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.
The league features 11 senior clubs. North City Football Club joined the league in 2008 season raising the number of teams to 11. North City previously played in the Bendigo Football League for the previous two seasons prior to joining. The BFL is also a strong league for grass roots football with 10 junior clubs consisting of 63 teams from U/10 through to U/16.5 (Ballarat, Bacchus Marsh, Darley, East Ballarat, Golden Point, 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 held at the Eastern Oval. The match regularly attracts crowds in excess of 5000 people.
Being the major Australian Rules competition in the region, the BFL receives substantial media coverage with match reports in Ballarat daily newspaper The Courier as well as match radio coverage on radio stations 979fm and Apple FM via the program BFL Game of the Round.
Read more about Ballarat Football League: Current Clubs, Current CEO, Former Clubs, Premiers Since 1946, Henderson Medalists, 2001 Ladder, 2002 Ladder, 2003 Ladder, 2004 Ladder, 2005 Ladder, 2006 Ladder, 2007 Ladder, 2008 Ladder, 2009 Ladder
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