SMITHIES VFL competition! I've said it before, but for a so called professionally run comp to have teams having 2 byes in a month ( Casey) and others is a disgrace. The sooner we have a bona-fide AFL reserves comp the better for our club and others. Who honestly gives a FRC about Southport, Port Melbourne and all other non aligned clubs, let them go back to the VFA! Another bye for Casey this week is the LAST thing needed now!

Edited April 26, 2025Apr 26 by picket fence

First step is for the AFL to come clean on what its aims are for the competition.

My guess is that it's a training mechanism for AFL players at the lowest cost possible.

For the non aligned clubs it's line ball but I suppose it has more historical kudos than the next step (down/up) in the local football hierarchy.

There's a product... Coburg or Box Hill on a sunny day with a camp chair on the grass. It's as close to cricket on the village green as we come.

It's a shame the old VFA couldn't survive in it's own right but from memory clubs found it too difficult to compete financially with country football leagues. I followed Springvale and used to occasionally go to Newcomen Road to watch games but also Prahran sometimes. The current set up is without doubt a dogs breakfast.

As a basic rule have a game every week, that would be a start!

9 minutes ago, Rab D Nesbitt said:

It's a shame the old VFA couldn't survive in it's own right but from memory clubs found it too difficult to compete financially with country football leagues.

They were the pioneers of what we now see as the AFL.

Sunday games televised live revolutionised the game.

Personally I think there's room for a second league a la the English soccer comps (perhaps with promotion and relegation to a third level league.) The VFL as linked to AFL can wither for all I care. Include a few country teams in Victoria and the Riverina and you could have a popular comp.

Youtube gives cheap access to media coverage with camera and incidental costs being paid by Local Government. Ticket prices under $20 etc
There's a model there but it won't be around for long as the secondary leagues gradually die

1 hour ago, Rab D Nesbitt said:

It's a shame the old VFA couldn't survive in it's own right but from memory clubs found it too difficult to compete financially with country football leagues. I followed Springvale and used to occasionally go to Newcomen Road to watch games but also Prahran sometimes. The current set up is without doubt a dogs breakfast

Calm down on the whole dog's breakfast shtick — calling it that is an insult to dogs everywhere. The old VFA might’ve been broke, brawling and slightly feral, but at least it had a soul. Now it’s just AFL seconds wrapped in plastic, pretending it’s still a competition. Springvale in the mud had more dignity than half the fixtures they serve up these days.

At Mordor this year we watched Casey vs Geelong as the curtain raiser. Yes, it meant spending extra hours at that desolate sch!tt-hole (without having a gun to our heads, mind you) but geez it was good to have been able to cheer on both our sides.

When I saw the thread title I thought it would be about the Saints