The
Victorian State Football League (VFSL) had operated two open-age senior competitions during the 1990s: the VFL, which it took control of in
1995, and the
AFL reserves, which it had operated since
1992. The AFL Reserves competition was contested by the
reserves teams of eleven
Australian Football League clubs: those of the ten Victorian clubs and that of the
Sydney Swans. The VSFL had intended to merge the two into a single competition which would serve as an AFL reserves competition, a state-level senior competition and a development pathway from the 1995 season; however there was such significant opposition from the AFL clubs against abolishing their dedicated reserves competition that they had threatened to use their power to sack the
AFL Commission over the changes.Consequently, the two competitions had run in parallel between 1995 and 1999. Prior to the 1998 season, the AFL again announced plans to amalgamate the VFL and the AFL reserves into a single competition, giving the clubs two years to make arrangements before the combined competition was to begin from the 2000 season. Although most of the AFL clubs were still opposed to the changes, on this occasion they accepted them. Under the new arrangement, AFL clubs were given two options: they could continue to operate their own reserves teams, fielding them in the VFL; or, they could enter a
reserves affiliation with one or more existing VFL clubs. Under the affiliation structure, listed players who were not selected in the senior AFL team would be made available to play for their affiliated VFL club; the VFL club would then make up the balance of the team from its own playing list.
Affiliations and league membership changes Under the new arrangement, four AFL clubs entered into affiliations with existing VFL clubs. These were: This left six Victorian AFL clubs, all of which entered their reserves teams directly into the VFL. These were:
Carlton,
Collingwood,
Essendon,
Geelong,
Richmond and
St Kilda.
Other changes After four years, the merger between
Preston Bullants senior club and the
Northern Knights TAC Cup club was terminated, and the two clubs returned to being separate entities. The senior club, which had competed as the Preston Knights since 1996, became known as the
Northern Bullants, and it returned to the red and white colours that it had worn prior to 1996. With the increased size of the league, the finals were expanded from five clubs to eight clubs. The VFL adopted the same
final eight system which was adopted by the AFL in the same season, replacing the McIntyre Final Five which had been in use since 1989. The Victorian State Football League was superseded by a newly established body,
Football Victoria, which administered the league.
Summary As a result of this large suite of changes, the size of the VFL grew from eleven to eighteen clubs, the largest it had been since 1987. The size of the competition during the 2000 season set a new record as the largest to contest the premiership in a single division in VFA/VFL history, a mark which stood until 2021. The clubs were:
Stand alone VFL •
Bendigo •
Coburg-Fitzroy •
Frankston •
North Ballarat •
Northern Bullants •
Springvale AFL reserves teams •
Carlton •
Collingwood •
Essendon •
Geelong •
Richmond •
St Kilda AFL reserves affiliated •
Box Hill () •
Murray Kangaroos () •
Port Melbourne () •
Sandringham () •
Werribee () •
Williamstown () ==Ladder==