Dr Jacob Jona was elected President of Hawthorn Football Club in 1931, a position he held to 1949. Dr Jona was the first, but other Jewish presidents of VFL Clubs in the 1930's were Dr D. Berman of North Melbourne; Reuben Sackville of St Kilda, Ewart Joseph of Fitzroy. In recent years the VFL league has become the national AFL League, with Hawthorn one of the (current) 16 teams.