Victorian Premier League

The Victorian Premier League is the highest State level association football (soccer) competition in Victoria, Australia, and second highest nationally after the A-League. The competition is administered by Football Federation Victoria, the governing body of football in the state.

Format

The league sits below the A-League and forms a part of the second tier of league football in Australia. It is primarily staged in the Australian winter, and in its current format runs between February and August. The league comprises twelve teams, every team playing each other twice over the course of a 22-round home-and-away season. The team finishing 1st after this stage is crowned the Premier, with the teams finishing 11th and 12th relegated to Victorian State League Division 1.

At the conclusion of the home-and-away season, the top five teams advance to a 4-week Finals Series, conducted using the McIntyre final five system. The team winning the Grand Final at the end of this stage is crowned the Champion and awarded the Victorian Premier League trophy.

History

The league commenced in 1909 with Carlton United being the first champions, and has run continuously except for a three season postponement from 1916-1918 owing to World War 1. After 1945 the league, like fellow state competitions around the country, received a massive boost in numbers and quality with the post-war influx of European migrants, whose dominance was established so effectively that no club that had won the title before 1952, Juventus' first title, has won one since.

Juventus would go on to dominate the league in the 1950s, winning six titles, including five in a row from 1952-1956. In 1958, after the Victorian Amateur Soccer Federation was formed, the league became known as the Victorian State League. From 1962 until 1976 the league was largely dominated by South Melbourne Hellas and Footscray JUST, who won 11 titles between them.

With creation of the National Soccer League (NSL) in 1977, the league gradually lost most of its stronger clubs, a trend that reached its peak between 1984-1986, when the NSL used a split conference system. Post-1987 however, the league slowly started regaining clubs, firstly those discarded when the conference system experiment was abandoned, and later when clubs became permanently relegated by the NSL to their respective state leagues. The dominant side during the years 1977-2004 was Green Gully, who won six titles during this period, despite also missing the years 1984-1986 from being in the NSL.

In 1991, the league rebranded again to become the Victorian Premier League, and the first finals to determine a champion was staged in 1992, won remarkably by the newly promoted North Geelong. Following the demise of the NSL in 2004, the remaining two Victorian NSL teams Melbourne Knights and South Melbourne were granted permission to play in the VPL season of 2005. The league received a major boost at the start of the 2005 season when Vodafone became major naming rights sponsors, with the competition being renamed the Vodafone Cup. The 2005 season initially saw crowds flocking in record numbers to witness the return of old derbies such as that between South Melbourne and Heidelberg United, but with the formation of the A-League filling the void of a national domestic league, 2006 saw a sharp decline in attendances.

The end of the 2006 season also witnessed a controversial finish to the relegation battle. With three teams finishing on 30 points, Sunshine George Cross were relegated on goal difference. However, a post-season appeal to the tribunal on the grounds that Essendon Royals had fielded a suspended player (Ilcho Mladenovski in round 24) saw the Royals deducted a point and relegated. Ultimately, both clubs reprised their position in the following season's competition with the inclusion of the Australian Institute of Sport evening out the numbers to 16, and as the first part of reforms to the competition set to be brought about in 2008.

The Australian Institute of Sport experiment was largely derided by the local clubs, and after their removal from the competition in 2008, the league reverted back to 12 teams and a Top 5 Finals-Series in 2009. However, the concept of a youth development squad was reintroduced in 2010 with the National Training Centre team playing in midweek fixtures throughout the season but not for competition points. In 2011 the team, mostly comprising players from the Melbourne Victory youth squad, was renamed Victorian Training Centre Football and was eligible to score competition points for its matches but ineligible to qualify for the finals series or be relegated.

Media coverage

Coverage of The Victorian Premier League is provided by the local non-profit community television station, Channel 31 Melbourne on the new EXTRA TIME TV Football Show, as well Green Gully providing a program of their own on the same network. As with the New South Wales Premier League Grand Final, an edited version of the 2006 and 2007 decider was also played on the Aurora pay television channel. Live calls of games were occasionally broadcast on sports radio station SEN 1116, along with discussion on the league, although that station's increased Australian Football League commitments have pushed that coverage aside. Print coverage is generally scant in Melbourne's two major daily newspapers, the Herald Sun and The Age, but more coverage is provided by specialist newspaper GoalWeekly, non-English language newspapers, and free suburban newspapers. As of 2010, Victorian Premier League is now radio broadcast on Radio Australia as well as ABC Local Radio's Grandstand coverage, and a new TV Show EXTRA TIME TV on Channel 31 going digital and now State Wide & first time VPL Live Matches Online.

Admission Prices

The admission prices for Adults is: $12, Concession is: $8 and Children Under 16 are FREE.

Clubs

The following 12 clubs are competing in the Victorian Premier League during the 2012 season.

2011 League Table

Updated to games played on Aug 7, 2011
Source: [1]
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

*Heidelberg Utd was given a 3 point deduction as a result of Tribunal Case TA11004, arising from their Round 3 match against Hume City. South Melbourne lost 6 points as a result of Tribunal Case TA11012 from their Round 9 fixture against Bentleigh Greens.

Champions

Victorian Premer League Champions Per City

• Melbourne 97
• Morwell 2
• Geelong 1

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Clubs participating - 1963-2009

• Albion Leyland/Albion Rovers/Albion Turk Gucu/Melton Reds (1978–79, 1982–1985, 1990–1997)
• Altona City (1977–1981)
• Altona East Phoenix (1999–2003)
• Altona Gate/Altona Magic (1989-2010)
• Australian Institute of Sport (2007–2008)
• Bentleigh Greens (1996–2005, 2010-)
• Box Hill (1969–1973, 1983–1990, 1995–1996)
• Broadmeadows (1984)
• Broadmeadows City (1987)
• Brunswick Juventus/Juventus (1963–1983, 1989–93)
• Bulleen Lions (1988–1997)
• Bulleen Zebras (1998–2006)
• Caulfield City (1986–1990, 1993)
• Coburg United/Hume City FC (2008-)
• Croydon City (1979–84)
• Doncaster Rovers (1995)
• Doveton (1981–1984, 1991)
• Essendon Lions/Lions (1962–1971)
• Essendon Royals/Triestina (1964–1965, 2001, 2003–2007)
• Fawkner Blues (1983–2004, 2007–2008)
• Fawkner-Whittlesea Blues (2005–2006)
• Fitzroy Serbia/Fitzroy City (2002)
• Footscray JUST/Melbourne City JUST (1963–1976, 1990)
• Frankston City (1977–1982)
• Frankston Pines (1984–1987, 1989–1990, 2003–2006, 2008)
• Green Gully Cavaliers (1977–1983, 1987-)
• Hakoah. St Kilda/St. Kilda Hellas-Hakoah (1963–1982)
• Heidelberg United/Fitzroy United Alexander/Alexander (1964, 1966–1968, 1970–1976, 1988, 1990, 1996–1998, 2000–2002, 2005-)
• Keilor Austria/Austria (1972–1974)
• Kingston City (2006–2007)
• Knox City (1984–1985, 1992–1993, 2004)
• Maribyrnong Polonia/Polonia (1963–77, 1982–1989)
• Melbourne Knights/Essendon Croatia/Melbourne Croatia (1960, 1962–1963, 1965–72, 1977–1983, 2005-)
• Melbourne/Melbourne Hungaria (1963–1975, 1986)
• Melbourne Raiders (1999–2000)
• Moorabbin City (1998)
• Mooroolbark/Mooroolbark United (1974–1976, 1990–1991)
• Morwell Falcons (1982–1992)
• North Geelong Warriors (1992–1997)
• Northcote City (1981–1991, 2010-)
• Oakleigh Cannons (1987–1988, 1991–1992, 2000, 2004-)
• Port Melbourne Sharks (1994–2003)
• Port Melbourne Slavia/Prahran Slavia (1963–1970, 1973–80)
• Preston Makedonia/Preston Lions (1967, 1976–80, 1994–1995, 1997–2009)
• Richmond SC/Alemannia Richmond (1963, 2006-)
• Ringwood City/Ringwood City Wilhelmina (1963–1966, 1968–1986, 1988–1990)
• South Dandenong/Dandeong Thunder (1998–1999, 2001, 2009-)
• South Melbourne Hellas/South Melbourne FC (1963–1976, 1983, 2005-)
• Springvale City (1985–1989, 1993–1996)
• Springvale White Eagles (1997–1999, 2007, 2011)
• St. Albans Saints (1984–2005, 2011)
• Sunshine City (1975–1982)
• Sunshine Georgies/Sunshine George Cross (1958–1983, 1992–1999, 2005–2007, 2009-2010)
• Thomastown Zebras (1985–1994, 1996–1998)
• Werribee City Bees (1994–1995)
• Western Suburbs SC (1980, 1984–1988, 2007–2008)
• Westvale (1999)
• Whittlesea Stallions (2002–2004)
• Whittlesea Zebras (2007–2009)

References

• OzFootball's Australian Club Database
• OzFootball's Victorian League Archive
• Weltfussballarchiv

External links

• Results site
• VPL TV, official online broadcaster