Hume Football League

Hume Football League
General Information
Founded 1933
Current clubs Billabong Crows
Brocklesby-Burrumbuttock
CDHBU
Culcairn
Henty
Holbrook
Howlong
Jindera
Lockhart
Osborne
Rand Walbundrie
Walla Walla
2008 Season
Premiers Jindera
Minor Premiers Osborne
Wooden spoon Henty
Best & Fairest (Azzi Medal) Graham Fruean Culcairn
Leading Goalkicker Mark Hilton Jindera 112

The Hume Football League is an Australian rules football competition in the southern Riverina region of New South Wales, with clubs coming from a number of farming communities. Some players also come from the city of Albury, which is at the south of the area covered by the league. The name refers to the Hume Shire, which was the local government body covering much of the region, and the explorer Hamilton Hume.

Currently a home and away season consisting of eighteen rounds is played. The best six teams then play off according to the McIntyre System, culminating in a Grand Final, the current venue of which is the Walbundrie Showgrounds in Walbundrie. The league best and fairest player award is called the Azzi Medal, named after the late Kelly Azzi, an administrator from the Balldale club.

Contents

History

Prior to the formation of the Hume FL, various football associations and leagues had been organised in the southern Riverina area since the late 19th century, including the Central Hume League, the Albury and District Football League and the Riverina Football Association. The latter was organised in the 1920s 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, horses still being prevalent in the area.

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 League. 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 League, which was dissolved.

The league's roster was relatively unstable in early years as clubs transferred from one local league to another, or formed or disbanded.

Post-war

The league reconvened in 1945 towards the end of the war with the following clubs: Balldale, Brocklesby, Rand, Walbundrie, 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, Boree Creek (of Tim Fischer fame) joined from the Coreen FL and Osborne joined from the Central Riverina FL (the precursor to the Riverina Football League). At this point the competition had ten teams.

In 1974 Balldale moved to the Coreen FL, causing a bye. In 1975 Lavington fielded a team in the Hume FL, in addition to the Tallangatta FL, for two years. In 1976 a reserves competition was introduced and Boree Creek moved back to the Coreen FL. After two seasons, the Lavington side moved to the Farrer FL in 1977 (to later join the Ovens & Murray FL 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 FL in 1980, and Lockhart joined in 1982, both from the Farrer FL. Rand moved to the Coreen League in 1983. Culcairn and Holbrook joined the league from the Tallangatta & District Football League in 1992 and 1998 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 League, most of its teams were moved to the Hume League bringing the number to fifteen for the 2008 season, these were Billabong Crows (a merger of the former Urana and Oaklands clubs), Coleambally, 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.[1]

Rennie moved to the Picola & District Football League in 2009

Coleambally moved to the Farrer Football League for the 2011 season.

Current clubs

Club Nickname Guernsey colours Years in HFL[2] HFL Premierships[3]
Billabong Crows
(Urana/Oaklands)		 Crows 2008- -
Brocklesby Burrumbuttock Saints 2006-
(Merger)		 -
Coreen Daysdale Hopefield Buraja United (CDHBU) Power 2008- -
Culcairn Lions 1992- 1993, 2007
Henty Swampies 1980- 1984, 1986, 1990, 1996
Holbrook Brookers 1998- 2004
Howlong Spiders 1954- 1954, 1971, 1977, 1997, 2002, 2010
Jindera Bulldogs 1933- 1946, 1955-56-57, 1960-61, 1963-64, 1975, 2008
Lockhart Demons 1982- 1982, 2003
Murray Magpies Magpies 2008- -
Osborne Cats 1970- 1985, 1991-92, 1994-95, 1998-99-2000-01, 2005-06, 2009
Rand Walbundrie Tigers 2006-
(Merger)		 -
Walla Walla Hoppers 1935- 1948, 1953, 1959, 1965-66, 1970, 1973-74, 1976, 1980-81, 1983, 1987

Notable players

A number of notable AFL players began playing football in their youth with clubs in the Hume League. These include Justin Koschitzke, who played with Brocklesby before being selected in the Murray Bushrangers TAC Cup side and then was drafted by St Kilda in 2001, and Adam Schneider who played with Osborne and the NSW-ACT Rams TAC Cup side before being drafted by the Sydney Swans, where he was a part of their 2005 premiership winning side. Sam Rowe played with Walla Walla and the Murray Bushrangers before being rookie-listed by Sydney, and later drafted by Carlton.

2008 Ladder

[4]

Hume FL Wins Byes Losses Draws For Against % Pts
Culcairn 17 2 1 0 2312 1006 229.82% 68
Osborne 16 2 2 0 2433 822 295.99% 64
Jindera 16 2 2 0 2611 948 275.42% 64
Howlong 13 2 5 0 1592 1282 124.18% 52
Holbrook 12 2 6 0 2042 1283 159.16% 48
Lockhart 11 2 7 0 1840 1412 130.31% 44
Billabong Crows 10 2 8 0 1657 1587 104.41% 40
Walla Walla 10 2 8 0 1753 1695 103.42% 40
Coleambally 10 2 8 0 1570 1643 95.56% 40
CDHB United 7 2 11 0 1744 1688 103.32% 28
Rennie 5 2 13 0 1426 2253 63.29% 20
RW Tigers 4 2 14 0 1303 2035 64.03% 16
BB Saints 2 2 16 0 905 2410 37.55% 8
Henty 1 2 17 0 1073 2285 46.96% 4
Murray Magpies 1 2 17 0 931 2853 32.63% 4

FINALS

Final Team G B Pts Team G B Pts
Elimination Jindera 25 9 159 Lockhart 6 5 41
Elimination Holbrook 3 13 31 Howlong 1 2 8
1st Semi Jindera 29 13 187 Holbrook 3 8 26
2nd Semi Osborne 14 10 94 Culcairn 13 13 91
Preliminary Jindera 15 15 105 Culcairn 11 8 74
Grand Jindera 20 11 131 Osborne 12 8 80

2009 Ladder

Hume FL Wins Byes Losses Draws For Against % Pts
Osborne 16 0 2 0 2145 969 221.36% 64
Jindera 15 0 3 0 2340 1127 207.63% 60
Culcairn 15 0 3 0 2190 1164 188.14% 60
RW Tigers 14 0 4 0 1782 1123 158.68% 56
Lockhart 12 0 6 0 1701 1378 123.44% 48
Howlong 11 0 7 0 1835 1458 125.86% 44
Holbrook 7 0 10 1 1353 1689 80.11% 30
BB Saints 7 0 11 0 1434 1860 77.10% 28
Walla Walla 7 0 11 0 1174 1752 67.01% 28
Henty 6 0 11 1 1284 1754 73.20% 26
CDHB United 6 0 12 0 1265 1770 71.47% 24
Coleambally 5 0 13 0 1445 1633 88.49% 20
Murray Magpies 2 0 16 0 1103 2112 52.23% 8
Billabong Crows 2 0 16 0 1054 2316 45.51% 8

FINALS

Final Team G B Pts Team G B Pts
Elimination Culcairns 18 13 121 Howlong 9 6 60
Elimination Lockhart 16 10 106 RW Tigers 15 14 104
1st Semi Culcairns 11 9 75 Lockhart 9 12 66
2nd Semi Osborne 26 10 166 Jindera 12 7 79
Preliminary Jindera 13 11 89 Culcairns 12 11 83
Grand Osborne 15 16 106 Jindera 9 14 68

2010 Ladder

Hume FL Wins Byes Losses Draws For Against % Pts
Howlong 17 0 1 0 1940 1096 177.01% 68
BB Saints 15 0 3 0 2081 930 223.76% 60
Culcairn 15 0 3 0 2009 1175 170.98% 60
Jindera 13 0 5 0 1795 1028 174.61% 52
Murray Magpies 13 0 5 0 1638 1334 122.79% 52
Osborne 11 0 7 0 1748 1185 147.51% 44
RW Tigers 11 0 7 0 1670 1242 134.46% 44
Henty 9 0 9 0 1336 1166 114.58% 36
Coleambally 7 0 11 0 1363 1414 96.39% 28
Holbrook 4 0 13 1 1095 1473 74.34% 18
Lockhart 4 0 13 1 1111 1849 60.09% 18
Billabong Crows 3 0 15 0 1047 2039 51.35% 12
Walla Walla 2 0 16 0 736 2157 34.12% 8
CDHB United 1 0 17 0 726 2207 32.90% 4

FINALS

Final Team G B Pts Team G B Pts
Elimination Culcairns 14 17 101 Osborne 13 6 84
Elimination BB Saints 15 10 100 Howlong 10 12 72
1st Semi Culcairns 12 10 82 Jindera 4 4 28
2nd Semi Howlong 11 8 74 BB Saints 6 6 42
Preliminary Culcairns 17 8 110 BB Saints 12 8 80
Grand Howlong 15 7 97 Culcairns 10 9 69

2011 Ladder

Hume FL Wins Byes Losses Draws For Against % Pts
Culcairn 17 2 1 0 2051 945 217.04% 68
Holbrook 15 2 3 0 2072 1067 194.19% 60
Jindera 14 2 4 0 2041 1165 175.19% 56
BB Saints 12 2 6 0 1590 1486 107.00% 48
Howlong 12 2 6 0 1674 1623 103.14% 48
Henty 10 2 8 0 1718 1376 124.85% 40
Lockhart 10 2 8 0 1633 1451 112.54% 40
RW Tigers 9 2 9 0 1818 1748 104.00% 36
Osborne 7 2 11 0 1531 1534 99.80% 28
Billabong Crows 6 2 12 0 1480 1834 80.70% 24
Murray Magpies 3 2 15 0 1450 2078 69.78% 12
CDHB United 2 2 16 0 980 2172 45.12% 8
Walla Walla 0 2 18 0 825 2384 34.61% 0

FINALS

Final Team G B Pts Team G B Pts
Elimination Jindera 14 15 99 Henty 14 8 92
Elimination BB Saints 15 10 100 Howlong 11 12 78
1st Semi Jindera 12 17 89 BB Saints 7 9 51
2nd Semi Holbrook 10 12 72 Culcairn 7 7 49
Preliminary Jindera 14 7 91 Culcairn 10 11 71
Grand Jindera 16 14 110 Holbrook 12 8 80

Former Clubs

See also

References

  1. ^ Kohlhagen, Brett (2008-07-23). "Hume Split". The Border Mail (Fairfax Media). http://bordermail.yourguide.com.au/news/local/sport/afl/hume-split/1174506.aspx. Retrieved 2008-07-29. 
  2. ^ Footypedia - Hume Football League
  3. ^ HFL History
  4. ^ http://www.countryfootyscores.com/cms/index.php/Hume-senladder.html

Sources

External links

Governing Body
AFL clubs
NEAFL clubs
Metropolitan leagues
Regional leagues
Women's leagues
Principal venues