Founded 1964 No. of teams 6 | President Darren Philps Country Australia | |
Sport Australian rules football Most recent
champion(s) North Gambier Football Club | ||
The Western Border Football League is an Australian rules football competition based in the Lower South East region of South Australia, and south-western border region of Victoria. It is an affiliated member of the South Australian National Football League. The league used to be regarded as the premier country football league in South Australia, and a leading country Victorian league, however the number of clubs and standard has declined in recent years.
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Brief history
In 1964, after almost a decade of discussions, the Western District Football League in Victoria and the South-East & Border Football League in South Australia merged to form the Western Border Football League. The founding 12 clubs were Casterton, Coleraine, East Gambier, Hamilton, Hamilton Imperials, Heywood, Millicent, North Gambier, Penola, Portland, South Gambier and West Gambier.
Penola left and joined the Kowree-Naracoorte Football League in 1988, Coleraine left and joined the South West District Football League in 1995.
In 2011 the Heywood Football Club left the Western Border Football League due to the club struggling to compete with the larger town clubs in the league. Their first application to leave was rejected, so they were forced to go to higher levels at the VCFL to resolve issues between the League and the Heywood Football Netball Club.
In 2012 the Hamilton and Hamilton Imperials club merged upon recommendation from the VCFL and competed in the Hampden Football Netball League from 2013. Portland also transferred to the Hampden Football Netball League for 2013, and Casterton and Sandford merged leaving just 6 teams in the competition today.
Some famous players that have played in the Western Border Football League have been Billy Picken, Matthew Clarke, Nick Daffy, Nathan Lovett-Murray, Mal Michael and John Mossop.