1996 VFL season
| 1996 VFL Premiership Season | |
|---|---|
| Teams | 11 |
| Premiers |
Springvale (3rd premiership) |
| Minor premiers |
Frankston (1st minor premiership) |
|
1997 →
|
|
The 1996 Victorian Football League season was the 115th overall season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won for the second consecutive season by the Springvale Football Club, after it defeated Frankston in the Grand Final on 22 September by three points; it was the third premiership won by the club.
The 1996 season was first season in which the competition was known as the Victorian Football League, after having previously been known as the Victorian Football Association; although it was the second season contested after the Victorian Football Association's board of management was dissolved and administration of the competition was turned over to the Victorian State Football League. Under the VSFL, the competition was restructured as a state league to serve as a supporting and developmental competition for the Victorian clubs in the Australian Football League; as part of this transition, the league began a new expansion into regional Victoria from this season.
At the end of the 1994 season, the administration of the former Victorian Football Association was merged into the Victorian State Football League – an administrative body which administered football in Victoria and served as the Australian Football League's Victorian arm. The VSFL intended to transform the VFA into a state-level football league which could serve as a developmental and minor grade system for Victoria's AFL teams, in the same manner that the South Australian National Football League and West Australian Football League supported their AFL teams' interests. Under the VSFL's vision, the state league would comprise:
In 1995, the VSFL began transitioning towards this vision by abolishing the VFA's Under-19s competition and reducing the number of clubs from twelve to nine.
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