Australian Dodgeball League

The Australian Dodgeball Championships (ADC) is an elite level annual dodgeball championship in Australia, founded in 2015. Qualifying teams from each state league attend the championship, the foremost of these being the Victorian Dodgeball League, the South Australian Dodgeball League, and the New South Wales Dodgeball League. These state leagues, as well as recognised teams from other developing states, come together at the end of each season, with the top three teams qualifying across the Foam and Cloth formats, and the Men's, Women's, and Mixed categories.

The Australian Dodgeball Championships were formed in 2015. The league is currently played across two states, Victoria (VDL) and New South Wales (NSWDL). The opening season of the Victorian League features 23 teams that played in the regular league, and the New South Wales League had 8 entrants.

Australian Dodgeball Championships are held in central venues, where the game day matches are played, rather than the traditional home and away venues that other sports may operate with. The Victoria Dodgeball League holds game days at the Melbourne State Netball & Hockey Centre,^[1] and the New South Wales League holds game days at the Fairfield Youth & Community Centre.^[2]

During a season, each club plays every other club once. Teams receive two points for a win and one point for a draw. No points are awarded for a loss.^[3] Teams are ranked by total points, then point difference. The top two teams from each state level competition then proceed to the Australian Dodgeball Championships, where the top teams from across Australia play-off in an elimination format for the title of Australian Dodgeball Champions.

Once the regular season has been played across the states and the competitive tables have been finalised, the top two teams from each state league enter the championship rounds. The top team from each league enters as the first seed and plays against the bracketed second seed.

The Round of 16 is the opening round of the championship competition, with state seeding set between states with close proximity. Once the Round of 16 is over, states can play against teams from their own competition, depending on results.

The Australian Dodgeball Championships have created their own National Dodgeball League rules for professional dodgeball competition.

Due to the size and scope of dodgeball in Australia, the early seasons of the Australian Dodgeball Championships were focused on Victoria and, to a lesser extent, New South Wales. This dominance, and the ability to draw on talent for all the teams due to the interest and investment in the sport, meant that Victorian champions were often the favourites for the Championship titles, and those that followed the Victorian leagues developed a rivalry with the biggest challenger for their titles, the New South Wales clubs.

This dominance is in the process of waning; however, Victorian teams are still counted among the most dominant in the country, and as more teams are founded and develop, the influence of Victorians on the sport may come to lessen in the coming years.

Much like Australian state rivalries in rugby league and cricket, Victoria and New South Wales developed a grudge with each other, often focused around their meetings outside of the season, and in the Championship Rounds. Although movements between the leagues were common, games between Victorians and New South Welshmen developed a stigma as close, tight-fought matches.

Between the organizers of the two state leagues, the VDL and the NSWDL, there are current talks to hold a competition similar to rugby league's State of Origin series, where Victoria and New South Wales will put forward their best ten players each to compete in a Best of 3 series to determine the more dominant state.

• Official website
• Australian Dodgeball League on Facebook