Hume Football League

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Hume Football Netball League
General Information
Founded 1933
Current clubs Billabong Crows
Brocklesby-Burrumbuttock
CDHBU
Culcairn
Henty
Holbrook
Howlong
Jindera
Lockhart
Murray Magpies
Osborne
Rand-Walbundrie
Walla Walla
2013 Season
Premiers Brocklesby–Burrumbuttock
Minor Premiers Brocklesby–Burrumbuttock
(16 wins, 2 losses)
Wooden Spoon Murray Magpies
(1 win, 16 losses, 1 draw)

The Hume Football Netball League (HFNL) is an Australian rules football and netball competition containing thirteen 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 20 rounds is played. The best six teams then play-off according to the McIntyre System, culminating in the HFNL 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 Central Hume Football 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.

  • 1936: Wagga Road joined.
  • 1939: Wagga Road and Bethanga left.
  • 1940: Lavington withdrew.
  • 1941–1944: Recess due to World War II.

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.

  • 1946: Gerogery and Jindera reformed and joined, Balldale moved to the Coreen & District Football League.
  • 1947: Balldale returned, Burrumbuttock reformed.
  • 1948: Gerogery disbanded, East Albury Rovers joined.
  • 1949: East Albury Rovers left, North Albury Seconds joined.
  • 1953: North Albury Seconds left, Howlong joined from Chiltern & District Football League.

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.

In 1974 Balldale moved to the Coreen & District Football League, 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 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 & 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.[1]

Rennie moved to the Picola & District Football League in 2009.

Coleambally moved to the Farrer Football League in 2011.

Players

Footballers from the HFL who are currently playing in the AFL include:

Current clubs

Club Nickname Joined[2] Location No. of Premierships Premiership Years[3]
Billabong (Urana-Oaklands) Crows 2008– Urana; Oaklands 0 None
Brocklesby-Burrumbuttock Saints 2006– Brocklesby; Burrumbuttock 1 2013
Coreen-Daysdale-Hopefield-Buraja United (CDHBU) Power 2008– Coreen 0 None
Culcairn Lions 1992– Culcairn 2 1993, 2007
Henty Swampies 1980– Henty 4 1984, 1986, 1990, 1996
Holbrook Brookers 1998– Holbrook 1 2004
Howlong Spiders 1954– Howlong 6 1954, 1971, 1977, 1997, 2002, 2010
Jindera Bulldogs 1933– Jindera 11 1946, 1955-1956-1957, 1960–1961, 1963–1964, 1975, 2008, 2011
Lockhart Demons 1982– Lockhart 2 1982, 2003
Murray Magpies 2008– Urana Road, Albury 0 None
Osborne Cats 1970– Osborne 13 1985, 1991–1992, 1994–1995, 1998-1999-2000-2001, 2005–2006, 2009, 2012
Rand-Walbundrie Tigers 2006– Rand; Walbundrie 0 None
Walla Walla Hoppers 1935– Walla Walla 13 1948, 1953, 1959, 1965–1966, 1970, 1973–1974, 1976, 1980–1981, 1983, 1987

Previous Clubs

See also

References

  1. ↑ Kohlhagen, Brett (23 July 2008). "Hume Split". The Border Mail (Fairfax Media). Retrieved 29 July 2008. 
  2. ↑ Footypedia – Hume Football League
  3. ↑ HFL History

Sources

  • Wegener, Leon (editor) Walla Walla Football Club 1903–1978 (1978)

External links

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