Historical information

Volleyball has been played in regional Victoria since the early-1960’s. During those early days, most competitions, like the founders of our great sport, were run by, or in conjunction with, the YMCA.

Competitions were running at the Ballarat School of Mines and the YMCA’s of Bendigo, Geelong and Warrnambool. In August 1966, an invitation was extended by the Victorian Amateur Volleyball Association to play in the first State-wide event at Monash University. Geelong and Bendigo accepted the invitation with Melbourne represented by Sisu.

For Bendigo players at least, this was the first exposure to ‘international rules’, which prevented upward scoops with open hands, introduced an action called a ‘dig’ and seemed to penalise most overhead actions using the fingers as ‘double hits’!

Over the next few years, the sport expanded through the YMCA movement with weekly competitions starting up in Ararat, Warrnambool and Latrobe Valley. The Victorian Regional Council of YMCA’s proposed the first Victorian YMCA Championship in Warrnambool on 30th March 1968 with an entry fee of $4.00 per team.

The sport continued to grow with additional regional associations affiliating with the Victorian Amateur Volleyball Association (now VVI) who provided the coaching and refereeing assistance needed to raise the standard of play. In 1970, the YMCA Championships started to give way to the Victorian Country Championships with the first ever event held in Bendigo.

In 1973, a re-organisation of the VAVA saw the proposal to create separate Victorian Country and Metropolitan Volleyball Councils. The VCVC was established in 1974 and took over the organisation of the Victorian Country Championships.

For the next 10-12 years, the Country Championships grew in stature with the inclusion of two divisions for open men and women and junior divisions for boys and girls. Representative teams successfully contested Australian Country Championships between Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales on several occasions.

In October 1985, the VCVC voluntarily wound up the Council and handed the responsibility for the Country Championships back to Volleyball Victoria, who by that time had full-time State Executive and Coaching Directors.

Since that time, the Long Weekend in June has continued to be the date of the major annual volleyball event for most regional associations, even though in 1986 the Junior Country Championships were wound up in favour of state and national schools events. A number of regional associations have ceased to exist, as have a number of regional tournaments. Regional leagues were created in both the Gippsland and Central, North-West regions, with Gippsland the only one to survive. Some associations have successfully competed in the State League competitions at various times.

Following the experience gained by a number of regional administrators working on the Sydney Olympic Games, a proposal to revamp the Victorian Country Championship was put to VVI in early 2002. Later that year, the Volleyball Victoria Country Championships Commission was formed to implement the recommendations of the review and take control of the event into the future.

These championships now provide regional players and officials an opportunity to participate in a consistently well-managed event, using many international protocols and a high standard of presentation.

Without doubt, this event now ranks as one of the best volleyball events in Australia.

Source: 2022 Country Championship regulations

The management of the Country Championships by the Victorian Country Championship Commission certainly achieved the objective of raising the standard of presentation, and delivering a consistently high quality event. However, the demands on Host Associations began to take their toll, with several Associations declining the opportunity to host the event due to the high workload. Similarly, the workload of the volunteer Commissioners also took its toll, with the Commission unable to fill casual vacancies. In 2023, the Commission handed the organisation of the Championships back to VVI, who with paid staff, were better equipped to manage the event.

Physical description

This item contains Correspondence of the Council in 1984 and reports on the Country Championships for that year; it include. the following documents:

11171.17a Attendance forms for the VCVC two day conference
11171.17b U20 Country Championships Draw and entry information
11171.17c U20 Country Championships Draw and entry information (Contact BHS for Information)
11171.17d State U17 Women's trials
11171.17e VCVC Representative Country Sides
11171.17f VCVC Record Secretary Report 1984
11171.17g VCVC Country Representative U20s side
11171.17h U15 Australian Volleyball Championships Sept 1984 Report
11171.17i A guide to state team management by John Barker VAVA
11171.17j VAVA Financial statements and records
11171.17k Tribunal section of the By-laws
11171.17l VAVA u17 Women's State team selection trials
11171.17m VAVA Red Wine Promotion
11171.17n VAVA Victorian U15 Girls selection trials
11171.17o VAVA National Volleyball League womens draw
11171.17p Australian Volleyball Federation Country Championship Entry Form
11171.17q Executive Director's 1984 Annual report
11171.17r VAVA Notices of Meetings and Financials Jan 1984
11171.17s VAVA Executive Meeting Minutes Feb 1984
11171.17t VAVA Executive Meeting and AGM Minutes March 1984
11171.17u VAVA Executive Meeting April 1984
11171.17v VAVA Executive Meeting May 1984
11171.17w VAVA Executive Meeting June 1984
11171.17x Notice of VAVA Executive Meeting May1984
11171.17y VAVA Executive Officer Bob Rowe report - "planning for the future"
11171.17z VAVA Executive Meeting July 1984
11171.17aa VAVA Executive Meeting Aug 1984
11171.17ab VAVA Executive Meeting Financial Statement Sept 1984
11171.17ac VAVA Executive Meeting Sept 1984
11171.17ad VAVA Executive Meeting Notice Oct 1984
11171.17ae VAVA Special General Meeting Notice Oct 1984
11171.17af VAVA Suspension of a player Sept 1984 - contact BHS for details
11171.17ag VAVA Coaching Commission Appointment of Regional Coaches