This article is about the present-day Victorian state football league. For cvi flag football league known as the Victorian Football League until 1990, see Australian Football League.

The VFA was formed in 1877 and is the second-oldest Australian rules football league, replacing the loose affiliation of clubs that had been the hallmark of the early years of the game. In 2022, it will comprise 21 teams from throughout the eastern states, nine of which have a continuous VFA heritage. AFL Victoria also operates a women’s football competition under the Victorian Football League brand, known as the VFL Women’s, which was established in 2016. 17 May 1877 at the meeting of club secretaries immediately preceding the 1877 season. It was formed out of 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. 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. Association’s colours to players of the premier team.

Action from the 1896 VFA Grand Final won by Collingwood over South Melbourne at the East Melbourne Cricket Ground. The highlighted section in the bottom right-hand corner shows the future Australian Prime Minister John Curtin. 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 the game. Second from right, front row, is Doug Nicholls.

Over the first thirty years of the VFA’s independence, its relationship with the VFL was, in general, mutually antagonistic. 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. 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 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.

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. 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. As Melbourne expanded geographically, the VFA embarked on a deliberate plan to establish its presence in new areas by expanding the number of teams into the newer, outer suburbs. In 1961, when the eighteenth club joined, the VFA was split into First and Second Divisions, the First Division having 10 teams, and Second Division holding the balance, with one team promoted and one team relegated between the two divisions each season. This plan was aimed at improving overall competitiveness of the competition and overcoming the huge gap between the strongest and weakest clubs which had led to unentertaining football in the late 1950s.

In 1959, the VFA again reduced the size of the on-field team to sixteen, eliminating the two wing positions, to result in a more open field than under league rules. The VFA played 16-a-side from 1959 until 1992. In 1960, the VFA first began playing premiership matches on Sundays. This allowed VFA matches to be played without competing the VFL for spectators, and within a few years, clubs found that Sunday matches were as much as three to four times more lucrative than Saturday games. By the 1970s, all games were played on a Sunday, while the VFL played its games on Saturdays. 1967 until 1981, at a time when VFL matches were shown only as partial replays.

All of these changes resulted in the VFA enjoying a successful period during the 1970s. Increased sponsorship, public awareness, and 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.