The survival of standalone VFL clubs

What back track bloke?

Geelong West were a proud VFA club winning the 1975 div 1 premiership and they were runners up in 1983 to Preston in the years before Preston themselves had their souls ripped out,they also won 3 div2 flags. Geelong West were the most successful team in the history of the GDFL before moving to the VFA. They were once a very proud club. I think they have some merged agreement with St.Peters(?) these days. Yes Fevola was paid 10k to play a single game in the GFL but this is a very common practice in suburban leagues these days. I think when Sydney Swans started owning Sunday football you are correct that this spelt the death of the VFA as we knew it.

Nice back track bloke.

Well bloke where did I say anything about it being the VFA club. I was replying to your comment that they should play in the VAFA - which they do. Their VAFA side have strong ties with the Preston Bullants Junior FC and the Northern Blues FC (VFL). Several players have been given the opportunity to try out for the VFL squad through their affiliation with the Northern Blues each pre-season with a number playing for the Northern Blues development side. As for the Cramer Street Oval if you have any problems with the ground then I suggest you take it up with the owners - Darebin City Council.

I think part of the problem is that those 'aligned clubs' basically have little to no fans. The teams that don't have an alignment are folding and those that do are just the AFL reserves. The people who watch the aligned clubs are just massive fans of their AFL team. This is the reality. For most people under the age of 35 the VFL is the AFL reserves.

You might want to get your facts straight bloke. The VAFA club has nothing to do with the VFA club. The current VAFA club plays out at Ruthven Res and has a closer affiliation with the Northern Socials Cricket club than it does to the old VFA club. What Carlton have done to the old Preston and Cramer St. Oval,while not surprising, is a complete disgrace. Carlton should just run their own shabby club with their own tragic name. Has taken plenty and given absolutely nothing to that club, or the suburb or its community. No great surprise there though.

Thanks Vlad, very informative.

Thanks Mattyb, that's great stuff.

Maybe you should get your facts right before your usual pot at Carlton. The Preston Bullants do play in the VAFA and have been playing there for about 6 years. They started there under the Northern Blues name but in 2016 reverted back to the Preston Bullants. In 2002 when the club was on the brink of dissolving they received approaches to affiliate from both Essendon and Carlton. Essendons plan was a virtual domination of the club but Carltons plan was for more of a co-operative playing group with no change to traditional values and was accepted without major modification by the Bullants board.

Hey pope, I was invited to play for Geelong West by their coach after an introductory gym session. They were skint and needed players. There was far more cash and interest in the local Geelong leagues. VFA was pointless as soon as the VFL introduced Sunday matches. You still hear of ex league players getting close to 100k a season to play GFL. Fevola was on 10k a match playing GDFL for Blue West.

Pope,you would also see a lot of stars going to the VFA to finish their careers,some giving the VFA real character,some going back to where they first started. Teams apart from Brunswick and North that seemed to work in tandem were Collingwood/Preston, Footscray/Williamstown,Sth.Melb/Port.Melb,St.Kilda/Sandringham. Some players who stepped up to VFL but then went back to VFA to finish seemed to have just as much love if not more for their VFA club. I can always remember going to VFA grand finals both as a kid and young adult,some fearsome games took place,in front of very good crowds. Looking back to the late 70's I'm not sure a youngster should have really been there lol. I remember one GF between Port and Dandenong in the 80's that was a very rough and sorry affair,both inside and outside the boundary. That one was a bit over the top actually,a very ugly and scary atmosphere.

i am no help with their plight but I used to love reading the scores in the old VFA divisions from afar in country NSW. It was great fun to search the lower grades for outrageous 40 goal plus scores. I have a memory of some Geelong West grade going 92 30! Brunswick produced a truckload of stars for North god bless 'em. A sign of the times to see the community bottom drop out when there was a time everyone played for or followed their local club.

Sorry Jackson,this is my third comment on this topic so you've obviously got me thinking. I'm a great lover of the game and its future means a great deal to me so thanks for the article. First,and least importantly,I wonder how much effect the TAC cup competition has had on the VFA/VFL. There is only so much funding and sponsorship to go around. I think there was a spike in troubles for VFA clubs when the TAC first started and then onwards. Secondly,while it could be a good idea for the standalone clubs to move to the VAFA I wonder if a new look second tier competition could help Victorian football in general? You could take your strongest VFA clubs as well as the strongest clubs from the EFL,NFL (diamond valley) and WRFL and start a new comp,which we could even call the VFA. Even in the local leagues you find you have a couple of rich clubs that makes it hard for the other clubs to compete,and when they do it can often send the poorer clubs broke and slipping down the divisions themselves. A new second tier competition is certainly something Football Victoria could look into. Maybe even Fitzroy could play in this league. A second tier competition would certainly be a high standard I believe and could also ease a lot of financial pressure off many clubs around the state. I think it could be a win/win and certainly worthy of investigation.

Realistically Jackson, once the Bombers decided they wanted their own "Essendon" team in the VFL, and without strong support from the Bendigo footy community, did the Gold really have any chance of surviving long term? I'm a supporter of WAFL team East Perth, which currently has a partnership with the West Coast Eagles. Like many other Royals supporters (and opposition fans), I hate the alignment. I'm keen to know more from a VFL perspective, from former players like yourself and also from fans from clubs that have an affiliation with an AFL team (such as Sandringham, Box Hill). What is it like being a fan of an "affiliate" club? How does it feel? Is it still the same club to you? And to those that support current standalone clubs that previously had an AFL partnership (such as Port Melbourne, Williamstown, Coburg) from financial AND a spiritual point of view, has your club come out better, or worse for wear?

While on this topic,why did they even call it the VFL in the first place? We now actually have a situation where some parts of VFL history is included as AFL history and other parts aren't. To make things even more confusing we have VFA history included with the parts of VFL history that's left over.

Nice to have Frankstons plight bought to people's attention. It is a shame but this is life in the AFL world and has effected all states to some degree,but definitely the VFL/VFA has suffered the most but it always was a second tier competition,albeit a very good one. I remember when the VFA was very much a worthy competition in its own rights and watching a game on Sunday was a great joy. The VFA also had many of its own great personalities who were also well known and household names. Times move on though and these teams need to do what they can and try and survive. I'd imagine Port can survive in its current situation and perhaps Willialmstown. Frankston should just do what Fitzroy did and move to the VAFA as should Coburg before its to late. If Port or Willi need to do this also,so be it. The situation with the Preston Bullants would disgust many. They've basically just been chewed up by another club without any morals. Preston should reclaim their name and bullant and move to the VAFA also. These were great clubs,but they were great VFA clubs,and that's what they are or were remembered for. Better to survive in the VAFA than die off in what is a now manufactured VFL,run to support Victorian AFL clubs. Also worth mentioning is some of these old VFA grounds are some of the most beautiful grounds in the country with some magnificent old stands that are always worth checking out for people who like that kind of thing.

In my previous life working in various utilities I saw first hand the struggles of sporting clubs the length and breadth of Brisbane. A lot of them are in permanent debt to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars for power & water bills – floodlights and irrigation costs are constantly rising and particularly given the warmer and drier conditions up here a lot of ovals and turf needs to be replaced. Which means huge amounts of watering. 1000KL of water costs about $4500 and plenty of sporting clubs can go through three or five times that much in a single quarter. I know of at least 20 sporting clubs in Brisbane who are essentially trading insolvent because they owe vast sums on utility bills they have no hope of ever paying back on their current operating budget & essentially will have to either default back to council ownership or hope that the council picks up the tab for their costs. A lot of it though is due to intransigence and outmoded thinking. A lot of these ovals sit idle for extended periods of time, particularly during the week. More partnerships should be established with local communities and schools who are desperately looking for green space. Better utilisation of sporting facilities and ovals with a user pays mechanism would be a sensible way to increase revenue, but the crusty dead hands on the tillers of a lot of these clubs don’t have the necessary adroitness to navigate these challenging times.

Well said. I sometimes wish that the local councils of each standalone club was able to give back and provide funding to the club just so they can stay afloat.