The Panton Hill Football League was an Australian Rules football competition that ran from 1931 to 1987. The league originally consisted of clubs from rural areas north of Melbourne in the Shires of Eltham and Whittlesea, but later expanded to include clubs from Melbourne's northern suburbs.
The PHFL was established in 1931 with four clubs (Panton Hill, Queenstown, Kinglake and Yarra Glen), before merging with the Bourke-Evelyn Football League a year later to bring in 3 more clubs.[1][2] Due to the loss of numerous clubs to the Diamond Valley FL, the PHFL entered recess in 1937.[3][4] It re-formed in 1939[5] and expanded to 5 teams before going into recess in 1941 due to World War II.[6]
Following the war, the PHFL consistently had 9 to 10 participating clubs for the next 3 decades. Whittlesea won 4 premierships in a row between 1957 and 1960.[6] The league began to expand into suburban Melbourne with the admissions of Lalor in 1964 and La Trobe University and Watsonia in 1967.
The loss of 4 clubs following the 1980 season marked the beginning of the PHFL's decline. Many clubs, particularly the strong Melbourne-based clubs, were increasingly drawn to the higher-standard Diamond Valley Football League. A plan to turn the PHFL into a third division of the DVFL following the 1987 season fell through and the league subsequently folded, with Hurstbridge, Panton Hill and Reservoir Rovers joining the DVFL, Keon Park and Heidelberg Colts joining the Melbourne North FL and Coolaroo Rovers folding.[6]
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