The league was formed in 2000 from a merger of the Newcastle Australian Football League (founded 1886) and the Central Coast Australian Football League (founded 1976).
The proposition of an alternate competition started from rumblings during the 1990s that both competitions were dreadfully uneven and it was generally considered the administration, although keen and resolute, was far from what was needed to sustain a viable football league/s.
Visits from AFL executives to both the Newcastle and Central Coast took place during the 1999 season where they addressed meetings of delegates to look at alternatives to their contemporary competitions. It turns out these people were more interested in a proposed regional Club to participate in the Sydney Competition.
This proposal didn't address the concerns of the general situation of the local competitions. As there was no follow-up by the AFL both boards issued invitations to senior officials of all clubs to discuss the options for the future. A meeting was held at Mt Penang, Kariong in October 1999 where it was decided to merge both leagues to create a stronger more balanced competition.
The name "Black Diamond AFL" was derived from the Black Diamond Cup which has been awarded to the Newcastle AFL Premiers since 1888. [1]
League development
The Black Diamond AFL were successful in winning the Southern NSW AFL Championships in 2007, defeating the Riverina Football League.
In 2008 both Woy Woy and Singleton were removed from the First Grade competition and Lake Macquarie Crows were promoted to First Grade, meaning nine clubs competed for the premiership.
In 2011, Singleton returned to first grade, after winning the reserve premierships for 2009 and 2010. Nelson Bay however will only compete in Reserve Grade. Woy Woy, now known as the Peninsula Swans, will compete as a joint venture with the Gosford Tigers, allowing players at both clubs to compete in First Grade, Reserve Grade and Under 18s in 2011.
Gosford left the league in 2012, competing in the Sydney AFL for the next four seasons, before returning to the BDAFL in 2016.
The Maitland Saints also entered a senior side in 2012. From 2012, the competition was restructured to allowed clubs to enter teams across Premier, 1st, 2nd and 3rd divisions. This allowed smaller or newer clubs to field their firsts against the reserves or even third senior side of the stronger clubs.
Further clubs have joined the league in recent years, including Muswellbrook Cats and The Entrance Bateau Bay both entering senior sides 2014. Muswellbrook had competed from 1988 until 1994 in the Newcastle AFL, and then later in the Tamworth AFL until 2013.
A women's competition started in 2015. Wyong Lakes was the first and only Central Coast club to enter the inaugural women's competition, along with Hunter-based clubs Newcastle City, Nelson Bay, Maitland, Warners Bay and Lake Macquarie. Killarney Vale and Gosford fielded their inaugural women's teams the following year. In 2018 the Ladypies, as the team came to be known, became the first and only Central Coast team to make the grand final in the women's competition.
In 2018, junior club Port Stephens fielded a Women's team, their first senior team in the club's history and Wallsend was revived as Wallsend-West Newcastle and fielded a team in the Women's competition and a team in the Black Diamond Plate.
AFL Hunter Central Coast: 2019-
The league was renamed AFL Hunter Central Coast following the conclusion of the 2018 season under the banner of AFL NSW/ACT.
The 2019 season saw Lake Macquarie, with only one senior team, drop down to Black Diamond Plate (Reserves) and Nelson Bay was also reduced to just one senior team but still continued to play in the Black Diamond Cup. Newcastle City also fielded one women's team that same year, as the club had previously fielded two women's teams for two years.
2020 saw the league indefinitely suspended due to the 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic. Originally intending to start on April 4, the pandemic prevented football from going ahead in the region until July 18. The league was restructured with two women's divisions, respectively named Black Diamond Cup and Plate Women's, and a third men's competition, the Black Diamond Shield, introduced. The Black Diamond Plate will now consist of Terrigal-Avoca and Newcastle City's reserves sides and clubs with a single men's team with the Black Diamond Shield being the reserves competition for the rest of the clubs. Both Nelson Bay and Port Stephens are fielding a women's team as a joint venture for the 2020 season.
In late June 2021, the AFL Hunter Central Coast announced that all senior competitions, Central Coast and Hunter combined junior competitions and Central Coast-based junior competitions would cease due to the rapidly increasing number of coronavirus cases across the region, as the Central Coast was classed as part of Greater Sydney at the time. Round 10 was the last official round for the senior season with Central Coast and Hunter clubs competing. Although informal senior matches between Hunter-based clubs and Hunter-based junior competitions were able to continue, the uncertainty of the coronavirus outbreak across the Hunter region in early August eventually saw all Hunter community senior and junior competitions ceased for 2021.
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