Mallee Football League (South Australia)

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Mallee Football League

MalleeFL(SA) logo.png

General information
Duration1994-2022
Final season clubsBorder Downs/Tintinara FC, Karoonda Districts FC, Lameroo FC, Murrayville FC, Peake & District FC, Pinnaroo FC
Former clubsNgallo FC, Parilla FC
GroundsCoonalpyn Oval, Karoonda Showgrounds, Lameroo Oval, Murrayville Cricket Ground, Peake Oval, Pinnaroo Showgrounds, Tintinara Oval
2022 MFL season
PremiersPinnaroo 9.14 (68) def Border Downs/ Tintinara 4.5 (29)
Minor PremiersPinnaroo
Wooden spoonLameroo
Mail MedalistBen Moroney (Pinn)

The Mallee Football League (MFL) was an Australian rules football competition in South Australia. The league comprised teams located in south eastern South Australia and one team (Murrayville) located in western Victoria.

Contents

The football season started after Easter and ended in early September. The local newspaper The Border Times had extensive coverage of each week's results of the MFL. Coverage was also provided on WIN SA and Flow FM during the season. During the Queens Holiday Weekend, the MFL selected a team to represent the Mallee against the Riverland. The league's Best & Fairest award was called the Mail Medal. Prominent players to play at a higher level include Nathan D. Brown (Melbourne FC, Australian Football League), Trent Sporn (Carlton FC), Martin Mattner (Adelaide FC) and Rodney Maynard (Adelaide FC, AFL). The league was within the West Adelaide Football Club's regional recruiting zone.

Final season clubs

JumperClubNicknameYears in compMFL PremiershipsPremiership YearsMoved to
BDT colours.png
Border Downs/TintinaraCrows2001–2022122004, 2006–07, 2010–14, 2016, 2018–19, 2021Merged with Meningie to form the Coorong Cats and moved to the River Murray Football League
Karoonda colours.png
Karoonda DistrictsMagpies1994–2022--Merged with Peake and moved to the River Murray Football League as Mallee District
LamerooHawks1994–2022101994–96, 1998–99, 2000, 2002, 2008–09, 2015Merged with Pinnaroo to form Southern Mallee Suns
MurrayvilleBulldogs1994–202222003, 2005Moved to the Murray Valley Football League
Peake colours.png
Peake & DistrictLions1994–202212017Merged with Karoonda and moved to the River Murray Football League as Mallee District
Pinnaroo colours.png
PinnarooSupa Roos1994–202231997, 2001, 2022Merged with Lameroo to form Southern Mallee Suns

Former clubs

JumperClubNicknameYears in compMFL PremiershipsPremiership YearsClub status
Norwood Redlegs Icon.jpg
NgalloDemons1994–2000--Folded in 2001
Mordialloc Football Club colours.jpg
Parilla-GeraniumRoosters1994–1997--Folded in 1998

Border Downs/Tintinara Crows

Located in Tintinara and Coonalpyn, the Crows were in the MFL between 2001 and 2022. BDT FC was formed after the Border Downs and the Tintinara clubs merged. BDT were one of only two teams in the league to not be on the Mallee Highway, with the other being Karoonda.

Prior to their amalgamation in 1993 Border Downs had competed in the River Murray Football League since 1955, while Tintinara had been a member of the Tatiara Football League for the same length of time. Before joining the TFL Tintinara had enjoyed premiership success on three occasions in the Lakes District Football Association. The club later added a solitary TFL flag in 1977. Border Downs’ record was undistinguished as the club’s senior grade team never once made it as far as a grand final. Following the merger the Crows spent seven seasons competing in the RMFL before crossing to the South Australian version of the Mallee Football League. Since joining the MFL the club has been successful across all levels winning more premierships than any other club since the turn of the century. [1]

Border Downs Tintinara are considered to be one of the most successful teams in South Australian Country football, winning 5 premierships in a row from 2010–14. Then adding to their total again in 2016.

Border Downs Tintinara played their final season in the MFL in 2022 after agreeing to merge with Meningie to form the Coorong Cats Football Club and play in the River Murray Football League in 2023.

Karoonda Magpies

Football started in Karoonda in the year 1914, two years after the town was settled. The first team was called Karoonda Football Club. In 1977 Borrika Football club (situated 16 km east of Karoonda) merged with Karoonda Football Club to be called Karoonda Borrika Football Club. In 1994 United (situated 12 km south of Karoonda) and Wynarka (situated 15 km west of Karoonda) Football Clubs merged with Karoonda Borrika Football Club to form Karoonda Districts Football Club. On 10 June 2005 Karoonda was hit by a freak tornado which semi demolished the clubrooms. With support from the local council and many community and regional people and businesses the club rebuilt and improved the clubrooms to the excellent standard they are now, after spending the 2005 and 2006 seasons in portable rooms behind the western goals. Karoonda agreed to merge with Peake & Districts to join the River Murray Football League in 2023.

Lameroo Hawks

Based in Lameroo, 200 kilometres east of Adelaide. Lameroo football club is the home of former Adelaide Crows player Rodney Maynard, [2] who still plays an active part in the club.

Murrayville Bulldogs

Based in Murrayville in Victoria, the Bulldogs are the only Victorian team in an otherwise South Australian league. The club's colours were red, white and blue.

Prior to 1994 the club competed in various different competitions, with its most notable achievements coming during its stint in the Lameroo and Districts Football League. Between 1979 and 1993 the Bulldogs qualified for the ultimate match of the season on no fewer than nine occasions, emerging victorious against Ngallo in 1980, and Lameroo North the following year as well as three seasons straight between 1984 and 1986. [3] Since joining the MFL in 1994 Murrayville have generally been a mid-table team, however they had a great run of results between 2001–07, winning two of the five Grand Finals they played in.

Sadly in recent years junior numbers have dwindled with some of its under age teams not being able to compete due to low numbers in some years. This has seen a number of former Murrayville juniors move to neighbouring football clubs in Pinnaroo and Ouyen United (formerly Underbool-Walpeup).

Murrayville agreed to join the Murray Valley Football League in 2023.

Peake Lions

The Peake & District Football club is based in Peake and include the surrounding towns of Geranium, Jabuk, Parrakie and Peake. The Club's colours are red, blue and yellow. The Peake Oval is most famous for being on a gradual downhill slant, which has created many mixed strategies to play effective football.

Peake & District agreed to merge with Karoonda to join the River Murray Football League in 2023.

Pinnaroo Supa Roos

Based in Pinnaroo, South Australia, the Pinnaroo Football Club plays its home games at the Pinnaroo Showgrounds. The Club has four teams in the Mallee Football League: "A" Grade, Reserves ("B" Grade), Senior Colts (Under 16's), and the Junior Colts (Under 13's). The colours of the Pinnaroo Supa Roos are red, white and black.

The original Pinnaroo Football Club was established in 1908 and had won a total of half a dozen premierships by the time it split into two separate teams, North Pinnaroo and South Pinnaroo, in 1925. In 1944 these two teams amalgamated and the resultant club, known as Pinnaroo, won premierships both that year and in 1946 before splitting in two again in 1947. This is how things remained until 1974 when North and South joined forces once more, giving birth to today’s Pinnaroo Supa Roos. Between 1974 and 1993 Pinnaroo was affiliated with the Lameroo and Districts Football League. The seniors won a premiership in their very first season, but thereafter the closest they got was runners-up in 1975, 1990 and 1993. [4] Since commencing in the Mallee Football League in 1994 the Supa Roos have had mixed results across all levels, being one of the few teams in the league relying almost entirely on local players rather buying in players from other regions and Adelaide.

The Pinnaroo Football Club shared the Pinnaroo Showgrounds with the Ngallo Demons Football Club in its final years until it went into recess in 2000. Ngallo's presence is still seen with the visitors rooms and interchanges bench in the navy and blue of the Demons. In 2007 the Pinnaroo Showgrounds suffered great damage after a mini-tornado hit the historic show pavilion and grandstand, fortunately after its demolition a smaller pavilion was built in its place at the same time the clubrooms received a significant upgrade. Pinnaroo won the Mallee Football League's final A Grade premiership in 2022, breaking a 21 year drought.

Brief history

The Mallee Football League was formed in 1994 when the Lameroo & Districts Football League and the Murraylands Football League amalgamated.

There were 7 clubs involved with Karoonda Districts, Lameroo, Murrayville, Ngallo, Parilla / Geranium, Peake & District and Pinnaroo.

Parilla / Geranium went into recess in 1998 and Ngallo followed in 2001. Border Downs Tintinara joined the Mallee League in 2002, winning 12 A grade premierships.

After the majority of clubs agreed to move to neighbouring leagues, the Mallee Football League folded at the conclusion of the 2022 season. [5]

Premiers

SeasonPremierRunner UpScoreMail Medal (Season's Best & Fairest)
1994LamerooKaroonda Districts27.16 (178) – 12.9 (81)
1995LamerooMurrayville16.13 (109) - 12.13 (85)
1996LamerooPinnaroo23.14(152) – 13.9 (87)
1997PinnarooLameroo17.16 (118) – 16.7 (103)
1998LamerooKaroonda Districts13.16 (94) – 8.11 (59)
1999LamerooNgallo23.15 (153) – 11.8 (74)
2000LamerooPinnaroo11.13 (79) - 8.12 (60)
2001PinnarooMurrayville7.10 (52) – 4.7 (31)
2002LamerooBorder Downs/Tintinara15.15 (105) – 8.10 (58)
2003MurrayvillePinnaroo15.9 (99) – 6.5 (41)
2004Border Downs/TintinaraMurrayville23.15 (153) – 5.3 (33)
2005MurrayvilleKaroonda Districts18.10 (118) – 14.10 (94)
2006Border Downs/TintinaraLameroo14.9 (93) – 8.10 (58)Sunyl Vogt (Pinn) & Josh Richardson (BDT)
2007Border Downs/TintinaraMurrayville16.17 (113) – 15.14 (104)Shaun Walker (Lame) & Josh Richardson (BDT)
2008LamerooBorder Downs/Tintinara17.17 (119) – 13.9 (87)Josh Richardson (BDT)
2009LamerooBorder Downs/Tintinara14.8 (92) – 8.7 (55)Ben Greiger (Lame)
2010Border Downs/TintinaraKaroonda Districts20.20 (140) – 7.4 (46)Josh Keller (BDT)
2011Border Downs/TintinaraMurrayville14.11 (95) – 12.6 (78)Corey Knight (Kar)
2012Border Downs/TintinaraKaroonda Districts16.14 (110) – 4.7 (31)Michael Worsman (M/ville)
2013Border Downs/TintinaraLameroo14.16 (100) – 8.5 (53)Patrick Barrett (BDT)
2014Border Downs/TintinaraPeake & District17.9 (111) – 12.7 (79)Hayden Thorpe (Lame)
2015LamerooBorder Downs/Tintinara15.11 (101) – 12.7 (79)Patrick Barrett (BDT)
2016Border Downs/TintinaraPeake & District12.17 (89) – 10.9 (69)Gabe Phillips (Pke)
2017Peake & DistrictPinnaroo7.11 (53) – 7.6 (48)Tyson Jenner (Pinn)
2018Border Downs/TintinaraKaroonda Districts14.17 (101) – 6.7 (43)Alex Stidiford (BDT)
2019Border Downs/TintinaraPinnaroo10.10 (70) – 8.13 (61)Nathan Brown (Kar)
2020 season suspended due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021Border Downs/TintinaraPinnaroo6.8 (44) – 6.6 (42)Nathan Brown (Kar)
2022PinnarooBorder Downs/Tintinara9.14 (68) – 4.5 (29)Ben Moroney (Pinn)

Season format

Pinnaroo Showgrounds, home of the Pinnaroo Supa Roos Pinnaroo showgrounds.jpg
Pinnaroo Showgrounds, home of the Pinnaroo Supa Roos

The Mallee Football League's season usually starts shortly after Easter. The season usually consists of 15 Rounds of three games, always on Saturdays (each team plays every other team three times) and two breaks during the season for the Queens Birthday weekend and the other for the SA Country Carnival. Recently the MFL introduced one night game a year, usually at Murrayville. The finals series is based on a top four system: The top two play each other and the winner goes through to the Grand Final, the loser plays the winner of the match between the 3rd and 4th placed team. then the winner of that game goes through to the grand final. the winner of the Grand Final is declared the premiers.

Notable former players

AFL Players

Related Research Articles

The Murray Mallee is the grain-growing and sheep-farming area of South Australia. It is bounded to the north and west by the Murray River, called the "River Murray" in South Australia, to the east by the Victorian border, and extending about 50 km south of the Mallee Highway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pinnaroo, South Australia</span> Town in South Australia

Pinnaroo is a town in the Murray Mallee region of South Australia, near the border with Victoria, 243 km east of Adelaide. Pinnaroo is on the north side of the Mallee Highway, and on the railway line between Tailem Bend and Ouyen. The roadhouse on the highway at Pinnaroo is the first "food and leg-stretch" stop on the bus route from Adelaide to Sydney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lameroo, South Australia</span> Town in South Australia

Lameroo is a town in the Murray Mallee region of South Australia. It is on the Mallee Highway and Pinnaroo railway line about 40 km west of the Victorian border, or 210 km east of Adelaide. It is primarily a service town for the surrounding rural areas, growing grain and sheep. Lameroo now includes the former settlements of Kulkami, Mulpata, Wirha and Gurrai, which were on the Peebinga railway line, and Wilkawatt, which was between Parrakie and Lameroo on the Pinnaroo railway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jabuk, South Australia</span> Town in South Australia

Jabuk is a locality in the Australian state of South Australia located about 142 kilometres (88 mi) south-east of the state capital of Adelaide and respectively about 78 kilometres (48 mi) west and 58 kilometres (36 mi) east of the municipal seats of Pinnaroo and Tailem Bend.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tintinara, South Australia</span> Town in South Australia

Tintinara is a town located in the Murray and Mallee region of the South East of South Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coonalpyn, South Australia</span> Town in South Australia

Coonalpyn is a town and a locality in the Australian state of South Australia located about 143 kilometres (89 mi) south-east of the state capital of Adelaide and about 61 kilometres (38 mi) south-east of the municipal seat in Tailem Bend. It is situated in the local government area of the Coorong District Council and is in the State electoratal district of MacKillop and the Federal division of Barker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peake, South Australia</span> Town in South Australia

Peake is a town and locality in the Australian state of South Australia situated along the Mallee Highway (B12), approximately 150 kilometres (93 mi) east of the state capital of Adelaide.

William Gordon "Cocker" Strang was an Australian rules footballer who played in the Victorian Football League for the Richmond Football Club between 1931 and 1936.

The Border Times, based in Pinnaroo, is the local newspaper of the Southern Mallee region of South Australia since 1911. Published weekly, it focuses on local news, sports and weather.

Rodney "Rocket" Maynard is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL)

The Electoral district of Ridley was an electoral district of the South Australian House of Assembly, existing between 1938 and 1970 and between 1993 and 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">County of Buccleuch</span> Cadastral in South Australia

The County of Buccleuch is one of the 49 cadastral counties of South Australia. It was proclaimed in 1893 and named for the sixth Duke of Buccleuch, William Scott, of Scotland. It is located east of the Murray River at the south western edge of the Mallee region.

Albert was an electoral district of the House of Assembly in South Australia, spanning its time as both a colony and a state. It was created in 1875, taking much territory from adjacent Victoria, merged with Victoria in 1902 as Victoria and Albert, separated again in 1915, and abolished in 1970.

The Barmera railway line was the second railway built to develop the Murray Mallee region of South Australia, in 1913. It followed the success of the Pinnaroo railway line in 1906. Both lines branched east from Tailem Bend to the north of the main Melbourne–Adelaide railway. The Brown's Well line was the more northerly, and extended into country which had not been developed much before the railway, partly due to the absence of any viable transport route for produce. The original terminus of the Brown's Well railway was at Meribah, not far from the Victorian border.

Richard Alfred O'Connor was an Australian politician. He was a Liberal Union member of the South Australian House of Assembly from 1915 to 1921, representing the multi-member seat of Albert.

The Ngarkat is a recorded title of a tribal group from South Australia. The Ngarkat lands had linked the mallee peoples of Victoria and South Australia to the river peoples of the Murray River Murraylands. Ngarkat language has been loosely grouped with Peramangk language though not by linguists, and the grouping was perhaps partly owed to the co-ownership of lands in both the Ninety Mile Desert and Echunga by John Barton Hack, and partly to the occasional meeting of tribes. The language of the Ngarkat was recorded as being Boraipur by Ryan in recent times though sources were not given, while it may yet be telling that the citing work concerns Mallee peoples to the east. The language may have been midway between that of mallee peoples to the east, and that of peoples to the west recorded by Teichelmann and Schurman. It is known that songlines linked the Coorong to the Mallee regions, hence went through Ngarkat land. It is also known that Ngarkat people did meet regularly with tribes to the east, at sites along the Murray.

Tom Keough is an Australian rules football player. He is captain of the West Adelaide Football Club in 2018.

References

  1. "Australian Football - BDT".
  2. "Rodney Maynard". AFC History. 20 March 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  3. "Australian Football - Murrayville".
  4. "Australian Football - Pinnaroo".
  5. "SA farming community's football and netball league folds after exodus of clubs". ABC News. 23 September 2022.

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