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VFL Women's

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VFL Women's
Most recent season or competition:
2024 VFL Women's season
SportAustralian rules football
Founded21 March 2016; 8 years ago (2016-03-21)
Melbourne, Victoria
First season2016
AdministratorAFL Victoria
No. of teams12
CountryAustralia
Most recent
champion(s)		North Melbourne (1st premiership)
Most titlesDarebin (2 premierships)
TV partner(s)Seven Network
(grand final only)
Sponsor(s)Rebel
Related
competitions		AFL Women's
Victorian Football League
SANFL Women's
WAFL Women's
Official websiteafl.com.au/vfl

VFL Women's (VFLW) is the major state-level women's Australian rules football league in Victoria. The league initially comprised the six premier division clubs and the top four division 1 clubs from the now-defunct Victorian Women's Football League (VWFL), and has since evolved into what is also the second primary competition for AFL Women's (AFLW) clubs in Victoria.

Following the 2017 season, the VFL Women's was reconfigured to affiliate teams more closely with AFL clubs. Since 2021, twelve teams have appeared in the competition; all ten Victorian AFL clubs either field their own women's team or have an affiliation of sorts with an existing club in the VFLW, with the other teams being VFL-affiliated Williamstown and independent club Darebin. The reigning premiers are Port Melbourne.

The competition was not held in 2020 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; the grand final was also cancelled in 2021 due to the pandemic, with no premiership being awarded.

History

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AFL Victoria launched the VFL Women's competition on 21 March 2016, with its inaugural season featuring twelve doubleheaders with the Victorian Football League (VFL).[1] The league initially comprised the six Premier Division clubs (Darebin, Diamond Creek, Eastern Devils, Melbourne University, St Kilda Sharks and Western Spurs) and 2015's top four Division 1 clubs (Cranbourne, Geelong Magpies, Knox and Seaford) from the Victorian Women's Football League (VWFL). Melbourne University already had an existing partnership with Australian Football League (AFL) club North Melbourne.[2] Following the 2016 season, the Geelong Magpies were replaced with the AFL-aligned Geelong Cats, and Knox's license was purchased by Box Hill (then subsequently re-licensed to Hawthorn in 2018[3]).

Following the inaugural AFL Women's (AFLW) season in 2017, the league made further changes to the competition to affiliate clubs more directly with AFL clubs and the AFL Women's competition. Five other foundation clubs departed, leaving Darebin, Melbourne University and Western Spurs as the only remaining foundation clubs. The departing clubs were replaced by the AFL-aligned Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Richmond and Southern Saints, the VFL-aligned Casey and Williamstown, and the North East Australian Football League (NEAFL)-aligned Northern Territory;[4] Northern Territory aligned with Adelaide's AFLW team, giving Crows players an opportunity to play in the Victorian competition.[5] The Western Bulldogs joined in 2018 under a shared license with the Western Spurs, with the senior Spurs team competing as the Western Bulldogs and wearing red, white and blue.[6] The Western Spurs' license was handed over entirely to the Bulldogs ahead of the 2019 season, with the Spurs fielding teams solely in the Northern Football Netball League.[7]

In 2019, Greater Western Sydney's AFLW team played five invitational matches in Victoria against teams having a bye.[8] Following the 2019 season, AFL Northern Territory ended Northern Territory's involvement in the NEAFL and VFLW competitions,[9] and Williamstown aligned with Adelaide in Northern Territory's place.[10] Melbourne University's license was also taken over by North Melbourne, ending the clubs' ten-year partnership and allowing North Melbourne to field its own standalone team.[11] In 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, AFL Victoria decided to cancel the 2020 VFL Women's season and instead hold a four-team Super Series in September to give 120 footballers the chance to push their case to be selected in the 2020 AFL Women's draft;[12][13][14][15][16] this was later cancelled as well due to the increase of restrictions around COVID-19 in Victoria.[17]

The Coburg Football Club, already competing in the VFL, formed a women's team in 2020 with a plan to join the VFLW in 2021. However, the plan did not eventuate.[18]

In 2021, Port Melbourne joined the league, replacing Richmond, which initially left the competition due to financial issues before entering into a formal alignment with the VFL club.[19][20] The competition also shifted to a February commencement, running concurrently with the AFLW season and mirroring other second-tier leagues like the SANFL Women's and WAFL Women's.[19] In 2023, the competition commenced in March, and Hawthorn transferred its license back to Box Hill.[21]

Starting in 2024, the home-and-away season included matches against New South Wales AFL Women's teams Greater Western Sydney and Sydney; the New South Wales teams are not premiership eligible, but there will be premiership points available for the Victorian clubs in the matches.[22]

Clubs

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Current clubs

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Club Colours Moniker Home Ground Former League Est. Years in VFLW Premierships
Total Most recent
Box Hill
Hawks Box Hill City Oval, Box Hill – 1936 2017– 0 —
Carlton
Blues Princes Park, Carlton North – 1864 2018– 0 —
Casey
Demons Casey Fields, Cranbourne East – 1902 2018– 0 —
Collingwood
Magpies Victoria Park, Abbotsford – 1892 2018– 1 2019
Darebin
Falcons Bill Lawry Oval, Northcote VWFL 1990 2016– 2 2017
Essendon
Bombers The Hangar, Melbourne Airport – 1871 2018– 1 2022
Geelong
Cats Deakin University Elite Sports Precinct, Waurn Ponds – 1859 2017– 0 —
North Melbourne
Kangaroos Arden Street Oval, North Melbourne – 1869 2021– 1 —
Port Melbourne
Borough North Port Oval, Port Melbourne – 1874 2021– 1 2023
Sandringham
Zebras Trevor Barker Beach Oval, Sandringham – 1929 2025– 0 —
Western Bulldogs
Bulldogs Whitten Oval, Footscray – 1877 2018– 0 —
Williamstown
Seagulls Williamstown Cricket Ground, Williamstown – 1864 2018– 0 —

Future clubs

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Club Colours Nickname State Home venue Est. Joining VFLW
Tasmania
Devils TAS Kingston Twin Ovals 2023 2026[23][24]

Former clubs

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Club Colours Moniker Home Ground Former League Est. Years in VFLW Premierships Current league
Total Most recent
Cranbourne
Eagles Frenken Homes Oval, Clyde North VWFL 1889 2016–2017 0 — SFNL
Diamond Creek
Demons, Creekers C.T. Barling Reserve, Reservoir VWFL 2002 2016–2017 0 — NFNL
Eastern Devils
Devils Mulgrave Reserve, Mulgrave VWFL 1999 2016–2017 0 — EFNL
Geelong Magpies
Magpies Osborne Park, North Geelong VWFL 1876 2016 0 — GDFNL
Hawthorn
Hawks Box Hill City Oval, Box Hill – 1902 2018–2022 1 2018 AFLW
Knox
Falcons Knox Gardens Reserve, Wantirna South VWFL 1980 2016 0 — EFNL
Melbourne University
Mugars Main Oval, University of Melbourne, Parkville VWFL 1996 2016–2019 0 — VAFAW
Northern Territory
Thunder Marrara Oval, Marrara – 2008 2018–2019 0 — Folded
2019
Richmond
Tigers Punt Road Oval, East Melbourne – 1885 2018–2019 0 — AFLW
Seaford
Tigerettes RF Miles Recreation Reserve, Seaford VWFL 1921 2016–2017 0 — MPFNL
Southern Saints
Saints Trevor Barker Beach Oval, Sandringham – 2017 2018– 0 — Merged
2024 with Sandringham
St Kilda Sharks
Sharks Peanut Farm Reserve, St Kilda VWFL 1992 2016–2017 0 — In recess
Western Spurs
Spurs Henry Turner Memorial Reserve, Footscray VWFL 1993 2016–2017 0 — WFNL

Honours

[edit]
Darebin's 2017 premiership team

Premiers

[edit]
Main article: List of VFL Women's premiers

Lambert–Pearce Medal

[edit]
Main article: Lambert–Pearce Medal

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "VFL Women's fixture release". AFL Victoria. 21 March 2016. Archived from the original on 26 March 2016.
  2. ^ Pierik, Jon (11 October 2017). "Victorian stadium upgrade plan likely by end of year, says state government". The Age. Retrieved 11 October 2017.
  3. ^ "Hawthorn extends the family". hawthornfc.com.au. 14 December 2017. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  4. ^ "Three clubs depart in revamped VFLW comp". afl.com.au. 4 November 2017. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  5. ^ "Thunder rolls into VFL Women's in 2018". AFL Northern Territory. 9 November 2017. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  6. ^ "Western Bulldogs to field team in VFL Women's competition". westernbulldogs.com.au. 11 October 2017. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  7. ^ "Our Club | Western Spurs". ParksideSpurs. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  8. ^ Black, Sarah (20 December 2018). "Giants to play five VFLW games in 2019". womens.afl. Retrieved 15 September 2019.
  9. ^ McGowan, Marc (12 September 2019). "Thunder no more: AFLNT confirms no NEAFL and VFLW teams". afl.com.au. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  10. ^ Black, Sarah (27 September 2019). "Crows align with VFLW club Williamstown". womens.afl. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  11. ^ "Kangaroos hop into VFLW 2020". vfl.com.au. 1 November 2019. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  12. ^ "Future AFLW stars to showcase their talents in VFLW Super Series". womens.afl. 16 June 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  13. ^ Twomey, Callum (16 June 2020). "Who's in? Eight-team VFL season is on, start date revealed". afl.com.au. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  14. ^ Cherny, Daniel (16 June 2020). "VFL revamped, VFLW season substituted with new series". The Age. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  15. ^ "VFL to return with eight clubs in August". SEN. 16 June 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  16. ^ "VFL confirms eight-team competition for 2020 and a four-team VFLW set-up". foxports.com.au. 16 June 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  17. ^ Black, Sarah (4 August 2020). "Trade wrap: Eagles swoop on Dogs mid, Tigers add trio". womens.afl. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  18. ^ "Coburg ready to enter women's team for first time, names coach". Herald Sun. 20 August 2020.
  19. ^ a b "Port Melbourne joins VFLW, competition start date locked in". AFL Women's. 29 October 2020.
  20. ^ "Richmond form Port Melbourne alignment for 2021 VFLW season". Richmond FC. 27 October 2020.
  21. ^ Black, Sarah (7 February 2023). "Women's footy action just around the corner, with VFLW R1 fixture locked in". womens.afl. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
  22. ^ "Sydney to compete in rebel VFLW competition". Sydney Swans. 9 February 2024.
  23. ^ Partridge, Josh (29 June 2024). "AFL Tasmania 'still finalising' 2025 elite plan but 'fulfilling' news ahead". The Examiner. Archived from the original on 23 November 2024. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
  24. ^ Tuxworth, Jon (25 October 2024). "VFL: The northern talents who could wear 'The Map' in 2026". The Mercury. Archived from the original on 23 November 2024. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
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