The 1997

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

season was the 116th season of the

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

competition. The premiership was won by the

Sandringham Football Club The Sandringham Football Club, nicknamed the Zebras, is an Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Sandringham, Victoria, Sandringham. It currently competes in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and the VFL Women's (VF ...

, after it defeated Frankston by 29 points in the Grand Final on 21 September.

Ladder

Finals series

Qualifying and elimination finals

Semi-finals

Preliminary final

Grand Final

Awards

*The leading goalkicker for the season was Shayne Smith ( Springvale), who kicked 107 goals. *The

J. J. Liston Trophy The J. J. Liston Trophy is awarded annually to the best and fairest senior player in the Victorian Football League (VFL), which was formerly known as the Victorian Football Association (VFA). It is named after J. J. Liston, J.J. Liston, a busine ...

was won by Justin Crough (

Sandringham Sandringham can refer to: Places Australia * Sandringham, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * Sandringham, Queensland, a rural locality * Sandringham, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne **Sandringham railway line **Sandringham railway station * ...

). *The Fothergill–Round Medal was won by James Puli (

Werribee Werribee is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the local government area of the City of Wyndham. Werribee recorded a population of 50,027 at the 2021 census. Werrib ...

). * Frankston won the reserves premiership. Frankston 13.15 (93) defeated

Port Melbourne Port Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of the Melbourne central business district, located within the Cities of City of Melbourne, Melbourne and City of Port Phillip, Port Phillip Local government ...

11.7 (73) in the Grand Final, held as a curtain-raiser to the Seniors Grand Final on 21 September.

Notable events

*The VFL adopted two rule changes which had been incorporated into the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

in 1994: the size of the interchange bench was increased from two to three, and the length of a quarter was reduced from 25 minutes to 20 minutes with extra provisions for time on.Fiddian, Marc (2004); ''The VFA; A History of the Victorian Football Association 1877–1995''; p. 45

References

Victorian Football League seasons VFL {{AFL-competition-stub