Hume Football League

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.
*1936: Wagga Road (Lavington) joined.
*1939: Wagga Road and Bethanga left.
*1940: Lavington withdrew.
*1941-1944: Recess due to World War II.

Post-war

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.

*1946: Gerogery, Jindera reformed and joined, Balldale moved to Coreen FL.
*1947: Balldale returned, Burrumbuttock reformed.
*1948: Gerogery disbanded, East Albury Rovers joined.
*1949: East Albury Rovers left, North Albury Seconds joined.
*1953: North Albury Seconds left, Howlong joined from Chiltern & District FL.

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.

Modern era

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 arena, 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, most of its teams were moved to the Hume League bringing the number to fifteen for the 2008 season, these were Billabong Crows (a merger of the former Urana and Oaklands clubs), Coleambally, CDHBU, Murray Magpies and Rennie. Rennie retained the "Hoppers" nickname, sharing it with Walla Walla.

With the increasing size of the competition, an initial proposal to split the league into two pools for the 2009 season, organised geographically into western and eastern divisions and possibly including other nearby clubs was tabled in July 2007. This may be considered as part of a overall independent review of Australian football in the Riverina. [cite news |first=Brett |last=Kohlhagen |title=Hume Split |url=http://bordermail.yourguide.com.au/news/local/sport/afl/hume-split/1174506.aspx |work=The Border Mail |publisher=Fairfax Media |date=2008-07-23 |accessdate=2008-07-29 ]

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.

Former Clubs

* Balldale Football Club - contested 1946-47, 1949-1973, then moved to the Coreen Football League
* Bethanga - contested 1934 season
* Brocklesby Football Club - merged with Burrumbuttock in 2006
* Boree Creek Football Club - contested 1970-1975 seasons
* Burrumbuttock Football Club - merged with Brocklesby for the 2006 season
* East Albury Rovers Football Club - contested 1948 seasons
* East Lavington Football Club - contested 1977-1997 seasons then folded
* Gerogery Football Club - foundation member, folded after 1948 season
* Lavington Football Club - contested 1975-76 seasons
* North Albury Seconds - contested 1951-1952
* Rand Football Club contested 1945-1983, later merged with Walbundrie Football Club to rejoin the league in 2006.
* Walbundrie Football Club merged with Rand Football Club (Coreen FL) for the 2006 season

ee also

*AFL NSW/ACT
*Australian rules football in New South Wales
*Coreen & District Football League
*Farrer Football League
*Ovens & Murray Football League
*Tallangatta & District Football League

References

ources

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

External links

* [http://www.sportingpulse.com.au/assoc_page.cgi?assoc=1039&pID=1 Official Site]
* [http://www.footypedia.com/00001620.htm Footypedia page on Hume league]