Victoria is home to the Cordner–Eggleston Cup, first contested in 1858 and the longest continuously running football competition in the world.

The Melbourne Cricket Ground, with a capacity of 100,024 people, is considered the "spiritual home" of the game, and is contracted to host the sport's largest event, the AFL Grand Final, annually until 2058.

All four of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame Australian Football legends are Victorian: Ron Barassi, Ted Whitten, Bob Skilton and Leigh Matthews.

Harrison, Wills' cousin, was also named, much later, as an official father of the game his role does not, now, seem to have been significant at this very early stage.)

A letter by Wills was published in Bell's Life in Victoria & Sporting Chronicle on 10 July 1858, calling for a "foot-ball club" with a "code of laws" to keep cricketers fit during winter.

A match, played at the Richmond Paddock (later known as Yarra Park next to the MCG) on 31 July 1858, was probably a game of folk football, or one based on unidentified English school rules.

For many years unjustified claims have been made about a football match between Melbourne Grammar School and Scotch College.

[4] This law was reinforced by the Athletic Sports Committee (ASC), which ran a variation of the Challenge Cup in 1865–66.

[6] In 1866, the "first distinctively Victorian rule", the running bounce, was formalised at a meeting of club delegates chaired by H. C. A. Harrison,[7] an influential pioneer who took up football in 1859 at the invitation of Wills, his cousin.

A rift in the VFA led to the formation of the Victorian Football League (VFL), which commenced play in 1897 as an eight-team breakaway of the stronger clubs in the VFA competition: Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Fitzroy, Geelong, Melbourne, St Kilda and South Melbourne.

In the late 1980s, strong interstate interest in the VFL led to a more national competition; two more non-Victorian clubs, the West Coast Eagles and the Brisbane Bears began playing in 1987.

Even the biggest locally grown suburban clubs, elevated into the national league, continue struggle for survival, competing for marketshare.

Fourteen years after South Melbourne's difficulties led them to move to Sydney, similar problems at the Fitzroy Football Club result in a merger, forming the Brisbane Lions.

Many suggestions have been made in response to issues of overcrowding [1] but the AFL has been somewhat reluctant to make a drastic change, due to both the history and supporters' passion for their club – save for the merger of Fitzroy and the Bears.

With a total participation of 223,999, Victoria has a participation rate of around 4% per capita, makes it the equal third most supported state (with Western Australia and South Australia) Australian Football Hall of Fame players with Legend status from Victoria (in order of induction) include: Ron Barassi, Haydn Bunton Sr., Roy Cazaly, John Coleman, Jack Dyer, Bill Hutchison, Leigh Matthews, John Nicholls, Bob Pratt, Dick Reynolds, Bob Skilton, Ted Whitten, Ian Stewart, Gordon Coventry, Kevin Bartlett, Jock McHale, Norm Smith, Kevin Murray, Tony Lockett, Kevin Sheedy and John Kennedy Sr. Victorians represent the vast majority of male Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees.

However, since 1999 they have only played at Under 19 and state league level, with the senior professional team only making a once off appearance in the 2008 AFL Hall of Fame Tribute Match.