Upper Murray Football Netball League

The Upper Murray Football Netball League (UMFNL) is an Australian rules football and netball competition based in small town of Corryong, Victoria, Australia. The league contains six clubs from around the surrounding areas, including the Local Areas of Towong & Tumbarumba.

Today the league features five grades in the Australian rules football competition, with these being Senior-Grade, Reserve-Grade, Under 16's, Under 13's and Under 10's. In the netball competition, there are six grades, with these being A-Grade, B-Grade, C-Grade, D-Grade, Under 14's and Under 11's. Both the Under 10's football and 11's & Under netball are run as Auskick and Netta respectively and results are normally not recorded and final series are normally not played.

There are many pieces of league memorabilia scatted throughout the Upper Murray region, including some photos & trophies away from clubroom and sporting grounds. Some notable locations include The Man from Snowy River Museum (Corryong), Corryong Sporting Complex, Corryong Courthouse Hotel, Corryong Hotel Motel, Cudgewa Hotel, Tintaldra Hotel, Walwa Hotel, Bridge Hotel (Jingellic), & Riley's Restaurant (Corryong).

Clubs

Current
Club	Moniker	Location	Established	Years	Senior Premierships	Last Premiership
Border-Walwa FNC [note 1]	Magpies	Walwa Recreation Reserve, Walwa, Victoria	1960 as Merged Club	1961-Present	07	1998
Bullioh FNC	Bulldogs	Whyeebo Recreation Reserve, Tallangatta Valley, Victoria	1947 as Bullioh Valley FC	2001-Present TDFL: 1947–1977	05 TDFL: 01	2011 TDFL: 1950
Corryong FNC	Demons	Corryong Recreation Reserve, Corryong, Victoria	1892	1893–1915 1918–1940 1945–Present	31	2005
Cudgewa FNC	Blues	Cudgewa Recreation Reserve, Cudgewa, Victoria	1892	1893–1915 1918–1940 1945–Present	30	2015
Federal FNC [note 2]	Swans	Corryong Recreation Reserve, Corryong, Victoria	1892 as Mount Elliot FC	1893–1915 1918–1940 1945–Present	26	2007
Tumbarumba AFNC	Roos	Tumbarumba Recreation Reserve, Tumbarumba, New South Wales	1969	1971–1995 1997–Present	02	2013
Former
Club	Moniker	Location	Established	Years	Senior Premierships	Last Premiership
Berringama FC [note 3]	Unknown	Berringama Recreation Reserve, Berringama, Victoria	1929	1929-1930	00	-
Border United FC (Merged with Walwa FC in 1960)	Hoppers	Jingellic Recreation Reserve, Jingellic, New South Wales	1950	1950-1960	00 Runner-Up: 1	- 1957
Tintaldra-Khancoban United FC [note 4]	Saints	Tintaldra Recreation Reserve, Tintaldra, Victoria Khancoban Recreation Reserve, Khancoban, New South Wales	1899 as Khancoban FC	1899–1900 1904–1908 1912–1913 1951–1967	01	1906
Tumut-Talbingo FC	Hawks	Tumut Recreation Reserve, Tumut, New South Wales	1970 as Tumut FC	1978-1985 CRFL: 1970–1978 FFL Div 2: 1986–1987	01	1982
Walwa FC (Merged with Border United FC in 1960)	Tigers	Walwa Recreation Reserve, Walwa, Victoria	1898	1898-1915 1918-1940 1945-1960	15	1958

Notes

History

Establishment (1892-1893)

During the 1982 summer three of the regions cricket clubs agreed to the establishment of a competition in order to keep their players fit during the winter break. The three founding clubs were Corryong FC , the Cudgewa FC , and the Mount Elliot FC , and in early 1893 the Corryong Football Association was officially established.

The league is one of the oldest Football Leagues in Victoria. It was established 16 years after the first Victorian Football Association season, it was established the same year as the first Ovens & Murray Football Association season, and 1 year before the Corryong Courier newspaper was first published (25 January 1894).

Corryong Football Association (1893-1899)

During the first five years of the association only the three founding clubs competed in the competition, and the premiership was awarded to the club that finished in 1st position on the ladder. The only exception was in 1896 when Cudgewa FC defeated Mount Elliot FC in the first grand final played, unfortunately the details of this occasion are now lost. The other early premiers included Corryong FC (1893, 1895, 1899) and Mount Eliot FC (1894, 1897, 1898).

At the start of the 1898 season the competition expanded for the first time in its short history to include a fourth football club, the Walwa FC , representing the township of Walwa, Victoria. The addition of the Walwa FC to the competition was seen as a success, and during their second season they finished in second position on the 1899 Ladder.

The same season, 1899, the competition expanded to include a fifth football club, Khancoban FC representing the township of Khancoban, New South Wales. However the addition of the Khancoban FC to the competition was less successful. Only lasting two seasons, they finished in third and fourth respectively.

Upper Murray Football Club Association (1900-1901)

At the start of the 1900 season the competition renamed itself to the Upper Murray Football Club Association , and after the 1900 season the Khancoban FC went into recess for the first time.

In recognition of the Federation of Australian states in 1901, the Mount Elliot FC was selected as the Victorian club to renamed itself to the Federal FC . This happened in most states and today there is no evidence of any other Federal FC still being active.

Upper Murray Football Association (1902-1903)

At the start of the 1902 season the league name changed again, to the Upper Murray Football Association .

Corryong District Association (1904-1906)

At the start of the 1904 season the league name changed again, to the Corryong District Association , also the Federal FC relocated from Mount Elliot, Vic to Corryong, Vic.

The Khancoban FC relocated from Khancoban, NSW to Towong, Vic and became the Towong FC before renaming to Towong Wanderers FC in 1905. Then in 1906 they relocated again to Thowgla, Vic and became the Thowgla FC, this move would result in the clubs first premiership success, Thowgla 4.6 (30) defeating Corryong 2.8 (20).

Upper Murray Football Association (1907-1936)

The historic "Corryong Grandstand" was built around 1907 by Tom Greenhill, this beautiful old grandstand is an icon of the Upper Murray community and was bult around the same time and done in a similar style to the grandstand at the Towong Turf Club.

In 1907 Cudgewa won the right to challenge the minor premiers, Corryong, in the grand final, but Corryong refused to play because an umpire for the grand final was not sourced from Albury, NSW.

By 1908, with a re-found form of success, Thowgla FC relocated back to Khancoban, NSW and renamed back to Khancoban FC and were runners-up in 1908, this was to be the last grand final match for the club. By 1910 the Corryong FC won its fourth straight premiership; 1907 (tied with Cudgewa FC), 1908, 1909, 1910.

From 1912–1913 Khancoban FC relocated to Tintaldra, Vic and became known as Tintaldra FC.

After the 1914 season the premiers of Tallangatta and Mitta Mitta Football Association, Federated Railways, traveled to Corryong Park to play the Combined Corryong team of both the Corryong & Federal football club's. As reported in the Corryong Courier on Thursday August 20, "The ground was in excellent order , and there was a large attendance of spectators." The Final scores were, Combined Corryong 9 goals & 12 behinds, Federated Railways 6 goals & 10 behinds.^[1] As far as records indicate, excluding Inter-League matches, this is the only time that players from the arch-rival football clubs of Corryong & Federal have played together as one club.

In 1916, with a lack of players in the region due to the First World War the Upper Murray Football Association went into recess.

In 1918 the association restarted but the 1918 and 1919 seasons were restricted to half seasons still due to a lack of players after the First World War

By 1920 the competition was now representing only three townships, with four competing clubs Corryong, Cudgewa, Federal and Walwa.

Upper Murray Football League (1937-2000)

In 1950 the round 5 match between Corryong and Cudgewa seen a then record gate takings of £30.

The UMFNL was also a part of the former recruiting zone known as VFL Country Recruiting Zone no.11, which from the 1960's to the 1980's was controlled by South Melbourne. However no players were ever recruited from the Upper Murray under the zoning rules to play for South Melbourne.

The Upper Murray Football League won the North East Riverina Leagues Championships in 1976, & 1977 with Kevin Mack as Captain-Coach & John Cornish as Vice Captain. Also in 1977 John Cornish (from Tumbarumba FC) winning "Best player from all leagues in series", Kevin Mack (from Corryong FC) winning "Best player on ground against Hume League", & Craig Whitehead (from Corryong FC) winning "Best player on ground against Ovens & King".

Upper Murray Football Netball League (2001-Present)

The 2001 season saw a lot of changes for the league including the resumption of the Reserve Grade football competition after it folded in 1995, and the junior football competition changed from Under 18s to Under 16s. The introduction of a netball competition being run in conjunction with the football competition, sharing the same club names, colors and playing venues. The largest change seen the Bullioh Valley Football Club reforming in late 2000 as Bullioh Football Netball Club. In 2001 both the VCFL & UMFNL admitted the club into the competition for the 2001 season, despite protests of concerns that Bullioh would pinch players from both the Cudgewa FNC & the Tallangatta Valley FNC.^[2]

Unfortunately, since the 2002 season there have currently been no official Inter-League matches, the only exceptions are a handful of Junior Carnivals the last one attended was a AFL North East Border carnival in 2009, & the senior Netballer's since 2006 have regularly attended the Albury Indoor Carnival, normally held in October, after all the regions competitions have ended.^[3] The AFL North East Border other league's, the Ovens & Murray Football League, the Ovens & King Football League, & the Tallangatta & District Football League, along with AFL New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory league, the Hume Football League, have agreements with either The AFL Victorian Country Championships or other leagues across Victoria & New South Wales leaving the Upper Murray without the option for an opponent for most years.^[4]

On September 2, 2014,^[5] it was announced that there were plans to demolish the historic 108-year-old Corryong Grandstand as part of plans to refurbish the Towong Grandstand at the Towong Turf Club. Sadly the Corryong Grandstand is not heritage listed either Nationally or with Victoria.^[6] After public backlash from the Upper After gathering submissions from members of the community, the group had a meeting with VCAT scheduled for Friday April 10, 2015, in Melbourne, but was later reschedule for Friday May 8, 2015, in Wodonga. An announcement regarding it's fate was scheduled to take place on Monday June 1, 2015. In the Thursday September 10, 2015 edition of the Corryong Courier the grandstand made the front page with the headline reading "LAST STAND? Death knell sounds for grandstand."^[7]

In a first for the local area, the 2015 Round 13 (August 1, 2015) clash between Bullioh & Cudgewa at Tallangata Valley saw the match abandoned by the Umpire. During play in the third quarter Bullioh's Matt Tyrell was reported & requested to leave the ground by the Umpire. After five (5) minuets had past and Tyrell had refused to leave the field of play, a new rule allowed the Umpire officially abandon the match. As the incident has occurred after half time the scores were declared final and Cugdewa officially awarded the four premiership points, "Bullioh 2.1 (13) def. by Cudgewa 8.12 (60)." During that week's tribunal Bullioh's Matt Tyrell was cleared to play the following week after they took into account his excellent playing record, while teammate Taylor Fenton received a one-week suspension for abusive language from the same game.^{[8] [9] [10]}

As part of the AFL Victoria Country reforms to league operations a player point cap system will be introduced from the start of the 2016 season. Fellow league's the Ovens and Murray, the Tallangatta and District, and the Ovens and King will also see the introduction of a player point cap system while the Hume league introduced the change to their league for the start of the 2015 season. For the UMFNL the player points cap has been set at 46 for 2016 before it drops by four in 2017.^[11]

Current Finals System

The UMFNL currently uses the "Page–McIntyre system". The final series is played over four Saturdays, with the Grand Final traditionally being played on the first weekend of September. A home ground advantage is awarded to teams only according to the Senior Grade Football , with all finals for both Football & Netball are played at the one venue during each final day. Unlike other leagues in the local area, the Grand Final is not played at a natural venue (Like the TDFL) or traditional venue (Like the HFL), instead the winner of the 1st Semi-Final for the Senior Grade Football is awarded hosting rights for that season's grand final.

Senior Grade Honour Boards

Notes
1907: Cudgewa won the right to challenge the minor premiers, Corryong, who refused to play because an umpire for the grand final was not sourced from Albury, NSW.
1918–1919: Only a half season was played due to a lack of footballers during and after World War I.
1945–1946: Only a half season was played due to a lack of footballers during and after World War II.

Ladder

KEY: [?] = Details are still unclear or are missing.

Grand Finals

KEY: [?] = Details are still unclear or are missing.

Medal Winners

Life Members

Victorian Football League / Australian Football League Players

All Grades Honour Boards (2013 Season)

KEY: [?] = Details are still unclear or are missing. [X] = No team is playing in this age grade for season.

Football

A-Grade Ladder

KEY: [?] = Details are still unclear or are missing.

A-Grade Grand Finals

KEY: [?] = Details are still unclear or are missing.

See also

• Australian rules football in Victoria
• Australian rules football in New South Wales
• Zoning in Australian Rules Football
• List of Australian rules football clubs by date of establishment
• Tallangatta & District Football League
• Farrer Football League
• 1992 AFL Draft
• 2010 AFL Draft

References

External links

• Official Upper Murray Football League website