British Guy Reacts To AFL History
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- čas přidán 8. 06. 2021
- Today on GOT Reacts I am reacting to the history of the AFL and how it became the league it is today, enjoy. If you enjoy the video make sure you smash that thumbs up button and share it on social media. Subscribe for more reactions everyday.
Original Video: • History of The AFL - T...
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Just a bit of background.
Something this video doesn't quite mention is that the other states had their own leagues in addition to the VFL. South Australia had the SANFL and WA had the WAFL for example. The VFL was the biggest and was the one to expand into the AFL.
I was just 12 when my team, Sth Melbourne, relocated to Sydney. It was a tumultuous time for the club which was split down the middle with those who wanted to keep south at south, and those resigned to a move to Sydney. We were essentially bankrupt and really had no choice but to move. It was heartbreaking to lose our team to another city, but it ended up being the best thing for us, even though we faced many hardships in gaining a foothold in Sydney. We almost went out of business a few times in Sydney before becoming what we are today. The best thing the club ever did was to embrace the long history of Sth Melbourne and that helped wipe away the acrimony of the move and most Sth Melbourne supporters embraced the Sydney Swans. The colours and team song remained the same, and with some success finally coming our way in the mid 90's, we became one team in two cities. When we won the flag in 2005, after a 72 year drought, it was the final piece in the puzzle. I was there with my 66 yr old father and my 16 yr old nephew and it was one of the greatest days in our lives.
The oldest Aussie rules football league was established in 1877 as the South Australian Football Association, which later became the South Australian Football League. This was followed by the establishment of the Tasmania Football League in 1879, then in 1885 with the Western Australian Football League; and finally the Victorian Football League in 1897.
Australian rules football was played a lot in South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory prior the VFL expansion to the AFL. Queensland and New South Wales were predominantly rugby states, but however Aussie rules was played there but not as popular. Port Adelaide football club is one of the oldest in the world being established in 1870. The South Australian National Football League (SANFL) and Western Australian Football League (WAFL) regularly played competitions against each other and the VFL in state of origin games, unfortunately these are no longer played. This completely left out the contributions to Aussie rules by the other states. Good to see you wanting to learn though
One thing that the video does not explain is that Australian Rules Football was also played in Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania.
Actually, Australian rules football is played across most of Australia, particularly Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania and Northern Territory. Each of these have had their own competitions for 150 years +. So there is the VFL, SANFL, WAFL, TNFL etc. It's just that the VFL was the strongest of these and grew to become the national league. The secondary competition in Victoria was the VFA (Victorian Football Association, which, despite the name, is an Australian football competition). When the VFL became the AFL, the VFA took the name and logo of the VFL. Most of these second tier competition serve partly as reserves competitions for the AFL, so that a player who is not quite good enough to play in the AFL has a competition to play in instead. So the AFL teams all have "seconds" sides in these competitions. For example, my team, Hawthorn, has the Box Hill Hawks in the VFL. Players might be dropped from the AFL to the VFL (or equivalent competition in other states) side if they are out of form and be promoted from the second side to the AFL side if they are showing promise. This is particularly relevant for young players making their way into the big league.
VFL wasn’t the only league their was also a league in Western Australia (WAFL) and in South Australia (SANFL).
If they had of merged the Demons and the Hawks they would have become the Dorks. 😂😂 The game actually goes back even further than they said there. It was codified in 1859 and even before that the Aboriginals played a similar game where they leapt up in the air to catch a ball made of possum skins.
This video is very misleading. The VFL is the Victorian Football league, but most states also had there own football leagues that were of the same (and some would argue better) standard.
There is a bit more about the early history of Aussie rules (rather than just the VFL/AFL) here: