Bendigo Football Netball League

The Bendigo Football Netball League is an Australian rules football and netball competition based in the Bendigo region of Victoria.

WWW bendigofnl.com.au

History

Football in Bendigo appears to of been first played with a match between the Sandhurst Football Club and the Volunteers Football Club in July 1861.
Formed on 10 June 1881 by the city's three clubs as the Sandhurst Football Association.
Bendigo FC won both the 1886 and 1887 premiership and not Eaglehawk as previously recorded on this page. Sandhurst FC were undefeated premiers in 1889 and not Eaglehawk FC as previously recorded on this page. Eaglehawk FC won the 1900 premiership and not South Bendigo as previously recorded on this page.
It is one of the oldest football leagues in Australia, and among its members are some of the oldest football clubs in Australia, including the Castlemaine Football Club, who joined in 1925 from the Castlemaine District Football Association and are acknowledged as the second oldest football club in Australia and one of the oldest in the world.
The Bendigo Mid-Week Football Association commenced in 1926 and in 1930 and Railways defeated Banks for the premiership.

1926 - Gasworks: 8.17 - 65 d Golden City: 8.11 - 59
1928 - School of Mines: 1.12 - 18 d Banks, Stock Agents & Press: 1.7 - 13
1930 - Railways: 12.9 81 d Banks: 5.6 - 36

John Ledwidge was captain-coach of the Bendigo Football League representative team that won the 1962 VCFL Caltex Country Football Championships by defeating the Wimmera Football League at Horsham.
In 2024, the Bendigo Football Netball League was reduced from ten football teams to nine, following the departure of the Kyneton Football Club to the Riddell District Football Netball League. In the same year, Broadford Football Club indicated its intention to enter the BNFL from 2025 onwards. In August 2025, Gisborne Football Club voted to leave the league to join the Ballarat Football League for the 2026 season onwards.

Clubs

Locations

Yellow points represent clubs currently in recess.

Club locations - Bendigo	Club locations - Central Victoria

Senior Football Premierships

1880 Bendigo
1881 Sandhurst
1882 Eaglehawk
1883 Eaglehawk
1884 Sandhurst ?
1885 Sandhurst
1886 Bendigo
1887 Bendigo
1888 Bendigo
1889 Sandhurst*
1890 Sandhurst
1891 Sandhurst
1892 Bendigo
1893 Sandhurst
1894 Eaglehawk*
1895 Eaglehawk
1896 Eaglehawk
1897 Eaglehawk
1898 Eaglehawk
1899 South Bendigo
1900 Eaglehawk
1901 Eaglehawk
1902 South Bendigo
1903 Eaglehawk
1904 South Bendigo
1905 South Bendigo
1906 Eaglehawk
1907 Long Gully
1908 Eaglehawk
1909 South Bendigo
1910 South Bendigo
1911 South Bendigo
1912 South Bendigo
1913 Bendigo City
1914 South Bendigo
1915 1st: Rochester.Abandoned>July>WW1
1916 In recess, WWI
1917 In recess, WWI
1918 In recess, WWI
1919 South Bendigo
1920 Sandhurst
1921 South Bendigo
1922 Eaglehawk
1923 Sandhurst
1924 Eaglehawk
1925 South Bendigo
1926 Castlemaine
1927 Sandhurst
1928 Echuca
1929 Sandhurst
1930 Sandhurst
1931 Sandhurst
1932 Sandhurst
1933 Sandhurst
1934 Sandhurst
1935 Eaglehawk
1936 Kyneton
1937 Sandhurst
1938 Golden Square
1939 Golden Square
1940 Sandhurst
1941 Eaglehawk
1942 In recess, WW2
1943 In recess, WW2
1944 In recess, WW2
1945 Golden Square
1946 Eaglehawk
1947 Sandhurst
1948 Sandhurst
1949 Sandhurst
1950 South Bendigo
1951 South Bendigo
1952 Castlemaine
1953 Eaglehawk
1954 South Bendigo
1955 South Bendigo
1956 Sandhurst
1957 Eaglehawk
1958 Rochester
1959 Rochester
1960 Kyneton
1961 Kyneton
1962 Rochester
1963 Rochester
1964 Golden Square
1965 Golden Square
1966 Kyneton
1967 Echuca
1968 Eaglehawk
1969 South Bendigo
1970 Echuca
1971 Eaglehawk
1972 Golden Square
1973 Sandhurst
1974 South Bendigo
1975 Golden Square
1976 Golden Square
1977 Sandhurst
1978 Sandhurst
1979 Golden Square
1980 Golden Square
1981 Sandhurst
1982 Eaglehawk
1983 Sandhurst
1984 Northern United
1985 Northern United
1986 Northern United
1987 Northern United
1988 Golden Square
1989 Golden Square
1990 South Bendigo
1991 South Bendigo
1992 Castlemaine
1993 South Bendigo
1994 South Bendigo
1995 Kyneton
1996 Kangaroo Flat
1997 Kyneton
1998 Maryborough
1999 Maryborough
2000 Castlemaine
2001 Golden Square
2002 Gisborne
2003 Gisborne
2004 Sandhurst
2005 Gisborne
2006 Gisborne
2007 Eaglehawk
2008 Eaglehawk
2009 Golden Square
2010 Golden Square
2011 Golden Square
2012 Golden Square
2013 Golden Square
2014 Strathfieldsaye
2015 Strathfieldsaye
2016 Sandhurst
2017 Strathfieldsaye
2018 Eaglehawk
2019 Strathfieldsaye
2020 BFNL in recess > COVID-19
2021 BFNL abandoned after Rd.17 COVID-19
2022 Gisborne
2023 Golden Square
2024 Sandhurst
2025 Eaglehawk

Grand Finals

;Senior Football
Between 1880 and 1903, the team on top of the ladder at the end of the home and away series of matches were crowned Premiers, therefore no official Bendigo Football Association Grand Finals were played prior to 1904.

: *1915 - The season was abandoned in late July, 1915 due to World War One. No official premiership was awarded, but Rochester were on top of the ladder.
: *Undefeated premiers

Football: Best & Fairest Award / Goalkicking

;Seniors
In 1929, the Bendigo Football League decided to perpetuate the memory of the late BFL President, Mr. Fred A. Wood, with a gold medal for the best and fairest player from 1930 to 1939.
In 1946, the BFL best and fairest award was named the Arthur E. Cook Medal, in memory of the late Bendigo MLA, who died suddenly at the Victorian Parliament House in April, 1945. For many years, Cook was associated with the administration of the BFL.
Between 1947 and 1951 the award was known as the Thomas Rees Davies Medal, who died in May 1946 and was a former Bendigo Councillor, Eaglehawk Mayor and BFL President from 1935 to 1939. Davies was a former Eaglehawk footballer and club secretary and also Secretary of the BFL too. He was made a life member of the BFL in 1926.
The Jack Michelsen Medal was first awarded in 1952, after a prominent Bendigo Mayor, long-term Councillor and BFL President from 1923 to 1925, John Andrew Michelsen, OBE. Michelsen was a journalist at the Bendigo Advertiser for many years.
Only three players in the history of the Bendigo Football League have won a premiership, won the league best and fairest award and kicked one hundred goals, all in the one season. This achievement was performed by Mickey Crisp in 1930 and Greg Kennedy in 1971, who both went onto play VFL senior football at Carlton the following year in round one. The other is Strathfieldsaye's Lachlan Sharp who achieved this feat in 2017. In 1962, Rochester's Ray Willett won a premiership, won the league best and fairest award and won the league goalkicking with 67 goals.
;Most goals in a match

24 - David Mahoney: Bendigo City v California Gully, on the Upper Reserve, September 1913.
24 - Harry Morgan: Eaglehawk v Rochester, 1953

Goals in brackets "" includes goals kicked in finals.

Season Ladders

2007 Ladder

2015 Ladder

2021 Ladder

Home & Away Season was reduced by 6 rounds and Finals series cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic in Victoria

Team	Wins	Byes	Losses	Draws	For	Against	%	Pts
Strathfieldsaye	10	0	2	0	1469	634	231.7%	40
Golden Square	10	0	2	0	1433	769	186.35%	40
Sandhurst	10	0	2	0	1297	757	171.33%	40
Gisborne	9	0	3	0	1442	701	205.71%	36
South Bendigo	9	0	3	0	1306	823	158.69%	36
Eaglehawk	6	0	6	0	1319	776	169.97%	24
Kyneton	3	0	9	0	853	1267	67.32%	12
Kangaroo Flat	2	0	10	0	599	1434	41.77%	8
Maryborough	1	0	11	0	648	1529	42.38%	4
Castlemaine	0	0	12	0	335	2024	16.55%	0