Portfolio VFL 2000: An Alternate History Follow-Up

[PhenomenalV1]

Ok, so way back when (i.e. 3 and a half years ago) I did an alternate history portfolio, based off the concept of the Super League split happening in the AFL landscape of the mid-to-late 1990's.

You can read it here:

Spoiler: #CheapPlug

Portfolio - Alternate History: A Super League, but not as you know it...

So, I've been working on a little portfolio of sorts, and I'm happy enough with what I've planned to start posting it. Now, I know the "What if News Corp. targeted the AFL for the Super League instead of the ARL" alt-history portfolio idea is a relatively common thing around here, but I've been...

www.bigfooty.com

Looking back on it, the actual designs themselves are total rookie efforts, I hadn't really used Photoshop much outside of uni projects, let alone for football guernsey designs.

On the other hand, I feel like I did a decent enough job with the writing of the world this timeline takes place, and since then I've been thinking of ways to continue the story in some way.

One of the biggest challenges for me was building the post AFL/Super League-Reunification footy landscape. Which clubs would logically survive? Which clubs would merge? Would there be futher expansion? But the one thing, the one idea I kept coming back to was:


How had the state leagues and the TAC Cup been affected by the turmoil in the big leagues?


Back in April, I made a VFA shield logo template, and it got the creative juices going: What if I continue the timeline's story by looking at a post-reunification VFL?

What had happened to the teams? Did club alignments ever become a thing? What if there was some way for the league to keep it's history (in some places, this isn't going to entirely be a VFA purists paradise), while still functioning as a developmental league for the reunified AFL?

Well, let's take a journey to a world that's almost, but just not quite like our own...


THIS IS VFL 2000: AN ALTERNATE HISTORY FOLLOW-UP







Full disclosure, I'll be using the El Scorcho 2016 template for the jumpers in this portfolio. I think it's a good looking template, suits the time this AH is set in, and I've been using it ever since El Scorcho put it up for anyone to use in the template feedback thread a couple of years ago, so I know how to use it.​

 

[Fizzler]

Was good to read back your previous Alternate History, I really enjoyed it though, very excited for this

 

[PhenomenalV1]

REUNITED AND IT FEELS SO GOOD



At the conclusion of the 1999 football season, the Telstra backed Super League went into administration. While TV ratings were somewhat steady, rising costs of fielding teams (remember, Telstra were paying off the debts some Melbourne clubs had accrued), sagging crowd figures, and issues with some teams not having a permanent home ground, all saw the league becoming a financial burden on the company.

With the AFL staying solvent with lucrative TV deals, sponsorship packages, and some of the more popular teams drawing big crowds, it became apparent that a merger (read: borderline takeover of the Super League by the AFL) between the two competitions would be the most mutually beneficial outcome.


I'll get to doing a reunified league portfolio one day, but let's skip some of that admin stuff and get back to our story for now...


However, with a bigger top level league came the drawback of a potentially weaker player pool, on top of bringing the sustainability of the VFL as a separate league into question.

While the VFL was now under the AFL Victoria banner, it was at this point a hybrid of VFA clubs aligned with TAC Cup teams, and a reserves league for a handful of bigger Victorian AFL clubs.

Long story short, the club boards voted to merge the VFL and TAC Cup into one competition, with the TAC Cup clubs being disbanded, and the AFL reserves sides being removed from the VFL.

This revamped competition would be administered by the AFL directly, and would function as an under-19's comp for draft hopefuls, with a limited number of list spaces for older uncontracted players who could act as mentors to the next generation of talent.

The clubs composing the league would consist of the 11 teams from the 1999 VFL season, a kinda sorta returning side that had dropped out, and two new expansion sides, designed to function as representative youth sides for the two main leagues of their state (hint hint).


The new look league logo was unveiled on New Years Day 2000, using the old VFA shield template as a base, as would all VFL club logos going forward.





In order to make sure the logo could contrast against most backgrounds, I made two separate versions of the logo: one with a navy outline, and one with a white outline. Having the establishment year of the league in the comp logo was a little touch I added to preserve a little VFA history in this new comp.



Next: The (mostly) central bayside clubs​

 

[PhenomenalV1]

What Are The Rules?

The AFL Commission gave the clubs their directions for jumper policy: one jumper to be used in most matches (officially designated as the "Home" guernsey), and a jumper to be used in a handful of away matches where there isn't a sufficient contrast in team colours (officially designated as the "Alternate" guernsey).

Why? Because I felt like this seemed like a sensible enough jumper policy. That and I didn't want to design three uniforms per club, I have other things that I want to do with my life...





Sitting on the Dock of the Bay

Let's take a look at he 3 bayside clubs (technically there's 4, but I'm saving the other for another post).





HOME GROUND: North Port Oval

Real life equivalents: Port Melbourne Borough, Sandringham Dragons, Oakleigh Chargers (sort of)


To absolutely no-ones surprise, Port Melbourne are well and truly alive in this timeline. I mean, they're basically the stand-alone team of the VFA/VFL, why wouldn't they be?

Representing the inner city, the bougie southern Yarra, and the central bayside suburbs, Port are still the proud old club they used to be, just now with a list of mostly kids and prospects.

For the home jumper, it was a no-brainer, it was always going to be the blue and red stripes. I toyed with only adding three stripes, but Port always look better with four.
As for the alternate kit, I thought about making it a predominantly white jumper with a blue and red striped yoke, but this portfolio is set in 2000, so the sublimated logo with a slightly craggly outline that is totally a design choice and not me messing up the border gets that minor league vibe going.







HOME GROUND: Williamstown Cricket Ground

Real Life equivalents: Williamstown Seagulls, Western Jets, Calder Cannons (partially)


Much like the Borough, it's hard to imagine a VFA/L without the Seagulls.

Williamstown now represent the best young talent in the western suburbs, expanding beyond their seaside home to include the likes of Altona (the boundary of another side's zone), and Sunshine.

Again, another no-brainer for the home jumper, as if Williamstown would wear anything other than blue with a gold sash.
As for the alternate, while the inversion is what the IRL Seagulls eventually did, I kept the shorts as blue so that another club in blue and gold could have white shorts for a better contrast (hint hint).







HOME GROUND: Trevor Barker Beach Oval

Real Life equivalents: Sandringham Zebras, Sandringham Dragons


While a more recent club by VFA\L standards (if you count the Great Depression as "recent"), Sandringham are the representative side of the eastern bayside, and the wealthier eastern suburbs. At least in this timeline, the Zebras haven't changed their logo to their current one. I mean, talk about a downgrade...

Standard fare again for the home kit, I toyed with using the four stripe Port design on it, but it didn't quite look right for the club. I did like the idea of pairing the jumper with white shorts, I think they look really neat together.

As for the alternate, I wanted to do my own take on the "Zebra Zig-Zag" that the club wore in the mid 00's. It's one of my all time favourite clash jumper designs, but I always felt that the palette the IRL Zebras used was too much like their home jumper, almost making it redundant. Here I've done the far too common "white clash kit" design trope, but in this instance I think it looks good.





Next time: the north suburban clubs​