1919 VJFL season

{{Short description|1st season of the Victorian Junior Football League (VJFL)}}

{{Infobox Australian rules football season

| competition = VJFL

| year = 1919

| date = 3 May – 11 October 1919

| teams = 9

| premiers = {{AFLR ColD}}

| count = 1

| minor premiers = {{AFLR ColD}}

| mpcount = 1

| pscount =

| matches =

| attendance =

| highattend =

| leading goal medal =

| brownlow medal =

| prevseason =

| nextseason = 1920

|image=}}

The 1919 VJFL season was the inaugural season of the Victorian Junior Football League (VJFL), the Australian rules football competition operating as the second-tier competition to the Victorian Football League (VFL).

{{AFLR ColD}} won the first grand final, finishing the season undefeated.{{cite web |title=1919 Reserves |url=https://www.blueseum.org/1919+Reserves |publisher=Blueseum}}

Background

The Victorian Junior Football League was established to bring a junior club affiliated with each of the VFL senior clubs into a single competition – at this time, junior was the term used for open age football of a lower standard than senior football, rather than for under age football.{{cite book|last1=Ross|first1=John|title=100 Years of Australian Football|date=1996|publisher=Viking Books|location=Ringwood, Australia|isbn=9781854714343|pages=382}} The league was intended to bring a junior club affiliated with each of the Victorian Football League (VFL) senior clubs into a single competition, and to adopt the same district eligibility scheme which the VFL had introduced in 1916.{{cite web |title=NEW JUNIOR ORGANISATION |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/155227061 |publisher=The Age |access-date=19 October 2024 |page=13 |date=18 January 1919}} Player permit rules allowed for automatic transfers between the junior and senior clubs until July, allowing the juniors to serve as second eighteens for the seniors. The junior and senior clubs shared a home ground, with the juniors playing home when the seniors played away.{{cite news|newspaper=Malvern Standard|page=3|date=8 March 1919|title=District junior football}}

For the inaugural season, four existing junior clubs – the Fitzroy Juniors, Collingwood District (also known as Collingwood Juniors) and Leopold (affiliated with {{AFL SM}}) and Caulfield (affiliated with {{AFL Mel}}) – initially crossed to the new league from the Metropolitan Amateur Association; West Melbourne was affiliated with {{AFL Ess}}; and new junior clubs were formed in Carlton, Richmond and St Kilda. {{AFL Uni}}, which had left the VFL senior competition after 1914, also entered a stand-alone junior team in the competition.[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/155222569 The Sporting World: A Look Ahead] The Age 12 March 1919 page 11[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/155218895 Smith, W.H. & Ogilvey, A., The Football Season (Letter to the Editor)] The Age 13 March 1919 page 6

Shortly before the season, Caulfield withdrew, and a second University team was quickly arranged to take its place for the 1919 season.{{cite news|newspaper=The Age|publication-place=Melbourne|title=Football|date=15 May 1919|page=10}}

As was the case in the seniors, once the home-and-away season had finished, the VJFL premiers were determined by the specific format and conventions of the amended "Argus system".

Pre-season

A number of practice matches were held before the start of the season, including against several Victorian Football Association clubs.{{cite web |title=1919 Seconds scores |url=https://www.tigerlandarchive.org/tiki-index.php?page=1919+Reserves |publisher=Tigerland Archive}}

{{AFLGame|Saturday, 5 April|{{VFL Ric}}|11.8 (74)|H|Camberwell|3.6 (24)|{{nowrap|}}||}}

{{AFLGame|Saturday, 12 April|{{AFL Haw}}||P|{{VFL Ric}}||St James Park||}}

{{AFLGame|Saturday, 19 April|{{VFL Ric}}||P|{{AFL Ric}} (seniors)||Richmond City Reserve ||}}

{{AFLGame|Monday, 21 April|Ballarat Association|9.14 (68)|A|{{AFLR CarD}}|12.25 (97)|Eastern Oval||}}

{{AFLGame|Saturday, 26 April|Prahran|6.10 (46)|A|{{VFL Ric}}|7.5 (47)|Toorak Park||}}

{{AFLGameFooter|notes=

{{AFLGame|Saturday, 26 July|{{AFLR UniB}}|13.10 (88)|H|{{VFL Ric}}|8.9 (57)|Melbourne Cricket Ground||}}

{{AFLGame|Saturday, 26 July|{{AFLR CarD}}|5.10 (40)|A|{{AFLR UniA}}|8.11 (59)|Princes Park||}}

{{AFLGameFooter|notes=

}}

=Round 14=

{{AFLGame|Saturday, 9 August|{{AFLR CarD}}|7.9 (51)|H|{{AFLR UniB}}|6.11 (47)|Princes Park||}}{{AFLGameFooter|notes=

}}

=Round 15=

{{AFLGame|Saturday, 16 August|{{AFLR StKD}}|7.10 (52)|A|{{AFLR CarD}}|8.9 (57)|Junction Oval||}}

{{AFLGame|Saturday, 16 August|{{AFLR FitJ}}|11.18 (84)|H|{{VFL Ric}}|3.6 (24)|Fitzroy Cricket Ground||}}

{{AFLGameFooter|notes=

}}

=Round 16=

{{AFLGame|Saturday, 23 August|{{AFLR CarD}}|3.5 (23)|A|{{AFLR ColD}}|10.12 (72)|Princes Park||}}

{{AFLGame|Saturday, 23 August|{{VFL Ric}}|4.14 (38)|A|{{AFLR Leo}}|11.23 (89)|Richmond Cricket Ground||}}{{AFLGameFooter|notes=

}}

=Round 17=

{{AFLGame|Saturday, 30 August|{{AFLR StKD}}|10.11 (71)|H|{{VFL Ric}}|8.11 (59)|St Kilda Cricket Ground||}}

{{AFLGame|Saturday, 30 August|{{AFLR Leo}}|7.13 (55)|H|{{AFLR CarD}}|2.8 (20)|South Melbourne Cricket Ground||}}

{{AFLGame|Saturday, 30 August|{{AFLR ColD}}|31.16 (202)|H|{{AFLR UniB}}|4.1 (25)|{{nowrap|}}||{{cite web |title=Collingwood District Football Club |url=https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/collingwood-district-football-club/|publisher=Collingwood Forever}}}}

{{AFLGameFooter|notes=

}}

=Round 18=

{{AFLGame|Saturday, 6 September (1:00 pm)|{{VFL Ric}}|6.7 (43)|A|{{AFLR CarD}}|6.14 (50)|Richmond Cricket Ground||}}

{{AFLGameFooter|notes=

}}

Ladder

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; margin-bottom:0"

! style="width:10px" | {{Tooltip|Pos|Position on ladder}}

! style="width:45%;"| Team

! style="width:30px;"| {{Tooltip|Pld|Games played}}

! style="width:30px;"| {{Tooltip|W|Won}}

! style="width:30px;"| {{Tooltip|L|Lost}}

! style="width:30px;"| {{Tooltip|D|Drawn}}

! style="width:30px;"| {{Tooltip|Pts|Points}}

style="background:#ccffcc;"

| 1

| style="text-align:left;" | Collingwood District (P)

| 16

| 0

| 64

style="background:#ccffcc;"

| 2

| style="text-align:left;" | University A

| 16

| 44

style="background:#ccffcc;"

| 3

| style="text-align:left;" | Leopold

| 16

| 40

style="background:#ccffcc;"

| 4

| style="text-align:left;" | University B

| 16

| 40

| style="text-align:left;" | Fitzroy Juniors

| 16

| 36

| style="text-align:left;" | Carlton District

| 16

| 8

| 0

| 32

| style="text-align:left;" | West Melbourne

| 16

| 20

| style="text-align:left;" | St Kilda District

| 16

| 8

| style="text-align:left;" | Richmond

| 16

| 1

VJFL