Barossa Light & Gawler Football Association
The Barossa Light & Gawler Football Association (BLGFA) is an Australian rules football competition based chiefly in the Barossa Valley region of South Australia, Australia. Only forty two kilometres north of the state capital of Adelaide, the BLGFA is one of the most powerful and traditional country football competitions in Australia. It is an affiliated member of the South Australian National Football League. In 2006 Barossa District Football Club were premiers, defeating Freeling Football Club.[1]
Current Clubs
- Angaston Football Club (Colours: Blue, White - Nickname: The Panthers)
- Barossa District Football Club (Colours: Red, White and Blue - Nickname: Bulldogs)
- Freeling Football Club (Colours: Red, Navy Blue - Nickname: The Redlegs)
- Gawler Central Football Club (Colours: Yellow, Black - Nickname: The Tigers)
- Kapunda Football Club (Colours: Red, Black - Nickname: The Bombers)
- Nuriootpa Rover Football Club (Colours: Yellow, Black - Nickname: The Tigers)
- South Gawler Football Club (Colours: Blue, White - Nickname: The Lions) Official website
- Tanunda Football Club (Colours: Black, White - Nickname: The Magpies)
- Willaston Football Club (Colours: Red, Navy Blue - Nickname: The Donnybrooks)
Brief History
The Kapunda Football Club is one of the oldest football clubs in the world to enjoy an uninterrupted identity. It was first originated by copper miners in 1866, while nearby the Gawler Football Club soon formed in 1868. Both Kapunda and Gawler evolved into strong clubs and were early participants in the South Australian Football Association[2] joining the state league in 1887. In 1890 Gawler left what is now the SANFL and folded, but a junior competition organised in the Gawler area to feed the main club remained to become the Gawler Football Association. Kapunda later helped form the Barossa and Light Football Association.
The Gawler Junior Football Association was formed in 1889 by founding clubs Gawler Central, South Gawler and Willaston. In 1890 the Gawler Junior Football Association changed its name to Gawler Football Association. By 1957 it reached its greatest extent, and the GFA became the giant Gawler and Districts Football League, with clubs competing in three senior divisions - Elizabeth, Elizabeth North, Gawler Central, Hamley Bridge, Lyndoch, Roseworthy, Roseworthy College, Salisbury, Salisbury North, Smithfield, South Gawler, Two Wells, Virginia, Willaston and Williamstown. Although over the next few decades, several of the more rural clubs departed for the neighbouring Adelaide Plains Football League, and following the inception of the Central District Bulldogs into the SANFL, the formation of the (now defunct) Central Districts Football Association saw the metropolitan clubs also eventually leave the GDFL.
The Barossa & Light Football Association was inaugurated in 1908 with founding clubs comprising Angaston, Freeling, Kapunda, Nuriootpa and Tanunda. The BLFA at its greatest extent in the 1980s also had annexed Robertstown, Eudunda and Riverton-Saddleworth Marrabel United (RSMU).
In 1987 the Barossa And Light Football Association merged with the Gawler & District Football League, to form a new super-league, the Barossa Light And Gawler Football Association - the formation clubs being Angaston, Eudunda, Freeling, Gawler Central, Kapunda, Nuriootpa, RSMU, South Gawler, Tanunda and Willaston. In 1991 Barossa District (which had been a unification of the original Lyndoch and Williamstown clubs back in the old GDFL) finally entered the BLGFA, while in 1992 Eudunda, and later RSMU in 1998, left to the North Eastern Football League.
The current BLGFA comprises nine clubs from the Gawler Town and Barossa Valley region considered to be the heartland of the Central District Bulldogs - and most probably a major factor in their recent dominance of the SANFL.
Players
The Barossa, Light and Gawler Football Association has produced some champion footballers in recent years including AFL players Kent Kingsley (now playing for Richmond Football Club), Shannon Hurn (West Coast Eagles), Sam Butler (West Coast Eagles), Brad Symes (Port Adelaide Power), Jay Nash (Essendon Football Club) and Justin Westhoff (Port Adelaide Power).