THE PULSE – 2026 VAFA Finals Venues

140 finals in six weeks! That is the challenge for VAFA to manage from next Saturday August 22^nd when we commence hosting semi-finals for Premier B Women’s, Divisional Women’s, Holmesglen U19 Premier Women’s, and Men’s Thirds; through to the finale on Friday 25^th September with William Buck Premier Men’s Grand Final.

VAFA has 35 Divisions of football in 2026, producing 18 more finals matches than last year.

The semi-finals for the eight Men’s Thirds Divisions and the five Men’s Divisional U19 competitions are played at the home ground of the highest ranked team.

The challenges of securing venues are always consistent:

• Priority access to AFLW, VFL, VFLW, Coates League competitions;
• Competing access demands from other Community Leagues;
• Grounds no longer gated;
• Grounds under construction;
• Grounds closed by Councils and Schools for turf cricket wicket preparation;
• Avoid grounds with synthetic cricket pitches in the middle;

So firstly the bad news: In 2026

We will not have access to:

• Preston City Oval – Northern Football League have returned to reclaim the venue as their traditional finals ground.
• Box Hill City Oval – Council have been informed by the curator that the ‘young’ grass needs a break from traffic and is not available for community use.

We have reduced access to:

• Coburg City Oval – Essendon District FL have been granted increased use and Coburg VFL team is in line for hosting a final for the first time in 20 years.

Now the good news:

We will continue to play a significant number of Premier grade finals at our traditional tier one venues:

• The newly named Revo Fitness Park at Elsternwick Park, Brighton;
• Trevor Barker Beach Oval, Sandringham;

We will return to our VAFA Club venues:

• Carey Grammar School, Bulleen;
• Whitefriars College, Donvale;
• Waverley Oval (De La Salle ground), Malvern;

We have secured some access to new venues:

• Kennedy Community Centre (Hawthorn FC), Dingley;
• Marcellin College, Bulleen;
• DSV Stadium (Williamstown FC), Williamstown;
• Jack Barker Oval, Cheltenham;

The availability of the secured venues is often a moving target. Of the nine secured venues, we await confirmation from the school or council to lock in the days, as some are only available for two days or one to two games per day. 

Therefore, at the time of writing, we still have a number of grounds that are in consideration as potential back up to fill spots and we are awaiting their confirmation:

• Shepley Oval, (Dandenong Stingrays), Dandenong
• PEGS Fields, Keilor Park
• Westbourne Grammar, Truganina

Given the complexities involved, it is going to be hard to satisfy all clubs with access to a finals venue close to their community base, but rest assured we aim to maximise attendances, whilst also keeping teams from the one club together at the same venue on the same day.

So the message for the coming finals series fixture releases is: “please be understanding” and take on the spirit of the club football official that once said, “we don’t care if we have to play ’em on the moon, we’ll play anywhere in order to win a final!” 

Jason Reddick