AFL reserves

The AFL reserve grade competition, commonly known simply as the AFL reserves, was an Australian rules football competition that operated as a second-tier competition to the Australian Football League (AFL) from 1919 until 1999.

Prior to 1990, it was known as the VFL reserve grade competition, VFL reserves or VFL seconds.

In its final season in 1999, the competition was made up of the reserves teams of all the senior AFL clubs that were based in Victoria, plus that of the Sydney Swans.

Since 2000, the Victorian Football League (VFL), formerly known as the Victorian Football Association (VFA), has operated as a hybrid second-tier senior competition and reserves competition for most of the AFL clubs.

In 1919, a new football competition known as the Victorian Junior Football League (VJFL) was established – 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 South Melbourne) and Caulfield (affiliated with Melbourne) – initially crossed to the new league from the Metropolitan Amateur Association; West Melbourne was affiliated with Essendon; and new junior clubs were formed in Carlton, Richmond and St Kilda. University, which had left the VFL senior competition after 1914, also entered a stand-alone junior team in the competition.

Shortly before the season, Caulfield withdrew, and a second University team was quickly arranged to take its place for the 1919 season. The two University teams were known as University A and University B, later becoming the modern day 'University Blues' and 'University Blacks'. University B contested only the 1919 season, with a Melbourne Juniors team established for 1920; University A contested the 1919 and 1920 seasons, reaching the grand final both years before dropping out.

West Melbourne faced multiple heavy losses in 1920, including a 197-point loss against Carlton District and a 229-point loss against St Kilda District. The club left the competition at the end of the season, and were replaced by Essendon Juniors.