In contrast, the Fitzroy Lions, a foundation club of the VFL / AFL, had been among the dregs of the league for the better part of the last four decades.

Essendon has won 16 VFL / AFL premierships which, along with Carlton, is the most of any club in the AFL.

The Essendon VFL club returned to Essendon, and the Essendon VFA club disbanded, with most of its players moving over to ( then VFA club ) North Melbourne.

The club played, and beat, Hawthorn in the 1984 VFL Grand Final to win their 13th premiership — their first since 1965.

The club has been the VFL / AFL premiers nine times, with a record equalling 3 in the AFL era.

Along with its AFL team, the club also fields a stand-alone team in the Victoria Football league ( VFL ).

The club participated in the first football competition in Australia, winning the second season in 1863, was a foundation Victorian Football Association ( VFA ) and the Victorian Football League ( VFL ) in 1897.

An early VFL powerhouse with six premierships up to 1963, Geelong developed a reputation as an under-achieving club.

Geelong finally won its first VFL premiership in 1925, being the first club outside of Melbourne to achieve this.

The joint venture saw a chance of promotion, and the club applied for admission to the more prestigious VFL in 1908, but Richmond and University were admitted instead.

As well as this, the club won the championship in both 1915 and 1918 for finishing on top of the ladder, and accounted for VFL side St Kilda comfortably.

In 1993, at age 21, Carey was the second youngest club captain in VFL / AFL history.

Carey's career total of 727 goals ranks him equal 16th in VFL / AFL history, and his 671 goals for North Melbourne is the club record.

Worrall led the club to its first three VFL premierships, won consecutively, in 1906, 1907 and 1908.

Carlton became the first club in the VFL to win three premierships in a row, and its win-loss record of 19 – 1 in the 1908 season ( including finals ) was a record which stood for more than ninety years.

The drought was broken with the club's sixth VFL premiership in 1938, when former Subiaco and South Melbourne champion Brighton Diggins was recruited by the club to serve as captain-coach.

The club had been much slower than others to embrace the AFL Draft as a means for recruitment, so when its champion players from the 1990s began to retire in the early 2000s, on-field performances fell away quickly, and in 2002, the club won the wooden spoon for the first time in its VFL / AFL history.

His first action was one of the largest clean-outs of players in the history of any VFL club.

The club finished second in the 1965 premiership season after being beaten by Essendon 14. 21 ( 105 ) to 9. 16 ( 70 ) in the 1965 VFL Grand Final.

The club was campaigning against violence ( both on-field and among the crowd ), ungentlemanly conduct and poor sportsmanship, issues that plagued the VFA to a far greater extent than the rival VFL.

However, Ricketts was also lost to the VFL and injury hit the club hard.

* Richmond and University join the VFL

Albert Hartkopf, footballer in the University VFL team 1908-11 & 1914.

On 4 October 1907 the eight founding clubs of the VFL voted unanimously to include University in the league as its ninth team.

Both Richmond Football Club and University Football Club were admitted to the VFL competition ( University left the competition at the end of the 1914 season ).

In 1897, the VFL competition consisted of eight teams of 20 on-the-field players each, with no " reserves " ( although any of the 20 players who had left the playing field for any reason could later resume their place on the field at any time during the match ).

In 1898, the VFL competition consisted of eight teams of 20 on-the-field players each, with no " reserves " ( although any of the 20 players who had left the playing field for any reason could later resume their place on the field at any time during the match ).

In 1899, the VFL competition consisted of eight teams of 18 on-the-field players each, with no " reserves " ( although any of the 18 players who had left the playing field for any reason could later resume their place on the field at any time during the match ).

In 1900, the VFL competition consisted of eight teams of 18 on-the-field players each, with no " reserves ", although any of the 18 players who had left the playing field for any reason could later resume their place on the field at any time during the match.

In 1901, the VFL competition consisted of eight teams of 18 on-the-field players each, with no " reserves ", although any of the 18 players who had left the playing field for any reason could later resume their place on the field at any time during the match.

In 1902, the VFL competition consisted of eight teams of 18 on-the-field players each, with no " reserves ", although any of the 18 players who had left the playing field for any reason could later resume their place on the field at any time during the match.

In 1903, the VFL competition consisted of eight teams of 18 on-the-field players each, with no " reserves ", although any of the 18 players who had left the playing field for any reason could later resume their place on the field at any time during the match.

In 1904, the VFL competition consisted of eight teams of 18 on-the-field players each, with no " reserves ", although any of the 18 players who had left the playing field for any reason could later resume their place on the field at any time during the match.

In 1905, the VFL competition consisted of eight teams of 18 on-the-field players each, with no " reserves ", although any of the 18 players who had left the playing field for any reason could later resume their place on the field at any time during the match.

In 1906, the VFL competition consisted of eight teams of 18 on-the-field players each, with no " reserves ", although any of the 18 players who had left the playing field for any reason could later resume their place on the field at any time during the match.

In 1907, the VFL competition consisted of eight teams of 18 on-the-field players each, with no " reserves ", although any of the 18 players who had left the playing field for any reason could later resume their place on the field at any time during the match.

In 1908, the VFL competition consisted of ten teams of 18 on-the-field players each, with no " reserves ", although any of the 18 players who had left the playing field for any reason could later resume their place on the field at any time during the match.

It is the first time that the VFL / AFL premiership has left Victoria.

Popularity of the VFL grew rapidly and by 1925 with 12 teams, had become the most prominent league in the game and would dominate so many aspects of the sport from that point on.

Geelong holds a number of league records including the longest winning streak in AFL / VFL history ( 23 games ); the most goals kicked in a single game ( on two occasions-37. 17 ( 239 ) against Brisbane in 1992 and 37. 11 ( 233 ) against Melbourne in 2011 ); the highest score recorded in a single game ( 37. 17 ( 239 ) against Brisbane in 1992 ; the highest-ever aggregate season total for points scored ( 3, 334 points in 1992 ); the record for restricting an opponent to the lowest ever score in a game ( St Kilda 0. 1 ( 1 ) in 1899 ); the most consecutive 100-point victories ( 3 games in a row, in 1989 ); the longest winning streak in interstate games ( 12 games ) and achieved the longest home ground winning streak in VFL / AFL history — 29 games straight at Simonds Stadium ( also known as Kardinia Park ).

Led by Geelong and Essendon, the largest clubs of the VFA formed their own break away league, the Victorian Football League ( VFL ), in 1896.

Historically one of the most successful clubs in the league, Collingwood has won fifteen VFL / AFL premierships, the third-most of any team.

Despite being a foundation team in the league, St Kilda have only won a single premiership, a famous one-point win in the 1966 VFL Grand Final.

The club experienced some early success in the league and was the first club to win a VFL Grand Final.

The VFL was the last of the four major mainland leagues to strike an award for league best and fairest: the SANFL's Magarey Medal had been awarded since 1898, while the WAFL's Sandover Medal ( 1921 ) and the VFA's Recorder Cup ( 1923 ) had been struck more recently.

The " VFL / AFL Players Association Most Valuable Player ", is the only award in the league to have used the " MVP " initialism.

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 premier Australian rules football league in Victoria ( not counting the Australian Football League.

Many Victorian AFL clubs affiliate with VFL clubs, and as a result, the league partly serves as a reserves competition for the AFL.

For most of its existence, the league was considered one of the tradition " big three " Australian rules football leagues, along with the Victorian Football League ( VFL ) and South Australian National Football League ( SANFL ).

However, since the introduction of two Western Australia-based clubs into the VFL ( later renamed the Australian Football League ) – the West Coast Eagles in 1987 and the Fremantle Football Club in 1995 – the popularity and standard of the league has decreased to the point where it is considered a feeder competition to the AFL.

Although the VFL staged several exhibition matches that year, the Bulldogs were not involved and were perhaps the least successful and supported teams in the league.

He was recruited to the Victorian Football League ( VFL ) league in 1962 for the Geelong Football Club, where he played 101 games and captained the team for three seasons.

Waverley Park ( then VFL Park ) was first conceived in 1959 when delegates from the 12 VFL clubs requested the league to find land that was suitable for the building of a new stadium.

Ablett displayed his renowned skillset right from his entrance into the league, combining strength, speed, and skill to produce some of the most spectacular individual games in the history of the VFL / AFL.

In 1996, Ablett joined Gordon Coventry, Doug Wade, Jason Dunstall and Tony Lockett as the only players in league history to kick 1000 VFL / AFL goals.

At the end of the 2008 season, AFL Tasmania decided to withdraw the Devils from the VFL competition in favour of re-starting a new Tasmanian league encompassing the entire state.

At the end of the 2008 season, AFL Tasmania decided to withdraw the Devils from the VFL competition in favour of re-starting a new Tasmanian league encompassing the entire state.

He finished with 71 goals for his debut season ; becoming one of a handful of players in VFL / AFL history to kick 50 goals in both the senior competition and now defunct ' reserves ' league within the same season.