AFL reserves

AFL reserves

Formerly	Victorian Junior Football League VFL seconds/reserves
Sport	Australian rules football
Founded	1919
First season	1919
Ceased	1999
Country	Australia
Most titles	Geelong (13)
Related competitions	AFL seniors AFL under-19s

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 (AFL) 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 in 1999, the competition was made up of the reserves teams of all the senior AFL clubs that were based in Victoria, plus that of the Sydney Swans.^[2]

Since 2000, the Victorian Football League (VFL), formerly known as the Victorian Football Association (VFA), has operated as a hybrid second-tier senior competition and reserves competition for most of the AFL clubs.

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.^[3] 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.^[4] 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.^[5]

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.^[4] University, which had left the VFL senior competition after 1914, also entered a stand-alone junior team in the competition.^[6][7]

Shortly before the season, Caulfield withdrew, and a second University team was quickly arranged to take its place for the 1919 season.^[8] 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.^[9]

In 1925, the VJFL was renamed as the VFL seconds, later known more commonly as the VFL reserves.^[10] 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.^[11][12]

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.^[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 South Australian National Football League (SANFL) and the West Australian Football League (WAFL).

History was made in 1991, with the Brisbane Bears winning the reserves premiership − the first non-Victorian club to win a VFL/AFL premiership in any grade.

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 referred 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 (VFA) competition (which was renamed the Victorian Football League in 1996).^[15]

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]

South Melbourne was relocated to Sydney at the end of the 1981 VFL season, after which the club continued to play in the VFL/AFL reserves as Sydney.^[18]

The Brisbane Bears competed for four years between 1989 and 1992, winning their only premiership at any grade in 1991. After their merger with 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	Seasons		Premierships	Years of premierships	Current league
			First	Last
Brisbane		Bears	1989	1992	1	1991	Merged 1996 with Fitzroy Lions, now Brisbane Lions − VFL
Carlton (Carlton District)		Blues	1919	1999	8	1926, 1927, 1928, 1951, 1953, 1986, 1987, 1990	VFL
Caulfield			N/A Withdrew before start of inaugural 1919 season	Folded 1976
Coburg		Lions	1921	1924	0		VFL
Collingwood (Collingwood District)		Magpies	1919	1999	7	1919, 1920, 1922, 1925, 1940, 1965, 1976	VFL
Essendon (Essendon Juniors)		Bombers	1921	1999	8	1921, 1941, 1950, 1952, 1968, 1983, 1992, 1999	VFL
Fitzroy (Fitzroy Juniors)		Lions	1919	1996	3	1944, 1974, 1989	Merged 1996 with Brisbane Bears, now Brisbane Lions − VFL
Geelong		Cats	1922	1999	13	1923, 1924, 1930, 1937, 1938, 1948, 1960, 1963, 1964, 1975, 1980, 1981, 1982	VFL
Hawthorn		Hawks	1925	1999	4	1958, 1959, 1972, 1985	In recess Affiliated with Box Hill − VFL
Leopold		Leos	1919	1924	0		Folded 1924
Melbourne		Demons	1920	1999	12	1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1939, 1949, 1956, 1969, 1970, 1984, 1993	In recess Affiliated with Casey − VFL
North Melbourne (Kangaroos)[a]		Kangaroos	1925	1999	7	1947, 1957, 1967, 1978, 1979, 1995, 1996	VFL
Richmond		Tigers	1919	1999	10	1929, 1946, 1954, 1955, 1966, 1967, 1971, 1973, 1977, 1997	VFL
St Kilda (St Kilda District)		Saints	1919	1999	3	1942, 1943, 1961	In recess Affiliated with Sandringham − VFL
Sydney (South Melbourne)[b]		Swans	1925	1999	0		VFL
University A		Blues	1919	1920	0		VAFA
University B		Blacks	1919	1919	0		VAFA
West Melbourne			1919	1920	0		Folded 1940s
Western Bulldogs (Footscray)[c]		Bulldogs	1925	1999	6	1936, 1945, 1962, 1988, 1994, 1998	VFL

Brisbane	Carlton	Collingwood	Essendon	Fitzroy	Footscray
Geelong	Hawthorn	Leopold	Melbourne	North Melbourne	Richmond
St Kilda	South Melbourne	Sydney	University A	University B	West Melbourne

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 erroneously listed in the Record as Trevor Warne, and played in the Under-19s for the remainder of the season.^[19] Former St Kilda number one ticket holder John Moran also played for the reserves side.^[20]

John Bourke, a Collingwood forward, infamously shoved an umpire and then attacked a fan among other incidents during a game in 1985, leading to a suspension of ten years plus 16 games, equivalent to 240 matches.^[21]

Geelong won the most reserves premierships, with a total of 13.^[22]

• List of VFL/AFL reserves records