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National Premier Leagues Victoria

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Jorisverbiest (talk | contribs) at 23:00, 5 September 2007 (→League Structure: : Fixed link.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

For the cricket competition, see Victorian Premier Cricket.

The Victorian Premier League (known as the Foxtel Cup in 2007 for sponsorship purposes), is the highest State level football (soccer) competition in Victoria, Australia. Nationally, it is one grade lower than the A-League. It is conducted by the Football Federation Victoria, the state's football (soccer) governing body.

History

The league commenced in 1909 with Carlton United being the first champions, and has run continuously except for a three season postponement from 1916-1918 owing to World War 1. After 1945 the league, like fellow state competitions around the country, received a massive boost in numbers and quality with the post-war influx of European migrants, whose dominance was established so effectively that no club that had won the title before 1952, Juventus' first title, has won one since.

Juventus would go on to dominate the league in the 1950's, winning six titles, including five in a row from 1952-1956. From 1962 until 1976 the league was largely dominated by South Melbourne Hellas and Footscray JUST, who won 11 titles between them.

With the creation of the National Soccer League in 1977, the league was gradually drained of most of its stronger clubs, a trend which reached its peak during the period of 1984-1986 when the NSL used a split conference system. Post 1987 however the league slowly started regaining clubs, firstly those which had been 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 1977-2004 was Green Gully, who won six titles during this period, despite also missing the years 1984-1986 from being in the NSL.

Following the demise of the NSL in 2004, the remaining two Victorian NSL teams Melbourne Knights and South Melbourne FC were granted permission to play in the VPL season of 2005. The league received a major boost at the start of the 2005 season when Vodafone became major naming rights sponsors, with the competition being renamed the Vodafone Cup. The 2005 season initially saw crowds flocking in record numbers to witness the return of old derbies such as that between South Melbourne and Heidelberg United, but 2006 saw a sharp decline in attendances.

The end of the 2006 season also saw a controversial finish to the relegation battle. With three teams on finishing on 30 points, Sunshine George Cross were relegated on goal difference. However, a post-season appeal to the tribunal on the grounds that Essendon Royals had fielded a suspended player (Ilcho Mladenovski in round 24) saw the Royals deducted a point and relegated. However the Federation had not notified the Royals of the player's suspension, and got itself out of a potential costly legal battle by retaining both clubs for the 2007 season, and adding the Australian Institute of Sport to even out the numbers, and as the first part of reforms to the competition set to be brought about in 2008.

V-League

On the 1st of December 2006, it was announced that the Victorian Premier League would be rebranded the V-League, short for Victorian League, and keeping in line with the national equivalent, the A-League. The V-League was to consist of up to twelve teams instead of sixteen, and teams to be given a $200,000 salary cap, and venue requiring at least 500 undercover seats. [1] However, plans to introduce the reforms for the 2008 season were shelved prior to the start of the 2007 season.[2]

Media Coverage

File:VicFootyShow.jpg

Coverage of The Foxtel Cup is provided by the local non-profit community television station, Channel 31 Melbourne on The Victorian Football Show, as well Green Gully providing a program of their own on the same network. As with the New South Wales Premier League Grand Final, an edited version of the 2006 decider was also played on the Aurora pay television channel. In 2007, Aurora will also cover the league as part of coverage of various state competitions. Live calls of games were occasionally broadcast on sports radio station SEN 1116, along with discussion on the league, although that station's increased Australian Football League commitments have pushed that coverage aside. Print coverage is generally scant in Melbourne's two major daily newspapers, the Herald Sun and in particular The Age, but more coverage is provided by non-english language newspapers, and free suburban newspapers.

League Structure

Prior to 1992 a normal home and away league generally operated with the top team being declared champions. From 1992 onwards, except 1999 and 2000, at the end of the normal league season, the winners being declared Minor Premiers and the bottom two teams relegated, the top five or six clubs went into a finals series of play-offs to decide the champion. For season 2007, a 26 round season with finals will be played, meaning some teams play each other only once during the season. Also, 3 teams are to be relegated, accompanied by AIS who will not be competing in the 2008 Victorian Premier League.

2007 Table

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Preston Lions FC 21 11 8 2 38 20 18 38
2 Green Gully Cavaliers 20 10 7 4 31 19 12 37
3 Oakleigh Cannons 21 10 5 6 38 26 12 35
4 Altona Magic 21 9 7 5 29 22 7 34
5 Whittlesea Zebras 21 10 4 7 24 23 1 34
6 South Melbourne FC 21 9 6 6 37 27 10 33
7 Melbourne Knights 20 9 5 6 22 14 8 32
8 Heidelberg United 21 9 5 7 30 31 −1 32
9 Essendon Royals 21 7 7 7 25 29 −4 28
10 Richmond SC 21 8 3 10 33 28 5 27
11 Australian Institute of Sport 20 8 2 10 26 26 0 26
12 Western Suburbs SC 21 5 9 7 14 23 −9 24
13 Sunshine George Cross 20 5 8 7 19 22 −3 23
14 Fawkner Blues 21 6 5 10 18 25 −7 23
15 Kingston City FC 20 5 5 10 21 28 −7 20
16 Springvale White Eagles 21 1 2 17 12 54 −42 5

2006 Table

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Oakleigh Cannons 26 16 7 3 47 24 23 55
2 Altona Magic 26 12 7 7 32 23 9 43
3 South Melbourne FC 26 12 6 8 45 28 17 42
4 Heidelberg United 26 12 5 9 43 36 7 41
5 Kingston City FC 26 11 5 10 37 39 −2 38
6 Green Gully Cavaliers 26 10 7 9 45 40 5 37
7 Preston Lions FC 26 10 7 9 45 46 −1 37
8 Richmond SC 26 9 8 9 41 38 3 35
9 Whittlesea Zebras 26 9 6 11 27 36 −9 33
10 Fawkner-Whittlesea Blues 26 10 1 15 38 51 −13 31
11 Melbourne Knights 26 8 6 12 33 39 −6 30
12 Sunshine George Cross 26 8 6 12 30 36 −6 30
13 Essendon Royals 26 8 6 12 32 37 −5 29*
14 Frankston Pines 26 6 5 15 23 45 −22 23

South Melbourne defeated Altona Magic 1-0 in the grand final at Bob Jane Stadium. Sunshine George Cross and Frankston Pines were relegated. However, a post season appeal to the tribunal by Sunshine saw the Essendon Royals deducted 1 point for fielding an ineligible player (owing to an administrative error by the FFV). With the possibility of further appeals and legal action delaying the release of fixtures and even the start of the next season, the FFV decided to keep both Sunshine and Essendon in the VPL, and add a team from the Australian Institute of Sport (who had previously competed in the 1987 competition, though their games didn't count for points) in order to avoid having a bye.

Champions

Clubs participating - 1963-2007

References

  1. ^ "Making a V-line for success". 2006-01-12.
  2. ^ http://www.footballfedvic.com/storyview.php?id=943

Official site
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