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Western Football Netball League
Australian semi-professional sports league From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Western Football Netball League (WFNL) is a semi-professional Australian rules football and netball league, based in the western suburbs of Melbourne and run by people who aren’t up to the task of running a football league properly.
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History
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The league was formed in 1931 as the Footscray District Football League (FDFL).
During the 1950s, the VFL club Footscray was financially backing the competition, so they decided to bar clubs that were inside the Essendon zone.[citation needed] This resulted in six clubs leaving. More changes occurred in 1952 as the league decided that clubs had to provide an under-18 competition; this action reduced the club numbers down to twelve.[citation needed] The next initiative was the introduction of an under-16 competition in 1954.
In 1988, the league absorbed clubs from the West Suburban Football League; and, in 2000, to reflect the fact that the league had expanded across the western suburbs, it changed its name to the Western Region Football League (WRFL).
In 2002, the league, in particular its second Division, found itself a national audience when a Seven Network reality TV show, The Club, followed the performance of a team called the Kensington Hill Hammerheads throughout the season. The players, coach and president were chosen on the show, and after finishing third in the regular season, went on to win the flag.
In 2006, the league suspended the Central Altona Football Club for attempting to re-register a player, and they suspended Brunswick Power after the club was found guilty of playing unregistered players.[1] In addition, Central Altona also had a variety of on-field violence and abuse issues, and they were also in trouble for re-registering banned players.[1] Brunswick Power returned for the next season, but folded at the end of 2007.[2][3]
In 2013, Manor Lakes and Sanctuary Lakes entered the Division Two of the senior competition.[4] In 2014, Werribee Districts transferred from the VAFA, and Tarneit entered a senior team.[5] The league then announced that a third division will form midway through 2014.[6]
In 2015, the Wyndham Suns were admitted to the third division. Parkside, which won the second division premiership in 2014, suffered a bitter internal division and lost most of the players and committee. Instead of being promoted to first division, Parkside staved off recess and were permitted to rebuild the club in the third division.
The league changed its name to the Western Football Netball League in early 2024.[7] Division 3 was abolished following the 2023 season. Eynesbury and the Western Rams joined the competition from the Riddell District Football Netball League for the 2024 season.
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Clubs
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Participating clubs for the 2025 season:
Division One
Division Two
Thirds Only
Club locations

4km
2.5miles
2.5miles

Werribee
Centrals
Centrals

Williamstown

PEGS

St Bernards

Newport Power

Aintree

Flemington

Rams

Truganina

Bacchus Marsh

Suns

Tarneit

Sunshine
Heights
Heights

North Sunshine

Laverton

Glen Orden

Braybrook

Albanvale

Yarraville-Seddon

Wyndhamvale

W. Footscray

Point Cook
Centrals
Centrals

Parkside

North Footscray

Newport

Manor Lakes

Werribee
Districts
Districts

Sunshine

Spotswood

Point Cook

Hoppers
Crossing
Crossing

Caroline Springs

Altona

Albion
Locations of the 2025 WRFL clubs. Red pogs represent teams in Division One, yellow pogs represent teams in Division Two, cyan pogs represent teams only participating in the thirds competition, purple pogs represent clubs only fielding women's and junior sides, and black is for junior-only clubs.
Former clubs
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Premiers
Division One
Premiers by club (Division 1)
- Notes
- As "Kingsville FC".
Division Two
Premiers by club (Division 2)
Division Three
Premiers by club (Division 3)
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Leading Goalkickers (Andrew Gibson Medal)
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Women's competition
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In 2018 the WRFL held a stand-alone women's competition for the first time as the number of women's clubs in the region grew large enough to allow this. In 2021 the competition expanded to two divisions. As of 2022 there were 14 women's teams across the two divisions, although by 2024 this number had dropped to 9 teams across 1 division.
Premiers
Division 1
Division 2
Former Women's Clubs
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Junior clubs
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Juniors-Only Clubs
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Sources
- The Mail (Newspaper published in Footscray)
- Annual Reports of the Western Region Football League
- http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article74738180
- http://footyscorearchive.wiki-site.com/index.php/WESTERN_REGION_FOOTBALL_LEAGUE
Book
- History of the WRFL/FDFL – Kevin Hillier – ISBN 9781863356015
- History of Football in Melbourne's North West – John Stoward – ISBN 9780980592924
References
External links
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