Bellarine Football Netball League
The Bellarine Football Netball League is an Australian rules football and netball competition based in the Bellarine Peninsula region of Victoria, 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 area, along with the Geelong Football Netball League and the Geelong & District Football League.
In March 2024, following extensive consultation AFL Barwon detailed a plan for expanding the BFNL to 12 teams from 2025 with a path for a team to accept an invitation for promotion to the GFNL, replacing a club that would then be relegated from the GFNL.
Premiers
Senior football
The winner of the best on ground award is presented with the Josh Finch Medal, named in honour of the Modewarre games record holder who retired at the conclusion of the 2025 season with a record four Les Ash Medals to his name. The award's renaming was announced during the 2025 Ash Medal presentation night.| + | Team also won the minor premiership for finishing on top of the ladder |
| ^ | Player also won the Les Ash Medal as the best and fairest in the league |
Individual awards
Senior football
Les Ash Medal
The Les Ash Medal, named after the late longtime Bellarine football administrator, is presented to the league's best and fairest 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, whose period of success overlapped with Finch to claim the award across nine seasons. Both Finch and Darke are also members of a group of five players who have won the award in consecutive seasons.| ^ | Player also won the Leading Goalkicker Award |
Stephen "Chooka" Piec Medal
The Stephen "Chooka" Piec Medal is presented to the player who has kicked the most goals at the conclusion of the home-and-away season. Previously known as the Leading Goalkicker Award, the medal was named in honour of Piec at the 2025 Ash Medal presentation night. Piec, described as "a poster boy for the Bellarine in its formative years", solely held the record for the most titles until 2025, when Geelong Amateur's Mitch Day also won a fourth title upon his return to the BFNL following a stint with Lara. 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 Piec Medal and Ash Medal is rare; only two players have collected both honours in the same season.| ^ | Player also won the Les Ash Medal as the best and fairest in the league |