The council maintained control by forbidding its affiliates from competing in matches against unaffiliated bodies without permission, and with the threat of excluding from the council any leagues, players or clubs who defied its rules. This meant that leagues could face exclusion if they played representative matches against un-affiliated leagues or their clubs without permission. It also meant that players who broke the ANFC's transfer rules by switching to an un-affiliated league without a clearance would be banned from affiliated leagues. Any penalties imposed by the council were inherently valid only within the council-affiliated competitions, and there was nothing to stop a league or player from ignoring council rules and carrying on in an unaffiliated system – and the Victorian Football Association spent much of its history operating in this manner – however, by virtue of the council's size, the number of options for unaffiliated leagues and players was sufficiently small to encourage most competitions to adhere to council rules and remain affiliated.