The AFL Barwon Commission has decided at Monday evening’s meeting that a form of recognition will be
awarded to the highest ranked team at the point the season was cancelled.

This will be for all competitions that were cancelled due to the Victorian Government’s Roadmap to deliver the
National Plan.

This recognition will be presented to clubs at the 2021 presentation dinner. The date of this event remains to
be confirmed due to the current restrictions on patrons at indoor venues.

Notes:
List of cancelled competitions

• All Geelong Football Netball League Competitions
• All Bellarine Football Netball League Competitions
• All Senior and Junior Female Football Competitions
• All AFL Barwon Under 19 Football Competitions
• All AFL Barwon Junior Football Competitions
• All AFL Barwon Junior Netball Competition

AFL Barwon wishes to advise the Total Team Points (TPP) for the 2022 Senior Football and Netball seasons. This encompasses Senior Male Football, Senior Female Football and A Grade Netball across the Blood Toyota Geelong Football Netball League, DOW Bellarine Football Netball League, Colac and District Football Netball League, Geelong and District Football League and Epworth Senior Female Competitions.

The AFL Barwon Player Points System Policy (PPSP) local by-laws document is reviewed annually, in conjunction with the Community Club Sustainability Program (CCSP) working party and AFL Victoria.

The updated AFL Victoria Player Points System Policy, AFL Barwon Senior Female Football Player Points System Policy, AFL Barwon Netball Player Points System Policy, and local by-laws document will be circulated to clubs over the coming weeks.

AFL Barwon can confirm the dates for the supported community themed rounds for 2024.

The community awareness rounds supported by AFL Barwon align to the corporate social responsibility plan with dates aligning to the AFL themed rounds.

The selected themed rounds are fantastic opportunities for the AFL Barwon community to get behind these key initiatives and causes that resonate with our members. 

May 13^th – May 18^th – The Sir Doug Nicholls Round (AFL Barwon Indigenous Round)

May 27^th – June 2^nd – AFL Barwon Female Festival of Sport

June 10^th - June 16^th – AFL Barwon Pride Round

July 15^th – July 21^st – Hamlan Homes Read the Play and Mental Health Round

Clubs who are supporting these rounds by wearing alternative uniforms, holding fundraising events or other supported methods are asked to contact AFL Barwon Commercial Partnerships & Communications Manager, Sean Atkinson.

AFL Barwon is excited to announce the Dow Bellarine Football Netball League fixture for the 2024 season.

The 2024 season kicks off on the traditional Easter Weekend with a Portarlington hosting Newcomb on Good Friday in the standard time slot followed by Modewarre & Geelong Amateur in the twilight senior football match.

East Saturday has the repeat of last season’s Senior Football Grand Finalists, with Torquay hosting Drysdale at McCartney Oval.

2023 Dow A-Grade Premiers Ocean Grove, kick off their title defence against Preliminary Finalists Queenscliff.

The bye weekends in the Bellarine FNL in 2024 are Saturday May 11^th and Saturday July 6th. 

Other key fixture highlights include:

• Round 1 - Portarlington vs Newcomb and Modewarre vs Geelong Amateur on Good Friday, 
• Round 4 – First edition of the “Battle of the Bridge” for 2023 with Round 13 hosting the return fixture.
• Round 5 – Traditional ANZAC Day fixture between Portarlington vs Drysdale.
• Round 6 - Geelong Amateurs host A-Grade Premiers Ocean Grove in the Grand Final rematch. 

The full 2024 Dow Bellarine Football Netball League season fixture can be found here.

AFL Barwon and Kings Funerals are delighted to announce a 3-year partnership extension.

The new agreement provides a more expansive connection between the two organisations and will extend the partnership to 6 years after its commencement in 2021.

Kings Funerals will have a greater presence in the Junior Female Football section, with naming rights to all Junior Female Division 2 & Division 3 competitions. There will be further Kings branding with all Junior Female Football playing shorts sublimated to include the Kings Funerals logo on the front.

AFL Barwon Regional General Manager, Edward Wilson stated his gratitude of the partnership extension.

“We’re grateful for the ongoing support of Kings and the enthusiasm they bring to this partnership, with a real vision to be collaborative partners in the growth of sport throughout the region. This enthusiasm and collaboration we at AFL Barwon appreciate immensely, and we look forward to what the future will hold, between our two organisations”.  

Kings Funerals General Manager, Beth King expressed her delight at the opportunity to support women in sport through this extension.

“Kings Funerals are delighted to support more girls and women to develop their skills and enjoy playing football. Strong junior competitions are essential for all girls who aspire to becoming AFLW players and we look forward to seeing many more elite women athletes in future who have played in the Kings Cup competitions.”

“We’re pleased to be extending our partnership for another 3 years after coming on board as Female Football finals live streaming partner in 2021.”

To find out more about Kings Funerals’ locations, services, and involvement in the community, simply visit https://kingsfunerals.com.au/

AFL Barwon is pleased to announce that Bruce Harwood has been appointed as the new Region Manager.

Harwood needs little introduction, currently serving as a City of Greater Geelong Councillor and previous Mayor of the City, he has a long association with football and netball as a player, supporter and administrator and has been a long-time advocate for community sport in this region.

“I am really pleased with this appointment.  We have completed a very thorough process and had a number of excellent applicants,” AFL Barwon Chair Craig Keating said.

“Bruce brings a wealth of experience in business and community engagement to AFL Barwon and his energy and passion for the region will enhance the development of our community sports of football and netball as we move out of the Covid impacted years of 2020 and 2021.”

“I would also like to acknowledge and thank the great work of Georgia Hillman and Sean Atkinson who both led the AFL Barwon team over the past season in the roles as Acting RGM with distinction. Both Georgia and Sean deserve great credit for navigating the challenges of 2021 and can be proud of their work. The whole AFL Barwon team has performed brilliantly under difficult circumstances.”

Harwood will commence in the role on Tuesday 26 October.

The AFL Barwon Commission provides governance and strategy development for Football and Netball across the Geelong and Colac regions. We are seeking a creative and motivated person to manage all facets of media and communications in the AFL Barwon Region.

The Media Coordinator is primarily responsible for managing all of AFL Barwon’s social media platforms, strategic media engagement and liaison with local media outlets and internal and external AFL Barwon communications. The role is responsible for of AFL Barwon’s day-to-day media activities, including creative proactive and engaging content. During periods of high activity, the Media Coordinator will lend a hand to assist their colleagues with different projects and campaigns from a digital sense.

The successful applicant will be responsible for managing relationships with other media parties, club stakeholders and internal staff.

Reporting to the Commercial Partnerships Manager, the successful applicant will require:

• Experience in managing social media platforms and content creation
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Experience in creative design
• Demonstrated expertise in writing for a range of publications, reports and creative pieces for both print and online audiences.
• Experience managing and producing print publications (eg: newsletters, brochures), including writing, editing and researching content, and basic design.
• Demonstrated capacity to plan and schedule differing work demands for oneself and the team in order to meet deadlines for multiple tasks in a variety of work areas.

Relevant tertiary qualifications will be desired but not essential.

If this sounds like a position for you, please email a cover letter and your resume to Georgia Hillman – Commercial Partnerships Manager – AFL Barwon at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

AFL Barwon is in unanimous support of the statement made by City of Greater Geelong Mayor Trent Sullivan on Friday December 8^th that there is a clear need to urgently progress the development of additional netball infrastructure in the Region.

The AFL Barwon Strategic Plan outlines a key strategic pillar that has a focus to “strengthen, ignite and support participation opportunities across every aspect of football and netball, to ensure all competitions thrive and have inequitable opportunities addressed”.

Netball participation numbers over the past 10 years has increased from 3100 to over 5700 participants playing in all AFL Barwon competitions. The past 12 months alone has incurred a rise of 9.4% across all AFL Barwon competitions. Team numbers in all competitions has risen from 335 in 2013, to 705 in 2023. There has been a severe lack of infrastructure development or improvements over this time to support the growth in participation. The lack of facility support, and developments means some teams are on a training rotation roster.

This growth in our competition could have been significantly higher with some team entries being denied due to being at facility capacity. AFL Barwon has also not had the opportunity to expand on diversifying competitions offerings. The capacity issues also led to All Abilities competitions being administered outside of AFL Barwon governance.

The Barwon region has recorded increases in Netball participation each year since the Covid-19 pandemic. This is not only due to the competitions being provided, but also assisted by the strong growth corridors in the region. The population increase in the Greater Geelong region is projected to rise by over 63,000 by 2033, and by around 114,000 people in 2041. If our netball competitions increase by even 1% of the projected population growth over the next 10 years, we will have a projected increase of approximately 630 participants and roughly 63 teams.

The pathway and elite netball opportunities in the Barwon region are further significantly hampered with the lack of infrastructure development. The obvious lack of Stadia and surrounding infrastructure to support or showcase elite Netball such the Geelong Netball Club programs. This has also led to our own representative netball programs having no adequate facilities to train. The lack of appropriate Stadium has put our region well behind other Regional Victoria towns. Ballarat and Bendigo both have Indoor Stadiums with capacities of 3000 and 4000 respectively. There is a clear desire and requirement for Geelong to have a Stadium that matches or exceeds the capacity of these other regions considering the population size and projected growth.   

The future of Netball in our community is being severely hampered by the lack of facility infrastructure growth to meet the exponential growth in the Barwon Region

We look forward to supporting any progressive conversations surrounding Netball infrastructure enhancements in the future to benefit our community.

The AFL Barwon region has a rich history and tradition of recognising excellence and contributions of our community through various awards. 

The AFL Barwon Commission insists that award names in the AFL Barwon region honour those who have made significant, lasting contributions to our community, preserving their legacies for future generations.

To ensure these awards reflect the outstanding individuals and their legacies, a formal process for naming awards has been established. 

We are seeking nominations for the following awards to be named in a bid to acknowledge outstanding service and achievements.

Football

• Bellarine Football Netball League Seniors Best on Ground in a Grand Final
• Geelong Football Netball League Seniors Leading Goal Kicker
• Bellarine Football Netball League Seniors Leading Goal Kicker 

Netball

• Geelong Football Netball League A Grade Netball Best on Court in a Grand Final
• Bellarine Football Netball League A Grade Netball Best on Court in a Grand Final
• Geelong Football Netball League A Grade Netball Best and Fairest
• Bellarine Football Netball League A Grade Netball Best and Fairest
• Geelong Football Netball League A Grade Netball Hot Shots
• Bellarine Football Netball League A Grade Netball Hot Shots
• Senior Netball Coach of the Year

To nominate an eligible person(s) for a renaming of any awards outlined in this document, click on the following link Award Naming Application Form

To view the renaming process, please see the following link AFL Barwon Recognition & Awards Program

The AFL Barwon Commission delivers this release, to provide an update for all interested parties within the Football & Netball communities of the Barwon region, with particular emphasis on the future of the Bellarine FNL.  

In-line with the New Club Entry application process that closed on 24 April 2024, AFL Barwon firstly received an application from Surf Coast FNC for entry into the Bellarine FNL. As part of an extensive review of Surf Coast FNC’s application, several face-to-face engagements have transpired, with one final engagement scheduled to take place on Monday night (May 27).

All Bellarine FNL Clubs have been invited to attend a meeting with AFL Barwon on Wednesday 29^th May to be provided with a secondary consultation opportunity (following the most recent on April 22), following the conclusion of AFL Barwon’s engagement with Surf Coast FNC. This opportunity for Bellarine FNL Clubs to be engaged is pivotal to the success and future of the League, and AFL Barwon is looking forward to this evening.

As part of the New Club Entry application process that closed on 24 April 2024, AFL Barwon also received a second application from a Club within the AFL Barwon region. As part of an extensive review of this Club’s application, including several face-to-face engagements, the Club has opted to withdraw its application for entry into the Bellarine FNL for 2025. AFL Barwon is supportive of this withdrawal noting the Club did not meet all four pillars of entry criteria – Facilities, Financials, Participation and Club Development. 

Following this withdrawal, the Club has requested continued confidentiality noting the public significance and attention with originally expressing an interest in moving leagues, within the local community. AFL Barwon respects this request and will continue to honour this, noting the conclusion of their application process.

AFL Barwon looks forward to concluding the New Club Entry application review process for Surf Coast FNC, to provide certainty and a future for their Football & Netball programs, as well as certainty on the future of the Bellarine FNL. Any change is significant and the AFL Barwon Commission is grateful for the ongoing engagement of all stakeholders, in ensuring that equitable opportunities for participation and sustainability continue to be prioritised within the Barwon region.