Footy in Country Victoria

Current Scores: Weekend of August 3/4, 2024
Whilst the game itself originated in Melbourne the game did not rest in that region in it's early years. Two of the first six clubs that were formed before 1860 were not Melbourne based clubs. They were in regional Victoria; Geelong and Castlemaine. The three of the next four in the early 1860's were also regional; Ballarat, Warrnambool and Sandhurst.
Difficulties with travel made the formation of controlling bodies a challenge. While Ballarat and Geelong were able to compete in the Victorian Football Association and Geelong were able to remain, local competitions were formed. The oldest league that still survives today is the Geelong District Football League formed in 1879. The Bendigo Football League, the Goulburn Valley Football League and the Ballarat Football League in it's original form were also formed in the 18th century.
There were various formations before World War 1 and by 1928 there were over 130 leagues in the regional areas of Victoria. The Great Depression though changed things around as clubs chopped and changed and couldn't function ultimately. By the time the clouds of World War 2 were forming the number dropped to just over 100 and it went below 100 coming out of it. By 1951 the numbers had dropped by ten more. However clubs were still seen as strong with VFL clubs occasionally paying visits to play either local clubs or league representative teams.
In 1952, the VFL played what was called a National Day Round. Two of the six games were played in regional Victoria; Footscray played St Kilda in Yallourn and Carlton played Hawthorn in Euroa, with South Melbourne playing North Melbourne at the Albury Sports Ground just over the border in New South Wales.
Contractions continued as people started to move to Melbourne for work and smaller clubs started to wink out of existence with leagues soon following. Some of the long standing leagues that were gone by 1980 were Chiltern, Lowan Star, South Gippsland and most notably Waranga North East - a strong upper Goulburn competition that some feel even today that it should be reformed to cater for clubs that are now all over the place.
By this time the Victorian Country Football League had created two distinct groups for it's membership - major leagues and district leagues. This grouping led in part to the formation of the Geelong Football League in 1979, a version of a stronger breakaway from the Geelong District Football League much like the break the VFL made from the VFA back in the day. Regular interleague championships were played between the major leagues in divisions until 2003.
From 1990 to 2004 the contractions in regional Victoria were the worst of any state. Co-incidentally, this was the first fifteen years of the AFL and for the first two years there was no single state controlling body. This left the VCFL to fend for itself. From 1980 to the present day 16 leagues folded or merged, the most recent of which was the Alberton FL for the 2021 season. But most of the foldings were before 2004 so the bleeding may have been stemmed. However the game still needs a boost in the state that the game considers it's home.
Category:Footy History