Victorian Amateur Football Association
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The Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) is the largest senior community
Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...
competition in
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. It consists of seven senior men's and women's divisions ranging from Premier to Division 4. In addition there are U19's sections and five Thirds sections, primarily made up of either clubs only able to field one team, or clubs from higher sections that can field a third team after their seniors and reserves. The league operates a double
promotion and relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...
system between sections with various rules dictating which section clubs can play in. The league's administration base is at
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, a former
Victorian Football Association The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...
stadium in suburban
Elsternwick, Victoria Elsternwick is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 9 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Glen Eira local government area. Elsternwick recorded a population of 10,887 at the 2021 ...
, that was home to the now defunct Brighton Football Club and is now the home base for Old Melburnians Football Club and Elsternwick Football Club. It was redeveloped in 2017 and has a capacity for around 15,000 spectators. The Association is made up of
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clubs, university clubs and district clubs. No player payments are permitted, however players can be enticed by offers of employment.


History


Metropolitan Junior Football Association (MJFA)

The Victorian Amateur Football Association was founded in 1892 as the Metropolitan Junior Football Association. The foundation clubs were: Alberton;
Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
;
Collegians Collegians are an Australian rugby league football team based in Wollongong. The club are a part of Country Rugby League and compete in the Illawarra Rugby League premiership. Originally known as CBC Old Boys, the Club was founded in 1933. The ...
; Footscray District; St Jude's; St Mary's; Toorak-Grosvenor; YMCA.


Metropolitan Amateur Football Association (MAFA)


1912

In 1912 the MJFA became the Metropolitan Amateur Football Association. Prior to the First World War, apart from its core function of delivering a competition for amateur footballers, the MAFA also provided an (unofficial) second-level competition for the VFL. The VFL Second XVIII competition began in 1919; the MAFA competition was not resumed, post-war, until 1920.


1920

On Monday, 22 March 1920, a meeting of the (then) Metropolitan Amateur Football Association decided to resume the inter-club competition that it had suspended for the duration of World War I at the end of the 1915 season. The MAFA announced that the re-formed competition would be between four of the "pre-war" clubs — namely,
Collegians Football Club Collegians Football Club (nicknamed the ''Lions'') is an Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Albert Park. Formed in 1891, it is the second-oldest club in the VAFA, after Melbourne University Football Club Mel ...
, South Yarra Amateur Football Club,
Elsternwick Football Club Elsternwick is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 9 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Glen Eira local government area. Elsternwick recorded a population of 10,887 at the 2 ...
, and
Melbourne University Football Club Melbourne University Football Club, often known simply as University, is an Australian rules football club based at the University of Melbourne. The club fields two teams, known as the "Blacks" and "Blues", who both compete in the Victorian Amat ...
(later University Blacks) — and four "new clubs" — namely, Old Melburnians, Old Caulfield Grammarians, Melbourne Swimming Club Football Club and the Teachers’ College Football Club.


Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA)

In 1933 it changed its name to the Victorian Amateur Football Association.A Brief History of the VAFA (pdf)
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Movement in and out of senior competition since inception

From a history of the VAFA


Inter-league and Inter-state games


1925

In June 1925 a MAFA Representative XVIII defeated the South Australian 21.22 to 8.10 at the MCG in the first amateur Interstate representative game.


1948

Players in the 1948 Perth Carnival included: R. B. Small, K. N. C. Rollanson, G. V. Byrne, C. P. Daley, J. C. Stock, V. G. Miller, E. Jane, W. J. Backhouse, W. T. Taggart, J. P. Sheehan, R. L. Rouse, K. F. Lewis, J. W. Grainier, W. Reynolds’s, N. P. Airmen, G. W. McTaggart, D. B. White, (Deputy Manager) E. L. Macklin, B. F. Judd, V. W. Paxton, M. J. Davidson, D. W. Arnold, (Capt.) G. T. Moore, (Manager) M. K. Fitcher, (Vice-Capt.) A. H. C. Richard’s, E. M. MacGregor.


1951

The Australian Amateur Jubilee Football Carnival was held in Melbourne in July 1951. The Victorian team included: J. Kelly (Coach), K. Clarke, G. W. Gibbons, A. T. Shiel, D. Bills, J.D. Anderson, M.T. Hastie, A. D. Morning, G. Harris. G.T. Moore (Manager), A. E. Parley, W. B. Thomas, M. Mathewson, A. Ferguson, J. Stock, J. B. Jolley, J. Likely, B. F. Judd, W. M. Judd, P. McLaughlin, . Bedford, S. Bottles, D. W. Arnold (Capt.), P. M. Cox (V-Capt.), H. A. Meredith, A. F. Mellors, E. Donaldson.


1954

On 14 June 1954, the Queen's Birthday holiday, a Victorian representative team defeated a South Australian team 12.14 (86) to 10.15 (75) at the
Junction Oval Junction Oval (also known as the St Kilda Cricket Ground, or the CitiPower Centre due to sponsorship reasons) is a historic sports ground in the suburb of St Kilda in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The oval's location near the St Kilda Jun ...
. The match was preceded by the Grand Final of a "lightning premiership" that involving sixteen teams playing knock-out matches of two 10 minute halves. Four of the first round matches were played at the Junction Oval, and the other four were played (simultaneously) at the Ross Gregory Oval at the other end of Albert Park Lake. The quarter final, semi final, and the Grand Final matches were all played at the Junction Oval. The sixteen teams involved were: * Alphington Football Club, Hampton Rovers Football Club, Melbourne High School Old Boys (M.H.S.O.B.), Old Melburnians, and
Ormond Amateur Football Club Ormond Amateur Football Club is an Australian rules football club, located 14 km south east of Melbourne in the suburb of Ormond. Ormond is the second-oldest suburban club in the Victorian Amateur Football Association. The club was founded ...
from A Section. * Brunswick Amateurs Football Club,
Caulfield Grammarians Football Club Caulfield Grammarians Football Club, is an Australian rules football club based in Caulfield East, Victoria. The club, composed of Caulfield Grammar School alumni is, along with Old Melburnians, the (equal) second oldest consecutively compet ...
, Coburg Amateurs Football Club,
Collegians Football Club Collegians Football Club (nicknamed the ''Lions'') is an Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Albert Park. Formed in 1891, it is the second-oldest club in the VAFA, after Melbourne University Football Club Mel ...
, and Ivanhoe Amateur Football Club from B Section. *
Balwyn Football Club The Balwyn Football Club is an Australian rules football club located in the eastern Melbourne suburb of Balwyn. Known as the "Tigers", the club fields senior teams in the Eastern Football League which it joined in 2007. It fields junior teams ...
, East Malvern Football Club, and
Parkside Football Club The Parkside Football club is an Australian rules football club located 8 km north east of Melbourne in the suburb of Alphington. The club's home matches are at Pitcher Park in Alphington. The Parkside Football Club was founded in 1934 ...
from C Section. * Parkdale Football Club from D Section. * South Melbourne City Football Club, and Preston Amateurs Football Club from E Section. Parkside (the team that would later go on to have its twenty-ninth consecutive win in the 1954 C Section Grand Final), having beaten Balwyn in the first round, Preston in the quarter finals, and Ivanhoe in the Semi-finals, defeated Alphington in the Grand Final to win the lightning premiership.


1956

In 1956 a VAFA XVIII beat the combined VFL/VFA Amateurs in an Olympic demonstration game, 12.9 (81) to 8.7 (55).


1957

Of some considerable historical significance, the VAFA vs. South Australian Amateur Football League interstate match, played at Olympic Park on 17 June 1957 — which Victoria won 15.9 (99) to 8.3 (51) — was the first ever uninterrupted telecast of a complete Australian rules football game (viz., it was a direct broadcast of the entire four quarters of the match, rather than just the last quarter) .


1971

In 1971 a VAFA Representative side beat a VFA XVIII for the inaugural Victorian Football Cup 23.12 to 19.17.


Growth

The inaugural season of the then MJFA comprised fixtures between 8 teams. By 1922 the association divided into 2 sections of 8. Only 4 years later three sections were established; Section A with 10 clubs and Section B and C with 8 clubs each. Competition was ceased for the Second World War (as it had after the Great War). Restarting in 1946 with 27 clubs in three sections, by 1947 34 clubs were competing over three sections. 1948 saw 35 clubs spread over four sections. In 1954 the MAFA established a fifth section for its 48 senior clubs. 1960 saw 74 clubs over 7 sections. A major indicator of the growth and quality of the association led to poaching of VAFA players to the VFL in 1961. The league then dwindled and lost two sections. Section F was reintroduced in 1971. Section G was introduced in 1986. By 1987 there were 68 clubs over 8 sections. The number of clubs since has been in slight decline, now at 66 over 7 sections.


Premiers


From the VAFA Website


Current clubs

For the 2022 season, the senior divisions were structured as follows:


Men's Seniors


William Buck Premier


Premier B


Premier C


Division 1


Division 2


Division 3


Division 4


Thirds Only


Women's Seniors


William Buck Premier


Premier B


Premier C


Division 1


Division 2


Division 3


Former clubs

This may consist of clubs that are currently playing in the Club XVIII section.


See also

*
Australian rules football in Victoria Australian rules football in Victoria is the most watched code of football. Victoria has more than double the number of Australian rules football players of any other state in Australia ( Soccer in Victoria is the only other football code with ...


References


External links


Official SiteBrief History
{{Aussie Rules in Victoria 2