Query Senior and Junior clubs

[bradrowe#32]

Looking for some good resources that explains the differences between a senior and junior club. I'm talking about 70 to 100 years ago or so before competitions became structures around clubs that supplied a senior, reserves and junior (Under 19, 18 or 17) grade team to a competition.

From what I can gather, senior clubs are similar to senior teams of today. They played against other senior clubs.

Junior clubs may have been affiliated with the senior club, or they may have been stand-alone clubs. They competed primarily against other junior clubs and rarely against senior clubs (except for many scratch matches or a charity match). The junior clubs were made up of really young players or older players who were not good enough for senior football anymore. Is that right?

Are there any authoritative texts from historians or newspaper articles that explains this?

 

[Garlic muncher]

I initially thought they were kids clubs, but id did read somewhere that they were just lesser/weaker clubs, in player strength and even supporter strength.

Bit like a A division amatuer club compared to a D4 division club.

But i guess through time if they kept winning they may have been able to move up the totem pole.

 

[killer]

according to Hess and Stewart /More than a game 1998 p28

Originally (pre VFA) , Senior clubs - Junior clubs was a matter of playing strength

"a senior club one season could be a junior club the next if it lost a number of key players"

senior clubs would play amongst themselves and when a senior club played a junior club
it would normally allow them 5 extra players

 

[Michael Riley]

From the 1870's the VFA decided who were junior clubs and senior clubs. The term is fairly flexible, as country towns could also have senior and Junior sides.

In the early days (say 1870's) Junior sides and senior sides played, especially when there was not enough competition to go around. Again this happened in the country as well as the city. (for example Bendigo had a senior and a junior competition)

By the 1890's the Senior competition was the VFA, but junior competitions such as the Metropolitan Junior Football Association (Which eventually became the VAFA), and Victorian Junior Football Association already existed. During this period, most junior teams were separate sides. Many came up through the ranks during the early VFA v VFL wars (Hawthorn, Brunswick, Preston, Yarraville, University are examples).

The formation of Leagues and Associations forced a rigidity and exclusivity into mix, limiting the Junior/Senior interaction.

By 1910 the two dominant junior competitions contained many sides with relationships to Senior clubs, but were not part of the club. There were arrangements. But professionalism caused a schism. With the 1920's seeing the Senior competitions creating their own seconds competitions, which was good for them, but diluted the existing junior competitions.

By the 1930's the strongest 'Junior' competitions were the industrial leagues such as Melbourne's Saturday Morning League and Wednesday League's. These leagues included many senior footballers from the VFA and VFL. These faded in importance toward the end of the 1930's.

WW2 also a military league in Melbourne (in 1942) which was on par with VFL of that era. Many players were in the services and the sides included many League stars.