Overview
The Riverina Football Netball League (RFNL) is an Australian rules football and netball competition containing nine clubs based in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. The league features three grades in the Australian rules football competition, with these being First-Grade, Reserve-Grade and Under 17s. In the netball competition, there are five grades, with these being A-Grade, A Reserve-Grade, B-Grade, C-Grade and Under 17s. Governed by AFL Riverina, the league is the only major country league in New South Wales, and was formerly a VFL recruiting zone for South Melbourne from 1968 to 1986. Currently a home and away season consisting of eighteen rounds is played. The best five teams then play off according to the McIntyre system, culminating in the RFNL Grand Final, which is traditionally hosted by Narrandera.
History
The Riverina Football League was formed in 1982 when the South West Football League (New South Wales), the Central Riverina Football League and the Farrer Football League amalgamated in order to create the Riverina Football League and the Riverina District Football League, with the latter changing its name to the Farrer Football League in 1985.
Timeline of clubs
DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1981 till:2025 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"
Pre-season
The Riverina Football League like most country leagues does not have a formal Pre-season competition. As part of their Pre-season preparation clubs will often schedule between one and two practice matches with clubs from other leagues prior to the season beginning. These matches could take on different structures and were primarily conducted on a non-official basis with limited match officials and scores not being recorded.
Premiership season
The Riverina home-and-away season at present lasts for 18 rounds for a total of 16 matches and 2 byes per team. The season starts in mid April and ends in late August. Each team plays each other team twice – once at home and once away. Teams receive four premiership points for a win or bye and two premiership points for a draw. Ladder finishing positions are based on the number of premiership points won, and "percentage" (calculated as the ratio of points scored to points conceded throughout the season) is used as a tie-breaker when teams finish with equal premiership points.
Finals series
The Riverina football finals consisted of a 'Top-5' finals system. The winning team receives a silver premiership cup, a premiership flag – a new one of each is manufactured each year. The flag has been presented since the league began and is traditionally unfurled at the team's first home game of the following season. Additionally, each player in the grand final-winning team receives a premiership medallion. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic during the 2020 season a number of clubs did not participate. The remaining clubs took part in a six-round season and a 'Top-4' finals structure.
Notable players
The following footballers went onto play senior VFL football from the following clubs / leagues with the year indicating their VFL debut. ;South West Football League (New South Wales) (1910–1981) * 1925: Joseph Plant – Narrandera to Richmond * 1925: Les Stainsby – Coolamon to Collingwood * 1928: Jack Haw – Leeton to Melbourne * 1931: Geoff Neil – Leeton to St. Kilda * 1933: George Schlitz – Leeton to St. Kilda * 1934: George Pattison – Narrandera to Essendon * 1936: Percy Bushby – Narrandrea to Essendon * 1948: Laurie Carroll – Ganmain to St. Kilda * 1948: Dudley Mattingly – Ganmain to St.
Kilda * 1955: Peter Curtis – Coolamon, Griffith to North Melbourne * 1957: Tom Quade – Ariah Park Mirrool to North Melbourne * 1958: Bill Box – Whitton to Essendon * 1960: Des Lyons – Leeton to Carlton * 1961: Jim Carroll – Ganmain to Carlton * 1961: Tom Carroll – Ganmain to Carlton * 1966: Mike Quade – Ariah Park Mirrool to North Melbourne * 1968: Ross Elwin – Leeton to South Melbourne * 1968: Bruce Reid – Leeton to South Melbourne * 1970: Frank Gumbleton – Ganmain to North Melbourne * 1970: Ricky Quade – Ariah Park Mirrool to South Melbourne * 1971: Jim Prentice – Ariah Park Mirrool to South Melbourne * 1975: Rod Coelli – Ardlethan to South Melbourne * 1975: Terry O'Neil – Narrandera to South Melbourne * 1976: Terry Daniher – Ariah Park Mirrool to South Melbourne * 1977: Wayne Evans – Grong Grong Matong to South Melbourne * 1978: Russell Campbell – Gainmain to South Melbourne * 1979: Wayne Carroll – Ganmain to South Melbourne * 1979: John Durnan – Narrandera to Geelong * 1979: Mark Fraser – Turvey Park to South Melbourne * 1979: Max Kruse – Leeton to South Melbourne * 1980: Stephen Eather – Turvey Park to South Melbourne * 1980: Victor Hugo – Narrandera to South Melbourne * 1980: Greg Smith – Ardlethan to South Melbourne * 1981: Dennis Carroll – Ganmain to South Melbourne * 1981: Anthony Daniher – Turvey Park to South Melbourne * 1981: Jack Lucas – Ariah Park Mirrool to South Melbourne ;Riverina Football League (1982–2023) * 1984 – David Murphy (Turvey Park) * 1984 – Paul Hawke (Wagga Tigers) * 1987 – Chris Daniher (Ariah Park-Mirrool & Coolamon) * 1987 – Matt Lloyd (Mangoplah-Cookardinia United-Eastlakes) * 1987 – Peter Quirk (Narrandera) * 1989 – Wayne Carey (North Wagga) * 1990 – Paul Kelly (Wagga Tigers) * 1992 – Jason Mooney (Turvey Park) * 1993 – Mark Pitura (Turvey Park) * 1994 – Daniel McPherson (Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong) * 1994 – Brad Seymour (Wagga Tigers) * 1999 – Cameron Mooney (Turvey Park) * 2000 – Ben Fixter (Wagga Tigers & Coolamon) * 2007 – Matt Suckling (East Wagga-Kooringal and Wagga Tigers) * 2011 – Isaac Smith (Temora, East Wagga-Kooringal and Wagga Tigers) * 2012 – Kurt Aylett (Leeton-Whitton) * 2012 – Harry Cunningham (Turvey Park) * 2012 – Orren Stephenson (Mangoplah-Cookardinia United-Eastlakes) * 2012 – Jacob Townsend (Leeton-Whitton) * 2013 – Zac Williams (Narrandera) * 2015 – Dougal Howard (East Wagga-Kooringal and Wagga Tigers) * 2016 – Harrison Himmelberg (Mangoplah-Cookardinia United-Eastlakes) * 2016 – Jacob Hopper (Leeton-Whitton) * 2016 – Matthew Kennedy (Collingullie-Glenfield Park) * 2017 – Harry Perryman (Collingullie-Glenfield Park) * 2021 – Matthew Flynn (Narrandera) * 2021 – Cooper Sharman (Leeton-Whitton) ;Wagga United Football Association * 1899 – Harry Lampe (Wagga Wagga) * 1924 – Alby Anderson – Royal Stars ; Riverina Main Line Football Association * 1923 – Tim Archer – Mangoplah ;Wagga Australian Rules Football Association * 1929 – Bill Mohr (Wagga Tigers) Footballers from the Riverina Football League who were drafted AFL, but did not play senior AFL football include: * Jock Cornell – Geelong: (Mangoplah-Cookardinia United-Eastlakes) * Max King – Melbourne: (Wagga Tigers)
Under 18s
*1982: Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong *1983: Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong *1984: Leeton *1985: Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong *1986: Turvey Park *1987: Turvey Park *1988: Wagga Tigers *1989: Griffith *1990: Turvey Park *1991: Griffith *1992: Wagga Tigers *1993: Wagga Tigers *1994: Coolamon *1995: Wagga Tigers *1996: Collingullie-Ashmont *1997: Wagga Tigers *1998: Wagga Tigers *1999: Griffith *2000: Turvey Park *2001: Wagga Tigers *2002: Narrandera *2003: Leeton-Whitton *2004: Mangoplah-Cookardinia United-Eastlakes *2005: Turvey Park *2006: Leeton-Whitton *2007: Leeton-Whitton *2008: Wagga Tigers
Under 17s
*2009: Wagga Tigers *2010: Leeton-Whitton *2011: Turvey Park *2012: Wagga Tigers *2013: Wagga Tigers *2014: Wagga Tigers *2015: Mangoplah-Cookardinia United-Eastlakes *2016: Griffith Swans *2017: Turvey Park
Under 17.5s
*2018: Turvey Park *2019: Turvey Park *2020: Osborne *2021: Finals cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic *2022: Griffith Swans *2023: Mangoplah Cookardinia United Eastlakes *2024: Mangoplah Cookardinia United Eastlakes *2025: Narrandera Imperial
2021 Ladder
Season abandoned due to Co-vid pandemic
See also
*AFL NSW/ACT *Australian rules football in New South Wales *Albury & District Football League *Central Hume Football Association *Central Riverina Football League (1949–1981) *Coreen & District Football League *Farrer Football League *Group 9 Rugby League *Group 20 Rugby League *Group 17 Rugby League *Hume Football Netball League *Riverina Football Association (1924–1929) *South West Football League (New South Wales) (1910–1981)
External links
*Official Riverina Football League website *AFL Riverina