Ballarat Football League

The Ballarat Football League (BFL) is an Australian rules football competition that operates in the Ballarat region of Victoria.

The competition formed in 1893 as the Ballarat Football Association and was renamed Ballarat Football League in 1908 and was briefly known as the Ballarat-Wimmera Football League between 1934 and 1936.

History
In 1880, a Ballarat and Western Districts Football Association was formed, but it appears no teams were entered or a draw was made up.

Between 1883 and 1892, there was an unofficial Ballarat / Western Districts football competition, with local Ballarat papers recording a list of premierships teams during this period.

The Ballarat Football Association (BFA) was established in 1893 with three member clubs: Ballarat, South Ballarat, and Ballarat Imperial. The latter was the dominant club in the BFA, winning the first premiership in 1893 and eleven premierships between 1893 and 1906. In 1908, the BFA changed its name to the Ballarat Football League (BFL) and Golden Point Football Club joined the competition. Maryborough and Ararat joined in 1924, followed by Daylesford and Bacchus Marsh several years later.

The BFL briefly amalgamated with the four clubs of Wimmera Football League from 1934 to 1936, when it was known as the Ballarat-Wimmera Football League.

The league was restructured into six teams in 1938 when it merged with the Ballarat District Football League, with several club mergers taking place. Ballarat Imperials FC then merged with the East Ballarat FC and played as Ballarat Imperials, finishing runner up to Sebastopol. Ballarat FC and North Ballarat FC also merged in 1938, to represent the "Lake Ward" of the new football competition.

Sebastopol played in the Clunes Football Association in 1939 and Ballarat CYMS teams pulled out of the Ballarat FL in 1939. The Ballarat Imperials went into recess just prior to the start of the 1939 Ballarat District Football League season.

World War II brought Redan Football Club and the RAAF and Army teams into the league.

The Henderson Medal is the league's seasonal best and fairest award. It was established in 1954 in honour of W. L. Henderson, who served as President from 1943 to 1959.

The BFL is now known as the Ballarat Football Netball League (BNFL), and consists of eleven football netball clubs and nine junior football netball clubs. In 2023, the Herald Sun dubbed North Ballarat Football Club "country footy’s most dominant club over the last several decades"; the club had played in the Victorian Football League and the Bendigo Football Netball League before rejoining the BNFL in 2006.


 * Competition Timeline
 * 1880 - Ballarat and Western Districts Football Association
 * 1883 - 1892: Unofficial Ballarat / Western Districts Football Competition
 * 1893 - 1907: Ballarat Football Association
 * 1908 - 1914: Ballarat Football League
 * 1915 - 1918: In recess due to World War One
 * 1919 - 1933: Ballarat Football League
 * 1934 - 1936: Ballarat - Wimmera Football League
 * 1937 - Ballarat Football League
 * 1938 - 1940: Ballarat District Football League
 * 1941: In recess due to World War Two
 * 1942 - 2019: Ballarat Football League
 * 2020: In recess due to COVID-19
 * 2021 - 2024: Ballarat Football League

Overview
The league features 11 senior clubs. The BFL is a strong league for grass roots football with 9 junior clubs consisting of 63 teams from U/10 through to U/16.5 (Ballarat, Bacchus Marsh, Darley, East Ballarat, Lake Wendouree, Mount Clear, North Ballarat, Redan and Sebastopol).

The Ballarat Football League season normally commences in early April with the regular season matches finishing in late August.

Upon Daylesford's withdrawal from the competition at the end of the 2005 season competing clubs played the opposition clubs twice in the regular season, once at home, once away. This reverted upon North City's admission to the competition in 2008.

The finals series is conducted in September with the Grand Final to decide the premiers for season having been historically held at the Ballarat City and Eastern Ovals. The match attracts crowds of 5000 to 9000 people, with notable attendances of 14602 at the Ballarat City Oval and 8,800 at the Eastern Oval for the 1949 and 1977 Grand Finals respectively.

In 2017, the BFL announced that from 2017 the Grand Final would be played at Mars Stadium with other finals series games remaining at the Eastern and City Ovals.

Governance
The management of the BFNL is overseen by an independent board of directors. The 2024 chairman is Adrian Bettio.

In 2024, the operations manager is Gemma Murphy, while the general manager is Shane Anwyl, along with two other staff members.

Current clubs



 * Notes

Former clubs

 * Notes

Football Premiers

 * Seniors


 * Ballarat / Western Districts
 * 1883 South Ballarat
 * 1884 Ballarat Imperial
 * 1885 South
 * 1886 South
 * 1887 Ballarat
 * 1888 Ballarat & South tied
 * 1889 Ballarat
 * 1890 Ballarat & Imperial tied
 * 1891 Ballarat Imperial
 * 1892 Ballarat Imperial
 * Ballarat Football Association
 * 1893 Ballarat Imperial
 * 1894 Ballarat Imperial
 * 1895 Ballarat Imperial
 * 1896 Ballarat Imperial
 * 1897 Ballarat
 * 1898 Ballarat
 * 1899 Ballarat Imperial
 * 1900 Ballarat Imperial
 * 1901 Ballarat Imperial
 * 1902 Ballarat Imperial
 * 1903 Ballarat Imperial
 * 1904 South Ballarat
 * 1905 Ballarat Imperial
 * 1906 Ballarat Imperial
 * 1907 South Ballarat
 * Ballarat Football League
 * 1908 Ballarat
 * 1909 South Ballarat
 * 1910 Golden Point
 * 1911 South Ballarat
 * 1912 South Ballarat
 * 1913 South Ballarat
 * 1914 Golden Point
 * 1915–1918 In recess > WW1
 * 1919 Golden Point
 * 1920 Golden Point
 * 1921 Golden Point
 * 1922 Ballarat Imperial
 * 1923 Ballarat
 * 1924 Maryborough
 * 1925 Maryborough
 * 1926 South Ballarat
 * 1927 Maryborough
 * 1928 Ballarat
 * 1929 Ballarat Imperial
 * 1930 Ballarat
 * 1931 Maryborough
 * 1932 Ballarat
 * 1933 Ballarat
 * Ballarat - Wimmera Football League
 * 1934 South Ballarat
 * 1935 Ballarat Imperial
 * 1936 Ballarat Imperial
 * Ballarat Football League
 * 1937 Ballarat Imperial (undefeated)
 * 1938 South Ballarat
 * 1939 Golden Point
 * 1940 Ballarat
 * 1941 In recess > WW2
 * 1942 Ballarat
 * 1943 Ballarat
 * 1944 Ballarat
 * 1945 Golden Point
 * 1946 Redan
 * 1947 Golden Point
 * 1948 Golden Point
 * 1949 East Ballarat
 * 1950 East Ballarat
 * 1951 Ballarat
 * 1952 Redan
 * 1953 Golden Point
 * 1954 Ballarat
 * 1955 Ballarat
 * 1956 Geelong West
 * 1957 Geelong West
 * 1958 Geelong West
 * 1959 Geelong West
 * 1960 Maryborough
 * 1961 Daylesford
 * 1962 Ballarat
 * 1963 North Ballarat
 * 1964 East Ballarat
 * 1965 Maryborough
 * 1966 Golden Point
 * 1967 Golden Point
 * 1968 Maryborough
 * 1969 Beaufort
 * 1970 North Ballarat
 * 1971 Ballarat
 * 1972 Maryborough
 * 1973 North Ballarat
 * 1974 Maryborough
 * 1975 Redan
 * 1976 Redan
 * 1977 Redan
 * 1978 North Ballarat
 * 1979 North Ballarat
 * 1980 Golden Point
 * 1981 Golden Point
 * 1982 North Ballarat
 * 1983 North Ballarat
 * 1984 North Ballarat
 * 1985 North Ballarat
 * 1986 North Ballarat
 * 1987 Golden Point
 * 1988 Ballarat
 * 1989 East Ballarat
 * 1990 East Ballarat
 * 1991 North Ballarat
 * 1992 North Ballarat
 * 1993 East Ballarat
 * 1994 North Ballarat
 * 1995 North Ballarat
 * 1996 North Ballarat
 * 1997 Sunbury
 * 1998 Sunbury
 * 1999 Sunbury
 * 2000 Melton
 * 2001 Melton
 * 2002 Redan
 * 2003 Redan
 * 2004 Sunbury
 * 2005 Melton
 * 2006 Redan
 * 2007 Redan
 * 2008 Ballarat
 * 2009 Redan
 * 2010 Lake Wendouree
 * 2011 Redan
 * 2012 Sunbury
 * 2013 North Ballarat City
 * 2014 North Ballarat City
 * 2015 Darley
 * 2016 Bacchus Marsh
 * 2017 Darley
 * 2018 East Point
 * 2019 East Point
 * 2020 BFNL in recess > COVID-19
 * 2021 Shortened year > COVID-19 Minor Premiers: Nth Ballarat
 * 2022 Melton
 * 2023 Darley

Source


 * Reserves
 * No available records to post?

Football Best & Fairest Awards
The Ballarat FL's initial best and fairest award in senior football was the George McKenzie Memorial Medal, first awarded in 1933, which ran from 1933 to 1937. George McKenzie was captain of Ballarat Imperials when they won six consecutive premierships between 1891 and 1896 and were runners up in 1897 and 1898.
 * Seniors - W L Henderson Medal

In 1938, the award was called the Angus Gold Cup, then the award was not awarded between 1939 and 1945, due to World War Two. The Ballarat FL Gold Medal ran from 1946 to 1953 and match day votes were allocated by the Ballarat Courier newspaper football journalists. The Henderson Medal is the league's current and seasonal best and fairest award and the medal was first named in honour of W. L. "Bill" Henderson in 1954, who served as President from 1943 to 1959. Henderson was a VCFL delegate for 30 years and is a life member of the VCFL and the Ballarat FNL.

In 2010, the Ballarat FNL awarded retrospective best and fairest medals to the following footballers, who originally polled the same number of votes as the winner, but finished second in the award, on the countback system - 1952: Stan Wallis, 1965: Tom Simpson and Lindsay Tucker. It appears that the 1933 runner up, W.T. "Webber" Jackson, of the Ballarat Football Club does not appear on the official BFNL Honourboard as a co-winner and his club and family was not awarded a retrospective best and fairest medal in 2010.

Leading BFL Goalkicker
The BFA leading goal kicking award was initially donated by the former publican of the Union Hotel, Ballarat between 1893 and 1903, Mr. Con Burrow

The BFNL leading goal kicking award was named the Tony Lockett Award in 1988, after the former North Ballarat player, who went onto kick 1360 goals in the AFL between 1983 and 2002, with St.Kilda and the Sydney Swans.


 * Seniors

Netball
There is very little Ballarat Football Netball League netball history, premierships, league best and fairest winners, etc available on the internet to reference back to for inclusion on this page at present.

In 2024, there were 55 senior and 54 junior netball teams across all grades of the BFNL.

As of 2024, the BFNL netball section hosts the following netball competitions -
 * A. Grade, B. Grade, C. Grade, D. Grade & E. Grade
 * 19 & Under
 * 17 & Under Seniors & 17 & Under Reserves
 * 15 & Under Seniors & 15 & Under Reserves
 * 13 & Under Seniors & 13 & Under Reserves
 * 11 & Under Seniors & 11 & Under Reserves
 * 9 & Under

Netball - Premiers

 * A Grade


 * 1993: Sebastopol
 * 1994: ?
 * 1995: ?
 * 1996: ?
 * 1997: ?
 * 1998: ?
 * 1999: ?
 * 2000: ?
 * 2001: ?
 * 2002: ?
 * 2003: ?
 * 2004: ?
 * 2005: ?
 * 2006: ?
 * 2007: ?
 * 2008: ?
 * 2009: ?
 * 2010: ?
 * 2011: ?
 * 2012: ?
 * 2013: Sunbury 58 d North Ballarat 32
 * 2014: Melton 48 d Sunbury 33
 * 2015: North Ballarat 49 d Sunbury 42
 * 2016: East Point 54 d North Ballarat 52
 * 2017: Sunbury 44 d North Ballarat 38
 * 2018: North Ballarat 50 d East Point 42
 * 2019: North Ballarat 48 d East Point 46
 * 2020: BFNL In Recess > COVID-19
 * 2021: Shortened Year > COVID-19 Minor Premiers: North Ballarat
 * 2022: North Ballarat 47 d Darley 34
 * 2023: North Ballarat 40 d Darley 38