AFL reserves
FormerlyVictorian Junior Football League
VFL seconds/reserves
SportAustralian rules football
Founded1919
Inaugural season1919
Ceased1999
CountryAustralia
Most titlesGeelong (13)
Related
competitions

The AFL reserve grade competition, commonly known simply as the AFL reserves, was an Australian rules football competition that operated as a second-tier competition to the Australian Football League from 1919 until 1999.

Prior to 1990, it was known as the VFL reserve grade competition, VFL reserves or VFL seconds.[1]

In its final season, the competition was made up of the reserves teams of all Victorian senior AFL clubs, plus that of the Sydney Swans.[2][3]

Since 2000, the Victorian Football League has operated as a hybrid second-tier senior competition and reserves competition for most of the AFL clubs.

History

In 1919, a new football competition known as the Victorian Junior Football League (VJFL) was established – at this time, junior was the term used for open age football of a lower standard than senior football, rather than for under age football.[4] The league was intended to bring a junior club affiliated with each of the Victorian Football League (VFL) senior clubs into a single competition, and to adopt the same district eligibility scheme which the VFL had introduced in 1916.[5] Player permit rules allowed for automatic transfers between the junior and senior clubs until July, allowing the juniors to serve as second eighteens for the seniors. The junior and senior clubs shared a home ground, with the juniors playing home when the seniors played away.[6] For the inaugural season, four existing junior clubs – the Fitzroy Juniors, Collingwood District (also known as Collingwood Juniors) and Leopold (affiliated with South Melbourne) and Caulfield (affiliated with Melbourne) – initially crossed to the new league from the Metropolitan Amateur Association; West Melbourne was affiliated with Essendon; and new junior clubs were formed in Carlton, Richmond and St Kilda.[5] University, which had left the VFL senior competition after 1914, also entered a stand-alone junior team in the competition.

Shortly before the season, Caulfield withdrew, and a second University team was quickly arranged to take its place for the 1919 season.[7] The two University teams were known as University A and University B, later becoming the modern day 'University Blues' and 'University Blacks'. University B contested only the 1919 season, with a Melbourne Juniors team established for 1920; University A contested the 1919 and 1920 seasons, reaching the grand final both years before dropping out.

West Melbourne faced multiple heavy losses in 1920, including a 197-point loss against Carlton District and a 229-point loss against St Kilda District The club left the competition at the end of the season and were replaced by Essendon Juniors.[8]

In 1925, the VJFL was renamed as the VFL seconds, later known more commonly as the VFL reserves.[9] Following the change, the seconds clubs still operated as distinct stand-alone clubs at this time, rather than coming directly under the influence of their senior clubs. This changed over the following decades, with all of the seconds teams gradually being subsumed by their senior counterparts.[10][11]

Melbourne won the 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934 and 1935 premierships - the only time in VFL/AFL history (seniors or reserves) that a club has won five grand finals in a row.[12]

Following their Round 1 match in 1989, both St Kilda and Brisbane were found to have fielded unregistered players. As a result, the VFL fined both clubs and ordered that they receive zero premiership points for the match.[13]

Local players were primarily recruited via the league's metropolitan and country zoning rules, and the clubs had full ability to develop its players through its Under-19s and reserves teams: the same basic structure was also used consistently in the other two elite leagues, the SANFL and the WAFL.

VSFL era

The Victorian State Football League was established at the end of 1991 to take over administration of football in Victoria from the Australian Football League, which was now becoming preoccupied with administration of the game nationally.

The VSFL ran the AFL reserves competition from 1992 until 1999, which was also known as the VSFL in its first few years.[14] At the end of 1994, the VSFL also took over administration of the Victorian Football Association competition (which it renamed the Victorian Football League in 1996).[15]

Amalgamation with the VFL

Following the 1999 season, the AFL reserves was merged into the Victorian Football League. Such a merger had first been proposed as early as 1980, and a formal attempt to enact the merger for the 1995 season was defeated after strong opposition from the clubs.[16][17]

Clubs

After South Melbourne was relocated to Sydney at the end of the 1981 VFL season, the club continued to play in the VFL reserves.[2]

The Brisbane Bears competed for four years between 1989 and 1992, winning their only premiership at any grade in 1991. After their merger with the Fitzroy at the end of 1996, the Brisbane Lions did not compete in the competition.

No teams from South Australia or Western Australia ever competed in the VFL/AFL reserves.

Club Colours Moniker First season Last season Total premierships Year/s of premiership/s
Brisbane
Bears 1989 1992 1 1991
Carlton
(Carlton District)
Blues 1919 1999 8 1926, 1927, 1928, 1951,
1953, 1986, 1987, 1990
Coburg
Lions 1921 1924 0
Collingwood
(Collingwood District)
Magpies 1919 1999 7 1919, 1920, 1922, 1925, 1940, 1965, 1976
Essendon
(Essendon Juniors)
Bombers 1921 1999 8 1921, 1941, 1950, 1952,
1968, 1983, 1992, 1999
Fitzroy
(Fitzroy Juniors)
Lions 1919 1996 3 1944, 1974, 1989
Geelong
Cats 1922 1999 13 1923, 1924, 1930, 1937, 1938, 1948,
1960, 1963, 1964, 1975, 1980, 1981, 1982
Hawthorn
Hawks 1925 1999 4 1958, 1959, 1972, 1985
Leopold
Redlegs 1919 1924 0
Melbourne
Demons 1920 1999 12 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1939,
1949, 1956, 1969, 1970, 1984, 1993
North Melbourne
(Kangaroos)[lower-alpha 1]
Kangaroos 1925 1999 7 1947, 1957, 1967, 1978, 1979, 1995, 1996
Richmond
Tigers 1919 1999 10 1929, 1946, 1954, 1955, 1966,
1967, 1971, 1973, 1977, 1997
St Kilda
(St Kilda District)
Saints 1919 1999 3 1942, 1943, 1961
Sydney
(South Melbourne)[lower-alpha 2]
Swans 1925 1999 0
University A
Blues 1919 1920 0
University B
Blacks 1919 1919 0
West Melbourne
1919 1920 0
Western Bulldogs
(Footscray)[lower-alpha 3]
Bulldogs 1925 1999 6 1936, 1945, 1962, 1988, 1994, 1998
  1. ↑ North Melbourne was officially known as the Kangaroos Football Club in 1999.
  2. ↑ South Melbourne relocated to Sydney in 1982 was renamed Sydney Swans in 1983.
  3. ↑ Footscray was renamed Western Bulldogs in 1997.

Notable players

A number of notable players competed solely in the reserves competition.

Shane Warne, considered to be one of the greatest bowlers in the history of cricket, played a single game for St Kilda in 1988: he was erroneusly listed in the Record as Trevor Warne, and played in the Under-19s for the remainder of the season.[18] Former St Kilda number one ticket holder John Moran also played for the reserves side.[19]

John Bourke, a Collingwood forward, infamously shoved an umpire and then attacked a fan among other incidents during a 1985 game, leading to a suspension of ten years plus 16 games, equivalent to 240 matches.[20]

Premiers

Geelong won the most reserves premierships, with a total of 13.[21]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "1999 AFL Reserve Grade Competition". Australian Football.
  2. 1 2 "Unearthing roots of Harbour City talent". The Age. 3 August 2003. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
  3. ↑ "National Scoreboard", The Sun, Melbourne, VIC, p. 87, 5 June 1989
  4. ↑ Ross, John (1996). 100 Years of Australian Football. Ringwood, Australia: Viking Books. p. 382. ISBN 9781854714343.
  5. 1 2 "New junior organisation". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. 18 January 1919. p. 13.
  6. ↑ "District junior football". Malvern Standard. 8 March 1919. p. 3.
  7. ↑ "Football". The Age. Melbourne. 15 May 1919. p. 10.
  8. ↑ "1920 Reserves". Blueseum.
  9. ↑ "V.F.L. SECONDS". Trove. The Age.
  10. ↑ "Football - Carlton - Seniors may control second eighteen". The Age. 2 March 1936. p. 5.
  11. ↑ "Collingwood District Football Club". Collingwood Forever.
  12. ↑ "Records and Achievements". Melbourne Football Club.
  13. ↑ "Saints, Bears it in "twos"". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne. 15 April 1989. p. 86.
  14. ↑ Stephen Linnell (21 March 1995). "North to push for new jumpers". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. p. 42.
  15. ↑ "History of the VFL 1877 - 2009".
  16. ↑ "League nearer Sunday games". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. 12 June 1980. p. 24.
  17. ↑ Stephen Rielly; Stephen Linnell (24 May 1994). "Vic clubs threaten AFL on reserves". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. p. 50.
  18. ↑ "Remembering Warnie: The football story before the cricket legend". St Kilda Football Club.
  19. ↑ "John Moran Loyalty Award". St Kilda Football Club.
  20. ↑ "10 of the AFL's most famous suspensions". ZeroHanger.
  21. ↑ "Premierships". Geelong Cats.
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