Victorian Football League
The Victorian Football League (VFL) which evolved from the former Victorian Football Association (VFA), taking its new name as from the 1996 season, is the major Australian rules football league in Victoria (not counting the Australian Football League. For historical purposes, the present VFL is sometimes referred to as the VFA/VFL. The VFA was formed in 1877, immediately after the foundation of a similar body in South Australia and is the second-oldest Australian rules football league, replacing the loose affiliation of clubs that had been the hallmark of the early years of a game which was first played as early as 1850s.
Today, the VFL is one of many regional Australian semi-professional competitions. It comprises 13 teams from throughout Victoria, nine of which have a continuous VFA heritage.
The VFL should not be confused with the previously-mentioned national Australian Football League, which evolved from the former Victorian Football League in the early 1990s. The AFL is now a national competition but still has 10 of its 18 clubs based in Victoria. The VFL broke away from the VFA prior to the 1897 season. Because of its history, it is sometimes referred to as the VFL/AFL. Many Victorian AFL clubs affiliate with VFL clubs, and as a result, the league partly serves as a reserves competition for the AFL.
Read more about Victorian Football League: Salary Cap, Attendance, Recent Grand Finals, Television, Radio, AFL Victoria Development League / AFL Victoria VFL Football Academy
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—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)