Riverina Football Netball League
The Riverina Football Netball League is an Australian rules football and netball competition containing nine clubs based in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. The league features three grades in the Australian rules football competition, with these being First-Grade, Reserve-Grade and Under 17s. In the netball competition, there are five grades, with these being A-Grade, A Reserve-Grade, B-Grade, C-Grade and Under 17s. Governed by AFL Riverina, the league is the only major country league in New South Wales, and was formerly a VFL recruiting zone for South Melbourne from 1968 to 1986.
Currently a home and away season consisting of eighteen rounds is played. The best five teams then play off according to the McIntyre system, culminating in the RFNL Grand Final, which is traditionally hosted by Narrandera.
History
The Riverina Football League was formed in 1982 when the South West Football League (New South Wales), the Central Riverina Football League and the Farrer Football League amalgamated in order to create the Riverina Football League and the Riverina District Football League, with the latter changing its name to the Farrer Football League in 1985.Clubs
Timeline of clubs
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id:AFL value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a current league member
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bar:1 color:marker from:1982 till:1982 text: Riverina Football Netball League Founded
bar:4 color:VFA from:1982 till:1983 text: Barellan United
bar:2 color:VFA from:1982 till:1986 text: Ardlethan
bar:3 color:VFA from:1982 till:1990 text: Ariah Park-Mirrool
bar:6 color:VFA from:1982 till:1994 text: Leeton
bar:5 color:VFA from:1982 till:2009 text: East Wagga-Kooringal
bar:10 color:VFA from:1982 till:2023 text: Coolamon
bar:11 color:VFA from:1982 till:2023 text: Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong
bar:12 color:VFA from:1982 till:2023 text: Griffith
bar:15 color:VFA from:1982 till:2023 text: Narrandera
bar:17 color:VFA from:1982 till:2023 text: Turvey Park
bar:18 color:VFA from:1982 till:2001 text: Wagga
bar:18 color:VFA from:2007 till:2023 text:
bar:7 color:VFA from:1982 till:1983 text: North Wagga
bar:7 color:VFA from:1995 till:1997 text:
bar:7 color:VFA from:2008 till:2009 text:
bar:13 color:VFA from:1995 till:2023 text: Leeton-Whitton
bar:14 color:VFA from:1995 till:2023 text: Mangoplah-Cookardinia United-Eastlakes
bar:8 color:VFA from:1995 till:2001 text: Temora
bar:9 color:VFA from:1995 till:1997 text: Collingullie-Glenfield Park
bar:9 color:VFA from:2011 till:2023 text:
bar:16 color:VFA from:2020 till:2021 text: Osborne
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Season structure
Pre-season
The Riverina Football League like most country leagues does not have a formal Pre-season competition.As part of their Pre-season preparation clubs will often schedule between one and two practice matches with clubs from other leagues prior to the season beginning. These matches could take on different structures and were primarily conducted on a non-official basis with limited match officials and scores not being recorded.
Premiership season
The Riverina home-and-away season at present lasts for 18 rounds for a total of 16 matches and 2 byes per team. The season starts in mid April and ends in late August. Each team plays each other team twice – once at home and once away. Teams receive four premiership points for a win or bye and two premiership points for a draw. Ladder finishing positions are based on the number of premiership points won, and "percentage" is used as a tie-breaker when teams finish with equal premiership points.Finals series
The Riverina football finals consisted of a 'Top-5' finals system.The winning team receives a silver premiership cup, a premiership flag – a new one of each is manufactured each year. The flag has been presented since the league began and is traditionally unfurled at the team's first home game of the following season. Additionally, each player in the grand final-winning
team receives a premiership medallion.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic during the 2020 season a number of clubs did not participate. The remaining clubs took part in a six-round season and a 'Top-4' finals structure.
Finals structure
2024 Finals Series
Notable players
The following footballers went onto play senior VFL football from the following clubs / leagues with the year indicating their VFL debut.;South West Football League (New South Wales)
- 1925: Joseph Plant – Narrandera to Richmond
- 1925: Les Stainsby – Coolamon to Collingwood
- 1928: Jack Haw – Leeton to Melbourne
- 1931: Geoff Neil – Leeton to St. Kilda
- 1933: George Schlitz – Leeton to St. Kilda
- 1934: George Pattison – Narrandera to Essendon
- 1936: Percy Bushby – Narrandrea to Essendon
- 1948: Laurie Carroll – Ganmain to St. Kilda
- 1948: Dudley Mattingly – Ganmain to St. Kilda
- 1955: Peter Curtis – Coolamon, Griffith to North Melbourne
- 1957: Tom Quade – Ariah Park Mirrool to North Melbourne
- 1958: Bill Box – Whitton to Essendon
- 1960: Des Lyons – Leeton to Carlton
- 1961: Jim Carroll – Ganmain to Carlton
- 1961: Tom Carroll – Ganmain to Carlton
- 1966: Mike Quade – Ariah Park Mirrool to North Melbourne
- 1968: Ross Elwin – Leeton to South Melbourne
- 1968: Bruce Reid – Leeton to South Melbourne
- 1970: Frank Gumbleton – Ganmain to North Melbourne
- 1970: Ricky Quade – Ariah Park Mirrool to South Melbourne
- 1971: Jim Prentice – Ariah Park Mirrool to South Melbourne
- 1975: Rod Coelli – Ardlethan to South Melbourne
- 1975: Terry O'Neil – Narrandera to South Melbourne
- 1976: Terry Daniher – Ariah Park Mirrool to South Melbourne
- 1977: Wayne Evans – Grong Grong Matong to South Melbourne
- 1978: Russell Campbell – Gainmain to South Melbourne
- 1979: Wayne Carroll – Ganmain to South Melbourne
- 1979: John Durnan – Narrandera to Geelong
- 1979: Mark Fraser – Turvey Park to South Melbourne
- 1979: Max Kruse – Leeton to South Melbourne
- 1980: Stephen Eather – Turvey Park to South Melbourne
- 1980: Victor Hugo – Narrandera to South Melbourne
- 1980: Greg Smith – Ardlethan to South Melbourne
- 1981: Dennis Carroll – Ganmain to South Melbourne
- 1981: Anthony Daniher – Turvey Park to South Melbourne
- 1981: Jack Lucas – Ariah Park Mirrool to South Melbourne
- 1984 – David Murphy
- 1984 – Paul Hawke
- 1987 – Chris Daniher
- 1987 – Matt Lloyd
- 1987 – Peter Quirk
- 1989 – Wayne Carey
- 1990 – Paul Kelly
- 1992 – Jason Mooney
- 1993 – Mark Pitura
- 1994 – Daniel McPherson
- 1994 – Brad Seymour
- 1999 – Cameron Mooney
- 2000 – Ben Fixter
- 2007 – Matt Suckling
- 2011 – Isaac Smith
- 2012 – Kurt Aylett
- 2012 – Harry Cunningham
- 2012 – Orren Stephenson
- 2012 – Jacob Townsend
- 2013 – Zac Williams
- 2015 – Dougal Howard
- 2016 – Harrison Himmelberg
- 2016 – Jacob Hopper
- 2016 – Matthew Kennedy
- 2017 – Harry Perryman
- 2021 – Matthew Flynn
- 2021 – Cooper Sharman
- 1899 – Harry Lampe
- 1924 – Alby Anderson – Royal Stars
- 1923 – Tim Archer – Mangoplah
- 1929 – Bill Mohr
- Jock Cornell – Geelong:
- – Melbourne:
Premiers
Under 17s/18s
Under 18s
- 1982: Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong
- 1983: Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong
- 1984: Leeton
- 1985: Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong
- 1986: Turvey Park
- 1987: Turvey Park
- 1988: Wagga Tigers
- 1989: Griffith
- 1990: Turvey Park
- 1991: Griffith
- 1992: Wagga Tigers
- 1993: Wagga Tigers
- 1994: Coolamon
- 1995: Wagga Tigers
- 1996: Collingullie-Ashmont
- 1997: Wagga Tigers
- 1998: Wagga Tigers
- 1999: Griffith
- 2000: Turvey Park
- 2001: Wagga Tigers
- 2002: Narrandera
- 2003: Leeton-Whitton
- 2004: Mangoplah-Cookardinia United-Eastlakes
- 2005: Turvey Park
- 2006: Leeton-Whitton
- 2007: Leeton-Whitton
- 2008: Wagga Tigers
Under 17s
- 2009: Wagga Tigers
- 2010: Leeton-Whitton
- 2011: Turvey Park
- 2012: Wagga Tigers
- 2013: Wagga Tigers
- 2014: Wagga Tigers
- 2015: Mangoplah-Cookardinia United-Eastlakes
- 2016: Griffith Swans
- 2017: Turvey Park
Under 17.5s
- 2018: Turvey Park
- 2019: Turvey Park
- 2020: Osborne
- 2021: Finals cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
- 2022: Griffith Swans
- 2023: Mangoplah Cookardinia United Eastlakes
- 2024: Mangoplah Cookardinia United Eastlakes
- 2025: Narrandera Imperial
Final standings
2015 Ladder
2021 Ladder
Season abandoned due to Co-vid pandemic| Riverina AFL | Wins | Byes | Losses | Draws | For | Against | % | Pts | Final | Team | G | B | Pts | Team | G | B | Pts | |
| Ganmain GGM | 13 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1476 | 645 | 228.84% | 52 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Mangoplah CUE | 13 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1378 | 715 | 192.73% | 52 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Wagga Tigers | 9 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 933 | 832 | 112.14% | 36 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Coolamon | 8 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1006 | 889 | 113.16% | 32 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Collingullie GP | 8 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 955 | 1042 | 91.65% | 32 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Turvey Park | 7 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 1004 | 1024 | 98.05% | 28 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Leeton-Whitton | 5 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 876 | 1165 | 75.19% | 20 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Griffith | 2 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 849 | 1280 | 66.33% | 8 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Narrandera | 2 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 708 | 1593 | 44.44% | 8 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |