Phil Cleary calls for name change to recognise the historic VFA
Coburg great Phil Cleary says the VFA should never have been renamed the VFL — and he says it’s time for the AFL to bring it back and reclaim Victorian football history.
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Bring back the VFA!
Coburg legend Phil Cleary says it’s time for Victorian football to reclaim its history and change the name of the state league from the Victorian Football League to the Victorian Football Association.
Cleary was one of the VFA’s most recognisable players in the 1970s and ‘80s and went on to serve in federal parliament.
With moves underway to establish a VFA hall of fame, Cleary said the AFL, which administers the VFL, must consider changing the name of the competition back to the VFA.
He said the VFA was the first football competition established in Victoria (in 1877) and much of historical significance was lost when it was rebadged the Victorian State Football League and then the VFL in the 1990s.
“I’ve said hundreds of times that it should never have happened,’’ Cleary said.
“We have to go back to what it was, to properly recognise football’s history, not just the VFA’s history.
“They gave the competition the name of its great rival, the VFL. Then secondly they seemed to lose track of the fact that the competition was the first of real significance and boasted teams such as Collingwood and Geelong. So in a way they destroyed the very history of the VFA-AFL clubs.’’
Cleary said the switch created confusion by embracing the name VFL, which became the AFL in 1990.
He said Barry Round was the best example of it.
“He’s a VFL and VFA legend, a Brownlow Medalist. But he wasn’t a VFL premiership player. He was a VFA premiership player and premiership captain-coach (at Williamstown),’’ he said.
“But you’ve got this stupidity now where Barry Round has VFA/VFL next to his name and he’s referred to as a VFL premiership player when he was in fact a VFA premiership player.
“The confusion over historical records and player records is madness. No historian in the land could support what they’ve done.’’
Cleary said the VFA had a “grand history’’ and many great players had featured in.
He said the old association had been “subsumed, and now you’ve can’t even talk about it properly’’.
Cleary said he had spoken to Geelong president Colin Carter over the issue after Carter said last year that premierships won during the club’s time in the VFA should be added to official records.
He said he stressed to Carter that it was about embracing the VFA, not only the flags.
“I said, ‘Rather than talk about the foundation years, record them as the VFA years’ … and then rename the Victorian Football League the VFA, which is what it really is.
“I think it’s every chance to happen.’’
Cleary, who played more than 200 games for Coburg and coached it to the 1988-89 premierships, confirmed he had been asked by historian Darren Arthur to be involved in the proposed VFA hall of fame.
He said recognition for the association’s great players was long overdue.
Western Bulldogs historian Arthur has been given AFL approval to present a submission for the hall of fame.
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