New South Wales Victorian Football League

The New South Wales Victorian Football League is a Victorian Football tournament based in New South Wales. The league is entirely owned by the VTFL, including all 10 teams.

## History

### 1980's- Establishment

In the 1980's, the VTFL wanted to grow the game into New South Wales, where the game was already semi-popular. In 1983, it was proposed for one of the existing Melbourne clubs to relocate. Port Melbourne, Fitzroy and Footscray were all suggested, and Footscray were very close to relocating to Sydney in 1984, but the final vote was against moving. The next plan was to add two new VTFL teams based in New South Wales, and rename to the East New Holland Football League. The first step was to take place in 1987, when the VTFL established the New South Wales Football Division, a competition with 8 teams (the Sydney Crocodiles, Brisbane Echidnas, Newcastle Emus, Wollongong Wombats, Western Sydney Dingos, Albury Gold-diggers, Gold Coast Stars and East Sydney Kangaroos) that was created as a 'second division' with the two New South Welsh teams reserves to join in 1989. In 1988, there was confusion about which teams would be added. The VTFL originally announced two Sydney based clubs, then said it would be one Sydney and one Brisbane. This caused a lot of confusion, with people assuming that the Echidnas and Kangaroos were being added. The VTFL's second stage of the plan was to have one of the teams join in 1988, but they weren't even sure what the teams were. The plan was delayed a year. In 1989, it was announced that the Sydney Kangaroos and Brisbane Echidnas would join the VTFL, and their NSWFD teams were the reserves, however, it was announced that the plan had to be delayed a few years. In 1990, the NSWFD changed its name to the New South Wales Victorian Football League and became professional. The VTFL claimed this was to "help build up the skills of the players by increasing the standard of the league". In 1991 the VTFL announced that the Sydney Kangaroos were set to join in 1994. After another two years, the VTFL announced they had completely cancelled the plans to add New South Welsh teams in the competition, and the NSWVFL became the official professional Victorian Football competition in New South Wales, although it is entirely owned and operated by the VTFL.

### 1990's to 2010's

The NSWVFL has never been very successful when compared to it's parent league, the Victoria Tasmania Football League, or it's rival competition, the New South Wales Rugby League, although without a comparison, it has done quite well. Victorian Rules has surpassed European Football to become the third most popular sport in the country. The Western Sydney Dingos are more popular than any Rugby League club in Western Sydney, the Newcastle Emus get higher attendances at games than the Newcastle Knights, the grand final often gets a full stadium and the Albury Gold-diggers have become insanely popular because not only is Victorian Football way more popular in the Southern part of the country, Albury is really close to Wodonga and other Victorian towns with people who support the Gold-diggers and cross the border to get to games rather than barrack for a Victorian team, because Albury is simply closer than Melbourne or Ballarat. The name 'Gold-diggers' is actually referencing the Victorian gold rush, an iconic moment in Victorian history. The NSWVFL's success grew and grew in the 1990's, as many people hadn't even heard of the sport which was now being advertised and broadcast on TV. With the success of the competition, the VTFL created a deal to add two new teams in the NSWVFL; the North Brisbane Suns and the South Sydney Squirrels. The competition has had 10 teams since, although there are plans to expand the competition to 12 by 2025.

#### The 'Golden' Era

The Albury Gold-diggers and Western Sydney Dingos have been the two standout clubs since 1995. From 1995 to 2019, every grand final has been won by either side, with the exception of 2014, won by the Newcastle Emus. They are the two most popular clubs, with the Sydney Crocodiles posing a distant third. Albury's home stadium, Albury Oval, is similar in size to Kardinia Park, where the Geelong Cats play. The stadium has a capacity of 35,000, which could house a large percentage of Albury's population, but it's always full due to people arriving on game day from all across Northern Victoria, kids under 14 being allowed in for free and lots of promotion and excitement around the town. The Dingos are popular due to Western Sydney being quite a large area of Sydney, but the name still feeling local enough to people from the area. The Dingos stadium can hold 60,000, although it only averages about 20,000 per game, although it is full almost every time the Dingos play a finals game, or against the Gold-diggers.

### 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic

While the economic impact of COVID-19 hasn't been too large, it has greatly hurt the NSWVFL, where multiple times a season, fewer than 1000 people would show up to a game. The four least popular clubs are North Brisbane, Gold Coast, Wollongong and East Sydney. In late March 2020, a week before the VTFL, the NSWVFL's 2020 season began, lasting two rounds before being paused by the New South Welsh government's COVID-19 restrictions. Two weeks later, the Wollongong Wombats, who averaged 1,200 people per game went bankrupt, followed by East Sydney, who averaged 600 a game. In June 2020, the season resumed with a new fixture, accounting for a shortened season, and without the Kangaroos or Wombats. The VTFL says the removal of the clubs is temporary, and they are set to rejoin in 2021 or 2022, although some reports say that these two clubs have simply met their end and will not be returning.