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 1979 and reports on the Country Championships for that year; it includes the following documents:

11171.18a Letter to Tomas Santamaria re South Australian Country Match
11171.18b VCVC Letter to all associations re Expo Displays
11171.18c Letter to Hamilton Volleyball Association Re South Australia Match
11171.18d To the VCVC Senior Squad Members re availability to compete
11171.18e Notice of AGM Nov 1979
11171.18f Letter to Port Augusta re possible interstate challenge
11171.18g Letter to Hamilton Volleyball Association re affiliation
11171.18h Letter to Bob Kenter Latrobe Valley re resignation form VCVC Presidency
11171.18i To Latrobe Valley Volleyball Association regarding trophies for the country championships
11171.18j To the South Australian Country Volleyball Council re championships
11171.18k Letter from the South Australian Country Volleyball Council
11171.18l Letter re Country Championsips 1979 at Shepparton
11171.18m VAVA Secretary's Report 1979
11171.18n VAVA Annual Statements Oct 1979
11171.18o VAVA Executive Meeting Minutes Sept 1979
11171.18p VAVA AGM Minutes Dec 1979
11171.18q VCVC AGM Minutes Dec 1979
11171.18r VCVC Minutes Nov 1978
11171.18s VCVC Secretary's Report 1978-79
11171.18t VCVC Minutes of General Meeting Wangaratta April 1979
11171.18u VCVC Record Secretary's Report 1979
11171.18v To all Associations re Chinese Volleyball Team Visit
11171.18w To all associations re Country Championship Bonds
11171.18x From Bendigo Volleyball Association re costs for the country championships
11171.18y To all associations re annual player registration update
11171.18z VCVC Financial statement 1978-79
11171.18aa First Victorian v South Australia country Championships Report Dec 1979
11171.18ab Bendigo YMCA Volleyball Association re AGM in Bendigo on Dec 09 1979
11171.18ac Australain Volleyball Federation re changes to the constitution
11171.18ad Submission for Veterans Open tournament 1980
11171.18ae Letter from Seymour Amateur Volleyball re AGM Attendance Nov 1979
11171.18af Australian Volleyball Federation re Grading of referees
11171.18ag Ballarat Amateur Volleyball Association request for the country championships 1980
11171.18ah Australian Volleyball Federation re Sports Development Program 1978-79
11171.18ai Shire of Nathalia re new stadium 1979
11171.18aj Bendigo YMCA Association re taking part in the Sports Expo
11171.18ak VAVA to all associations - copy of the Australian Rule Book
11171.18al Official interpretation of Rule 21
11171.18am Official interpretation of Rule 21
11171.18an Submission for Veterans Open Tournament
11171.18ao Schedule for the Olympic Village Aug 1979
11171.18ap VAVA Sports Assistance Program grants 1979-80
11171.18aq Olympic Supporters Club of Australia Campaign
11171.18ar Letter re State Squad Representatives form VAVA
11171.18as Latrobe Valley Volleyball Association re monies owed from Geelong and Wangaratta
11171.18at Re visit by the Chinese Team
11171.18au Latrobe Valley Volleyball Association re visit by the Chinese Team
11171.18av From South Australian Country Volleyball Confirmation of interstate games
11171.18aw From Hamilton Volleyball re interest in affiliation
11171.18ax From Goulburn Valley Volleyball Report on the 1979 Open Country Championships
11171.18ay Letter from Hamilton Volleyball with registration fee
11171.18az VAVA re State Director of Coaching and Women's State Coach
11171.18aaa VCVC Country Championships Goulburn Valley Report
11171.18aab Wangaratta Volleyball U17 Country Chamionships Report
11171.18aac From Bob Kenter President - letter of resignation April 1979