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).
won the first grand final, finishing the season undefeated.
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. 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. 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.
For the inaugural season, four existing junior clubs – the Fitzroy Juniors, Collingwood District (also known as Collingwood Juniors) and Leopold (affiliated with ) and Caulfield (affiliated with ) – initially crossed to the new league from the Metropolitan Amateur Association; West Melbourne was affiliated with ; and new junior clubs were formed in Carlton, Richmond and St Kilda. , which had left the VFL senior competition after 1914, also entered a stand-alone junior team in the competition.The Sporting World: A Look Ahead The Age 12 March 1919 page 11Smith, 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. 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.
Home-and-away season Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6
Round 7
Round 8
Round 9
Round 10
Round 11
Round 12
Round 13
Round 14
Round 15
Round 16
Round 17
Round 18
Ladder + Team 1 Collingwood District (P) 16 16 0 0 64 2 University A 16 44 3 Leopold 16 40 4 University B 16 40 5 Fitzroy Juniors 16 36 6 Carlton District 16 8 8 0 32 7 West Melbourne 16 20 8 St Kilda District 16 8 9 Richmond 16 1 15 0 4
Finals series Week 1
Week 2
Grand Final
References