The Bellarine Football Netball League (BFNL) is an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

and

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

competition based in the

Bellarine Peninsula The Bellarine Peninsula ( Wathawurrung: ''Balla-wein'' or ''Biteyong'') is a peninsula located south-west of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, surrounded by Port Phillip, Corio Bay and Bass Strait. The peninsula, together with the Mornington ...

region of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, 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 the second tier of football in the

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

area, along with the

Geelong Football League The Geelong Football Netball League is an Australian rules football and netball league in Victoria, Australia. It is widely regarded as the highest standard Australian rules football league in regional Victoria, with several former AFL players n ...

and the

Geelong & District Football League The Geelong & District Football League (GDFNL) is an Australian rules football and netball league in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, being the oldest surviving competition in the region. It is one of three leagues in the Geelong area, the other ...

Clubs

Current clubs

Former clubs

Premiers

Senior football

A Grade netball

Individual awards

Senior football

Les Ash Medal

The Les Ash Medal, named after a longtime Bellarine administrator, is presented to the league's

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

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. Two players have won the award on four occasions – Modewarre's Josh Finch, whose honours spanned seven seasons throughout the 2010s, and Torquay's James Darke, the most recent medallist. Both Finch and Darke are also members of a group of five players who have won the award in consecutive seasons.

Leading Goalkicker Award

The Leading Goalkicker Award is presented to the player who has kicked the most goals at the conclusion of the home-and-away season. Barwon Heads' Stephen "Chooka" Piec, described as "a poster boy for the Bellarine in its formative years", holds the record for the most titles (four). The magical century-mark of goals has been reached 14 times throughout the regular season. Dominant Torquay forward Wayne Tyquin's three-year run of 349 cumulative goals from 1997 to 1999 capped off a five-year consecutive period where the league had at least one centurion. Overlap between the Leading Goalkicker Award and the Les Ash Medal is rare; only two players (Torquay's Mark Browne in 1986 and Geelong Amateur's Mitch Day in 2015) have collected both honours in the same season.

A Grade netball

Best & Fairest Award

Hot Shot Award

Bibliography

* ''Cat Country - History of Football In The Geelong Region'' - John Stoward -

Notes

References

External links

*
Bellarine Football League
at AustralianFootball.com
Leopold Lions
(information about former teams)
Football Geelong
(information on home grounds and colours)
Geelong & District Football League
(information on Winchelsea FC) {{Aussie Rules in Victoria Australian rules football competitions in Victoria (state) Sport in Geelong 1971 establishments in Australia