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Female Football Day of Play Changes

AFL Barwon, in extensive consultation with the impacted member clubs and their key stakeholders, have made changes to the AFL Barwon Female Football Day of play for the 2024 season.

The Epworth Senior Female and Under 19’s Female Football Competition’s will be played primarily on Friday nights. The fixturing of Friday night matches will be only at venues that have lighting that meet the required safety standards to host matches. There are only 5 of the current 17 Senior Female & Under 19’s clubs do not have adequate lighting facilities which will see most matches played on Friday nights. For club’s with sufficient lights to play night home games, doubleheader fixturing will be made possible. For any clubs that do not have adequate lighting, they will still play home games on Sunday's, unless alternative fixtures have been agreed upon. Clubs have been encouraged to consult and collaborate with other clubs if games need to be moved from the Friday night or Sunday timeslots for any significant reasoning.

The basis of these changes has been formulated to ensure that female participation continues to trend positively across the Barwon Region. With the implementation of the Fair Access Policy in 2025, AFL Barwon believes this modelling is a critical element in preparing for these policy changes. Female participation in the Barwon Region in 2023 had a rise of 17% across all competitions.

Throughout the consultation process, a consistent theme emerged indicating a strong desire for increased club connection among female players and officials. There was a notable interest in providing them with the opportunity to participate in club social events. The changes should also help to strengthen the connection between the Under 19 and Senior sections of the Female Football Clubs.  

There are no changes to the scheduling or day of play for any other junior female competitions in 2024. 

All fixtures for Female Football competitions will be released in the lead up to the 2024 season.

Click here for the 2024 season dates for all Female Football competitions.

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2024 AFL Barwon Season Dates

AFL Barwon is excited to release to our clubs, players, officials, and supporters the dates for the 2024 season.

The traditional Easter start date for the Bellarine FNL will continue in 2024, with a great opportunity for holiday makers to the region to get along and watch some Football and Netball.

The Dow Bellarine FNL Finals Series will kick off on August 17th, with the Grand Final being played on September 7th.

The Geelong Football Netball League will kick off on the weekend of Saturday April 13th next season. The 2024 season will see some regular Sunday football netball matches in the Geelong FNL. The Grand Final Day for the Geelong FNL has been pushed back from its usual Saturday prior to the AFL Grand Final date to the AFL Grand Final Public Holiday in 2024. This will be an excellent showcase opportunity for the footballers and netballers in the region.

The full competition fixture start dates, byes, and finals series dates for all our competitions can be found below.

 

Bellarine Football Netball League

Round 1: Weekend of Friday March 29th

Byes: Weekend of Saturday May 11th and Saturday July 6th

Dow Bellarine FNL Finals Series Commences: Saturday August 17th

Dow Bellarine FNL Grand Final Day: Saturday September 7th

 

Geelong Football Netball League

Round 1: Weekend of Saturday April 13th

Byes: Weekend of Saturday May 25th and Saturday July 6th

Split Round: Weekend of Saturday August 3rd and Weekend of Saturday August 10th

Geelong FNL Finals Commence: Saturday September 7th

Geelong FNL Grand Final Day: Friday September 27th

 

AFL Barwon Under 18’s Male

Round 1: Weekend of Saturday April 13th

Byes: Weekend of Saturday May 25th and Saturday July 6th

Split Round (Div 3. Only): Saturday July 27th and Saturday August 10th

Finals Series Commences:

  • Div 1: Saturday September 7th
  • Div 2: August 17th
  • Div 3: August 24th

Grand Final Day’s:

  • Div 1: Friday September 27th
  • Div 2: Saturday September 7th
  • Div 3: Saturday September 14th

 

AFL Barwon Female Football (Senior & Under 19)

Round 1: Weekend of Friday April 5th

Byes: Weekend of Friday May 3rd and Friday July 5th

Epworth Female Football Finals Series Commences: Weekend of Friday August 9th

Epworth Female Football Grand Final Day: Weekend of Friday August 23rd

 

AFL Barwon Female Football (All Junior excluding Under 9 Girls)

Round 1: Weekend of Sunday April 14th

Byes: Weekend of Sunday July 7th

Epworth Female Football Finals Series Commences: Weekend of Sunday August 11th

Epworth Female Football Grand Final Day: Sunday August 25th

 

AFL Barwon Female Football (Under 9 Girls)

Round 1: Weekend of Friday August 2nd

Last Round: Weekend of Friday September 13th

 

AFL Barwon Junior Football

Round 1: Weekend of Friday April 19th  

Byes: Weekend of Friday July 5th

Kempe Junior Football Finals Series Commences: Weekend of Saturday August 17th

Kempe Junior Football Grand Final Day: Weekend Saturday of August 31st

 

AFL Barwon Junior Netball

Round 1: Tuesday Night Competitions April 16th. Friday Night Competitions April 19th

Byes: Tuesday Night Competitions July 2nd and July 9th. Friday Night Competitions May 10th July 5th

Tuesday Night Competitions Last Round: Tuesday August 20th

Kempe Junior Netball Finals Series Commences: Friday August 16th

Kempe Junior Netball Grand Final Day: Friday September 6th

 

AFL Barwon All-Abilities FNL

Round 1: TBC

Byes: TBC

Finals Series Commences: TBC

Grand Final Day: TBC

*Waiting on the confirmation of the FIDA fixture.

 

Colac & District FNL

Round 1: Weekend of Saturday April 6th

Byes: Weekend of Saturday July 6th

Split Rounds:

  • Weekend of Saturday April 27th and Weekend of Saturday May 4th
  • Weekend of Saturday August 3rd and Weekend of Saturday August 10th

Colac & District FNL Finals Series Commences: Saturday of August 31st

Colac & District FNL Grand Final Day: Saturday September 21st

 

Colac Otway Junior Football

Round 1: Weekend of Friday April 26th

Last Round: Weekend of Friday June 28th

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Welcome Tim Secombe

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Tim Secombe as the AFL Barwon Club Development Lead.

Bringing a wealth of experience, Tim has spent the last two decades in various management roles at Bendigo Bank. In addition to his professional career, he has dedicated nearly 20 years to volunteer positions within community Football and Netball Clubs. Most recently, he acted as Vice President at Leopold Football & Netball Club, providing him with valuable insights into the needs of community clubs.

Tim will commence his role at AFL Barwon on Monday, December 4th.

AFL Barwon extends its gratitude to Paul O’Keefe for his outstanding contributions to club development over the past 12 months. Paul will continue to support clubs in his role until the end of December.

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Craig Keating becomes inaugural AFL Barwon Life Member

The AFL Barwon Commission has tonight awarded the first AFL Barwon Life Membership to Craig Keating at the Annual General Meeting.
 
Keating served as the inaugural chair of the AFL Barwon Commission over a ten-year tenure concluding his term at the end of 2022.

Current AFL Barwon Chair, Michelle Gerdtz was delighted that Craig has been recognised for his outstanding service.
“Craig’s commitment to the Region since the inception of AFL Barwon was exceptional. As the inaugural Chair, he led the Region from through some really challenging times that his strong leadership helped guide the business, Clubs, and its stakeholders through”.
Craig left AFL Barwon last year in such a great position, and there is certainly no one more deserving than Craig for this Life Membership award.”
 
The AFL Barwon Commission also ratified the new 3-year terms of current serving Commissioners Diana Murase and Mark Wilken, as well as the addition of Ethan Vines who will fill the vacant position left by Robert Hallett who has served his full term.
 
AFL Barwon Chair, Michelle Gerdtz thanked Robert Hallett for his dedication and commitment to the Commission.
Gerdtz stated “Bob, has been a fantastic servant of AFL Barwon firstly as an inaugural regional committee appointee and then as AFL Barwon Commissioner. I thank him for his support to me personally and for his commitment to the whole Commission and football and netball in the region through this time.  

Ethan Vines joins the AFL Barwon Commission as part of the City of Greater Geelong Youth on Board Program. This is a leadership program that trains and supports young people between 18 and 25 in becoming on the boards of management of local organisations. Ethan’s expertise is in Digital Marketing, recently completing a Bachelor of Communications at Deakin University.

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Barwon Heads Star Oliver Wiltshire Realises AFL Dream

Article by AFL Victoria

One of the most stunning moments in the 2023 AFL Draft came when Geelong picked a player straight out of community football, from their own backyard, with Oliver Wiltshire taken with one of the final few picks at number 61 overall.

 
21-year-old Wiltshire enjoyed an outstanding 2023 season for Barwon Heads Football Netball Club in the Bellarine Football League, playing not far from the Cats' home ground GMHBA Stadium, which has become his new workplace. His 51-goal campaign in the strong community league this year helped to push his side to a preliminary final.
 
Wiltshire is a success story of his local area and club, having played most of his junior football for Barwon Heads. He played for Geelong Falcons in the Coates Talent League pathway competition in 2021 but otherwise has mainly honed his craft on local grounds in the Bellarine region and playing for his school, St Joseph's College, which is just down the road. 
 
Geelong Cats Recruiting Manager Stephen Wells said the Cats were very happy to give Oli his chance.
 
"Oli had an opportunity at the Geelong Falcons a couple of years ago, we think his skill and football brain on display at Barwon Heads over the past couple of years has been outstanding and he deserves his chance," said Wells.
 
The man of the moment did his first media conference as a Geelong player in the days following the draft and said "it was an unreal feeling" to have his named called out on draft night. 
 
"I've barracked for the Cats all my life, mum and dad have, I went to school just down the road at Joeys (St Joseph's) so I know this place pretty well and so rapt to be here," Wiltshire said.
 
Geelong legend Matthew Scarlett was an assistant coach at Barwon Heads and had encouraged Wiltshire to pursue his AFL dream. Wiltshire said he sensed there may be some interest after his 12-goal performance against Modewarre early in the season. 
 
"After the Modewarre game... I kicked a few goals and had a few whispers coming my way and then a few games after that, had a few more.
 
"After Falcons I went down and played at Barwon Heads and I loved playing there, loved playing with all my mates down there and just played for the love of the game. Lucky enough that Scarlo has come down."
 
Wiltshire follows in the footsteps of new teammate Tom Stewart, who also played senior community football in the Geelong region before the Cats selected him. 

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