Victorian Football League

The Victorian Football Association (VFA) was the precursor to the Victorian Football League (VFL). It continued to run independently after leading clubs broke away to form the VFL in 1897, and several more clubs subsequently shifted to the VFL in 1908 and 1925.

The rules of the VFA differed slightly, and sometimes lagged behind those established by the VFL (and later Australian Football League, AFL). For example, 16 players afield as opposed to the typical 18 as in the AFL.

Since the Victorian Football League renamed itself to the Australian Football League in 1987, a void was created for the name, "Victorian Football League". The VFA was recently renamed to become the "Victorian Football League" as part of the consolidation with the reserves (2nds), so that AFL teams became aligned with VFL teams.