The Hume Australian Football Netball League (HFNL), often shortened to Hume Football League, is an Australian rules football and netball competition containing twelve clubs based in the South West Slopes and southern Riverina regions of New South Wales, Australia. The league features four grades in the Australian rules football competition, with these being First-Grade, Reserve-Grade, Under 17s and Under 14s. In the netball competition, there are six grades, with these being A-Grade, B-Grade, C-Grade, C-Reserve Grade, Intermediates and Juniors. Currently, a home and away season consisting of 18 rounds is played. The best six teams then play-off according to the McIntyre system, culminating in the HFL Grand Final, which is traditionally hosted by Walbundrie.

History

Prior to the formation of the Hume Football League, various football associations and leagues had been organised in the southern Riverina area since the late 19th century, including the Hume Football Association (1922 to 1926), the Central Hume Football Association (1928 to 1934), the Albury & District Football League (1930 to 1957) and the Riverina Main Line Football Association. The latter was organised in 1922 amongst clubs in towns that lay on the railway spur from the main Sydney-Melbourne line at Culcairn as far west as Balldale, as in the years pre-World War II, cars were still a relatively uncommon form of transport, with horses still being prevalent in the area. There was an original Hume Football Association that was formed in 1922 and ran from 1922 to 1926 during its short history. Appropriately, it was over concerns about travel times that caused the formation of the Hume Football League. The league was formed in 1933 by Jindera, Lavington, Gerogery and Border United (from Albury), who were disgruntled about the amount of travel required in the existing Central Hume Football Association. Gerogery won the inaugural season, winning the deciding Grand Final against Jindera. In 1934, Border United withdrew after one season to be replaced by Bethanga, and Gerogery won their second premiership in a Grand Final against Lavington. In 1935, Walla Walla, Walbundrie and Burrumbuttock joined from the Central Hume Football Association, which was then dissolved. The league's roster was relatively unstable in early years as clubs transferred from one local league to another, formed or disbanded.

1938 Hume FL Grand Final

The Hume Football League Grand Final was held at Jindera on 3 September 1938. Bethanga's Captain Jack Mortlock and player Jim Stapleton were allegedly felled behind play in the first quarter and sent to hospital. Back then teams only had 19 players with just one interchange player so that left Bethanga with 17 fit players for the remainder of the match. The umpire was apparently threatened and intimidated by the Lavington players so he made no reports during the grand final and they went on to record an easy win. Some of the Lavington players were disgusted with the way some of their teammates behaved and were disillusioned with their victory. "HUME LEAGUE. LAVINGTON PREMIERS. BETHANGA OVERWHELMED IN ROUGH GAME. From start to finish there was only one team in it. Furthermore on various occasions blows were struck, and in one instance, the umpire, who rushed in to stop a melee, was violently thrown aside. Tripping and elbowing, which appeared deliberate, was an order of the day, and only on rare occasions was good and systematic play in evidence. By way of comparison, this match was miles behind the first semi final played on the same ground between Bethanga and Walbundrie the three weeks previously. Lavington won the toss, and with the help of a strong breeze blowing diagonally across the ground soon had Bethanga in difficulties. The side was on the defense throughout the quarter, and failed to score. Opening with several behinds L. O'Connell then kicked two goals, which were followed by a string of seven behinds. Only on one occasion did the ball cross the centerline in Bethanga's favor. Rough and congested play excluded good football, and the game was held up several times in order to quell disturbances caused by pugilistic encounters. At the change Lavington led by 21 points to nil. It was expected that with the wind in its favor, Bethanga would make up the leeway in the second quarter, but supporters were disappointed when Lavington quickly added three goals to their score (T Farley-1 goal, Rowley Gulson-2 goals). Play was again interrupted by fighting and when the goal umpire fell over a boy who got in his road, he was unable to signal the score, and play ceased for about 10 minutes to give way to arguments and explanations. Order being restored, play was resumed and Bethanga seemed to wake up. Wally Butler kicked two goals and several behinds gave them more points. Then the game swerved in Lavingtons favor again, and with the help of 4 behinds and a goal by Jack Livermore, they led by 35 points at half time. Although Bethanga opened the third quarter well, and early scored several points they were for the most part defending desperately and were unable to add further to their tally. Lavington was now definitely on top, and did as it liked. By adding 4 goals (Jack Livermore 2 goals, T Farley, Spud Prater 1 goal each) and eight behinds, they drew away from their opponents, who were beaten in the ruck, in the air, in fact anywhere. The issue was no more in doubt, and the players, realizing that the game was won and lost, managed to keep their ruffled tempers in check. As in the previous quarter Bethanga again scored first in the last term. Wally Butler raised the two flags. Rowley Gulson replied with a sixer, and Tom Barnett gave Bethanga another goal. W. Dawson, T. Farley and L. O'Connell in turn kicked correctly, and Tom Barnett once more gave Bethanga a goal. Three goals by Lavington (Jack Livermore, Spud Prater, Harold McIntosh) made the margin still wider, and large numbers had already left the ground when the final bell proclaimed Lavington premiers of the Hume League for 1938. Match Scores: The Border Morning Mail: Monday 5th September 1938"

Post-War

The league reconvened in 1945 towards the end of the war with the following clubs: Balldale, Brocklesby, Rand, Walbundrie and Walla Walla. As before, the league's membership continued to fluctuate in subsequent years. After the admission of Howlong, the make-up of the league remained stable until 1970 when Boree Creek joined from the Coreen & District Football League and Osborne joined from the Central Riverina Football League (the precursor to the Riverina Football League). At this point the competition had ten teams. Balldale disbanded in February, 1975, causing a bye. In 1975, Lavington fielded a team in the Hume Football League, in addition to the Tallangatta & District Football League, for two years. In 1976, a reserves competition was introduced and Boree Creek moved back to the Coreen & District Football League. After two seasons, the Lavington side moved to the Farrer Football League in 1977 (to later join the Ovens & Murray Football League in 1979), with a new club, East Lavington, taking their place.

Modern Era

Since the 1970s and 1980s, increased mobility has meant that the original motivations behind the league's formation have lessened, and the league has taken in more teams from beyond its original domain, to cover more of the rural area between the regional cities of Albury and Wagga Wagga. Henty joined the Hume Football League in 1980, and Lockhart joined in 1982, both from the Farrer Football League. Rand moved to the Coreen & District Football League in 1983. Culcairn and Holbrook joined the league from the Tallangatta & District Football League in 1992 and 1999 respectively. East Lavington disbanded at the end of 1997. At the same time, economic concerns and the effect of migration from rural areas on the number of participants, leading to difficulties fielding teams, has meant that clubs from smaller neighbouring towns are electing to merge rather than disband completely, thus in 2006 two merged entities competed for the first time, the Brocklesby Burrumbuttock Football Club and the Rand Walbundrie Football Club. In recent years on the playing arena, Osborne has tended to dominate the competition, though the league remains fairly competitive with most clubs providing a challenge. Due to the disbanding of the neighbouring Coreen & District Football League, most of its teams were moved to the Hume Football League, bringing the number to fifteen for the 2008 season; these were Billabong Crows (a merger of the former Urana and Oaklands Football Clubs), Coleambally, Coreen-Daysdale-Hopefield-Buraja United (CDHBU), Murray Magpies and Rennie. Rennie retained the "Hoppers" nickname, sharing it with Walla Walla. With the increasing size of the competition, an initial proposal to split the league into two pools for the 2009 season, organised geographically into western and eastern divisions and possibly including other nearby clubs was tabled in July 2007. This may be considered as part of an overall independent review of Australian football in the Riverina. Rennie moved to the Picola & District Football League in 2009. Coleambally moved to the Farrer Football League in 2011. During the 2015/16 off season both the Walla Hoppers and Rand-Walbundrie Tigers football clubs entered merger talks for 2016 Hume Football League season. Voting for the proposed merger took place on Monday 7 March (2016). Walla Walla Hoppers members voted 100 per cent in favour of the joint venture; while The Rand-Walbundrie Tigers voted 83 per cent in favour. The merged club commenced in 2016 playing home matches at Rand. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic there was no football or netball competitions in 2020 and in 2021 there was only 16 rounds completed, but there was no final series played, once again due to COVID-19.

Current finals system

The HFL & HNA currently uses the "McIntyre system". The final series is played over four weekends, with the grand final traditionally being played on the third Saturday of September. Traditionally since 1976 all finals for both football and netball have been played at the Walbundrie Showground. Since then the only finals to be played elsewhere were the 1989 Grand Final at East Lavington, 2019 Minor Semi-final at Urana Road Oval, 2022 Minor Semi-final at Howlong Sportsground and 2023 Minor Semi-final at Holbrook Sports Complex.

2022 Finals Series

2023 Finals Series

2024 Finals Series

Current clubs

Actual location of all the current Hume FNL clubs.

Former Clubs

Premierships: Football

Seniors

(1954: * Howlong: undefeated. 1972: * Balldale: undefeated. 1984: * Henty: undefeated.)

Reserves

===Hume Junior Football League - 1950 to 1975 (Under 19's) ===

Hume FL Thirds - 1976 to 2024

Fourths

Premiership Table

Notes - As at 30th September 2024

Football - Grand Final Results

The Hume Football League grand final has been played at Walbundrie since 1976. The senior football premiership captain receives the Bert Webb Memorial Trophy, in honour of former Hume FL president from 1959 to 1975. The Hume Football League senior football grand final has presented the Des Kennedy Memorial Medal to the player judged best on ground since 1999. Des Kennedy (OAM) was the Hume FL Secretary / Treasurer from 1962 until his unexpected death in 1992, while serving his 31st consecutive year as secretary. Highest score in a preliminary final was in 1971 - Walbundrie: 29.21 - 195 defeated Jindera: 8.11 - 59.

Best & Fairest / Leading Goalkicker Awards

It appears that there was no best and fairest award in the Hume Football League in 1933, then in 1934, the Hume Football League Patron and Jindera FC delegate, Mr Watson Robinson of the Jindera Hotel donated the best and fairest medal, which was won by Harold McIntosh from the Lavington Football Club. The Loftus (best and fairest) Medal was first awarded in the Central Hume Football Association in 1933 and 1934 and when the Central Hume FA folded after the 1934 season, Mr Richard Vincent Loftus who was the licensee of the Walbundrie Hotel decided to continue to donate the award in 1935 for the first and only time in the Hume Football League. In January 1936, Mr Joseph Nicholas Langtry took over as the licensee of the Walbundrie Hotel and Mr J Langtry (Walbundrie Delegate) offered to donate a medal at the AGM, for the league's best and fairest award. In 1938, Mr. Albert Edward Giddens from the Walbundrie Hotel donated the medal, then in 1939, Mr. Andrew John Lonie who took over the Walbundrie Hotel, donated the best and fairest medal. When Balldale FC re-joined the Hume Football League in 1947, Mr. Kelly Joseph Azzi then donated the best and fairest award medal in the Hume Football League and the award has remained as the Azzi Medal ever since. Mr. Azzi initially donated the Chiltern & District Football Association best and fairest award in 1939 when Mr. Azzi was the Balldale FC Delegate and C&DFA Vice President. Howlong brothers, Peter, Jack and Terry O'Halloran have all won Azzi Medals. In 1991, the Hume FL decided to award retropective Azzi Medals to the following players who also polled the same number of votes as the original winner (tied), but finished second in the award to the player who polled the most three votes, under the old countback system. Matt Seiter polled a record 36 votes in the 2019 Azzi Medal count, eclipsing the previous record of 34 votes, by Howlong's Jack O'Halloran in 1971. Interestingly, O'Halloran won two Ovens & Murray Football League Morris Medals in 1975 and 1976, while Seiter won the Morris Medal in 2016.

Seniors

Reserves

Thirds / Under 17's

Fourths / Under 14's

VFL / AFL Players

The following former Hume FL players have played senior VFL / AFL football and / or been drafted to an AFL team, with the year indicating their VFL / AFL debut.

Club Championships

Hume Netball Association

The Hume NA officially merged with the Hume FL to become the Hume Football / Netball League in 2018.

Hume Netball Association - Best & Fairest Awards

In 2003, the Hume NA best and fairest awards were re-introduced across all grades and an inaugural joint vote count and presentation night was held in conjunction with the Hume Football League. It appears that the initial best and fairest award in the "Hume Basketball Association" may of commenced in 1948 as the Ada Marks Trophy, but unsure of any award winners between 1949 and 2002. Women's basketball was renamed netball in Australia in 1970.

Hall of Fame

The following people have been inducted into the Hume Football League - Hall of Fame.

Life Members

The following people are Hume FL Life Members, rewarded for outstanding service. (Coreen & DFL)

Office Bearers

Sources