Victorian Junior Football Association

Victorian Junior Football Association

Most recent season or competition: 1932 VFA season
Sport	Australian rules football
Founded	1883
Ceased	1932
Replaced by	VFA Second Eighteens
Country	Australia
Most titles	Yarraville (7)
Official website	VJFA Constitution

The Victorian Junior Football Association (VJFA), sometimes known simply as the Victorian Junior Association (VJA), was an open age Australian rules football competition and administrative body. It was the first successful junior football competition in Melbourne, and was in existence from 1883 until 1932.

For most of its history it was a competition of independent junior level clubs, before it eventually transitioned to become the second eighteens competition for the senior Victorian Football Association (VFA)

During the 1870s in Victoria, junior football – which was the term used at the time for open age football of a lower standard than senior football, rather than for under age football – was mostly administered on an ad hoc basis. A couple of short-lived junior associations had been attempted, but none were successful until the Victorian Junior Football Association was established in April 1883.^[1] Clubs represented at the inaugural meeting were Star of Carlton, South Yarra, South Park, Footscray, Brunswick, Emerald-hill, Albion, Richmond, Fortrose, Waverley and North Park.^[2]

The VJFA, in addition to serving as an administrative body for junior football, ran the junior premiership. At its peak in the early 1890s when it was the only top junior football competition, more than twenty-five clubs competed,^[3] and from 1892 until 1894 the competition ran in two divisions to manage its numbers. The establishment of other junior football competitions – including the Victorian Second-Rate (1890),^[4] Third-Rate (1892)^[5] and Fourth-Rate (1893)^[6] Junior Football Associations and the Metropolitan Junior Football Association (1892) – saw numbers in the VJFA premiership decline rapidly through the 1890s, and by 1899 only seven clubs competed in the VJFA.^[7] Eight to twelve teams typically contested the premiership thereafter.

At the 1895 VJFA AGM, the competition was reduced from 20 teams to 12 teams. Those who survived were Albert-park, Albion United, Austral, Brighton, Brunswick, Collingwood Juniors, Essendon District, Fitzroy Juniors, Hawthorn, Preston, Richmond City, and West Melbourne Juniors. Some of these clubs, including Camberwell, were later readmitted to the competition.^[8]

The competition typically featured smaller clubs from districts already represented in senior football, or the top clubs from other districts. Four successful VJFA clubs from growing districts – West Melbourne, Preston, Northcote and Yarraville – ultimately went on to play senior football in the Victorian Football Association. In 1905, John Wren donated a silver shield to serve as a semi-perpetual trophy for the VJFA premiers; like many trophies of the era, it was held temporarily by the reigning premiers, then won permanently by the first team to win it three times. A total of five Wren Shields were awarded during the trophy's history.^[9]

The 1912 grand final was especially controversial. Port Melbourne Railway United won the match by three points, but Yarraville successfully protested one of Railway United's second quarter goals on the grounds of goal umpire error, and the match was reversed to a three-point Yarraville victory.

Although they had the right to challenge, Railway United refused to play as its own act of protest. At a special meeting of the VJFA, it was proposed that "the club, office bearers and registered players for 1912 be disqualified for life".^[10] Although Yarraville offered to play a substitute team, it was decided that no match would be held, and Yarraville retained the 1912 premiership.^[11]

Railway United was ultimately not expelled from the VJFA, and went on to win the VJFA premiership the following season, defeating Yarraville in the 1913 grand final.^[12]

The VJFA had ties to the VFA from early on, with many clubs serving as the reserves team for a senior VFA club. In 1912, a rule was in place mandating that clubs align themselves to a VFA club, although that requirement was dropped in 1913.^[13]

The VJFA eventually formally transitioned to become the VFA Second Eighteens during the 1920s. This began in 1924, when the competition expanded from twelve teams to eighteen in two divisions – one division set aside for clubs who played on the same grounds as their senior VFA counterparts, and one for clubs with their own grounds.^[14] All Melbourne-based senior VFA clubs were required to affiliate with a junior team in the VJFA, and an agreement was put in place to lift some restrictions on in-season player movements between the senior or junior clubs, making the affiliated junior clubs functionally closer to seconds teams.^[15][16]

The divisions were called Division 1 and Division 2 in 1924,^[a] but from 1925 onwards they were known as the VJFA Section and the VFA Section.^[19][20]

In 1926, after the 1924 player transfer agreement ended, the VFA moved to convert its affiliated junior clubs into genuine second eighteens controlled by the senior clubs;^[21] and, starting from 1928, all other clubs were excluded and the VJFA served wholly as a VFA seconds competition, with free player interchanges between senior and junior level permitted until 1 August each year.^[22]

The VJFA can be considered to have ceased to exist, replaced by the VFA Second Eighteens, starting from the 1928 season; however, the VJFA name and the Wren Shield as a premiership trophy were both retained until the end of 1932. It was only at this point that competition was formally renamed the VFA Second Eighteens and the Wren Shield was discontinued.^[23][24] The VFA Second Eighteens and its successors, continued to operate until the end of the 2017 season.

Over 100 clubs are believed to have competed in the VJFA.^[25][26][27]

Club	Colours	Moniker	Est.	Seasons	Premierships	Years of premierships	Current league
								Albert Park		Parkites	1895	1895−1???	2	1896, 1897	Folded
Albion United			1883	1883−1890s	0		Folded
Ascot Vale			18??	18??−1???; 1916−19??	0
Austral				1890s−1890s	0		Folded
Brighton			1885	1889−1895	0		Folded 1964
Britannia			18??	18??−1???	0
Brunswick District				1915[28]	0
Brunswick seconds		Brickfielders	1865	19??−1932	2	1931, 1932	Folded 1991
Camberwell		Tricolours	1886	1888−94; 1913−14; 1916−19	0		Folded 1995
Cambridge Star			18??	18??−1???	0
Carnegie			1920s	1923−192?	0		Folded c. 2000
City of Northcote			1915	1915−16; 1918	0		Folded 1918
Clifton			18??	18??−1???	0
Coast			18??	18??−1???	0
Coburg (original)			18??	18??−1???	0
Coburg			1891	1891−1912	0		VFL
Coburg seconds			1891	1925−1932	3	1928, 1929, 1930	In recess
Collingwood District		Districts	1906	1918	0		Merged 1938 with Collingwood
Collingwood Juniors		Magpies	1893	1893−1905	0		VFL as Collingwood reserves
East Richmond			18??	18??−1???	0
Electric Telegraph			18??	18??−1???	0
Essendon District		Dons		1890s−1900s	0
Essendon Juniors		Dreadnoughts		1921[29]	0		Folded 1921
Fairfield			1???	1916−19??	0
Fernside			18??	18??−1???	0
Fitzroy Crecent			18??	18??−1???	0
Fitzroy Imperials			18??	18??−1???	0
Fitzroy Juniors		Maroons	1883	1892−1911[30]	2	1894, 1911	VAFA as Fitzroy reserves
Footscray Juniors		Bulldogs	1877	1883−1924	2	1907, 1915, 1918	VFL as Footscray reserves
Hawthorn (original)			1893	1893−1898	0		Folded 1899
Hawthorn Juniors		Mayblooms	1902	1924	0		In recess
Kew		Bears	1876	1889−96; 1920−26	0		VAFA
Kingsville				1900s−1927	1	1927
Marylebone			1883	1883−1890s	1	1891
Melbourne Juniors		Redlegs	1858	1885−1924	1	1922	In recess
Moonee Ponds			18??	18??−1???	0
Montague			18??	18??−1???	0
Napier Imperial				1880s−1895	1	1893
North Carlton			18??	18??−1???	0
North Melbourne Juniors		Shinboners	1858	1890s−1???	1	1899	VFL as North Melbourne reserves
North Park			1883	1883−1???	5	1886, 1887, 1888, 1889, 1890
North Williamstown					1	1892
Northcote		Cotes	1869	1880s−1907	2	1904, 1906	Folded 1987
Northcote Diggers		Diggers	19??	1921−19??	0
Parkside			18??	18??−1???	0
Pembroke			1???	19??−1???	0
Port Melbourne Railway United		Portsmen, Ways	1902	1907−1915; 1917−1927	3	1910, 1913, 1914	Folded c. 1939
Prahran Juniors		Two Blues	1899	1920−19??	0
Preston		Tonners	1882	1890−1902; 1912−25	5	1900, 1901, 1902, 1921, 1923	VFL as Northern Bullants
Preston Districts			1905	1907−1915	0		Merged 1915 with Preston
Preston Star			18??	18??−1???	0
Richmond City		Richmondites	1880s	1883−1901	0		Merged 1902 with West Richmond (now Richmond reserves − VFL)[31]
Richmond Juniors		Tigers	1902	1902−1920s	0		VFL as Richmond reserves
Rose of Northcote			1904	1904−1908	0
South Brunswick			18??	18??−1???	0
South Melbourne Districts		Bloods	1912	1914−1926	1	1924	VAFA
South Melbourne Juniors		Southerers	1900	1901−19??	1	1903
South Park			18??	18??−1???	0
South St Kilda			c. 1870s	1883−18??	0		Folded 1899
St Kilda Esplanade			18??	18??−1???	0
St Kilda Grosvenor			18??	18??−1???	0
Star of Brunswick			18??	18??−1???	0
Star of Carlton			1875	1883−1907	1	1884
Union Jack			18??	18??−1???	0
Waverley			1883	1883−1???	1	1883
Werribee			1???	1909−19??	0
West Melbourne		Westeners	1874	1880s−1908	1	1898	Folded 1908
West Richmond		Richmondites		1???−1901	0		Merged 1902 with Richmond City (now Richmond reserves − VFL)[31]
Williamstown seconds (Williamstown Juniors)		Seagulls, Town	1864	1885−1???; 192?−1932	4	1885, 1916, 1917, 1919	In recess
Yarraville		Eagles	1903	1903−1932	7	1905, 1908, 1909, 1912, 1920, 1925, 1926

The premiers of the VJFA from 1883 until the discontinuation of the Wren Shield in 1932 are given below. Premierships between 1928 and 1932 are included, but overlap with the commonly recognised VFA seconds premierships.

From 1924 until the end of the 1927 season, the winner of the Division 2/VFA Section grand final played the Division 1/VJFA Section winner in the overall VJFA grand final.^[a]

• 1909 – Yarraville (1905, 1908, 1909)
• 1914 – Port Melbourne Railway United (1910, 1913, 1914)
• 1919 – Williamstown Juniors (1916, 1917, 1919)
• 1926 – Yarraville (1920, 1925, 1926)
• 1930 – Coburg seconds (1928, 1929, 1930)

• Preston's W. Eades kicked a VJFA record of 21 goals during a 1917 match against Ascot Vale, with Preston winning 32.16 (201) to 2.2 (14).^[143] Ascot Vale were three men short with only 14 players on the field.^[144][145]
• Following the end of the 1922 home-and-away season, Kew player C. Coomber was suspended for 12 months (the entire 1923 season) after striking North Melbourne Juniors player A. Gregory.^[146]