AFL Barwon is excited to announce that Newcomb and Portarlington will be the two venues hosting the Dow Bellarine Football Netball League Finals Series in 2023.
All clubs were given the opportunity to submit applications to host finals earlier this year, with the AFL Barwon Commission deciding that after successful 2022 events at both venues, it would replicate the schedule for the 2023 Dow BFNL Finals Series.
The schedule sees Weeks 1 and 2 of the Finals being played at Portarlington Recreation Reserve with the Preliminary Finals and Grand Finals being held at Grinter Reserve.
AFL Barwon Region General Manager, Edward Wilson believed last year’s finals had laid the platform for 2023 to be a huge success. Stating that “We’re fortunate to continue our partnership with both Portarlington FNC & Newcomb FNC in hosting the final four weekends of the 2023 DOW Bellarine FNL season," Wilson believes that both clubs "showcased excellence in hosting the 2022 Finals and are deserving hosts, to build on last year’s success, with community engagement above expectation”.
Newcomb Football Netball Club President, Matt Farrow was proud that their club was given the chance to host again after last year’s successful event. Farrow explained that the club is "extremely proud to host the final two weeks of the Bellarine FNL Finals Series once again. We have worked hard as a club to create a facility that has the ability and capacity to host such events. All we now hope for is great weather to build on what we will be successful finals series for the competing clubs.”
Portarlington Football Netball Club President Steve Cogger expressed his excitement for his club to get another chance to showcase their facilities by saying that it "represents another opportunity for Portarlington FNC, and its community to promote itself in the arena of regional sport. Our town is growing and with that comes the responsibility of local sporting clubs to provide facilities, equipment, coaching and mentoring to an inclusive community." Cogger also emphasised that Portarlington FNC’s "investment in their club will be on display to demonstrate that we are a club worthwhile of any person seeking to be a part of a club that will celebrate 150 years of age in 2024”.
The full schedule for the Dow Bellarine Football Netball League Finals Series is as follows:
Leopold Football Netball Club have confirmed today that current Senior Coach, Garry Hocking has signed a 3-year contract extension.
After leading Leopold to a Grand Final appearance in 2022, the club currently sit 5th on the Blood Toyota Geelong FNL Senior ladder.
The club released the following statement today outlining their delight in the news:
"Our very own Garry Hocking has signed a contract extension, confirming his role as the senior coach of Leopold Football Club until the end of the 2026 season!"
"Garry's commitment and dedication to the club have been unwavering since he took on the role at the start of the 2022 season. We have witnessed incredible growth and progress in our club, both on and off the field. Garry has played a pivotal role in fostering a culture of camaraderie, sportsmanship, and excellence. His passion for the game is contagious, and his ability to inspire and develop our players has been fantastic."
"This contract extension not only ensures stability and continuity for our club but also sends a powerful message to our current playing group, club members, and supporters that we are committed to building a strong and successful future together."
"Please join us in congratulating Garry on his contract extension and wishing him all the best in leading our football section to greater heights."
AFL Barwon is saddened to hear of the passing of the pioneer of the Bellarine Football Netball League, Les Ash.
The Bellarine FNL and Les Ash have a synergy that either can’t be mentioned without an association to the other. Les played an integral role in the establishment of the Bellarine Football Netball League and the integration of the Bellarine District Netball Association in 1972.
The Foundation President of the League, Les served a term from 1971 to 1978. He was awarded with the first Bellarine FNL Life Membership in 1978 for his service and contributions to the League. In 1989, the Bellarine Senior Football Best and Fairest Medal was renamed as the Les Ash Medal.
Les had his own personal football journey through his playing career at St Albans and Leopold before taking on off field roles as the first secretary of the newly formed Leopold Football Netball Club, and Senior Vice President of the Polworth League.
The Les Ash legacy will always remain in the Bellarine Football Netball League, and the AFL Barwon community is forever grateful for his role in community football and netball in our region.
The AFL Barwon Chairperson, Commission, Staff and all member clubs, Bellarine FNL Board, and all members extend their deepest sympathies to the Ash family.
The AFL Barwon Umpires in one senior match across the three leagues, will support AFL Barwon Indigenous Round this weekend by wearing specially designed uniforms.
Designed and created by proud Noongar Wandandi Boodja first nations man Joshua James, umpires will wear the Indigenous uniform in the South Barwon vs Leopold Seniors, Portarlington vs Anglesea Seniors, and the Apollo Bay v Birregurra Senior match.
The full story and meaning of the artwork and the artist, Joshua James can be found below.
Artwork Design
The artwork is called Yongka Kaaleepga which means “Kangaroo Homeland” in Noongar language. There are two narratives within the artwork design. One being the story behind the pathway’s that Kangaroos use to travel around the region, covering off the Bellarine, Otway’s and inland around AFL Barwon.
The second story covers the umpiring fraternity, showcasing the communication and strength umpires have along with the resilience and unity of people coming together from all around Australia regardless of peoples skin colour, culture, sexual orientation or beliefs. The artwork also includes the family of the artist, Joshua James.
Artwork Design in detail.
From a far – The artwork outline is a view from above of the land in the region through the eyes of Bunjil, the eagle who is the spirit and creator of these local lands. The land covers the Bellarine, Surf coast, Otway’s, Bay, Inland and Djilang. The landscape also covers Hovells’ Creek coming through Lara and the Barwon river that crosses the land and enters the sea at Barwon Heads.
Inside the land – There are 11 yarning rings, these rings identify the 11 people that are key to have a successful umpiring campaign. This is including, 3 Field umpires, 3 Boundary umpires, 2 goal umpires and 3 coaches, 1 of each discipline for the duration of the season.
Inland pathway – from the bottom left of the design being the southwest, around the design working its way up along the west side and then along the top being the north is a trail of Yongka Djooroot (Kangaroo Tracks). This represents the journey of the kangaroo that covers the entire region.
Three identifying symbols. – Middle-left. This yarning circle includes 4 figures. These figures are the 4 people from the artist family including Joshua James and his 2 children being Karda and Maali along with his wife and children’s mother Sian James. Sian is also an umpire and umpire coach in AFL Barwon.
Second symbol – bottom left. This yarning circle has 5 people around the fire which represents each football league that’s embedded into AFL Barwon. This includes, GFNL, BFNL, GDFNL, CDFNL, all women’s leagues and Junior Football grades.
Third symbol – bottom right. There is a yarning circle with 8 “U”figures around, this symbol represents how many people there are on field to umpire a game of Australian Rules Football. 3 Field, 3 Boundary and 2 Goal umpires in most AFL Barwon senior matches of football.
Artwork Outcome
Joshua hopes that this artwork unites and connects people over the next three years as this is worn by AFL Barwon umpires across the region in 2023, 2024 and 2025. Umpires will wear this design while umpiring in marquee games across all grades and leagues in AFL Barwon. Josh will ask each umpiring panel that while they wear this design to take just a brief moment pre-game to acknowledge what the artwork represents and how they can impact the aboriginal community in a positive manner.
Noongar Wandandi Boodja first nations artist Joshua James
Artist Background
Joshua James is a Proud Aboriginal man from Noongar Boodja in the Southwest of Western Australia. Josh has been involved heavily in umpiring for 20 years, including the last 7 years here in AFL Barwon. During this time, Josh has some fantastic achievements including, umpiring all around the nation which includes umpiring Senior State league football and umpiring over 370 Senior matches and 9 Senior Grand finals. Josh originally started umpiring in the Southwest Football League in Bunbury, Western Australia in 2003. Since moving to Victoria in 2015 Josh has been involved with AFL Barwon and the Geelong Umpires. During this time Josh umpired 3 Senior Grand Finals and has been a field umpires coach for the past 6 seasons, with season 2023 being one of his biggest as he takes on the Senior Coaching role in Geelong for the first time. In doing so he becomes the first ever Senior Aboriginal Coach in the region.
One of Josh’s proudest moments was in 2022 when he was selected as a matchday coach for AFLW Season 7 making him the first Aboriginal umpiring coach in the history of AFLW.
Along with umpiring and coaching Josh is the Umpire AFL Aboriginal Ambassador which is a Nation-wide role which looks at assisting Aboriginal umpires and coaches in further development. Josh has implemented several programs to help in umpire recruitment and retention which he is extremely proud of. Josh is driven and committed to increase Aboriginal participation in umpiring and to see more Aboriginal people involved in umpiring, coaching and achieve a higher representation of first nations people at state league level and the AFL.
For the first time in AFL Barwon history, all panel netball umpires for the upcoming AFL Barwon Indigenous Round will be wearing specially designed umpire tops. Designed and created by proud Noongar Wandandi Boodja first nations man Joshua James, the tops have been designed to encompass the entirety of the Barwon Region.
The full story and meaning of the artwork and the artist, Joshua James can be found below.
Artwork Design
The artwork is called Moorditj Boodja which means “Strong Country” in Noongar language. There are two narratives within the artwork design. One being the story behind the design which is based on the waterways located around Geelong, Bellarine, Surf Coast, Colac and Otway’s including Hovells Creek, Corio Bay, Port Philip Bay, Bass Strait and the Barwon River.
The second story covers the netball fraternity, showcasing the leagues that operate within AFL Barwon and the connection these leagues have. Netball is more than a sport. It is a sport that unites family’s friends and children. Netball has an environment that is extremely passionate and inclusive and supportive. This is very evident with venues where netball is played having a very positive environment for all grades including women’s, men, children and all abilities.
Artwork Design in detail
From a far – The artwork outline is a view from above of the land and sea in the region through the eyes of Bunjil, the eagle who is the spirit and creator of these local lands. The land covers the Bellarine, Surf coast, Otway’s, Bay, Inland and Djilang. The landscape and sea scape also covers Hovells’ Creek coming through Lara and the Barwon River that crosses the land and enters the sea at Barwon Heads.
Inside the land – There are 4 yarning circles, these are the different leagues and match divisions/grades throughout AFL Barwon in the region. The top right represents the GFNL while the top left represents the BFNL, both of which have 5 senior grades. The bottom left represents the CDFNL which has 4 senior grades. The yarning circle in the centre represents junior girls, men's/boys, all -abilities and midweek games that are played across the region.
Inside the waterways – There are 4 gathering circles, these represent all grades and matches that are played throughout the region. They are connected because this continues to show the strength of the netball family and community and how powerful unity is. The 4 gathering circles are connected by a final piece which is the two symbols around a yarning circle. This symbol represents the two referees that are required to referee a netball match. They are connected to all the leagues as netball needs a referee to ensure the game runs smoothly, the laws are applied withing the spirt of the game and provides a safe and duty of care to the players involved. There are approximately 300 netball referees required each week in the AFL Barwon region. Referees are from a wide range of backgrounds, some do it professionally, some are players filling in, some do it for a hobby to keep fit and early some casual money on the weekends, some do it semi-professional and others are parents and siblings filling in because the game cannot continue without a referee.
To the bottom right there are 5 people dancing, this group of people dancing represent people from all walks of life and celebrating people coming together, supporting each other in unity and inclusion regardless of age, culture, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, disabilities or the colour of their skin.
Artwork Outcome
Joshua hopes that this artwork unites and connects people over the next three years as this is worn by AFL Barwon referees across the region in 2023, 2024 and 2025. Referee’s will wear this design while refereeing in all senior grade games across all divisions and leagues in AFL Barwon. Josh ask’s that each refereeing panel wear’s this design to take just a brief moment pre-game to acknowledge what the artwork represents and how they can impact the aboriginal community in a positive manner.
Artist Background
Joshua James is a Proud Aboriginal man from Noongar Boodja in the Southwest of Western Australia. Josh has been involved heavily in umpiring for 20 years, including the last 7 years here in AFL Barwon. During this time, Josh has some fantastic achievements including, umpiring all around the nation which includes umpiring Senior State league football and umpiring over 370 Senior matches and 9 Senior Grand finals. Josh originally started umpiring in the Southwest Football League in Bunbury, Western Australia in 2003. Since moving to Victoria in 2015 Josh has been involved with AFL Barwon and the Geelong Umpires. During this time Josh umpired 3 Senior Grand Finals and has been a field umpires coach for the past 6 seasons, with season 2023 being one of his biggest as he takes on the Senior Coaching role in Geelong for the first time. In doing so he becomes the first ever Senior Aboriginal Coach in the region.
One of Josh’s proudest moments was in 2022 when he was selected as a matchday coach for AFLW Season 7 making him the first Aboriginal umpiring coach in the history of AFLW.
Along with umpiring and coaching Josh is the Umpire AFL Aboriginal Ambassador which is a Nation-wide role which looks at assisting Aboriginal umpires and coaches in further development. Josh has implemented several programs to help in umpire recruitment and retention which he is extremely proud of. Josh is driven and committed to increase Aboriginal participation in umpiring and to see more Aboriginal people involved in umpiring, coaching and achieve a higher representation of first nations people at state league level and the AFL.
