VAFA announces venues for 2024 Finals Series

Venues for the 2024 VAFA Finals Series have been announced, highlighted by four state league grounds.

131 finals matches across 32 divisions will be played over a seven week period, culminating in the 2024 William Buck Premier Men’s Grand Final, to be played on the AFL Grand Final Eve Public Holiday, Friday September 27, at Elsternwick Park.

Port Melbourne’s ETU Stadium will join other VFL grounds which have traditionally hosted VAFA finals – Box Hill City Oval, Coburg City Oval and Sandringham’s Wilson Storage Trevor Barker Beach Oval.

These grounds will complement the traditional home of VAFA finals Elsternwick Park, and be supplemented by finals venues Waverley Oval, Malvern East; Whitefriars College, Donvale; and Carey Grammar, Bulleen.

Back up venues are being negotiated in the event that the above grounds become unavailable due to weather conditions.

This year’s finals series will kick off with the Men’s Thirds semi finals on the weekend of August 10-11. Due to limits on grounds being used for regular home and away games, the finals on this weekend will be played at the home ground of the higher ranked team.

This will be followed by the Women’s Divisional finals starting on the weekend of August 17-18, while the William Buck Premier Women’s finals commence on September 7, with the Grand Final to be played at Elsternwick Park on Sunday September 22.

Sunday August 18 will also see the Grand Final of the Mecwacare Masters competition being contested.

Finals for Holmesglen Under 19’s and Divisional Men’s will commence on the weekend of August 31-September 1, with Grand Finals to be played on September 14-15, with the exception of Division 3 Men’s, which will be played on the weekend of September 21-22, due to a four week finals series in the 11-team competition.

For the first time ever, the William Buck Premier Men’s Grand Final will be played on the public holiday Friday 27th September, that precedes Saturday’s AFL Grand Final. As one of the only football matches taking place on this day, the VAFA is aiming to attract a larger than usual crowd to headquarters to witness the cream of our men’s competition doing battle.

Match venues, dates and times will be released by the VAFA every Monday during the 2024 finals series.