The Victorian Junior Football Association (VJFA) was an open age Australian rules football competition and administrative body. It was the first successful junior football competition in Melbourne, and was in existence from 1883 until 1932.[1]
During the 1870s in Victoria, junior football – which was the term used at the time for open age football of a lower standard than senior football, rather than for under age football – was mostly administered on an ad hoc basis.[2] A couple of short-lived junior associations had been attempted, but none were successful until the Victorian Junior Football Association was established on 26 April 1883.[3] Eleven clubs − Albion, Brunswick, Emerald Hill, Footscray, Fortrose, North Park, Richmond, South Park, South Yarra, Star of Carlton and Waverley − were represented at the inaugural meeting..[4]
The VJFA, in addition to serving as an administrative body for junior football, ran the junior premiership. At its peak in the early 1890s when it was the only top junior football competition, more than twenty-five clubs competed, and from 1892 until 1894 the competition ran in two divisions to manage its numbers.[5] The establishment of other junior football competitions – including the Victorian Second-Rate (1890),[6] Third-Rate (1892)[7] and Fourth-Rate (1893)[8] Junior Football Associations and the Metropolitan Junior Football Association (1892) – saw numbers in the VJFA premiership decline rapidly through the 1890s, and by 1899 only seven clubs competed in the VJFA.[9] Eight to twelve teams typically contested the premiership thereafter.
At the 1895 VJFA AGM, the competition was reduced from 20 teams to 12 teams. Those who survived were Albert-park, Albion United, Austral, Brighton, Brunswick, Collingwood Juniors, Essendon District, Fitzroy Juniors, Hawthorn, Preston, Richmond City, and West Melbourne Juniors. Some of these clubs, including Camberwell, were later readmitted to the competition.[10]
The competition typically featured smaller clubs from districts already represented in senior football, or the top clubs from other districts. Four successful VJFA clubs from growing districts – West Melbourne, Preston, Northcote and Yarraville – ultimately went on to play senior football in the Victorian Football Association. In 1905, John Wren donated a silver shield to serve as a semi-perpetual trophy for the VJFA premiers; like many trophies of the era, it was held temporarily by the reigning premiers, then won permanently by the first team to win it three times. A total of five Wren Shields were awarded during the trophy's history.[11]
The 1912 grand final was especially controversial. Port Melbourne Railway United won the match by three points, but Yarraville successfully protested one of Railway United's second quarter goals on the grounds of goal umpire error, and the match was reversed to a three-point Yarraville victory.
Although they had the right to challenge, Railway United refused to play as its own act of protest. At a special meeting of the VJFA, it was proposed that "the club, office bearers and registered players for 1912 be disqualified for life".[12] Although Yarraville offered to play a substitute team, it was decided that no match would be held, and Yarraville retained the 1912 premiership.[13]
Railway United was ultimately not expelled from the VJFA, and went on to win the VJFA premiership the following season, defeating Yarraville in the 1913 grand final.[14]
Transition to VFA seconds
The VJFA had ties to the VFA from early on, with many clubs serving as the reserves team for a senior VFA club. In 1912, a rule was in place mandating that clubs align themselves to a VFA club, although that requirement was dropped in 1913.[15]
The VJFA eventually formally transitioned to become the VFA Second Eighteens during the 1920s. This began in 1924, when the competition expanded from twelve teams to eighteen in two divisions – one division set aside for clubs who played on the same grounds as their senior VFA counterparts, and one for clubs with their own grounds.[16] All Melbourne-based senior VFA clubs were required to affiliate with a junior team in the VJFA, and an agreement was put in place to lift some restrictions on in-season player movements between the senior or junior clubs, making the affiliated junior clubs functionally closer to seconds teams.[17][18]
The divisions were called Division 1 and Division 2 in 1924,[a] but from 1925 onwards they were known as the VJFA Section and the VFA Section.[21][22]
In 1926, after the 1924 player transfer agreement ended, the VFA moved to convert its affiliated junior clubs into genuine second eighteens controlled by the senior clubs;[23] and, starting from 1928, all other clubs were excluded and the VJFA served wholly as a VFA seconds competition, with free player interchanges between senior and junior level permitted until 1 August each year.[24]
The VJFA can be considered to have ceased to exist, replaced by the VFA Second Eighteens, starting from the 1928 season; however, the VJFA name and the Wren Shield as a premiership trophy were both retained until the end of 1932.[25] It was only at this point that competition was formally renamed the VFA Second Eighteens and the Wren Shield was discontinued.[26][27] The VFA Second Eighteens and its successors, continued to operate until the end of the 2017 season.
Clubs
Over 100 clubs are believed to have competed in the VJFA.[28][29][30]
The premiers of the VJFA from 1883 until the discontinuation of the Wren Shield in 1932 are given below. Premierships between 1928 and 1932 are included, but overlap with the commonly recognised VFA seconds premierships.
GF
Premiership decided by a grand final where a challenge was not needed
GF (R)
Premiership decided by a grand final replay, after the scheduled grand final was drawn
NF
Premiership decided based on the minor premiers, with no grand final required as the ladder leader was at least two wins ahead of the second-placed club
CF
Premiership decided by a challenge final under the Argus system
GF (D)
Premiership decided by a grand final which was contested by the premiers of each division/section (1924−1927)
W/L
Premiership decided by full season win–loss record
GF (C)
Premiership decided by a game that could have been challenged by the runner-up, but wasn't
From 1924 until the end of the 1927 season, the winner of the Division 2/VFA Section grand final played the Division 1/VJFA Section winner in the overall VJFA grand final.[a]
Preston's W. Eades kicked a VJFA record of 21 goals during a 1917 match against Ascot Vale, with Preston winning 32.16 (201) to 2.2 (14).[148] Ascot Vale were three men short with only 14 players on the field.[149][150]
Following the end of the 1922 home-and-away season, Kew player C. Coomber was suspended for 12 months (the entire 1923 season) after striking North Melbourne Juniors player A. Gregory.[151]
Notes
1 2 In 1924, The Age described the division with Hawthorn and North Melbourne (both VFA clubs) as "Second Division", while The Argus described it as "First Division".[16][19] The Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society describes the division with standalone clubs as "Section A" and the division with VFA-affiliated clubs as "Section B".[20]
↑ "JUNIOR ASSOCIATION". Brighton Southern Cross. 6 April 2012. p.10. Retrieved 13 August 2024. A new club will take the place of Fitzroy (premiers 1911), who have gone to the Metropolitan Association.
1 2 Bartlett, Rhett; Ruddell, Trevor. "1902 Chronology". Tigerland Archive. Archived from the original on 12 April 2024. Retrieved 25 July 2024. April Wed. 2 Richmond City and West Richmond amalgamate to become Richmond Juniors. Richmond offers the new club free use of its ground and facilities.
↑ Pearson, Charles (26 September 1883). "THE JUNIOR FOOTBALL PREMIERSHIP". The Herald. Retrieved 25 July 2024. I beg to state that the Waverley have not yet claimed the premiership. But if the Waverley is not defeated on Saturday next by Brunswick, I certainly claim that the Waverley are premiers on the ground that they will have played nineteen matches, and will have only suffered two defeats.
↑ "A JUNIOR MATCH". The Argus. 23 September 1899. Retrieved 25 July 2024. The game is under the patronage of the Victorian football league and the Victorian Football Association. The Melbourne team will win the colours of the premier team − Melbourne Juniors − blue and white, whilst the visitors will excite the sympathies of the locals by wearing the magpie colours, black and white
↑ "JUNIOR ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL". The Argus. 10 August 1914. p.4. Retrieved 26 July 2024. The Railways United team, Port Melbourne, met South Melbourne District on Saturday at the North Melbourne ground in the first semi-final
↑ "JUNIOR ASSOCIATION SEMI-FINAL". Record. 22 September 1923. Retrieved 28 July 2024. South Melbourne District meet Preston in the second semi-final of the Victorian Junior Association at Northcote Park today.
↑ "Association". The Age. 3 September 1923. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
↑ "ASSOCIATION". Sporting Globe. 5 September 1923. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
↑ "Association". The Age. 10 September 1923. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
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