Beginnings of the O&MFA

Organised competition in the area started as the "Ovens & Murray Football Association" in 1893, with the following foundation clubs – Beechworth Wanderers, Chiltern, Eldorado, Rutherglen, Wangaratta City and Wangaratta West End,^[1] with Beechworth Football Club winning premierships in 1893 and 1894 and Rutherglen winning thirteen O&MFA flags between 1895 and 1915.^[2]

In 1910, the O&MFA had only three teams – Albury, Excelsior and Rutherglen with Rutherglen winning the premiership.^[3]

Then in 1911, both Excelsior and Rutherglen applied to enter the Rutherglen and District Football Association. As a result, the O&MFL folded, with local teams attempting to apply to play in the Rutherglen & DFA. A ballot took place at a Rutherglen & DFA meeting on 29 April at Mackay's Hotel, Rutherglen which resulted in Balldale, North Albury, Rutherglen, South Albury and Wodonga being refused admission to join the association. Corowa, Excelsior and Lake Rovers were club's that were admitted.^[4] In 1911, the Albury Football Club was planning to divide the club into South Albury and North Albury teams, but as they were not admitted into the Rutherglen & DFA, the club went into recess in 1911. Rutherglen FC also went into recess in 1911.^[5]

Albury FC and Rutherglen FC were admitted into the Rutherglen & DFA in 1912.^[6]

In 1913, the Rutherglen & DFA consisting of the following teams – Albury, Balldale, Border United, Howlong, Lake Rovers and Rutherglen,^[7] with Albury defeating Rutherglen in the grand final at the Albury Sportground.^[8]

The competition reformed under the Ovens & Murray Football Association banner again in 1914, involving the following five teams: Albury, Border United, Howlong, Lake Rovers and Rutherglen. Balldale FC entered the Coreen & District Football League in 1914.^[9]

In 1915, Beechworth Football Club and Wangaratta Football Club returned to play in the O&MFA. Howlong Football Club entered the Chiltern & District Football Association and went onto win the premiership, while Rutherglen defeated Lake Rovers in the O&MFA grand final played at Rutherglen.^[10]

After a three-year break due to World War I, the O&MFA reformed for the 1919 season with only four clubs, Border United Football Club (Corowa based), Howlong, Lake Rovers and Rutherglen.^[11] Albury Football Club was reformed in early 1919 and played in the Albury Senior Football Association with two teams – South Albury and North Albury,^[12] with St. Patrick's FC defeating South Albury Football Club in the grand final on the Albury Sportsground.^[13]

In 1920 the O&MFA didn't reform; "It seems strange that the O&MFA has apparently been allowed to die a natural death" with only two club's present at the O&MFA – AGM.,^[14][15] with some clubs moving to play in the Chiltern & DFA and Coreen & DFA.

The competition reformed in 1921 with Lakes Rovers, Rutherglen, St Patricks, Corowa, Springhurst and Wahgunyah. In 1922, larger town clubs Benalla and Wangaratta joined the OMFA whilst Wahgunyah and Springhurst moved to the Chiltern DFL.

In 1924, Lake Rovers Football Club amalgamated with the Rutherglen Football Club.^[16] and Albury FC and the Diggers FC also decided to amalgamate in 1924 and apply for admission into the Ovens and Murray Football League as Albury Football Club.^[17]

In 1926, the O&M name was changed from an association to a league, its present form. Around this time the clubs contesting the league included Wangaratta, Hume Weir (which drew many of its players from workers constructing the Hume Dam at the time), Yarrawonga and two clubs from the town of Albury, St Patricks and Albury club). These two clubs were largely divided amongst sectarian lines, St Patricks being Roman Catholic and Albury being Protestant and, after much tension, in 1929 the two clubs agreed to disband and form two new clubs, East Albury Football Club and West Albury Football Club, with the player base to be drawn geographically.

Following the 1930 season, a 19 year old West Albury player, Haydn Bunton, who has sometimes been described as the best ever player of Australian rules,^[18] was recruited by VFL club Fitzroy. Bunton won Brownlow Medals in 1931, 1932 and 1935, before transferring to Subiaco in the WANFL, where he won Sandover Medals in 1938, 1939 and 1941. Bunton has remained one of only four triple Brownlow medallists, and the only player to have been awarded three Brownlows and three Sandovers. (Bunton Park, where North Albury Football Club is based, was named after his brother Cleaver Bunton, who was elected president of the O&MFL in 1930 and would serve in that role until 1969. Cleaver Bunton was also mayor of Albury for 30 years.)

In 1930 Hume Weir Football Club and Ebden Rovers Football Club merged to become the Weir United Football Club.

East Albury Football Club and Weir United Football Club merged in 1933 to become the Border United Football Club (Albury based) and wore green and white jumpers.^[19] In 1933 West Albury Football Club changed its name to the Albury Football Club and remained in the West Albury colours of maroon and blue.^[20]

At the O&MFA's 1936 Annual General Meeting, it was announced that the Border United FC would merge with the Albury Football Club as both clubs were in debt and also due to a lack of players. The newly merged team took on the name of the Albury Football Club.^[21] This left the City of Albury with only one football team.

Post-World War II

In 1940, the league went into recess after round 10 for the duration of World War II, before full competition resumed in 1946. In 1945, Rutherglen, played in the Chiltern & District Football Association and Wodonga played in the Albury Border Football Association in 1945. In 1947 North Albury was admitted, followed by Wangaratta Rovers and Myrtleford, who were admitted from the Ovens & King Football League in 1950. Wangaratta won four consecutive premierships between 1949 and 1953, under captain coach, Mac Holten.

The Wangaratta Rovers would go on to dominate the O&M for the remainder of the 20th Century, winning fifteen premierships to date, a number only recently overhauled by Albury with their own streak of flags.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s the league began to gain a reputation within Victoria as being the strongest competition outside the then VFL and VFA. The best players were often recruited from the O&M to play for one of the "city" clubs, but it was not uncommon for a VFL player to retire from the "big" league and play in the O&M or another country league, and perhaps start a coaching career there as well, often at the same time as a playing coach. One notable example of this, as far as the O&M was concerned, was Bob Rose, who left Collingwood as a player in 1955 and became captain coach of the Wangaratta Rovers and lead them to two premierships in 1958 and 1960, after which he returned to Collingwood to continue his coaching career.

1970s and 1980s

In 1968, the VFL introduced country recruitment zones throughout Victoria and Riverina, which limited the areas from which each VFL club could recruit. The O&MFL was allocated to North Melbourne, and thus quite a few of the better players from the O&M came to play for the Kangaroos, contributing in part to that club's rise to success in the 1970s. These included Mick Nolan, Xavier Tanner, Gary Cowton, Peter Chisnall and John Byrne and later John Longmire, who had a good season with Corowa-Rutherglen as a goal kicking forward in O&M seniors in 1987. The zoning system was discontinued in the late 1980s as the VFL/AFL introduced a draft system.

The Wangaratta Rovers dominated the 1970s, playing in ten grand finals between 1970 and 1980, winning seven premierships and finishing third in 1973.

In 1974 the O&MFL was disaffiliated by the Victorian Country Football League (VCFL) when the O&MFL refused to accept an application from the Lavington Football Club to join the league. By this stage the football club was based at the Lavington Sports Club, an established licensed club, and was strong enough to field teams in both the Tallangatta League and Hume Football League the following year.

The makeup of the competition remained stable until 1979, when Corowa and Rutherglen merged into Corowa-Rutherglen, and the Lavington Football Club was finally admitted from the Farrer Football League, so the number of clubs remained at ten.

Lavington's home ground, the Lavington Sports Club Oval, provided an ideal venue for many sports as the sports club gradually developed it after its construction in the 1970s. The league has designated it as the venue for most of the league's grand finals since the 1980s. Recently, added assistance for the staging of the grand final through regional promotion and in-kind sponsorship has been provided by the Albury City Council.

In 1983, after an unsuccessful debut season playing for Hawthorn the previous year, Gary Ablett played for Myrtleford in the O&M for a year, before he was recruited by Geelong where he recommenced his career in the VFL/AFL and established himself as one of the code's best players, being inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2005.

By the late 1980s, the Wodonga Demons of the Tallangatta League had made a number of bids to join the O&M, and in 1989 were accepted into the competition to serve the west of the city of Wodonga, based at Birralee Park. They changed their name to the Wodonga Raiders Football Club so as to not cause confusion with the Benalla Demons and the long established Wodonga Football Club.

The 1990 Bloodbath Grand Final

Shortly after the commencement of the 1990 grand final between Wodonga and Lavington, played at the Albury Sportsground, most of the players of the two teams became involved in a bench-clearing brawl. As the game was televised by a local TV station, the footage received sensationalistic national media coverage where the brawl was generally described as a shocking indictment on the code. Even though over a decade had elapsed, comparisons to this incident were made after the 2004 AFL Cairns Grand Final descended into a similar fracas.^[22]

Wodonga eventually won the match by 20 points and thus the premiership, and the league tribunal handed out a number of lengthy suspensions to players from both sides for the following season. Incidentally, the result marked the second premiership for Wodonga's coach of that time, Jeff Gieschen, his first for the club being in 1987, before he went on to coach West Perth and then a stint at Richmond in 1997–1999.

Recent years

In 1998, after a string of unsuccessful seasons in the O&M, Benalla moved to the Goulburn Valley Football League. In 2000 the Penrith Panthers Leagues Club, financiers of the Penrith Panthers National Rugby League team, merged with the Lavington Sports Club. As a result, the Lavington Football Club changed their nickname from the Blues to the Panthers, added "Panthers" to their title, and adopted a guernsey in the same colours as the NRL Panthers, but in the Port Adelaide AFL pattern.

Also around this time, the Wagga Tigers Football Club, which had dominated the Riverina Football League, made a bid to join the O&MFL; however, partially due to concerns from the league's southern clubs about travel times, the bid was rejected. The Wagga Tigers then successfully bid to join AFL Canberra.

In 2000 the O&MFL, in an association with the AFL North Melbourne Football Club, fielded a team in the Victorian Football League called the Murray Kangaroos, playing home games between Coburg and Lavington. However, due to concerns from O&M clubs about player availability, the Kangaroos about travel time, and poor attendances compared with O&M league games, the venture was discontinued after three seasons and the Kangaroos subsequently set up an affiliation with the established VFL club Port Melbourne.

The league operates with a $125,000 salary cap. The Wangaratta Magpies exceeded this in 2022, and the club was stripped of its 2022 premiership flag, a first in country football, among other penalties.^[23]

Current clubs

More information Club, Colours ...

Club	Colours	Moniker	Home ground(s)	Established	Joined O&M
Albury		Tigers	Albury Sportsground	1876	1896
Corowa-Rutherglen		Roos	John Foord Oval [note 1]	1979 [note 2]	1979
Lavington		Panthers	Lavington Sports Ground	1880s	1979
Myrtleford		Saints	McNamara Reserve	1896	1950
North Albury		Hoppers	Bunton Park	1943	1947
Wangaratta		Magpies	Norm Minns Oval	1877	1893
Wangaratta Rovers		Hawks	W.J. Findlay Oval	1922	1950
Wodonga		Bulldogs	John Flower Oval	1878	1936
Wodonga Raiders		Raiders	Birallee Park	1953 [note 3]	1989
Yarrawonga		Pigeons	J.C. Lowe Oval [note 4]	1889	1929

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Former clubs

More information Club, Color ...

Club	Color	Moniker	Home ground(s)	Estab.	Tenure	Current
Balldale			Balldale Cricket Ground	1906	1909, 1912, 1913	– [note 5]
Barnawartha		Tigers	Havelock Street Recreation Reserve	1894[24]	1911	TDFL (1958–)
Beechworth		Bushrangers	Baarmutha Park	1861	1893–98, 1900–02, 1907, 1915, 1924–28	TDFL (2004–)
Benalla		Demons	Benalla Show Grounds	1896	1922–1928, 1946–1997	GVFL (1998–)
Benalla Rovers		Rovers	Benalla Show Grounds	1920	1929 & 1930	- [note 5]
Border United FC (Corowa / Wahgunyah)			Morris Park	1876	1895–1905, 1913–15, 1919, 1946–47	– [note 5]
Border United FC (East Albury / Weir United)		Greens	Albury Sportsground	1933	1933–1935	– [note 5]
Chiltern		Swans	Chiltern Football Ground	1906	1893–1903 & 1906–1908	TDFL (2003–)
Corowa		Spiders	John Foord Oval	1877	1908–12, 1921–40, 1948–78	– [note 6]
East Albury FC		Rovers	Alexandra Park		1929–1932	– [note 5]
Eldorado			Eldorado Recreation Reserve		1893	– [note 5]
Excelsior		Magpies	The Freehold [25]	1908	1896–1906, 1908–1912	– [note 5]
Great Southern			Southern Ground, Rutherglen		1898–1902, 1905–07	– [note 5]
Howlong		Spiders	Howlong Oval	1898	1911–1914 & 1919	HFL (1953–)
Hume Weir		Magpies	Wodonga Racecourse	1921	1924–29	– [note 5]
Lake Moodemere		Rovers	Lake Moodemere Recreation Reserve		1903–06, 1909–10	– [note 5]
Lake Rovers		Rovers	Barkly Park		1911[26]–15, 1919, 1921–23	– [note 5]
Lilliput			Lilliput Recreation Reserve	1889	1894	– [note 5]
Rutherglen (1893)		Redlegs	Barkly Park	1893	1893–1910, 1912–15, 1919, 1921–78	– [note 6]
South Albury			Waites Park		1898–1907 [citation needed]	– [note 5]
Springhurst	[27]		Springhurst Recreation Reserve	1893	1921	– [note 5]
St. Patrick's (Albury)		Saints	Xavier High School Oval	1919	1921–29	– [note 5] [note 7]
United Miners		Gold Seekers	Prentice Freehold Mine, Rutherglen	1894	1894–95, 1911–12	– [note 5]
Wahgunyah		Lions	Wahgunyah Football Ground	1908	1908, 1921	TDFL (2008–)
Weir United			Hume Dam	1930	1930–32	– [note 5]
West Albury			Uiver Park		1929–32	– [note 5]
West End (Wangaratta)			Wareena Park	1892[28]	1893	– [note 5]

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Notes

The club monikers listed above for former clubs are the ones they currently use and may not be their monikers used when playing in the Ovens and Murray league.

Club Mergers

• 1877: Corowa FC & Wahgunyah FC merged between 1877 & 1905, then 1914 & 1919, and 1944 & 1947 and were known as Border United FC (Corowa based).
• 1907: Lake Moodemere and Rutherglen FC merged just prior to the start of the 1907 O&MFA season^[29] and were then known as Rutherglen FC.
• 1924: Albury FC and the Diggers FC merge and apply for admission into the Ovens and Murray Football League as Albury FC.
• 1924: Lake Rovers Football Club amalgamated with the Rutherglen Football Club and be known as Rutherglen FC.
• 1929: Benalla FC and Benalla Rovers FC merged to become Benalla Rovers FC,^[30] before changing back to Benalla FC in 1931.^[31]
• 1930: Hume Weir Football Club and Ebden Rovers Football Club merged to become the Weir United Football Club.
• 1930: Wangaratta FC (O&MFL) and Wangaratta Rovers FC (O&KFL) merged in 1930 and entered one team in the O&MFL & another team in the O&KFL. Wangaratta Rovers reformed as a stand-alone club in 1945 and entered a team in the O&KFL, before joining the O&MFL in 1950.
• 1933: East Albury Football Club and Weir United Football Club merge to become the Border United Football Club (Albury based) and wore green and white jumpers.
• 1933: West Albury Football Club changed its name to the Albury Football Club and remained in the West Albury colours of maroon and blue.
• 1936: Border United FC would merge with the Albury Football Club and be known as Albury FC.
• 1979: Corowa FC and Rutherglen FC merge to become Corowa / Rutherglen FC.

Premierships

• Records: by competition level
  • Most premierships
    • Seniors
      • (22) Albury
    • Reserves
      • (19) Wodonga
    • Thirds
      • (12) Wodonga
    • A Grade
      • (9) Yarrawonga
    • B Grade
      • (9) North Albury
    • C Grade
      • (11) North Albury
    • D Grade
      • (4) North Albury
  • Most premierships in a row
    • Seniors
      • (4) St. Patrick (1921, 1922, 1923, 1924)
      • (4) Wangaratta (1949, 1950, 1951, 1952)
    • Reserves
      • (3) Wodonga (1969, 1970, 1971)
      • (3) Yarrawonga (1973, 1974, 1975)
      • (3) Wodonga (1993, 1994, 1995)
      • (3) Wodonga Raiders (1997, 1998, 1999)
      • (3) Wodonga (2004, 2005, 2006)
      • (3) Albury (2008, 2009, 2010)
    • Thirds
      • (4) Wodonga (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007)
    • A Grade
      • (4) Yarrawonga (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012)
    • B Grade
      • (4) North Albury (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015)
    • C Grade
      • (5) North Albury (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008)
    • D Grade
      • (2) North Albury (2014, 2015)

Records

Senior Football Premierships (1893-present)

For Grand Final records in all grades click here

Current finals system

Since 1972 the OMFL has used the "McIntyre system". The final series is played over four weekends, with the grand final traditionally being played on the third weekend of September. Also normally there is no home ground advantage is awarded any teams, instead the O&M board deems where the finals will be held, with all finals for both Football & Netball are played at the one venue during each final day. The Grand Final since 1995 has been held at Lavington Sports Ground ("Lavington Panthers Oval") in the Albury suburb of Hamilton Valley.

Cleaver E. Bunton Football Championships

From 1953 to 1972 total points were based on the most ladder points across the seniors and reserves grades of O&MFL football. Unsure what year this award was first given.

From 1973 onwards, this award is based on the most ladder points across all three grades of O&MFL football.

Anne Lawrence Netball Championships

Overall Club Championship

Football: Seniors Best and fairest

The Morris Medal is given for the best and fairest senior player in the O&MFL during the home and away season at a vote count held in the week preceding the grand final. The award is similar to the AFL's Brownlow Medal, with match day umpires awarding 3, 2 and 1 votes to the best players in each match. The medal has been donated by C H Morris & Sons Wines of Rutherglen since 1933.^[41]

The player who has won the most Morris Medals is Robbie Walker, who won five whilst playing for the Wangaratta Rovers, followed by Jim Sandral (Corowa) and John Brunner (Yarrawonga) with three apiece.

In 2000 the O&MFNL awarded retrospective Morris Medals to senior competition footballers (but not to reserves and thirds grade players) who had polled the same number of votes as the winner, but finished second under the count-back system in years gone by and been denied the honour of a medal. The players who received these medals were - Lance Oswald 1957, Bob Rose 1958, Jim Sandral 1964, Alby Dunn 1965, Jack O'Halloran 1975, Mike Andrews 1976, Greg O'Brien 1976 and Ken Boundy 1977.

Football: Reserves Best and Fairest

The Reserves Leo Burke Medal is awarded for the best and fairest seconds football player in the O&MFL during the home and away season. This award was originally called the Ralph Marks Award from 1953 to 1963. Marks was a former president of North Albury and an O&MFL official. Marks was the O&MFL Secretary from 1970 to 1975. This award was then called the Les Cuddon Award from 1964 to 1975, who was an O&MFL official from Rutherglen. Leo Burke from Burke's Hotel, Yarrawonga then took over as the award donor in 1975.^[49]

• 1954 – K Teakle won on a countback. Aitken & Purss, both polled 9 votes in this award, but lost on a count back and have never received a retrospective medal like others have in the Morris Medal.
• 1957 – Norm Hawking (Rutherglen) also won the 1951 O&MFL Morris Medal too.
• 1968 – Norm Hogan won on a countback. Alan Benton lost on a count back and has never received a retrospective medal like others have in the Morris Medal.
• 1969 – Alan Daniel won on a countback. Flower lost on a count back and has never received a retrospective medal like others have in the Morris Medal.
• 1971 winner, Terry Burgess & 1996 winner, Scott Burgess are father and son.
• 2013 – Ben Dower (Albury) was ineligible to win after being suspended during the home and away series.
• 2022 – Xavier Leslie (Yarrawonga) also won the 2013 O&MFNL Morris Medal too.

Football: Under 18 / Thirds Best and Fairest

The Thirds / Under 18 competition commenced in 1973 and the Leo Dean Medal is awarded for the best and fairest thirds football player in the O&MFL during the home and away season. This award was originally called the 3NE Award for the Thirds competition inaugural year in 1973 to 1984.

Leo Andrew Dean was a talented young former Wangaratta player who tragically died on Monday, 3 September 1984, at 20 years of age^[57] and this award is in memory of him.^[58]