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.

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

BFL Women's

Junior-only clubs

Former clubs

Football Premiers

Source

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 Imperial Football Club when they won six consecutive premierships between 1891 and 1896 and were runners up in 1897 and 1898. 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.

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. The Ballarat FNL netball competition commenced in ?. 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 -

Netball - Premiers

Football Ladders

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