VFL 2014 - Essendon, Collingwood, Richmond, Geelong, Western Bulldogs..., Fitzroy, South Melbourne?

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Richmond_Groupie said:
Bulldogs have no money but have enough to field a vfl side? :eek:
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I believe part of their disequal funding is to cover this (these grants are now targeted to meet specific deficits a club may have like lack of facilities, coaches, or marketing staff)
 
doggies ftw said:
Yeah it's been confirmed we are doing it but I doubt they will be called Footscray though, probably more something along the lines of Western Bulldogs Id say, though it would be great if we were called Footscray and played at Whitten Oval!

Good thread though would put a lot of interest back into the VFL IMO.
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silly if they are being called the 'Western Bulldogs' in the VFL with Williamstown and Werribee next door
 

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Great post OP.
Would be great to see the Roys back in the VFL.
12 teams.

Where are Essendon playing btw?

Can't wait to rock up to Punt Road to watch Richmond play.

Might bring a top hat.
Like going back to the romantic days of football.

I miss the days of 3 games playing on the same day.

In Blockbuster games,people would flock to watch the reserves at halftime and it built a great atmosphere for the seniors as grounds like the G would already be over half full instead of today when everyone rocks up 5 mins before the bounce.
 
Great idea IMO, given (as I understand) some concerns with the long term viability of the VFL something like this could help bolster crowds with fans of AFL teams taking more interest in their respective reserve sides.
 
McCrann said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the current structure of the VFL in 2014 looks like this

AFL Reserves Teams
Essendon
Collingwood
Footscray
Geelong
Richmond

AFL "Dominated" Alignments
Box Hill Hawks
Northern Blues

AFL/VFL Alignments
Casey Scorpions (Melbourne)
Sandringham (St. Kilda)
Werribee Tigers (North Melbourne)
North Ballarat (North Melbourne)

Standalone VFL Clubs
Bendigo Gold
Coburg (Lions?)
Frankston
Port Melbourne
Williamstown


So, a total of 16 teams?

What if the VFL were to add 2 other well-known teams.

Fitzroy Lions (From the VAFA)
South Melbourne Bloods

By doing this the VFL would now have represented of the 12 original VFL teams (circa 1925).
7/12 Original teams in Original Form (Collingwood, Essendon, Fitzroy, Footscray, Geelong, Richmond, South Melbourne)
2/12 Original teams in "Strong Alignment" (Carlton, Hawthorn)
3/12 Original teams in "Alignments" (Melbourne, North Melbourne, St. Kilda)

In particular - Fitzroy already play in the VAFA. Would it be that much of a stretch to see them rejoin the VFL in 2014 or 2015? Or perhaps 2016? The Centenary Anniversary of that famous "Wooden Spoon" Premiership.
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It costs around $500k a year to have a stand alone team in the VFL. That's why some AFL clubs are happy to stick with their alignment as the costs are about half that. So the high cost would deter a Fitzroy from ever rejoining the VFL.

Sydney's reserves play in the NEAFL. What would be the point of them having a VFL side when their players live in Sydney? Or if this South Melbourne Bloods is a separate new club then why would Swans fans follow them and where would this club play in South Melbourne? The old Albert Park ground is now a redeveloped Soccer/Athletics stadium (Bob Jane Stadium). The VFL wouldn't allow it anyway as they would now consider the inner southern suburbs Port Melbourne's region.

As for Coburg, I can't see them surviving in the VFL once Richmond go it alone next year. Can Bendigo survive long-term as well? So the VFL may shrink down to 14-15 teams in a couple of years time.
 
smasha said:
Great post OP.
Would be great to see the Roys back in the VFL.
12 teams.

Where are Essendon playing btw?

Can't wait to rock up to Punt Road to watch Richmond play.

Might bring a top hat.
Like going back to the romantic days of football.

I miss the days of 3 games playing on the same day.

In Blockbuster games,people would flock to watch the reserves at halftime and it built a great atmosphere for the seniors as grounds like the G would already be over half full instead of today when everyone rocks up 5 mins before the bounce.
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Essendon VFL are playing at Windy Hill.

Would Richmond's VFL side play at Punt Road? I think I remember hearing or reading somewhere that the oval was an irregular shape and not fit for footy since Hoddle Street was widened some time ago. That side of the oval is effectively a straight line, isn't it?

Or are the latest works that have been done at Punt Road designed to fix that?
 
Doss said:
Essendon VFL are playing at Windy Hill.

Would Richmond's VFL side play at Punt Road? I think I remember hearing or reading somewhere that the oval was an irregular shape and not fit for footy since Hoddle Street was widened some time ago. That side of the oval is effectively a straight line, isn't it?

Or are the latest works that have been done at Punt Road designed to fix that?
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I think the latter. Richmond wanted to train on a proper full sized regularly shaped ground. Not unreasonable.
 
Doss said:
Essendon VFL are playing at Windy Hill.

Would Richmond's VFL side play at Punt Road? I think I remember hearing or reading somewhere that the oval was an irregular shape and not fit for footy since Hoddle Street was widened some time ago. That side of the oval is effectively a straight line, isn't it?

Or are the latest works that have been done at Punt Road designed to fix that?
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Yes Punt Road next year.

That's good that Essendon are using Windy Hill.

The VFL could promote say a Richmond /Essendon game or reverse at these famous old grounds.

REMEMBER WHEN FOOTY WAS TRIBAL ?Going BACK TO THE TRIBE!
 
smasha said:
Yes Punt Road next year.

That's good that Essendon are using Windy Hill.
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Yeah, definitely is.

Likewise about Punt Road too.

Could even work as a nice double header option if heading to a night game at the 'G. And with the pubs nearby, everyone wins!
 
Timmy from Thomastown said:
I think the latter. Richmond wanted to train on a proper full sized regularly shaped ground. Not unreasonable.
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Punt Road is now the dimensions of Etihad.
But they will need a big net to stop footys going onto Punt Road.

The surface is magnificent btw.
I could eat my dinner from it. :D
 

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AstroboyUK said:
someone just needs to stump up a bit to fast track Fitzroy back to VFL level... could be done, ' just' needs money...
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There's always money if the idea is good.
In Victoria the absolute home of football , people in that state would embrace a VFL with the twelve originals .
It would make someone a fortune. An oportunity to re engage real football people in that state . The northern states footy is just about money , not footy. In SA and WA its footy , but of course in a brilliant football state Tasmania the AFL has just told them to piss off.
I could see the VFL re born, actually draw some good players to it and maybe become popular with the fans rather than getting ripped off by Andrew and his big fat pay rise and paying a fortune to go to football and paying a fortune for food and drink at the football.
But I'm just whinging , I hate whats been done to real football ,and Dimetriou is the one to blame , its very false in the AFL.
Contrived teams, lack of tradition , and big big money and a game that is robotic and no character in it .
Big bad Bazza was the last character , and thats what I miss. Oh and of course mercenary managers.
Still got to stay rich after footy .
 
IF they set up the VFL properly from the start (around the time of the AFL reserves merger), something like this could have been awesome.
But after 15 years of pulling the second tier apart, Why would any club want to join the VFL?
Crowds are terrible. The standard is ordinary. It is just a reserves comp plus Port.
Bendigo or Coburg won't win or survive on their own. Frankston are hopeless and have finished last for 10 years (great atmosphere down there though). Carlton have totally killed the Bullants, Hawthorn jumper has replaced Box Hill.
The alignments aside from Box Hill Hawks were all wrong from the start.
The VFL & AFL do no seem to support the league. E.g. Box Hill used to draw really good crowds up until 5 years ago. When this years VFL fixture came out, half the BHH home games clashed with Hawthorn, meaning crowds will be under 100 instead of over 1000.
North Ballarat can't draw a crowd. Even Collngwood often play in front of a few hundred.
They could fix it with better fixturing, but they won't.
Suburban/Ammos is better - bigger crowds and better atmosphere.
There is not enough players for 16 team let alone 18.Unlike in SA & WA, ex AFL players can make more money in suburban or country leagues.

A shame, yes, but too late to turn things around for the non aligned clubs (other than Port and maybe Willi), or introduce any new ones.
 
Coburg-Fitzroy was reasonable successful when they merged for a year. Decent crowds.
Maybe they could bring that back.
 
we should stop pissing around and get fair dinkum

a proper AFL reserves competition, which is national, mirrors the fixture of the AFL, and is a proper development league

the hybrid model the VFL currently is will not work because everyone has conflicting agendas about the whole point of the comp
 
doggies ftw said:
Yeah it's been confirmed we are doing it but I doubt they will be called Footscray though, probably more something along the lines of Western Bulldogs Id say, though it would be great if we were called Footscray and played at Whitten Oval!

Good thread though would put a lot of interest back into the VFL IMO.
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I thought i read something a month ago -Ben Graham said its definitely going to be called Footscray-which i think would be great

I can understand from a marketing viewpoint only why the seniors are called WB -so they get as many memberships as possible -covering all the Western suburbs . But its like Sth Melb and Footscray are words that have been banished from the Football dictionary

When Paul Roos coached the swans to the premiership -he got up on the dias -and said this is for Sydney/Sth Melb-so he recognized Sth Melbs history -which was good.

So lets hope the bulldogs vfl side is called Footscray
 
Brisbane will not allow a Fitzroy team in the AFL/VFL, especially if it is not sporting a paddle pop lion.
 
IMO The VFL should be split into two divisions.

VFL (AFL Vic Reserves)
- Consisting of the 10 Victorian teams (Bulldogs being called Footscray Bulldogs)
- Clubs take responsibility for building up their own local grounds to VFL standard for little local blockbuster events. (Imagine getting 20K again in Vic Park or something for Pie supporters or a packed Punt road etc etc)
- For clubs that cannot build their home grounds then they should probably play all home VFL matches as Curtain raisers..........especially having Curtain raisers when the AFL Vic club is hosting a interstate team.
- A fixture where the two following options happen. (If it can be done, AFL is great at rigging fixture so should be easy)
1. When two VIC AFL teams play each other, then the VFL game is a curtain raiser. (Etihad will probably be a problem, until AFL seriously gets it fixed, aritificial turf....?)
2. When two VIC AFL teams travels then there is a game at one of their local grounds.

VFL (The rest)
- The rest of the clubs with no affiliation to AFL clubs doing what they do now and being able to keep their own history without AFL teams bastardising it.
 
I don't care what's been said all I have to say is... YES PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!

I wanna be in the VFL again!!!!
 
Tas said:
Brisbane will not allow a Fitzroy team in the AFL/VFL, especially if it is not sporting a paddle pop lion.
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The FFC currently go by 'Roys'.

As long as they're careful to avoid reference to 'Lions', Brisbane might not be such a big problem.
 
With more and more Victorian based AFL teams setting up their own seconds team, there could one day be a return of the reserves.
 
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