Bellarine Football Netball League
Australian sports league
The Bellarine Football Netball League (BFNL) is an Australian rules football and netball competition based in the Bellarine Peninsula region of Victoria, Australia. Established in 1971 as the Bellarine & District Football League, the competition was formed out of the ashes of the Polwarth Football League, which had six of its former teams join.
The competition was renamed the Bellarine Football League in 1986, and finally the Bellarine Football Netball League in 2011 when the local netball competition was administratively aligned with the football competition for the first time. Prior to 2011, netball clubs competed in a competition overseen by the Bellarine District Netball Association.
The BFNL forms part of the second tier of football in the Geelong area, along with the Geelong Football Netball League (GFNL) and the Geelong & District Football League.
In March 2024, following extensive consultation, AFL Barwon detailed a plan for expanding the BFNL to 12 teams from 2025 with a path for a team to accept an invitation for promotion to the GFNL, replacing a club that would then be relegated from the GFNL. However, both Torquay and Geelong Amateur declined the invitation to join the GFNL for the 2026 season, resulting in an 11-team BFNL competition for 2026 due to the inclusion of Surf Coast.
Clubs
Locations
Current clubs
Former clubs
Premiers
Senior football
The winner of the best on ground award is presented with the Josh Finch Medal, named in honour of the Modewarre games record holder who retired at the conclusion of the 2025 season with a record four Les Ash Medals to his name. The award's renaming was announced during the 2025 Ash Medal presentation night.
A Grade netball
Individual awards
Senior football
Les Ash Medal
The Les Ash Medal, named after the late longtime Bellarine football administrator, is presented to the league's best and fairest player at the conclusion of the home-and-away season. It was first named after Ash in 1989; previously it was known simply as the Best and Fairest Medal.
“Bellarine Football Netball League” enters the record as australian sports league. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Bellarine, Football and Netball can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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