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Hume Football Netball League

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Hume Football League
General Information
Founded 1935
Current clubs Billabong Crows
Brocklesby-Burrumbuttock
Coleambally
CDHBU
Culcairn
Henty
Holbrook
Howlong
Jindera
Lockhart
Osborne
Rand Walbundrie
Rennie
Walla Walla
2007 Season
Premiers Culcairn
Minor Premiers Culcairn
Wooden spoon
Best & Fairest (Azzi Medal)

The Hume Football League is an Australian rules football competition in the southern Riverina region of New South Wales, with clubs coming from a number of farming communities. Some players also come from the city of Albury, which is at the south of the area covered by the league. The name refers to the Hume Shire, which was the local government body covering much of the region, and the explorer Hamilton Hume.

Currently a home and away season consisting of eighteen rounds is played. The best five teams then play off according to a final five played according to the McIntyre System, culminating in a Grand Final, the current venue of which is the Walbundrie Showgrounds in Walbundrie. The league best and fairest player award is called the Azzi Medal, named after the late Kelly Azzi, an administrator from the Balldale club.

History

Prior to the formation of the Hume FL, various football associations and leagues had been organised in the southern Riverina area since the late 19th century, including the Central Hume 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.

The league reconvened in 1945 towards the end of the war with the following clubs: Balldale, Brocklesby, Rand, Walbundrie, Walla Walla. As before, the league's membership continued to fluctuate in subsequent years.

After the admission of Howlong the make-up of the league remained stable until 1970, Boree Creek (of Tim Fischer fame) joined from the Coreen FL and Osborne joined from the Central Riverina FL (the precursor to the Riverina Football League). At this point the competition had ten teams.

In 1974 Balldale moved to the Coreen FL, causing a bye. In 1975 Lavington fielded a team in the Hume FL, in addition to the Tallangatta FL, for two years. In 1976 a reserves competition was introduced and Boree Creek moved back to the Coreen FL. After two seasons, the Lavington side moved to the Farrer FL in 1977 (to later join the Ovens & Murray FL in 1979), with a new club, East Lavington, taking their place.

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 FL in 1980, and Lockhart joined in 1982, both from the Farrer FL. Rand moved to the Coreen 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 area, 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 League, a number of its teams were moved to the Hume League bringing the number to 15 for the 2008 season, these were Billabong Crows, Coleambally, CDHBU, Murray Magpies and Rennie. Rennie retained the "Hoppers" nickname, having that in common with Walla Walla.

Notable Players

A number of notable AFL players began playing football in their youth with clubs in the Hume League. These include Justin Koschitzke, who played with Brocklesby before being selected in the Murray Bushrangers TAC Cup side and then was drafted by St Kilda in 2001, and Adam Schneider who played with Osborne and the NSW-ACT Rams TAC Cup side before being drafted by the Sydney Swans, where he was a part of their 2005 premiership winning side. Sam Rowe, who is on the rookie list of the Sydney Swans, played with Walla Walla and the Murray Bushrangers.

Current Clubs

The list of clubs competing in the 2008 season, along with their nicknames.

Club Nickname Guernsey Colours
Billabong Crows The Crows Navy blue, gold and red hoops.
Brocklesby Burrumbuttock The Saints Black, white and red vertical panels.
Coleambally The Blues Navy blue with white CFC monogram.
CDHBU The Saints Red, black and white design reminiscent of St Kilda's guernsey from the late 1990s.
Culcairn The Lions Maroon with navy yoke and white CFC monogram.
Henty Football Club The Swampies White with red vee.
Holbrook Football Club The Brookers Bottle green with gold "wing" panels.
Howlong Football Club The Spiders Black with red sash
Jindera Football Club The Bulldogs Royal blue with red and white bars and bulldog logo.
Lockhart Football Club The Demons Navy blue with red vee and yoke and white "LAFC" lettering.
Murray Magpies Football Club The Magpies Black and white stripes
Osborne Football Club The Cats Black with yellow sash
Rand Walbundrie Football Club The Tigers Black, royal blue and gold design with tiger logo
Rennie Football Club The Hoppers White guernsey with green yoke and stripes descending behind grasshopper logo
Walla Walla Football Club The Hoppers Green and white stripes

Former Clubs

See also

Sources

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