The Victorian State League was a Victorian men's soccer league that was founded in 1958 after the dissolution of the original Victorian Soccer League and administered by the Victorian Soccer Federation (now Football Victoria). The league ran for 32 years before ultimately folding in 1990, with the introduction of the Victorian Premier League.

History In 1958, after the Victorian Amateur Soccer Federation was formed, the league disbanded, with the introduction of the Victorian State League. From 1962 until 1976 the league was largely dominated by South Melbourne Hellas and Footscray JUST, which won 11 titles between them.

With the 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 and 1986, when the NSL used a split conference system. After 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 from 1977 to 2004 was Green Gully, who won six titles during this period, despite also missing the years 1984–1986 from being in the NSL.

The day after the final matchday in the final season in 1990, it was confirmed that the Victorian State League will cease to exist in replace of the Premier League of Victoria, that would then later be known as the Victorian Premier League.

Champions

SeasonChampions1958Juventus1959Wilhelmina1960Polonia1961Polonia1962South Melbourne Hellas1963J.U.S.T1964South Melbourne Hellas1965South Melbourne Hellas1966South Melbourne Hellas1967Melbourne Hungaria1968Croatia

SeasonChampions1969Footscray J.U.S.T1970Juventus1971Footscray J.U.S.T1972South Melbourne Hellas1973Footscray J.U.S.T1974South Melbourne Hellas1975Fitzroy United1976South Melbourne Hellas1977George Cross Courage1978Essendon Croatia1979Essendon Croatia

SeasonChampions1980Preston Makedonia1981Green Gully1982Green Gully1983Green Gully1984Morwell Falcons1985Croydon City1986Croydon City1987Maribrynong Polonia1988Heidelberg United1989Morwell Falcons1990Heidelberg United

References