFA ceased to exist as an independent organisation and control of its football competition was taken over by its former rival, the AFL which operates the competition through its subsidiary, the Victorian State Football League . AFL clubs' reserves teams first entered the competition in 2000. In 2021, the competition expanded geographically, when the Australian Football League merged
4277-678: The VFL; this resulted in the reserves teams from the New South Wales and Queensland AFL clubs ( Sydney , Greater Western Sydney , Brisbane and Gold Coast ) joining the league, and two of the NEAFL's other Queensland-based senior clubs – Aspley and Southport – joining, although Aspley departed after the 2021 season. This brought the league to its largest size since the 1980s, with 22 clubs competing: eight stand-alone VFL clubs, eleven AFL reserves teams, and three traditional VFA/VFL clubs in reserves affiliations with AFL clubs. The league
4368-478: The Victorian Football League with the North East Australian Football League to include clubs from New South Wales and Queensland. In 2022, it comprised 21 teams from the eastern states, nine of which have a continuous VFA heritage. The Victorian Football Association (VFA) was founded on 17 May 1877 at the meeting of club secretaries immediately preceding the 1877 season. It was formed out of
4459-566: The affiliation arrangements in the decade since the VSFL took over the VFA competition, as well as a shift in the arrangement preferred by the AFL clubs. Initially, only four of the ten Victorian AFL clubs were involved in a VFL affiliation, with the rest fielding reserves teams. At its peak of between 2003 and 2006, nine of the ten Victorian AFL clubs were involved in an affiliation, with only Geelong fielding its own reserves team. Most clubs have since migrated away from this model, and since 2021 seven of
4550-425: The agreement of the AFL clubs. Under the administration's new name Football Victoria (later AFL Victoria ), those two competitions were merged into a single competition still known as the Victorian Football League. Since this time, the VFL has been contested by a mixture of three types of clubs: All three models compete to a relatively even standard, with premierships having been won by all three types of team since
4641-409: The case since the early 1870s, the premier club was determined by public and press consensus, which by the mid-1880s was conventionally but informally understood to be the senior club which suffered the fewest losses during the season. Premierships won under this then-informal method are now considered official, and consensus was typically uncontroversial. In 1888, the VFA first took responsibility for
SECTION 50
#17327824616604732-403: The competition was changed to the Victorian Football League in 1996. Under its VFL brand, the AFL also operates a women's football competition known as VFL Women's , which was established in 2016. Its predecessor, the VFA, was formed in 1877 and was the second-oldest Australian rules football league, replacing the loose affiliation of clubs that existed in the early years of the game . The VFA
4823-427: The cup were as follows: Prior to the 1866 season, the Athletic Sports Committee made adjustments to the rules relating to Cup matches: While another rule had called for matches to start promptly at 2 pm, to prevent the holder of the cup from delaying the start of a match to reduce the time available for the challenger to score two goals, this rule was repeatedly broken over the following year by South Yarra, which
4914-590: The dissolution of the second division (which ultimately occurred when fifteen teams remained in the 1989 season), also took the opportunity to return to suburban football before being forced out. The eight-year period between 1984 and 1991 saw twelve clubs exit the VFA: Mordialloc , Kilsyth, Berwick , Geelong West and Camberwell returned to suburban football; Yarraville , Moorabbin, Northcote and Caulfield were suspended; and Sunshine , Brunswick-Broadmeadows and Waverley all folded. The VFA rejoined
5005-416: The event of such a forfeiture. In 1876, the club entered an amalgamation with North Melbourne , but the amalgamation ended one year later when North Melbourne was re-established as an independent club under the name 'Hotham'. In 1877, Albert-park was a founding senior member of the Victorian Football Association . In 1880, Albert-park amalgamated with the neighbouring South Melbourne , which had joined
5096-569: The final ahead of South Yarra, who were winless: two Carlton-Melbourne matches were postponed by four weeks due to rain, while two unplayed Carlton-South Yarra matches were scratched as they would have no effect on the outcome. Carlton won the Grand Final (the first of its kind in history) 2–0 to claim undisputed and permanent ownership of the South Yarra Challenge Cup. There were no further Challenge Cups contested among
5187-512: The financial position of the competition and the vast majority of its clubs remained perilous into the early 1990s, and it was clear that the VFA was no longer a viable independent body in the long term. At the end of the 1994 season, the VFA was formally disbanded in an administrative capacity, and the on-field competition was turned over to the AFL's Victorian State Football League which the AFL had set up two years earlier to take control of Australian football at all levels in Victoria and which ran
5278-408: The first team to score two goals: the first day's play on 18 July was scoreless, the second day's play on 8 August resulted in one goal to each team, and the winning goal was scored after half an hour's play on 22 August. Thereafter, the cup was put up by Melbourne as a perpetual prize to be contested in all matches between the holder and a challenger. As was commonplace with trophies in many sports at
5369-419: The game, and introduced more run-and-carry play in an era which had previously been dominated by a long-kicking style, proving popular with many spectators. Additionally, the VFA ended its permit agreement with the VFL, and began to aggressively recruit star players by offering salaries well in excess of the maximum set by VFL player payment laws. This included Laurie Nash , Bob Pratt and Ron Todd , who were in
5460-402: The game. This came to a head in 1896 when it was proposed that gate profits, which were always lower in matches against the weaker clubs, be shared equally amongst the Association clubs; in response to the threat that this might be endorsed on the votes of the weaker clubs, six of the strongest clubs – Collingwood , Essendon , Fitzroy , Geelong , Melbourne and South Melbourne – seceded from
5551-434: The late 1970s, which reduced the Association's drawing power, and an increasing gulf in quality between the best and worst clubs. Player payments increased through the 1980s, and declining financial support and sponsorship meant that many clubs began to struggle badly, and often found themselves unable to compete financially with local suburban leagues. The VFA had also developed a reputation for rough play and violence, and it
SECTION 60
#17327824616605642-411: The late 1970s: changing demographics meant that many traditional clubs had slowly found themselves in areas with high migrant populations, which either made it difficult to compete with soccer for local for fans and players, or simply brought a level of cultural apathy towards the sport in general; VFA historian Marc Fiddian also noted a decline in the number of ex-VFL players signing with VFA clubs through
5733-502: The league, of which there are eight, have a A$ 220,000 salary cap, while the AFL reserve and affiliate clubs have a A$ 110,000 salary cap. Attendances are small by AFL standards, and generally less than the SANFL and WAFL , with an average of between 500 and 1,000 in attendance. Crowds for many finals matches tend to average in the 2,000–6,000 range, with the Grand Final typically attracting
5824-453: The merger. An additional reserves affiliation option, under which AFL clubs were allowed to spread their reserves players across all of the league's VFL clubs rather than into a single aligned club, has also existed since 2021 but has not been taken up by any AFL clubs. The affiliation deals greatly improved the financial viability of the clubs in question, but they diluted their ability to represent their suburb. There have been many changes to
5915-400: The number of games played by each team. After the formal introduction of the premiership, the often-changeable collection of senior clubs in the VFA soon became settled at twelve premiership-eligible clubs: Carlton , Essendon , Fitzroy , Footscray , Geelong , Melbourne , North Melbourne , Port Melbourne , Richmond , St Kilda , South Melbourne and Williamstown ; they were joined by
6006-406: The onfield competition, and introduced its first formal premiership system by adopting a system of premiership points; it also awarded for the first time a premiership cap in the Association's colours to players of the premier team. The Association's influence over the on-field competition grew, and from 1894, the Association assumed responsibility for centrally setting the fixtures and standardising
6097-430: The other clubs. The remaining three clubs – Carlton, Melbourne and South Yarra – decided that each club would play the others three times during the season, and the top two would play a single playoff match for the cup. This meant that the cup was being contested in a league-type competition, and by traditional definitions was no longer a challenge cup with a perpetual holder. Carlton and Melbourne were clear qualifiers for
6188-423: The previous trophy, any match between the holder of the trophy and a challenger would be played for the trophy, matches would be played on the ground of the holder, and the first club to win the cup three times consecutively (with an unlimited number of drawn matches in that streak) would become its permanent owner. The Athletic Sports Committee could be called upon to resolve disputes. Matches played during 1865 for
6279-421: The primes of their careers and were considered amongst the best players in the country. These changes gave the VFA a product which could compete with the VFL for public interest, and it made the late 1930s and 1940s one of the most successful periods in the VFA's history. The VFA competition went into recess from 1942 until 1944 due to World War II , but continued to perform strongly upon returning in 1945. The VFA
6370-484: The remaining clubs: North Melbourne was expelled from the VFA twice (in 1908 and 1921, before reforming and rejoining on both occasions), and West Melbourne was expelled permanently in 1908. The loss of the VFA's strongest three clubs to the VFL in 1925 firmly cemented the VFA as the second-tier competition in the state. Between 1925 and 1929, the addition of outer suburban clubs in Coburg (1925), Camberwell (1926),
6461-676: The same cup was put up as a prize in a scheduled match between University and the Melbourne Football Club , but the game was twice postponed due to University having insufficient players to field a team. Melbourne claimed that University had forfeited the match and that it should take ownership of the cup, but University rejected this and remained in possession. The matter was finally resolved on-field in 1863, when Melbourne defeated University 2–1 over three afternoons' play in July and August – at that time, matches were untimed and won by
6552-405: The same time, the strongest clubs in the VFA often sought to defect to the VFL, which the VFL was happy to encourage when it expanded, and there were ultimately four defections: Richmond in 1908; and Footscray , North Melbourne and Hawthorn in 1925. Attempting to defect was seen as treacherous within the VFA, and clubs which attempted to defect but failed were sometimes expelled from the VFA by
6643-462: The senior metropolitan clubs, with the bitterness arising from repeated disputes over ownership of each cup being a significant factor in this. There were several other challenge cups presented in provincial and junior football. Among them were: Victorian Football Association The Victorian Football League ( VFL ) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by
6734-490: The statewide competition, with Traralgon and Murray lasting only two and three years respectively. Since 2018, no regional clubs have contested the competition. From 1995 until 1999, the VSFL operated its two open-age competitions – the VFA/VFL and the Victorian AFL Reserves competition – separately; however, its intention had always been to merge the two, and this took place following the 1999 season, after
6825-470: The statewide under-18s competition (the present day NAB League ) and the AFL reserves competition in Victoria. This ended the VFA's 97 years of independence from the VFL/AFL and, for the first time since 1896, created a single control for most Australian football in Victoria. Victorian Football Association Limited was deregistered in 2012. The VSFL retained the use of the VFA name for the competition for
6916-487: The ten Victorian AFL clubs have fielded stand-alone reserves teams in the VFL. Through the 2000s, the AFL preferred that its Victorian clubs retained VFL-affiliations, and offered a disincentive in the form of an inflated licence fee for fielding a stand-alone team; however, the AFL did not otherwise prevent teams from fielding stand-alone reserves teams if they were willing and able to pay the fee. The total licence and running costs for an AFL club to field its reserves team in
7007-490: The then-dominant Melbourne sports radio station, 3AW , broadcast the Grand Final . In 2003, 3AK evolved into sports radio station SEN 1116 , and provided a coverage of VFL matches, but this was discontinued after they won the rights to broadcast the AFL ( Australian Football League ) from the 2007 season. From 1993 onwards radio's main home for the competition was on Casey Radio where the team, headed up by Ken Moore, did
7098-609: The time, the cup would remain a perpetual prize until won three times consecutively by the same team, at which point permanent possession would pass to that team. Only three more matches were played for the Caledonian Society Cup, all won by Geelong: Thus, Geelong became the permanent owner of the Calendonian Society Challenge Cup. In 1865, the Athletic Sports Committee put up a new Challenge Cup trophy, valued at ten guineas. As with
7189-493: The top senior metropolitan clubs between 1861 and 1871: The Challenge Cup, which was won and held based on the results of specific games, was separate from the premiership (which is considered to have officially existed from 1870 ), which was based on a club's results in all games during a season. The inaugural football Challenge Cup was a silver cup donated by the Royal Caledonian Society of Melbourne. It
7280-464: The top tiers of suburban football; but (with the exception of Springvale), the new second division teams did little to reinvigorate the competition, and the clubs rejected any further expansion. The VFA's direction changed dramatically with the election of Brook Andersen as president in 1985. At the time, the VFL was looking at national expansion (ultimately becoming the Australian Football League in 1990) and Andersen's executive committee believed that
7371-442: The week being televised live into Melbourne, as well as most finals. Television and streaming deals during the league's history are as follows: The VFA holds the distinction of having the first match to be broadcast live on television in Australia, when the second half of the match between Oakleigh and Preston on 25 May 1957 was televised on Channel 2 (ABC) . The first regular radio broadcasts of VFA games were made by 3XY ,
7462-490: Was also revamped to improve its ability to serve as a talent pathway, with each club required to field at least six under-22 players in each game. The 2021 season also saw increased broadcast coverage with Foxtel and its streaming service Kayo showing games in addition to the ongoing deal with Seven Network. The first award for the Association best and fairest player was the Woodham Cup , first awarded in 1923; this
7553-507: Was also undefeated. The club also claimed the South Yarra Presentation Challenge Cup during the 1870 season, although the claim was disputed by the other clubs : rules required that a club was to win four cup matches without loss to claim permanent ownership of the Cup, but the other clubs disputed Albert-park's right to claim a walkover victory against Railway when the latter club declined to play
7644-448: Was contested in all matches between the holder and a challenger, but this time a club would be required to win it four times consecutively without defeat (still with no limit on the number of drawn matches) to claim it permanently. In 1869, the rules of football had been changed so that matches were won by the team which secured the most goals in two halves of 50 minutes, rather than by the first team to score twice. Five clubs contested
7735-453: Was cut from twelve to nine in 1995, with Prahran, Oakleigh and Dandenong departing. This left nine clubs with a VFA heritage, coming from different eras: Port Melbourne and Williamstown from the pre-1897 era; Preston, Coburg and Sandringham from the 1920s expansion; Box Hill, Werribee and Frankston from the 1950s/1960s expansion; and Springvale from the 1980s expansion. The VSFL intended that each statewide under-18s team would be affiliated with
7826-549: Was incorporated in 1946. While the throw-pass was in effect, particularly during the early 1940s, there were talks between the VFA and VFL towards re-amalgamating the two bodies. Although the throw-pass had been a great success for the VFA, it was felt that a single controlling body for football in Victoria playing under a uniform set of rules was in the best interests of football as a whole. Negotiations for an amalgamation took place over several years, but broke down several times over
7917-492: Was initially put up as the prize for a football match between University and a team of challengers which was to have been played during the Society's Caledonian games on 28 December 1861. The game was attempted, but abandoned well short of its full length as there was inadequate space among the other Caledonian games events to accommodate a football game. The cup itself was nevertheless presented to University. In May 1862,
8008-465: Was not until the late 1980s that it was able to clean up on-field discipline and shake that image. In 1981, new VFA president Alan Wickes attempted to rectify the decline with further expansion: the VFA expanded further into the outer suburbs to twenty-four teams in 1983, adding Springvale , Moorabbin , Kilsyth and Berwick , and Wickes had a vision of expanding to thirty teams with an additional lower division which could affiliate more directly with
8099-404: Was often up to an hour late, drawing considerable bad will towards the club. Matches played during 1866 were: This gave South Yarra its third consecutive win (with five drawn matches in between), thus giving it permanent possession of the cup. No cup was contested between 1867 and 1869. The trophy itself – a 20 cm high silver cup inscribed with the words "Champion Football Cup – Presented by
8190-578: Was renamed the Recorder Cup in 1926. Starting from 1933, a second award, the V.F.A. Medal, was awarded concurrently; the awards were both based on the votes of the umpires, but were based on different voting systems. In 1940, the Association dispensed with the Recorder Cup voting system, and awarded both trophies to the same player based on the same set of votes. Since 1945, the award for the best and fairest player in each VFA/VFL season has been
8281-487: Was the top-level club competition in Victoria until 1896 but became the secondary-level competition from 1897, after its eight strongest clubs seceded to form the Australian Football League VFL (now AFL) . As a secondary-level competition, the VFA enjoyed peaks of popularity, in the 1940s with a faster-paced rival code of rules and in the 1970s by playing on Sundays at a time when its competitor,
#659340