VFL Women's (VFLW) is the major state-level

women's Australian rules football Women's Australian rules football (in areas where it is popular, known simply as women's football or women's footy or women's AFL), is the female-only form of Australian rules football, generally with some modification to the laws of the game. ...

league in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. The league 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 has since evolved into what is also the second primary competition for

AFL Women's AFL Women's (AFLW) is Australia's national semi-professional Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules football league for women's Australian rules football, female players. The 2017 AFL Women's season, first season of the league ...

(AFLW) clubs in Victoria. The competition has been held concurrently with the AFLW since 2021. Following the 2017 season, the VFL Women's was reconfigured to affiliate teams more closely with AFL clubs. Since 2021, twelve teams have appeared in the competition; all ten Victorian AFL clubs either field their own women's team or have an affiliation of sorts with an existing club in the VFLW, with the other teams being VFL-affiliated and independent club . The reigning premiers are . The competition was not held in 2020 due to the impact of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

; the grand final was also cancelled in 2021 due to the pandemic, with no premiership being awarded.

History

AFL Victoria AFL Victoria (formerly Football Victoria) is the state-level sport governing body for Australian rules football in the state of Victoria, Australia. Under the organisation's jurisdiction fall 115 leagues — including the Victorian Football Le ...

launched the VFL Women's competition on 21 March 2016, with its inaugural season featuring twelve doubleheaders with the Victorian Football League (VFL). The league initially comprised the six Premier Division clubs (, , Eastern Devils, , St Kilda Sharks and ) and 2015's top four Division 1 clubs (, , and ) from the Victorian Women's Football League (VWFL). Melbourne University already had an existing partnership with Australian Football League (AFL) club . Following the 2016 season, the Geelong Magpies were replaced with the AFL-aligned , and Knox's license was purchased by (renamed in 2018 to align with the AFL club). Following the inaugural

(AFLW) season in 2017, the league made further changes to the competition to affiliate clubs more directly with AFL clubs and the AFL Women's competition. Five other foundation clubs departed, leaving Darebin, Melbourne University and Western Spurs (renamed the in 2018 to align with the AFL club) as the only remaining foundation clubs. The departing clubs were replaced by the AFL-aligned , , , and , the VFL-aligned and , and the

North East Australian Football League The North East Australian Football League (NEAFL) was an Australian rules football league in New South Wales, Queensland, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. The league was formed in November 2010, and its inaugural co ...

(NEAFL)-aligned ; Northern Territory aligned with 's AFLW team, giving Crows players an opportunity to play in the Victorian competition. In 2019, 's AFLW team played five invitational matches in Victoria against teams having a bye. Following the 2019 season,

AFL Northern Territory AFL Northern Territory is the governing body for Australian rules football in the Northern Territory of Australia. It supervises multiple leagues, but is mainly concerned with the co-ordination of the Northern Territory Football League. Th ...

ended Northern Territory's involvement in the NEAFL and VFLW competitions, and Williamstown aligned with Adelaide in Northern Territory's place. Melbourne University's license was also taken over by , ending the clubs' ten-year partnership and allowing North Melbourne to field its own standalone team. In 2020, amidst the

, AFL Victoria decided to cancel the 2020 VFL Women's season and instead hold a four-team Super Series in September to give 120 footballers the chance to push their case to be selected in the 2020 AFL Women's draft; this was later cancelled as well due to the increase of restrictions around COVID-19 in Victoria. In 2021, joined the league, replacing , which initially left the competition due to financial issues before entering into a formal alignment with the VFL club. The competition also shifted to a February commencement, running concurrently with the AFLW season and mirroring other second-tier leagues like the SANFL Women's and

WAFL Women's WAFL Women's (WAFLW) is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The WAFLW is the premier women's football competition in Western Australia, and from 2023 is contested by eight teams owned and operated by clubs in ...

Clubs

Current clubs

Former clubs

* (2016–2017) * (2016–2017) * Eastern Devils (2016–2017) * (2016) * (2016) * (2016–2019) * (2018–2019) * (2018–2020) * (2016–2017) * St Kilda Sharks (2016–2017)

Honours

Premiers

* 2016: * 2017: * 2018: * 2019: * 2022:

Lambert–Pearce Medal

* 2016:

Daisy Pearce Daisy Pearce (born 27 May 1988) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition. Often regarded as the face of women's Australian rules football, Pearce has served as Melbourne c ...

() * 2017: Katie Brennan () * 2018: Jess Duffin () * 2019: Lauren Pearce () * 2021: Georgia Nanscawen () * 2022: Georgia Nanscawen ()

References

External links

* {{AFL Women's VFL Women's Women's Australian rules football leagues in Australia Australian rules football competitions in Victoria 2016 establishments in Australia Sports competitions in Melbourne Sports leagues established in 2016