Yarra Junior Football League| Formerly | Doncaster & Districts Junior Football League + Hawthorn Districts Junior Football League |
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| Sport | Australian rules football |
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| Founded | 1997 |
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| CEO | Tim Murray |
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| President | Jeff Hooper |
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| No. of teams | 30 |
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| Country |  Australia |
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| Venue(s) | AFL Victoria |
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| Sponsor(s) | Hiredepot, VRGF, TAC, Collingwood FC |
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| Official website | [1] |
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The Yarra Junior Football League (YJFL) is the largest junior Australian rules football league in Australia.[1][2][3] The league has a total of 30 clubs, who are based around northern, eastern and north-eastern Melbourne.[4] There is a total of 66 divisions throughout the league.[5]
History
The Yarra Junior Football League was first formed through the merging of the old Doncaster & Districts and the Hawthorn Districts Junior Football Leagues in 1997.[6] The league began with a total of 4628 registered players. They were spread out between 180 teams and 25 foundation clubs.[7] Since then, the number of players is over double the original number, with 10,614 players participating in 2019. It has also grown to 508 teams between 30 clubs, as per data gathered in 2019.[8]
In 2000, the Heidelberg Tigers moved into the YJFL after a major club reform. Over the next ten years, 5 teams joined the league, those teams being the Preston Bullants in 2001, the North Brunswick Giants in 2005 (at that time known as the 'Bulls'), the Parkside Devils and certain divisions from the Ashburton Redbacks in 2006, the Boroondara Hawks and the rest of the divisions from the Ashburton Redbacks in 2008, and the Brunswick Dragons in 2010.
In 2011, the first Youth Girls divisions were launched, with some teams given the support of the AFL.[9]
In 2015 and 2016, the league witnessed spikes in growth after they introduced an Under 8s competition and the new South Yarra Junior Football Club.
In January 2020, the presidents from the former Greythorn Falcons and Balwyn Tigers decided to merge their clubs into the Balwyn Greythorn Jets Junior Football Club, to create a more powerful club, as they were already located very close together.[10]
Beginnings
The first girls division was introduced in the 2011 season as a 'Youth Girls' (under 18) division, which had a total of 10 teams participating.[11] This division also included teams from other leagues that did not have any girls-only divisions.
In 2012 a girls under 12 division was formed, with 5 clubs fielding teams in the division. The 'Youth Girls' division grew to a total of 12 teams, up two from the year before.[12] One year later, an under 14 girls division was formed to help bridge the gap between the Youth Girls and under 12 girls divisions. It had a total of 4 teams participating in its first year.[13] The number of teams in these divisions nearly doubled in 2014, rising from 17 to 31.[14]
Present
After only 10 teams in the first year of female-only teams in the Yarra Junior Football League, the total spiked to 122 female-only teams in 2019. There were 2810 female players in the league in 2019, which meant that female-players made up just over a quarter of all players in the league.[15] There are now eight female divisions: Under 10 Girls, Under 11 Girls, Under 12 Girls, Under 13 Girls, Under 14 Girls, Under 15 Girls, Under 16 Girls and the Youth Girls.[16]
North East Link Controversy
The Yarra Junior Football League community rallied against the controversial North East Link project, due to the removal of their headquarters, which was in the path of the proposed road.[17] The North East Link Authority proposed a new headquarters location at Ford Park, Ivanhoe, but met resistance from the league due to worries that Ford Park is too far away for many teams in the league.
Partnership with Collingwood
In early July 2020, it was announced that the Collingwood Football Club would enter a 'Major Community Partnership' with the Yarra Junior Football League. This partnership was formed as a part of an initiative to support grassroots football. Six main projects were announced as part of the partnership, including junior development programs to encourage participation in junior football, sport medical programs and research, fundraising events to raise money, support for talent pathways for junior players through to the elite levels, female football development programs and the development of projects to expand community facilities.[18]
