VFL

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VFL

1. (historical, Australian rules football) Initialism of Victorian Football League, an Australian rules football league formed in Victoria, Australia, in 1896; renamed the Australian Football League (AFL) in 1990 after expansion to other states starting in the 1980s. [Formed 1896.]
   • 2006, Ian W. Shaw, The Bloodbath: The 1945 VFL Grand Final, Scribe Publications, →ISBN:
   • 2006, Ross Booth, “58: The economic development of the Australian Football League”, in Wladimir Andreff, Stefan Szymański, editors, Handbook on Economics of Sport, page 553:

     The VFL began with eight clubs: Carlton; Collingwood; Essendon; Fitzroy; Geelong; Melbourne; St Kilda; and South Melbourne.

   • 2009, Kate Darian-Smith, On the Home Front: Melbourne in Wartime: 1939-1945‎, page 164:

     The professional Victorian Football League (VFL) matches attracted more than 100000 spectators weekly from 1939 until 1941. In 1942, however, the VFL lost half of its football fields to ancillary and military services.

2. (Australian rules football) Initialism of Victorian Football League; a second-tier regional (country area) Australian rules football league operating within Victoria; derived from the historic Victorian Football Association, from which the future AFL broke in 1896. [Renamed 1995.]

Where historical continuity is desired (such as when compiling statistics), the organisation that is now the AFL is often referred to as the VFL/AFL. The now VFL may be referred to as the VFA/VFL.

• VLF