Geelong District FL

The Geelong District Football League was formed in 1879, the oldest existing regional competition in Victoria.
==History==
The GDFL returned in 1945 with ten clubs - Belmont, East Geelong, Geelong West, Geelong West Cricketers, International Harvester, North Geelong, North Shore, Portarlington, Queenscliff and St Albans. In 1946 the influx of clubs caused the creation of a second division as none of the competitions pre war were returning. Newtown and Geelong Amateurs came in with CYMS, YCW, Herne Hill, Drysdale and Sea Scouts, although International Harvester only lasted a season. In 1947 Geelong Amateurs departed, but more clubs joined from Barwon Heads, Freshwater Creek, Lara and Marshall. In 1948 a third division was formed - but no new clubs came in. In fact two clubs were lost - Sea Scouts disappeared and Geelong West headed for the Ballarat FL, while Barwon Heads changed their name to Barwon Heads/Ocean Grove. In 1949 North Shore went into recess as did Belmont, but Barwon returned for it's first season since before the war. Geelong Amateurs returned and Anakie joined. 
In 1950 the third division was abandoned in order to increase the size of the first division and Geelong Amateurs left again, and in 1951 YCW went into recess but Modewarre joined. The third division was reintroduced in 1952, brought on by the return of YCW and the admission of Torquay. In 1953 North Shore returned and St Marys, Bannockburn, Little River and Stonehaven joined, but Geelong West Cricketers went into recess and CYMS, YCW and Herne Hill left. In 1954 Inverleigh and Geelong West YCW joined, while in 1955 Geelong West Cricketers returned and Marshall changed their name to Marshall/Grovedale. In 1956 Leopold joined and Bannockburn changed their name to Bannockburn/Lethbridge while Little River changed their name to Little River/Avalon.
In 1957 Queenscliff departed and Thomson and Norlane joined. In 1959 Bannockburn/Lethbridge became Lethbridge and Little River restored it's single name, while St Peters joined and Geelong West YCW left. Bell Park joined the competition in 1960. Freshwater Creek departed in 1962 while Little River went into recess, returning in 1963. Anglesea also joined that year while Lethbridge departed. In 1964 Ocean Grove established it's own club replacing Norlane who left for an abortive attempt to play Sunday football in Melbourne. Geelong Amateurs also rejoined from the Victorian Amateur FA, replacing Torquay who headed for the Polwarth FL. Little River went into recess again and returned again in 1965 as the third division was dropped. St Bernards also arrived in the competition, but Portarlington and Leopold followed Torquay to Polwarth.
In 1967 Geelong Amateurs returned to the VAFA while Little River went into recess again - this time to never return. In 1969 Barwon Heads/Ocean Grove finally dropped the latter half of their name while Belmont joined the competition. In 1970 Inverleigh and Stonehavem merged to form Legh District and St Bernards went into recess. Marshall/Grovedale dropped the Marshall from their name. Bannockburn also joined the league, while Ocean Grove headed for the Polwarth FL and Anglesea went into recess. In 1971 Drysdale followed Ocean Grove as the Polwarth competition changed it's name to the Bellarine FL, and Anglesea returned from recess to replace them. St Bernards also returned from recess. In 1973 Anglesea headed for the Bellarine FL while St Josephs joined the competition. In 1974 St Bernards changed their name to East Belmont while Corio joined the league. In 1976 Meredith joined from the Ballarat Bacchus Marsh competition and in 1977 a new club from Bell Post Hill joined.
There was a major change in 1979 - the formation of the Geelong FL to provide a major level compeition for Geelong. This led to the departure from the GDFL of Barwon, Bell Park, East Geelong (as Eastern Suburbs) Geelong West Cricketers, Grovedale, Newtown, North Geelong, North Shore, St Albans, St Marys, St Peters and Thomson. Eastern Suburbs and St Peters returned in 1980. In 1981 Meredith were kicked out of the league for on field issues and in 1982 St Peters went back to the GFL and Thomson returned to the GDFL. This led in 1983 to a promotion and relegation arrangement between the two leagues with North Geelong returning and St Josephs leaving. Geelong Amateurs also returned from the VAFA.
In 1984 the second division returned with the admission of Werribee Centrals while it would be Thomson to leave and St Josephs to return. But in 1985 this was reversed, while in 1986 Geelong West Cricketers returned while Geelong Amateurs left. The promotion/relegation arrangement then ended. In 1987 a new club from Wyndhamvale joined, before they left in 1989. Also in 1989 Lara left for the GFL, with the reciprocation coming from the return of Geelong Amateurs. In 1990 Belmont folded, while in 1991 St Leonards joined from the Bellarine FL.
In 1995 Geelong Amateurs left for the Bellarine FL and St Leonards folded. Modewarre followed in 1996 while Leigh Districts went into recess forcing the ending of the second division. In 1998 East Belmont changed their name to Belmont while in 2000 Eastern Suburbs reverted to their previous name of East Geelong. In 2002 Leigh Districts returned from recess as Inverleigh while Winchelsea joined the competition from the Colac District FL. This led to the longest period of stability since World War 2 - ending in 2017 when Geelong West Cricketers merged with Geelong West/St Peters to form a new Geelong West football club fielding teams in both the GDFL and the GFL. In 2020 the GDFL had to abandon the season and the 2021 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
==Ladders (recent)==
===Division One (1991-1995)===
1991	ANAK	NGEE	WERC	CORI	GEEL	BANN	BPHL	
1992	NGEE	CORI	GEEL	ANAK	WERC	BPHL	THOM	BANN
1993	NGEE	CORI	WERC	ANAK	BPHL	THOM	GEEL	LEID
1994	ANAK	NGEE	GEEL	CORI	BPHL	WERC	ESUB	THOM
1995	CORI	WERC	BANN	ANAK	ESUB	NGEE	BPHL	MODE
===Division Two (1991-1995)===
1991	THOM	ESUB	LEID	MODE	EBEL	GW.C	STLE
1992	LEID	MODE	ESUB	GW.C	EBEL	STLE	
1993	ESUB	MODE	EBEL	STLE	BANN	GW.C	
1994	MODE	BANN	GW.C	EBEL	STLE	LEID	
1995	THOM	GW.C	EBEL	LEID	 	 	
===Single Division (1996-today)===
1996	THOM 	BANN 	ESUB 	WERC 	BPHL 	CORI 	GW.C 	ANAK	NGEE	EBEL	 	
1997	BANN 	WERC 	THOM 	GW.C 	ANAK 	ESUB 	NGEE 	CORI	BPHL	EBEL	 	
1998	BANN 	WERC 	THOM 	ESUB 	ANAK 	GW.C 	BPHL 	NGEE	CORI	BELM	 	
1999	WERC 	BANN 	BPHL 	THOM 	ESUB 	GW.C 	ANAK 	CORI	BELM	NGEE	 	
2000	WERC 	BANN 	THOM 	CORI 	EGEE 	BPHL 	NGEE 	GW.C	BELM	ANAK	 	
2001	WERC 	BANN 	CORI 	THOM 	NGEE 	BELM 	BPHL 	ANAK	EGEE	GW.C	 	
2002	NGEE 	CORI 	THOM 	EGEE 	BPHL 	INVE 	BELM 	BANN	WERC	ANAK	WINC	GW.C
2003	BANN 	THOM 	CORI 	BELM 	BPHL 	WERC 	NGEE 	EGEE	INVE	ANAK	WINC	GW.C
2004	WERC 	CORI 	THOM 	BPHL 	NGEE 	WINC 	EGEE 	BELM	INVE	BANN	GW.C	ANAK
2005	THOM 	CORI 	WERC 	NGEE 	EGEE 	WINC 	BPHL 	INVE	BANN	GW.C	BELM	ANAK
2006	THOM 	BANN 	BPHL 	NGEE 	WERC 	CORI 	ANAK 	WINC	BELM	EGEE	GW.C	INVE
2007	BELM 	EGEE 	BANN 	BPHL 	THOM 	ANAK 	WINC 	NGEE	CORI	WERC	INVE	GW.C
2008	THOM 	BPHL 	BANN 	CORI 	EGEE 	INVE 	ANAK 	BELM	WERC	GW.C	NGEE	WINC
2009	EGEE 	BPHL 	THOM 	BANN 	WERC 	INVE 	BELM 	CORI	NGEE	WINC	ANAK	GW.C
2010	BPHL 	WERC 	EGEE 	BANN 	NGEE 	THOM 	WINC 	INVE	ANAK	CORI	GW.C	BELM
2011	BPHL 	EGEE 	INVE 	WERC 	THOM 	ANAK 	BANN 	BELM	CORI	NGEE	WINC	GW.C
2012	BPHL 	EGEE 	THOM 	BANN 	WERC 	NGEE 	ANAK 	INVE	BELM	GW.C	CORI	WINC
2013	NGEE 	BPHL 	EGEE 	WINC 	WERC 	GW.C 	THOM 	ANAK	BANN	CORI	INVE	BELM
2014	BPHL 	NGEE 	INVE 	EGEE 	WINC 	WERC 	BANN 	BELM	GW.C	ANAK	CORI	THOM
2015	BPHL 	NGEE 	INVE 	BANN 	BELM 	THOM 	WERC 	EGEE	ANAK	GW.C	WINC	CORI
2016	BPHL 	BANN 	INVE 	THOM 	NGEE 	BELM 	WERC 	EGEE	ANAK	CORI	WINC	GW.C
2017	BPHL 	INVE 	BANN 	THOM 	NGEE 	GW.2 	ANAK 	WINC	EGEE	WERC	BELM	CORI
2018	THOM 	INVE 	BPHL 	GW.2 	BANN 	WINC 	WERC 	NGEE	BELM	ANAK	EGEE	CORI
2019	BANN 	THOM 	WERC 	INVE 	EGEE 	WINC 	NGEE 	GW.2	ANAK	BPHL	BELM	CORI
2020	Season abandoned - COVID-19 pandemic	Season abandoned - COVID-19 pandemic	Season abandoned - COVID-19 pandemic	Season abandoned - COVID-19 pandemic	Season abandoned - COVID-19 pandemic	Season abandoned - COVID-19 pandemic	Season abandoned - COVID-19 pandemic	 	 	 	 	
2021	Season abandoned - COVID-19 pandemic	Season abandoned - COVID-19 pandemic	Season abandoned - COVID-19 pandemic	Season abandoned - COVID-19 pandemic	Season abandoned - COVID-19 pandemic	Season abandoned - COVID-19 pandemic	Season abandoned - COVID-19 pandemic	 	 	 	 	
2022	BANN 	INVE 	EGEE 	BPHL 	GW.2 	THOM 	WINC 	BELM	NGEE	WERC	CORI	ANAK
2023	INVE 	THOM 	BPHL 	EGEE 	BANN 	WINC 	WERC 	GW.2	BELM	CORI	NGEE	ANAK
===Abbreviations===
ANAK - Anakie; BANN - Bannockburn; BPHL - Bell Post Hill; BELM - Belmont; CORI - Corio; EBEL - East Belmont; EGEE - East Geelong; ESUB - Eastern Suburbs; GEEL - Geelong Amateurs; GW.C - Geelong West Cricketers; INVE - Inverleigh; LEID - Leigh Districts; MODE - Modewarre; NGEE - North Geelong; STLE - St Leonards; THOM - Thomson; WERC - Werribee Centrals; WINC - Winchelsea
==Colour Coding==
GREY SHADING - Teams that made the finals; YELLOW SHADING - Grand finals that were drawn
Category:Country Victorian Leagues