Omeo & District Football League: Difference between revisions

| lat7 = -37.25 | long7 = 147.71 | label7 = '''Swifts Creek'''

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==History==

</timeline>

 

 

In 1978 the league first expanded beyond its traditional range, with [[Bruthen, Victoria|Bruthen]] and [[Buchan, Victoria|Buchan]] being admitted.<ref name="fp-odfl" /> Following on from this the competition later became more often referred to as the ''Omeo and District Football League'' (still abbreviated to ODFL), with the "and" recognising that it now incorporated teams from beyond the original Omeo District. In 1995 one of the four traditional clubs, Ensay, folded due a lack of players. In 1997 the league admitted two more new clubs from beyond its original range, [[Swan Reach, Victoria|Swan Reach]] and Lake Tyers. Lake Tyers would only play for two seasons, but in 2004 another outside team, [[Lindenow, Victoria|Lindenow South]] was also admitted.<ref name="fp-odfl" />

 

By the 2000s many clubs were struggling to find sufficient players every week, and the two historic 'above the gap' teams, Benambra and Omeo, would make the difficult decision to merge and form Omeo-Benambra from the 2007 season onwards. By this era most of the football teams in the competition had also already fully affiliated with their associated netball teams, and the competition eventually officially adopted the title of ''Omeo District Football Netball League (ODFNL)''.<ref name="stg-odfnl">{{cite web|title=Omeo District Football Netball League|url=http://websites.sportstg.com/assoc_page.cgi?c=1-6188-80818-0-0|website=SportsTG|publisher=[[Newscorp]]|access-date=11 September 2016}}</ref>

==Key events in competition history==

Note: unless otherwise stated, all items refer to senior football teams. Netball and junior teams often, but not always, follow the senior football teams. There are also insufficient available data sources relating to netball and juniors, including when the competitions originated.

* 1895: Benambra joined the competition.<ref name="fp-odfl" />

* 1897: The ''Noble Explosives Cup'' replaced the ''Boyle and Mac's Challenge Cup'', which had been disbanded after the 1896 season.<ref name=fpf-nec />

* 1900: Ensay is thought to have joined the competition.<ref name="fp-odfl" />

* 1907: The competition split into the ODFA and the ''Tambo Valley Football Association (TVFA)''.<ref name="fp-odfl" /><ref name="fp-tvfa" /><ref name=ba-atc93 />

* 1914: The ODFA reformed, again resulting in a split competition.<ref name="fp-odfl" /><ref name="fp-tvfa" />

* 1915–18: Both the ODFA and TVFA were in recess due to the large number of young men from the district involved in World War I.<ref name="fp-odfl" /><ref name="fp-tvfa" />

* 1941–44: The league was in recess due to the large number of young men from the district involved in World War II.<ref name="odfl-hb">{{cite news|title=ODFL Honour Board|location=Albion Hotel, Swifts Creek}}</ref>

* 1978: [[Bruthen, Victoria|Bruthen]] (from the [[East Gippsland Football League]]) and [[Buchan, Victoria|Buchan]] (after an eight-year recess from the Snow Valley Football League) were admitted,<ref name=bu-fpf>{{cite web|last=Devaney|first=John|title=Buchan|url=http://www.fullpointsfooty.net/buchan.htm|work=Full Points Footy|access-date=29 August 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100612203108/http://fullpointsfooty.net/buchan.htm|archive-date=12 June 2010}}</ref> extending the league beyond the traditional 'Omeo District' of the upper Tambo Valley for the first time, and taking the number of teams to six.

* 1996: Lake Tyers reformed after many years in recess, affiliating with the ODFL for the first time, and competing in 1996–97, returning the league to six teams.<ref name="tyers-vid">{{cite web|last=McKinnon|first=Malcolm|title=Looking for a Game at Lake Tyers|url=http://www.cv.vic.gov.au/stories/football-stories-from-country-victoria/1593/looking-for-a-game-at-lake-tyers/|work=Football Stories from Country Victoria|publisher=Culture Victoria |access-date=7 September 2010|year=2007}}</ref>

* 1997: [[Swan Reach, Victoria|Swan Reach]] were admitted from the [[Riviera Football League]] after spending a year in recess, making a seven team competition.

* 2007: Benambra and Omeo merged to form Omeo-Benambra, returning the league to six teams.

* 2010: Competition rules were modified to allow girls up to 13 to play junior boys' football, and boys up to 13 to play junior girls' netball.

* 2020: The season was cancelled for the first time in 75 years due to the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], which was particularly [[COVID-19 pandemic in Australia|bad in Victoria]] during the second half of the year.

* 2021: After several interruptions throughout the year, the season was officially abandoned after the first week of finals due to the [[COVID-19 pandemic]]. The remaining three teams in Senior Football were Lindenow South, Swifts Creek, and Omeo-Benambra.

| [[File:OmeoBenambraDesignNew.png|center|40px]] || ''Ranges<br /><small>(Alpine Ranges)</small>''|| Omeo Recreation Reserve, [[Omeo]]

| align="center" |–

|-

! style="text-align:left" | [[Swan Reach, Victoria|Swan Reach]]

|-

! style="text-align:left" | Bindi

| align="center" |–

| || 1907, 1908, 1914;<br />folded || align="center" | 0|| –

|-

! style="text-align:left" | [[Cassilis, Victoria|Cassilis]]<br />(aka Long Gully)

| align="center" |–

| || 1893 – 1919;<br />folded || align="center" | 8|| 1894, 1895, 1896, 1898, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1914

|-

! style="text-align:left" | Glen Wills

| align="center" |–

| || 1894 – 1895;<br />folded || align="center" | 0|| –

|-

! style="text-align:left" | Little River

| align="center" |–

| || 1919 – 1921;<br />folded/merged with Ensay || align="center" | 1|| 1921

|-

! style="text-align:left" | Reedy Creek

| align="center" |–

| || 1919 – 1921, 1925;<br />folded/merged with Ensay || align="center" | 0|| –

|-

! style="text-align:left" | [[Tambo Crossing, Victoria|Tambo Crossing]]

| align="center" |–

| || 1925;<br />folded || align="center" | 0|| –

! scope="col" width="180" |Score

! scope="col" width="60" |Margin

|-

| 2023 || '''Swifts Creek''' || Omeo-Benambra || 11.6 ('''72''') – 7.8 ('''50''') ||style="text-align:center;"| 22

! scope="col" width="180" |Score

! scope="col" width="60" |Margin

|-

| 2023 || '''Buchan''' || Lindenow South|| 15.3 ('''93''') – 7.6 ('''48''') ||style="text-align:center;"| 45

 

A single competition ran until the 2010s, when a second "B" grade was added due to demand for more women to participate. The original single team was then renamed as "A" grade. Clubs have gradually added a second side so that as of 2022 all clubs fielded both A and B grade teams, however, often some players will be required to play in both teams to fill numbers, or junior players will be used to make up sides.

'''"A" Grade'''

{| class="wikitable sortable"

! scope="col" width="60" |Margin

|-

| 2022 || '''Lindenow South''' || Bruthen ||style="text-align:center;"| 34 – 33 ||style="text-align:center;"| 1

|-

| 2021 || Abandoned ([[COVID-19 pandemic in Australia|COVID-19]]) || || ||

! scope="col" width="60" |Margin

|-

| 2022 || '''Lindenow South''' || Buchan ||style="text-align:center;"| 30 – 18 ||style="text-align:center;"| 12

|-

| 2021 || Abandoned ([[COVID-19 pandemic in Australia|COVID-19]]) || || ||

! scope="col" width="60" |Margin

|-

| 2022 || '''Buchan''' || Bruthen ||style="text-align:center;"| 38 – 35 ||style="text-align:center;"| 3

|-

| 2021 || Abandoned ([[COVID-19 pandemic in Australia|COVID-19]]) || || ||