| ||||||
| Team information | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicknames | The Big V The Vics | |||||
| Governing body | Australian Football League Victorian Football League | |||||
| Home stadium | Melbourne Cricket Ground | |||||
| First game | ||||||
 Victoria 7–0 South Australia  1879 | ||||||
The Victoria Australian rules football team, known colloquially as the Big V, is the state representative side of Victoria, Australia, in the sport of Australian rules football.
The Big V has a proud history, dominating the first 100 years of intercolonial-interstate football.[1] After the change to State of Origin rules, the results with the other main Australian football states became more even.
Victoria has a long and intense rivalry with South Australia and Western Australia.[2] The Victorian and South Australian rivalry was characterised by the catchcry in South Australia called "Kick a Vic", and fans would bring signs of the cry to the games.[3] Some of the games between Victoria, South Australia, and Western Australia in the 1980s and 1990s have been regarded as some of the greatest games in the history of Australian football.[4] Victoria's last appearance against another state at open level was in 1999 when it defeated South Australia.
Since the AFL Commission ended representative football in 1999, the Big V has seldom appeared at senior level. In 1989, the AFL split Victoria into two representative teams for junior matches: Vic Metro and Vic Country (Vic Metro being the strongest of the two). The team has been reassembled for special occasions, including the AFL Hall of Fame Tribute Match in 2008 and special charity events such as the State of Origin for Bushfire Relief Match in 2020 winning both matches.
While the Big V no longer regularly appears, Victoria continues to be regularly represented at junior (underage national championships), state league, amateur and masters level (E. J. Whitten Legends Game). The Big V women's team also competed against the Allies as part of the 2017 AFL Women's season.
- ^ "Home of State of origin www.stateoforigin.com.au, Merchandise and more!". Stateoforigin. Archived from the original on 29 February 2016. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
- ^ "Cornes leads SANFL with pride in jumper at forefront". WA Football. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
- ^ SAfootballarchive (6 March 2012), 1988 State of Origin South Australia 15.12.102 d Victoria 6.6.42, archived from the original on 11 March 2016, retrieved 29 February 2016
- ^ "The greatest State of Origin game ever, WA v Victoria '86". The Roar. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 29 February 2016.