GEELONG FOOTBALL NETBALL LEAGUE
The Geelong Football Netball League was formed in 1979 when 12 clubs broke away from the Geelong & District Football League.
The city and country clubs of the old GDFL were divided into the major league competition of the GFL and the minor league of the GDFL. Many of the teams in the lower league wanted a system of promotion and relegation, which was fought by the GFL until the early 1980s when the Victorian Country Football League held a hearing in Melbourne. As a result, a trial promotion-relegation system was put into place on a voluntary basis.
Today, the GDFL is opposed to the promotion-relegation system, with a three-division, three league competition of the Geelong FL, Bellarine FL and Geelong & District FL in place in the Geelong region.
In March 2024, following extensive consultation AFL Barwon detailed a plan that would expand the second-tier Bellarine Football Netball League to 12 teams from 2025 with a path for a team to accept an invitation for promotion to the GFNL, replacing a club that would then be relegated from the GFNL.
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