| Australian rules football in Victoria | |
|---|---|
 Thegrand final of theOmeo & District Football League in 2001 | |
| Governing body | AFL Victoria |
| Representative team | Victoria |
| First played | Melbourne 31 July 1858; 167 years ago (1858-07-31) |
| Registered players | 227,213 (adult) 96,068 (child)[1] |
| Clubs | 1,242 (76 competitions) |
| Club competitions | |
| Audience records | |
| Single match | 121,696 (1970 VFL Grand Final) |
InVictoria,Australian rules football is the most popular sport overall, being the most watched and second most participatedcode of football. Australian rules footballoriginated inMelbourne in the late 1850s and quickly came to dominate in the sport, which it continues to. Victoria has more than double the number of players of any other state in Australia accounting for approximately 42% of all Australian players in 2023 and continues to grow strongly. In 2023 there were 76 competitions and 1,242 clubs. According to Ausplay there are 227,213 adult players of which about one in three are female and 96,068 children playing, similar numbers tosoccer. The sport is governed byAFL Victoria based in Melbourne. The national governing body, theAFL Commission is also based in Melbourne.
The nationalAustralian Football League (AFL) grew out of the Victorian Football League, founded in 1896, as it expanded nationally in the 1980s. 10 of 18 AFL clubs remain Victoria-based including the 4 oldest and the most successful with two thirds of all premierships. Victoria is home to theCordner–Eggleston Cup, first contested in 1858 and the longest continuously running football competition in the world. It is home to the oldest club in the sport, theMelbourne Football Club which wrote the first rules in 1859 also is the oldest professional football club of any code in the world. It was home to the first official tournament in the sport, theChallenge Cup in 1861. It is home to the second oldest football league in Australia, the semi-professionalVictorian Football Association founded in 1877 which, like the AFL has also begun to expand nationally. While Victoria in 2017 accounted for just 30% of all players worldwide, and 40% of Australian players, more than 60% of professional AFL players are recruited from the state. Proponents of the game from outside of Victoria have widely criticised theVictorian bias which runs through many aspects of the game nationally.
TheMelbourne Cricket Ground, with a capacity of 100,024 people, is considered the "spiritual home" of the game, and is contracted to host the sport's largest event, theAFL Grand Final, annually until 2058. This event is traditionally staged on the afternoon of the last Saturday in September.[2] The state also holds regular blockbusters including the annualAnzac Day match,King's Birthday match andDreamtime at the 'G.[3]
TheVictoria Australian rules football team debuted in 1879 and has been dominant innational championships winning more titles than any other state (until the introduction ofState of Origin rules) with 16 of the 19 carnivals up until 1975. Victoria has been undefeated since the pause in interstate football in 1999, having won against a combined rest of Australia team at home in both2008 and2020. Victorian teams have also dominated theNational underage championships with two thirds of the titles since it went national in 1976. Victorian clubs have also won 10 of the 19Championships of Australia.[citation needed]
Victoria has produced the most greats in the history of the game. All four of theSport Australia Hall of Fame Australian Football legends are Victorian:Ron Barassi,Ted Whitten,Bob Skilton andLeigh Matthews. In 2024 the vast majority of theAustralian Football Hall of Fame Legends are also from the state (20 of 31). Victoria also holds the world record for attendance with 121,696 attending the1970 VFL Grand Final between Carlton and Collingwood.[citation needed]
Tom Wills began to devise Australian rules inMelbourne in 1858. (AlthoughH.C.A. Harrison, Wills' cousin, was also named, much later, as an officialfather of the game his role does not, now, seem to have been significant at this very early stage.) A letter by Wills was published inBell's Life in Victoria & Sporting Chronicle on 10 July 1858, calling for a "foot-ball club" with a "code of laws" to keep cricketers fit during winter. A match, played at the Richmond Paddock (later known asYarra Park next to theMCG) on 31 July 1858, was probably a game of folk football, or one based on unidentified English school rules. However, few details of the match have survived.
TheMelbourne Football Club was founded on Saturday 14 May 1859, one of the world'sfirst football clubs in any code. For many years unjustified claims have been made about a football match betweenMelbourne Grammar School andScotch College. It began on 7 August 1858, umpired by Wills and John McAdam. A second day of play took place on 21 August and a third, and final, day on 4 September. The two schools have competed annually ever since. However, the rules used by the two teams in 1858 had little in common with the eventual form of Australian football since that code had not yet been written.
The Melbourne Football Club rules of 1859 are the oldest surviving set of laws for Australian football. They were drawn up at the Parade Hotel,East Melbourne, on 17 May, by Wills, W. J. Hammersley, J. B. Thompson and Thomas Smith (some sources include H. C. A. Harrison). The 1859 rules did not include some elements that soon became important to the game, such as the requirement to bounce the ball while running, and Melbourne's game was not immediately adopted by neighbouring clubs. Before each match the rules had to be agreed by the two teams involved. By 1866, however, several other clubs had agreed to play by an updated version of Melbourne's rules.
While many early Victorian teams participated in one-off matches, most had not yet formed clubs for regular competition until 1860. To ensure the supremacy of the Melbourne rules, the first-club level competition in Australia, the Caledonian Society'sChallenge Cup (1861–64), stipulated that only the Melbourne rules were to be used.[4] This law was reinforced by the Athletic Sports Committee (ASC), which ran a variation of the Challenge Cup in 1865–66.[5] With input from other clubs, the rules underwent several minor revisions, establishing a uniform code known as "Victorian rules".[6] In 1866, the "first distinctively Victorian rule", therunning bounce, was formalised at a meeting of club delegates chaired byH. C. A. Harrison,[7] an influential pioneer who took up football in 1859 at the invitation of Wills, his cousin.[8]
On 17 May 1877, the Victorian Football Association (VFA), Victoria's firstgoverning body for Australian football, was formed. The foundation Senior clubs of the VFA wereAlbert-park,Carlton,Hotham,Melbourne,St Kilda. The Junior section of the VFA originally included such clubs asBallarat,East Melbourne,Essendon,Hawthorn,Northcote,South Melbourne,Standard,Victoria United,Victorian Railways,West Melbourne andWilliamstown. During its early years, many clubs dropped in and out and there were erratic promotions between the Senior and Junior sections. Hawthorn, Northcote, Standard, Victoria United, Victorian Railways and Williamstown dropped out within a year or so but Hawthorn, Northcote and Williamstown were all to return at various times.
There were also numerous rules changes in this early period.
Not all football was played in Melbourne and the Goldfields experienced its own boom in competition in the 1880s and 1890s. By 1881, theSandhurst Football Association had formed with a number of clubs in what is now Bendigo. Ballarat was to follow with its own Ballarat Football Association in 1893, giving some of the oldest clubs outside of Melbourne includingBallarat (1860) andSandhurst (1861) clubs and the growing number of clubs in country Victoria some regular competition. While strong popular competitions in their own right, their member clubs were to become strong feeder clubs to the big metropolitan leagues.
A rift in the VFA led to the formation of theVictorian Football League (VFL), which commenced play in 1897 as an eight-team breakaway of the stronger clubs in the VFA competition: Carlton,Collingwood, Essendon,Fitzroy, Geelong, Melbourne, St Kilda and South Melbourne. The first season concluded with Essendon finishing as the premiers (winners).
Another four VFA clubs joined the VFL later, asRichmond joined the VFL in 1908. Footscray,Hawthorn and North Melbourne joined in 1925, by which time VFL had become the most prominent league in the game. University also joined the VFL in 1908 but left in 1915.
In 1982, in a move which heralded big changes within the sport, one of the original VFL clubs, South Melbourne Football Club, relocated to therugby league stronghold ofSydney and became known as theSydney Swans.
In the late 1980s, strong interstate interest in the VFL led to a more national competition; two more non-Victorian clubs, theWest Coast Eagles and theBrisbane Bears began playing in 1987.
The league changed its name to theAustralian Football League (AFL) following the 1989 season, later gaining further West Australian and South Australian teams.
The VFA/VFL became a secondary league, although even it has grown to accommodate a team fromTasmania.
Even the biggest locally grown suburban clubs, elevated into the national league, continue struggle for survival, competing for marketshare. Fourteen years after South Melbourne's difficulties led them to move to Sydney, similar problems at theFitzroy Football Club result in a merger, forming theBrisbane Lions. Although a small consolation of these club's recent success has been establishing renewed interest with their Melbourne based supporters, other clubs, such as the historic Melbourne, Western Bulldogs (formerly Footscray), North Melbourne and Carlton Clubs are assisted by the AFL to remain in the national competition. Many suggestions have been made in response to issues of overcrowding[1] but the AFL has been somewhat reluctant to make a drastic change, due to both the history and supporters' passion for their club – save for the merger of Fitzroy and the Bears.
In 2004, with 36,900 senior players in Victoria, more than any other state in Australia.
With a total participation of 223,999, Victoria has a participation rate of around 4% per capita, makes it the equal third most supported state (with Western Australia and South Australia)
| Adult players | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016[9] | 2022/23[9] | 2023/24[1] | |||
| 209,117 | 235,970 | 227,213 | |||
Australian Football Hall of Fame players with Legend status from Victoria (in order of induction) include:Ron Barassi,Haydn Bunton Sr.,Roy Cazaly,John Coleman,Jack Dyer,Bill Hutchison,Leigh Matthews,John Nicholls,Bob Pratt,Dick Reynolds,Bob Skilton,Ted Whitten,Ian Stewart,Gordon Coventry,Kevin Bartlett,Jock McHale,Norm Smith,Kevin Murray,Tony Lockett,Kevin Sheedy andJohn Kennedy Sr.
Victorians represent the vast majority of male Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees.
Notable female players include:Debbie Lee (first female member of the Australian Football Hall of Fame),Daisy Pearce.Erin Phillips was born in Melbourne.
Thegoverning body for Australian rules football in Victoria isAFL Victoria.
The following venues meet AFL Standard criteria and have been used to host recent AFL (National Standard), VFL or AFLW level matches (Regional Standard) are listed by capacity.[11]
Many former suburban VFL/AFL venues became disused when the league consolidated at its flagship stadium at Docklands and with its increased national/regional city focus, however the AFLW (and VFL) has since seen some of these former stadiums reused and renovated albeit with downgraded or reduced capacity.
| Melbourne | Melbourne | Geelong |
|---|---|---|
| Melbourne Cricket Ground | Docklands Stadium | Kardinia Park |
| Capacity: 100,024 | Capacity: 55,347 | Capacity: 40,000 |
| Record: 121,696 (1970)[12] | Record: 54,444 (2009)[13] | Record: 49,109 (1952)[14] |
 |  |  |
| Wangaratta | Melbourne | Melbourne |
| Norm Minns Oval | Coburg City Oval | Princes Park |
| Capacity: 15,000 | Capacity: 15,000 | Capacity: 12,000 |
| Record: 11,000 (2013)[15] | Record: 21,626 (1965)[16] | Record: 62,986 (1945)[17] |
 |  |  |
| Ballarat | Melbourne | Bendigo |
| Eureka Stadium | Victoria Park | Queen Elizabeth Oval |
| Capacity: 11,000 | Capacity: 10,000 | Capacity: 10,000 |
| Record: 10,412 (2022)[18] | Record: 47,000 (1948)[19] | Record: 16,600 (1957)[20] |
.png) |  |  |
| Melbourne | Melbourne | Melbourne |
| Whitten Oval | Box Hill City Oval | Windy Hill |
| Capacity: 10,000 | Capacity: 10,000 | Capacity: 10,000 |
| Record: 42,354 (1955)[21] | Record: 6,200 (1983)[22] | Record: 43,487 (1966)[23] |
 |  |  |
| Melbourne | Melbourne | Melbourne |
| Moorabbin Oval | Chirnside Park | Casey Fields |
| Capacity: 10,000 | Capacity: 9,000 | Capacity: 9,000 |
| Record: 51,370 (1965)[24] | Record: 10,000 (1982)[25] | Record: 10,099 (2007)[26] |
 |  |  |
| Melbourne | Melbourne | Melbourne |
| Frankston Oval | Preston City Oval | Arden Street Oval |
| Capacity: 5,000 | Capacity: 5,000 | Capacity: 4,000 |
| Record: 3,722 (2023)[27] | Record: unknown | Record: 35,116 (1949)[28] |
 |  |  |
The Victorian representative team, nicknamed theBig V, debuted in 1879 and have played against and defeated all other Australian states. It was the dominant team until the introduction ofState of Origin rules in 1977 after which its dominance was challenged byWestern Australia. The Big V have seldom appeared since 1999, with the exception of the 2008AFL Hall of Fame Tribute Match, 2020State of Origin for Bushfire Relief Match and2026 AFL Origin.
At underage level, Victoria is split into Vic Metro and Vic Country sides which compete annually in theAFL National Championships.
     Victoria (VFA) |   Victoria (VFL) |
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