Geelong & District Football League
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G&DFL Logo |
|
| General Information | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1879 |
| Current Clubs |
Anakie Bannockburn Belmont Bell Post Hill Corio East Geelong Geelong West Giants Inverleigh North Geelong Thomson Werribee Centrals Winchelsea |
| 2015 Season | |
| Premiers | Bell Post Hill |
| Minor Premiers | Bell Post Hill |
| Wooden Spoon | Corio |
| League Best & Fairest | Jamie Pitman (North Geelong) |
| Leading Goal Kicker | Jamie Pitman (North Geelong) 126 |
G&DFL Logo
The Geelong & District Football League is the oldest surviving football competition in Victoria. It is one of three Australian rules football leagues in the Geelong area, the others being the Geelong Football League and the Bellarine Football League. There are 12 teams, and the league has produced over 600 VFL/AFL players.
The league was formed in 1879 as the Geelong and District Football Association (GDFA). In 1919 it changed name to the GDFL, before changing to the Geelong Junior Football Association in 1922. It reverted to the GDFL name in 1933, then back to the GDFA in 1939, and back to the GDFL in 1945.
From 1946 onwards, the GDFL maintained a divisional system, with clubs in the First Division competing for the Evelyn Hurst Trophy, the Second Division for the Woolworth Cup, and the Third Division for the Jarman Cup.
In 1973 the GDFL had a restructure that insisted in having the senior club also provide a reserve grade side. This meant that senior clubs had to align with a junior club to survive. The Evelyn Hurst Trophy, the Woolworth Cup and the Jarman Cup titles were dropped for the more standard 1st and 2nd divisions. 1st division would have twelve clubs while 2nd division started with 8 and eventually grew to 11 clubs.
The league took the form it is today when 12 clubs broke away in 1979 to form the Geelong Football League. The city and country clubs of the old GDFL were divided into the major league competition of the GFL and the minor league GDFL. Many of the teams in the lower league wanted a system of promotion and relegation, which saw the movement of a couple of clubs.
The GDFL were left with 11 clubs but over the next couple of years it grew to fourteen. It was enough for the league add another division of competition. From 1984 until 1995 the league had two divisions that operated on a promotion/demotion system. From 1996 onwards, the league has reverted to a single division competition.
Today the GDFL is opposed to the promotion-relegation system, with the Geelong Football League, Geelong & District Football League and Bellarine Football League forming a three-league, three division football structure for the Geelong area. In 2002, the GDFL adopted netball, originally to keep the wives busy from their husbands, introducing A Grade, B Grade & C Grade senior teams, as well as U/17's, U/15's & U/13's junior netball. In 2009, the GDFL introduced a fourth senior netball section, D Grade, where East Geelong and Werribee have the past 3 of the last 6 D Grade premierships
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