Zoning

[pz5151]

Does anyone have a definitive list or map of the old VFL metro and country zones?

 

[masai tu]

That’s easy.

Carlton, Hawthorn & North Melbourne had WA as their zone.

 

[35Daicos]

Victorian Recruiting Zones | Blueseum - History of the Carlton Football Club

Blueseum: History of the Carlton Football Club

www.blueseum.org

What zoning in the AFL used to look like

We look back at the old system - and where today's stars would have ended up if the system was still in place.

www.theage.com.au

 

[Supermercado]

Before they withdrew due WW1, Melbourne's zone for 1916 was meant to be:

Commencing at a point at the junction of Victoria-street and Elizabeth-street, thence easterly along Victoria street and Victoria-parade to Hoddle-street; thence southerly along Hoddle-street and Punt-road to the River Yarra; thence easterly along the River Yarra to the Gardiner's Creek; thence easterly along the Gardiner's Creek to Back Creek; thence easterly along Back Creek to Glen Iris-road; thence southerly along Glen Iris-road to Ferndale-road; thence easterly along Ferndale-road to Summer Hill-road; thence southerly along Summer Hill-road to Baker-parade; thence easterly along Baker-parade to the Outer Circle railway line thence southerly by the Outer Circle railway line to High-street; thence easterly along High-street to Boundary-road; thence southerly along Boundary-road and Warragul-road to the Gippsland railway line to its junction with the Outer Circle railway line; thence northerly along the Outer Circle railway line to its junction with the Glen Iris railway line; thence northerly along the Glen Iris railway line to the a point opposite Wattletree-road; thence westerly along Wattletree-road to the Caulfield railway line; thence northerly along the Caulfield railway line to High-Street; thence westerly along High-street to St Kilda-road; thence northerly along St. Kilda-road and Swanston-street to Flinders-street thence westerly along Flinders-street to Elizabeth-street; thence northerly along Elizabeth St to the commencing point.

Good luck working that out.

 

[killer]

Wonder why they would go to this much complexity

 

[ThePope]

Wonder why they would go to this much complexity






View attachment 1662625

Sounds like it was written by a property lawyer!

What year was this and what book/paper/budget was it from?

 

[pz5151]

Victorian Recruiting Zones | Blueseum - History of the Carlton Football Club

Blueseum: History of the Carlton Football Club

www.blueseum.org

View attachment 1651785

What zoning in the AFL used to look like

We look back at the old system - and where today's stars would have ended up if the system was still in place.

www.theage.com.au

View attachment 1651788

Anyone able to match up that metro map with what suburbs they cover. I can tell Collingwood is vaguely covering the Hurstbridge line but can’t really tell where the borders lie. I always thought Fitzroy’s line was on the east of ours cos I played Vic Kick in Alphington and we got put in the Fitzroy little league rather than Collingwood.

 

[killer]

Sounds like it was written by a property lawyer!

What year was this and what book/paper/budget was it from?

1957

 

[Todman]

Latrobe Valley was split in two, Hawthorn from Warragul to Morwell, Traralgon and east to Bairnsdale to footscray
Wimmera: Collingwood had Stawell and Ararat and the rest of the league to Essendon.

 

[Aut Vincere Aut Mori]

No wonder South Melbourne struggled for so long Most of their metropolitan zone was empty paddocks, factories, docks, or oil refineries. Their country zone wasn't even in Victoria. The country zones were meant to be redistributed every three years when they were initially introduced but this was soon forgotten when some Clubs got great zones.
Also, the metropolitan zones did alter at times as some of Hawthorn's Mornington Peninsula zone was allocated to South's for a short while. Hawthorn whined about it and it quickly went back to Hawthorn.
Most Clubs knew how to manipulate the system and registered players at homes inside their zones. North Melbourne U-19's got caught out playing a player not within their zone in the late 1970's or 1980's and had most of their wins from the season cancelled and they went from a finalist to near bottom. The name Stephen Easton (played later with NM and Carlton) rings a bell. My memory also is that Peter Hall of South Melbourne (played 5 games 1978-79) successfully challenged the legality of the zones in court (he was tied to Carlton or Collingwood) and was permitted to be registered with South. It was well known at the time that the zones and the clearance system were an unfair restraint of trade but the clubs kept it in place because they feared mayhem if it was challenged. Eventually, Sylvio Foschini and Paul Morwood (with the backing of St.Kilda) brought the illegality down in the Supreme Court.

 

[35Daicos]

No wonder South Melbourne struggled for so long Most of their metropolitan zone was empty paddocks, factories, docks, or oil refineries. Their country zone wasn't even in Victoria. The country zones were meant to be redistributed every three years when they were initially introduced but this was soon forgotten when some Clubs got great zones.
Also, the metropolitan zones did alter at times as some of Hawthorn's Mornington Peninsula zone was allocated to South's for a short while. Hawthorn whined about it and it quickly went back to Hawthorn.
Most Clubs knew how to manipulate the system and registered players at homes inside their zones. North Melbourne U-19's got caught out playing a player not within their zone in the late 1970's or 1980's and had most of their wins from the season cancelled and they went from a finalist to near bottom. The name Stephen Easton (played later with NM and Carlton) rings a bell. My memory also is that Peter Hall of South Melbourne (played 5 games 1978-79) successfully challenged the legality of the zones in court (he was tied to Carlton or Collingwood) and was permitted to be registered with South. It was well known at the time that the zones and the clearance system were an unfair restraint of trade but the clubs kept it in place because they feared mayhem if it was challenged. Eventually, Sylvio Foschini and Paul Morwood (with the backing of St.Kilda) brought the illegality down in the Supreme Court.

Former VFL player found guilty of conning friends

www.theage.com.au

This is from a spreadsheet that was/is on the Blueseum site (U19s tab):

 

[Aut Vincere Aut Mori]

Thankyou for confirming that my memory isn't failing me. Sad story about Peter Hall. North Melbourne U-19's Won 20 games Drew1 and Lost only 1 game that season to finish second. Richmond Won 19 Drew 2 and Lost 1 game to top the table. It would have been as interesting finals series but for the disqualification.
My father knew quite a few South Melbourne committeemen in the 1970's and they were hoping that someone would challenge the zoning and transfer rules of the VFL so that it could be open slather on recruiting given that South had possibly the worst country zone and next to worst metropolitan zone (I reckon poor old North possibly had the worst). They were hoping that John Pitura would challenge the rules but pressure was brought to bear by VFL administration to cave in to Richmond and clear him. South had a number of wealthy benefactors that were prepared to fund any high profile players prepared to sign with the Swans and challenge the rules.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

RPCB

 

[RPCB]

RPCB

You could have just used the thread we were debating all of this in and not frantically bumped this one.

 

[Aut Vincere Aut Mori]

RPCB

Excellent overview of the zoning system. South's zone wasn't even in Victoria. At least St. Kilda's was!