As a result, wealthy Victorian clubs were scouting the country far and wide for new talent to gain an advantage in the sport's premier competition.
The Rebels were formed as the only Victorian club to participate in the inaugural season of the domestic championship, starting in August 2007.
This store does not make you think of a Victorian club in England.
However, several Victorian clubs were in severe financial difficulties, most notably Fitzroy and Hawthorn.
A decade later, merger and relocation talks amongst Victorian clubs continue.
The Hawks have since become the first Victorian club to achieve 50,000 members, which occurred in the 2009 season.
A player is eligible if their father played 100 or more senior games for the Victorian clubs.
In addition, the established Victorian clubs maintained sole recruitment options on players from the relevant Metropolitan and, for the last time, Country Zones.
In the late 1980s, due to the poor financial standing of many of the Victorian clubs, the VFL pursued a more national competition.
The Melbourne football rules were widely distributed and gradually adopted by the other Victorian clubs.