The Ballarat Football League (BFL) is an Australian rules football competition that operates in the Ballarat region of Victoria, Australia.

The competition formed in 1893 as the Ballarat Football Association and was renamed Ballarat Football League in 1908 and was briefly known as the Ballarat-Wimmera Football League between 1934 and 1936.^[1]

The Ballarat Football Association (BFA) was established in 1893 with three member clubs: Ballarat, South Ballarat, and Ballarat Imperial.^[1][2][3] The latter was the dominant club in the BFA, winning the first premiership in 1893 and eleven premierships between 1893 and 1906. In 1908, the BFA changed its name to the Ballarat Football League (BFL) and Golden Point Football Club joined the competition.^[3] Maryborough and Ararat joined in 1924, followed by Daylesford and Bacchus Marsh several years later.^[2]

The BFL briefly amalglamated with the four clubs of Wimmera Football League from 1934 to 1936, when it was known as the Ballarat-Wimmera Football League.^[1][2] The league was restructured into six teams in 1938, but two quickly disappeared. World War II brought Redan Football Club and RAAF and Army teams into the league.^[2]

The Henderson Medal is the league's seasonal best and fairest award. It was established in 1954 in honour of W. L. Henderson, who served as President from 1943 to 1959.^[3]

The BFL is now known as the Ballarat Football Netball League (BNFL), and consists of eleven football netball clubs and nine junior football netball clubs.^[4] In 2023, the Herald Sun dubbed North Ballarat Football Club "country footy’s most dominant club over the last several decades"; the club had played in the Victorian Football League and the Bendigo Football Netball League before rejoining the BNFL in 2006.^[5]

The league features 11 senior clubs. The BFL is a strong league for grass roots football with 9 junior clubs consisting of 63 teams from U/10 through to U/16.5 (Ballarat, Bacchus Marsh, Darley, East Ballarat, Lake Wendouree, Mount Clear, North Ballarat, Redan and Sebastopol).

The Ballarat Football League season normally commences in early April with the regular season matches finishing in August. Upon Daylesford's withdrawal from the competition at the end of the 2005 season competing clubs played the opposition clubs twice in the regular season, once at home, once away. This reverted upon North City's admission to the competition in 2008. The finals series is conducted in September with the Grand Final to decide the premiers for season having been historically held at the Ballarat City and Eastern Ovals. The match attracts crowds of 5000 to 9000 people, with notable attendances of 14602 at the Ballarat City Oval and 8,800 at the Eastern Oval for the 1949 and 1977 Grand Finals respectively.

In 2017, the BFL announced that from 2017 the Grand Final would be played at Mars Stadium with other finals series games remaining at the Eastern and City Ovals.

The management of the BFNL is overseen by an independent board of directors. The current chairman is Adrian Bettio.

The daily operation are managed by the general manager, Shane Anwyl along with two staff members.

8km
5miles

Sunbury

Sebastopol

Redan

North Ballarat

Melton South

Melton

Lake Wendouree

East Point

Darley

Bacchus Marsh

Ballarat

  

Locations of the 2019 BFL clubs.

More information Colours, Club ...

Colours	Club	Nickname	Home Ground	Estab.	Years in BFNL	Premiers	Premier years
	Bacchus Marsh	Cobras	Maddingley Park	1978	1979-	1	2016
	Ballarat	Swans	Alfredton Recreation Reserve	1860	1893-	18	1897, 1898, 1908, 1923, 1928, 1930, 1932, 1933, 1940, 1943, 1944, 1951, 1954, 1955, 1962, 1971, 1988, 2008
	Darley	Devils	Darley Park	1919	1997-	3	2015, 2017, 2023
	East Point	Kangaroos	Eastern Oval	2001	2001-	2	2018, 2019
	Lake Wendouree	Lakers	C.E. Brown Reserve	1994	1994-	1	2010
	Melton	Bloods	MacPherson Park	1879	1997-	4	2000, 2001, 2005, 2022
	Melton South	Panthers	Melton Recreation Reserve	1973	1997-	0	-
	North Ballarat	Roosters	Eureka Stadium	1882	1952-	17	1963, 1970, 1973, 1978, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996 [note 1]; 2013, 2014 [note 2]
	Redan	Lions	City Oval	1871	1943-	11	1946, 1952, 1975, 1976, 1977, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011
	Sebastopol	Burras	Marty Busch Reserve	1893	1938, 1940, 1950-53, 1978-	0	-
	Sunbury	Lions	Clarke Oval	1879	1997-	5	1997, 1998, 1999, 2004, 2012

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Notes

Junior-only Clubs

More information Colours, Club ...

Colours	Club	Home Ground	Nickname	Estab.	Years in BFNL
	Ballarat Storm	Alfredton Recreation Reserve	Storm	2017	2017-
	Mount Clear	Mount Clear Recreation Reserve	Mounties	1997	1997-
	Woady Yaloak	Woady Yaloak Recreation Reserve	Warriors	2019	2019-

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More information Colours, Club ...

Colours	Club	Nickname	Home Ground	Estab.	Years in BFL	Premiers	Premier years	Fate
	Ararat	Rats	Alexandra Oval	1871	1924-1928, 1934-1936	0	-	Moved to Wimmera Football Netball League following 1936 season
	Ballarat Imperial	Imps		1876	1893-1954	17	1893, 1894, 1895, 1896, 1899, 1900, 1901, 1902, 1903, 1905, 1906, 1922, 1929, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937	Folded
	Ballarat YCW	Warriors	White Flat Oval	1945	1946-1951	0	-	Merged with Wendouree following 1994 season to form Lake Wendouree
	Beaufort	Cats	Goldfields Recreation Reserve	1880s	1966-1993	1	1969	Moved to Central Highlands Football League following 1993 season, now known as Beaufort Crows
	Buninyong	Bombers	Buninyong Recreation Reserve	1920s	1948-1972	0	-	Moved to Ballarat and Bacchus Marsh Football league following 1972 season, now in Central Highlands Football League
	Burrumbeet			1910s	1946-1951	0	-	Folded
	Carngham		Carngham Recreation Reserve	1919	1962-1968	0	-	Merged with Linton to form Carngham Linton in Western Plains Football League following 1968 season
	Creswick	Wickers	Doug Lindsay Reserve	1900s	1946-1949	0	-	Moved to Clunes Football League following 1949 season, now in Central Highlands Football League
	Daylesford	Demons	Victoria Park	1919	1929-1931, 1952-2005	1	1961	Moved to Central Highlands Football League following 2005 season
	Dunnstown	Towners	Dunnstown Recreation Reserve	1894	1953–1972	0	-	Moved to Ballarat and Bacchus Marsh Football league following 1972 season, now in Central Highlands Football League
	East Ballarat	Bulldogs		1885	1945-2000	6	1949, 1950, 1964, 1989, 1990, 1993	Merged with Golden Point to form East Point following 2000 season
	Elaine			1919	1957-1968	0	-	Folded
	Geelong West	Roosters	West Oval	1878	1946-1962	4	1956, 1957, 1958, 1959	Moved to Victorian Football Association following 1962 season. Now part of Geelong West Giants
	Golden Point	Kangaroos	Eastern Oval	1902	1905-2000	15	1910, 1914, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1939, 1945, 1947, 1948, 1953, 1966, 1967, 1980, 1981, 1987	Merged with East Ballarat to form East Point following 2000 season
	Gordon	Eagles	Gordon Recreation Reserve	1890s	1962-1972	0	-	Moved to Ballarat and Bacchus Marsh Football league following 1972 season, now in Central Highlands Football League
	Horsham	Demons	Horsham City Oval	1892	1934–1936	0	-	Moved to Wimmera Football Netball League following 1936 season
	Korweinguboora		Korweinguboora Recreation Reserve	1920s	1955-1956	0	-	Moved to Clunes Football League following 1956 season, folded 1982
	Langi Kal Kal			1950s	1957-1958	0	-	Moved to Lexton Football League following 1958 season, folded 1965
	Maddingley	Spiders	Maddingley Park	1910s	1978	0	-	Merged with Bacchus Marsh following 1978 season
	Maryborough	Magpies	Princes Park	1872	1924-1928, 1931, 1946-1991	9	1924, 1925, 1927, 1931, 1960, 1965, 1968, 1972, 1974	Moved to Bendigo Football League following 1991 season
	Meredith		Meredith Recreation Reserve	1890s	1953-1972	0	-	Moved to Ballarat and Bacchus Marsh Football league following 1972 season, folded in 1981
	Mount Clear			1946	1947–1958	0	-	Folded
	RAAF			1940	1940–1945	0	-	Folded
	RSL			1946	1948–1949	0	-	Folded
	Smeaton		Smeaton Football Ground	1910s	1944–1945	0	-	Folded
	South Ballarat			1877	1893–1939	7		Absorbed by Sebastopol in 1940
	Stawell	Redlegs	Central Park	1874	1934–1936	0	-	Moved to Wimmera Football Netball League following 1936 season
	Warracknabeal	Lions	Anzac Park	1870s	1934–1936	0	-	Moved to Wimmera Football Netball League following 1936 season
	Wendouree		C.E. Brown Reserve	1920s	1946–1978	0	-	Merged with Ballarat YCW following 1994 season to form Lake Wendouree

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Notes

Seniors^[6]

Source^[7]

The Henderson Medal is the league's seasonal best and fairest award. The BFL's best and fairest award was first named in honour of W. L. Henderson in 1954, who served as President from 1943 to 1959.^[3]