AFL reserves

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.[4] 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.[5] 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.[6] For the inaugural season, four existing junior clubs – the Fitzroy Juniors, 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.[5] 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.[7] 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.[8]

In 1925, the competition was renamed as the VFL seconds, later known more commonly as the VFL reserves.[9] Following the change, the seconds clubs still operated as distinct stand-alone clubs at this time, rather than coming directly under the influence of their senior clubs. This changed over the following decades, with all of the seconds teams gradually being subsumed by their senior counterparts.[10][11]

Melbourne won the 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934 and 1935 premierships - the only time in VFL/AFL history (seniors or reserves) that a club has won five grand finals in a row.[12]

Following their Round 1 match in 1989, both St Kilda and Brisbane were found to have fielded unregistered players. As a result, the VFL fined both clubs and ordered that they receive zero premiership points for the match.[13]

Local players were primarily recruited via the league's metropolitan and country zoning rules, and the clubs had full ability to develop its players through its Under-19s and reserves teams: the same basic structure was also used consistently in the other two elite leagues, the SANFL and the WAFL.

After South Melbourne was relocated to Sydney at the end of the 1981 VFL season, the club continued to play in the VFL reserves.[2]

The Brisbane Bears competed for four years between 1989 and 1992, winning their only premiership at any grade in 1991. After the merger with Fitzroy at the end of 1996, the Brisbane Lions did not compete in the competition.

No teams from South Australia or Western Australia ever competed in the VFL/AFL Reserves.

Club	Colours	Moniker	First season	Last season	Total premierships	Years of premierships
							Brisbane		Bears	1989	1992	1	1991
Carlton (Carlton District)		Blues	1919	1999	8	1926, 1927, 1928, 1951, 1953, 1986, 1987, 1990
Coburg		Lions	1921	1924	0
Collingwood (Collingwood District)		Magpies	1919	1999	7	1919, 1920, 1922, 1925, 1940, 1965, 1976
Essendon (Essendon Juniors)		Bombers	1921	1999	8	1921, 1941, 1950, 1952, 1968, 1983, 1992, 1999
Fitzroy		Lions	1919	1996	3	1944, 1974, 1989
Geelong		Cats	1922	1999	13	1923, 1924, 1930, 1937, 1938, 1948, 1960, 1963, 1964, 1975, 1980, 1981, 1982
Hawthorn		Hawks	1925	1999	4	1958, 1959, 1972, 1985
Leopold		Redlegs	1919	1924	0
Melbourne		Demons	1920	1999	12	1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1939, 1949, 1956, 1969, 1970, 1984, 1993
North Melbourne (Kangaroos)		Kangaroos	1925	1999	7	1947, 1957, 1967, 1978, 1979, 1995, 1996
Richmond		Tigers	1919	1999	10	1929, 1946, 1954, 1955, 1966, 1967, 1971, 1973, 1977, 1997
St Kilda (St Kilda District)		Saints	1919	1999	3	1942, 1943, 1961
Sydney (South Melbourne)		Swans	1925	1999	0
University A		Blues	1919	1920	0
University B		Blacks	1919	1919	0
West Melbourne			1919	1920	0
Western Bulldogs (Footscray)		Bulldogs	1925	1999	6	1936, 1945, 1962, 1988, 1994, 1998

A number of notable players competed solely in the reserves competition.

Shane Warne, considered to be one of the greatest bowlers in the history of cricket, played a single game for St Kilda in 1988. He was incorrectly listed in the Record as "Trevor" Warne, and played in the Under-19s for the remainder of the season.[18] Former St Kilda number one ticket holder John Moran also played for the reserves side.[19]

John Bourke, a Collingwood forward, shoved an umpire and then attacked a spectator during a 1985 game, leading to a suspension of ten years, equivalent to 240 matches.[20]

Geelong won the most reserves premierships, with a total of 13.[21] South Melbourne/Sydney was the only VFL club's reserves team never to win a premiership.

• List of VFL/AFL reserves records