The 2023 VAFA season was the 122nd season of the

Victorian Amateur Football Association The Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) is the largest senior community Australian rules football competition in Victoria, Australia, Victoria. Founded in 1892, it consists of six senior divisions, ranging from Premier to Division 3 i ...

(VAFA), the largest senior community

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 in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

. The season began on 15 April and concluded on 15 September, with 63 teams participating across seven divisions under a

promotion and relegation Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

system.

Background

Accounting firm William Buck signed a three-year sponsorship deal extension with the VAFA on 24 April 2023, which included continuing the

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization where a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event (most often sports venues), typical ...

for the "William Buck Premier Division", continuing a partnership that began in the 2010s. The VAFA signed a three-year agreement with KommunityTV,

News Corp Australia News Corp Australia is an Australian media conglomerate and wholly owned subsidiary of News Corp. The group's interests span newspaper and magazine publishing, Internet, market research, DVD and film distribution, and film and television prod ...

's live-streaming platform, which saw the platform exclusively broadcast 48 matches throughout 2024. KommunityTV had broadcast 2022 finals matches as part of a trial arrangement.

Association membership

Following the conclusion of the 2022 season, Manningham Cobras merged with Yarra Old Grammarians in order to keep both clubs viable on and off-field. On 19 September 2022, the formation of Old Yarra Cobras Football Club was announced. In November 2022, the VAFA revealed Westbourne Grammarians Football Club would not field senior teams in 2023 (having meant to be relegated from Division 3) to

Division 4 ''Division 4'' is an Australian television police drama series broadcast by the Nine Network and created by Crawford Productions airing between 1969 and 1975 for 301 episodes. Synopsis The series was one of the first to follow up on the enor ...

), and would instead field a team in the Thirds competition. However, Westbourne announced on 31 March – around two weeks before the start of the season – that they would not field the thirds team, instead using 2023 to "regroup" as a club. On 23 February 2023, Premier C club

Old Mentonians Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Mai ...

announced that they would go into recess and not field any teams in 2023 because of a player shortage.

Name changes

Prahran/Assumption members voted on 30 November 2022 to revert to the club's traditional name of

Prahran Football Club The Prahran Football Club (), nicknamed the Two Blues, is an Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Armadale, Victoria, Armadale. It has played at Toorak Park since 1899. As of 2025, the club competes Premier C division ...

, which was reflected in the 2023 season. Additionally, Emmaus St Leo's renamed to Wattle Park Amateurs Football Club due to "extenuating circumstances".

Notable events

* During the round 8 match between

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora, Victoria, Bundoora. The university was established in 1 ...

and

Elsternwick Elsternwick is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 9 km south-east of Melbourne's Melbourne city centre, Central Business District, located within the City of Glen Eira local government areas of Victoria ...

in Division 3 on 3 June, a 21-year-old La Trobe University accidentally slapped Elsternwick player Ashley Quinn (a

Victoria Police Victoria Police is the primary law enforcement agency of the Australian States and territories of Australia, state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It was formed in 1853 and currently operates under the ''Victoria Police Act 2013''. , Victor ...

officer) while marking the ball. Quinn grabbed the player and punched him multiple times to the face, breaking his nose and causing the match to be temporarily halted. Quinn fronted the Moorabbin Magistrates' Court in August 2024 on one charge of intentionally causing injury, and was sentenced to a six-month diversion. * On 15 July, VAFA defeated

Perth Football League The Perth Football League is an Australian rules football competition based in Perth, Western Australia. It is the largest community Australian rules football competition in Western Australia. History The competition began in 1922 with five tea ...

20.10 (130) to 17.9 (111) in extra time in a representative game, the first representative victory for the VAFA since 2018. * On 2 September, during the Division 3 semi-final between

and Hawthorn, a Hawthorn player was allegedly punched in the back of a head by a spectator, later identified as former

AFL AFL may refer to: Education * Angel Foundation for Learning, a Canadian Roman Catholic charity * Ankara Science High School, a high school in Ankara, Turkey, natively referred to as ''Ankara Fen Liesi'' * Assessment for learning Military * ...

player Shem Tatpu. The player was taken to hospital while Tatpu was arrested by police, however he was later released from custody. * On 3 August, the VAFA announced that 33 previously-unnamed perpetual awards and trophies would be renamed to honour people "who have given distinguished service" to the VAFA or its clubs. * St John's was removed from the Division 3 reserves grand final after it was found that they had fielded an ineligible player in the preliminary final against Box Hill North, with Box Hill North taking its place in the grand final against North Brunswick. * Former West Brunswick reserves captain-coach Ron "Banjo" Patterson, who played a senior premiership in

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

and won the reserves best and fairest medal in

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

, died on 17 March 2023. * Former Old Haileybury player Alan Ross, who was part of the club's inaugural senior premiership in

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

, died in May 2023.

Premier

Collegians Collegians are an Australian rugby league football team based in Wollongong, New South Wales, Wollongong. The club are a part of Country Rugby League and compete in the Illawarra Rugby League premiership. Originally known as CBC Old Boys, the c ...

won their 18th Premier Division premiership, defeating St Kevin's by 85 points.

Ladder

Finals

Team of the Year

Club best and fairest

Club leadership

Premier B

St Bernard's won their 5th Premier B premiership, defeating by 31 points in the grand final to complete a

perfect season A perfect season is a sports season, including any requisite playoff portion, in which a team remains and finishes undefeated and untied. The feat is extremely rare at the professional level of any team sport, but has occurred more commonly at th ...

. Fitzroy was promoted to the highest grade the first time since the club entered the VAFA.

Ladder

Beaumaris Beaumaris (; ) is a town and community (Wales), community on the Anglesey, Isle of Anglesey in Wales, of which it is the former county town. It is located at the eastern entrance to the Menai Strait, the tidal waterway separating Anglesey fro ...

were found to have fielded an ineligible player in their round 11 loss to St Bedes/Mentone Tigers and round 12 victory over St Bernard's. On 18 July, the VAFA announced Beaumaris would lose the four premiership points that was gained in their victory, along with their "points for" score from both games. Beaumaris appealed the decision, but it was upheld on 3 August. As a result of gaining the four points that Beaumaris had lost, St Bernard's finished with a

Finals

Club best and fairest

Premier C

As a result of

withdrawing prior to the start of the season, Premier C only had nine teams, with each having two byes and playing 16 games. Additionally, only one team would be relegated to Division 1, instead of the usual two.

Ladder

Finals

Club best and fairest

Division 1

On 7 June 2023, Preston Bullants parted wats with senior coach George Cotsonis, who was in his second season in the role. He was replaced by Tom Hill, a former and -listed player. Following the conclusion of the season, in which they finished last,

Ivanhoe ''Ivanhoe: A Romance'' ( ) by Walter Scott is a historical novel published in three volumes, in December 1819, as one of the Waverley novels. It marked a shift away from Scott's prior practice of setting stories in Scotland and in the more ...

left the VAFA and transferred to the

Northern Football Netball League The Northern Football Netball League (NFNL), formerly known as the Diamond Valley Football League (DVFL) and later the Northern Football League (NFL), is an Australian rules football and netball competition based in the Diamond Creek, Victori ...

for 2024. Preston was ultimately not relegated for the 2024 season as part of the VAFA's aim to keep all divisions at 10 teams each.

Ladder

Finals

Club best and fairest

Division 2

Parkside won their first-ever Division 2 premiership, and their first senior premiership since

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

, defeating Old Yarra Cobras (who were in their first VAFA season) by three points. Following the conclusion of the season, in which they finished seventh, Old Paradians left the VAFA and transferred to the

for the 2024 season.

Ladder

Finals

Club best and fairest

Division 3

Ladder

Finals

Club best and fairest

Division 4

Division 4 was abolished at the end of the season and merged into Division 3.

Ladder

Finals

Club best and fairest

References

{{Victorian Amateur Football Association seasons Victorian Amateur Football Association seasons

VAFA The Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) is the largest senior community Australian rules football competition in Victoria. Founded in 1892, it consists of six senior divisions, ranging from Premier to Division 3 in the men's competit ...

2023 in Victoria (state)