About the VAFA

The Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) was originally founded in 1892 as the Metropolitan Junior Football Association (MJFA). For the 1900 season, the name was changed to Metropolitan Football Association. After a change back to the MJFA, the name of the competition was changed again to the Metropolitan Amateur Football Association (1912) before finally settling on the VAFA in 1932.

The VAFA has and continues to be the main bastion of Amateur Football in Australia and within our competition all players play for the love of the game.

The main competition structure comprises six senior men’s sections of between 10 and 12 teams per section with a vertical double promotion and relegation system in place that rewards success and allows clubs to find their level. Each club must also field a reserves side in their respective reserve section in order to be considered a senior club.

There are also six senior women’s competitions, five Under 19 competitions, seven sections of thirds and masters (over 35’s).

In total, 70 clubs field around 300 teams across 35 different sections over the course of the season, making the VAFA the largest community football competition. The home and away season runs from early April until late August with a three week finals series staged for the top-ranked teams in each section as they battle to win the premiership.