Southern Football Netball League

The South East Suburban Football League was formed in 1963 as a merger of the Caulfield Oakleigh District Football League with the East Suburban Football League after a number of its clubs moved to the Croydon Ferntree Gully FL (now Eastern Football League).

When the Federal Football League folded at the end of 1981, the SESFL had twenty clubs. After the addition of all but one of the Federal clubs for 1982, the league had a 16 team A grade, and a 12 team B grade competition. The league twice tried 3 divisions but the idea was later dropped as clubs left or folded.

In a major project in 1991, the league underwent a major revamp of its administration and opted to employ a full-time administrator and staff to manage the league's affairs. The League's administration along with its member clubs undertook a far-reaching corporate planning programme to map out future directions and objectives. The extra manpower allowed the elevation of League and club standards and the improved marketability of attracting the corporate sponsorship that modern football now required to keep the organisation afloat. Much of this work was completed by early 1992 and it was decided that a new name would be required to flow on from the work already achieved. The Southern Football League was adopted to show that a new professionalism was running football in the southern suburbs.

The league had another major change in 1993, when it absorbed the Eastern Suburbs Churches Football Association. The newly merged league began in 1993 with around 50 clubs playing 5 divisions, though this had dropped to 28 clubs in 3 divisions by 2002 due to clubs folding, merging, or moving to other competitions.^[1]

In April 1997, the Southern Football Show began on Optus Vision's Localvision channel, covering the weekly news of the league.^[2][3] It moved to Channel 31 Melbourne the following year. This program soon became known as the Southern Footy Show. It later expanded its scope to become the Local Footy Show, covering many Melbourne leagues until 2011.

In the new millennium, the league grew slightly with the addition of the Southern Dragons in 2009, Endeavour Hills in 2011 and Hallam in 2012. The Dragons returned to the VAFA after the 2012 season,^[4] but the revival of Carrum Patterson Lakes FC in 2013 after almost 20 years in recess kept the league at 31 clubs.^[5]

The 2014 SFL third division seniors grand final was called off after a brawl broke out between players and supporters. The game in which Mount Waverley was taking on Carrum Patterson Lakes. A police spokeswoman said supporters started heckling one of the teams as it left the ground at half-time. A fight broke out and one person was treated in hospital. The game was called off when one of the teams refused to return to the field."^[6]

In 2015, acknowledging the netball part of the competition, the league changed its name to Southern Football Netball League. ^[7] The 2015 season was also a time when the Southern Dragons went into recess.

In 2016 Port Melbourne Colts transferred in from Western Region Football League, and Lyndhurst FC fielded a senior side for the first time.^[8]

2017 saw the introduction of women's football.

The inclusion of 3 clubs enabled the league to have 4 men's divisions for 2018.

Division 1

Club	Colours	Nickname	Home Ground	Former League	Est.	Years in Comp	SFNL Premierships	SFNL Premiership years
Bentleigh		Demons	Bentleigh Reserve, Bentleigh	VAFA	1965	1993-	1	Div 2: 2013
Chelsea Heights		Demons	Beazley Reserve, Chelsea Heights	SWGFL	1969	1993-	4	Div 2: 2000, 2017, 2022 Div 3: 1995
Cheltenham		Rosellas	Cheltenham Reserve, Cheltenham	FFL	1891	1982-	5	Div 1: 2023 Div 2: 1992, 1993, 1995
Cranbourne		Eagles	Livingston Reserve, Cranbourne East	OEFNL	1889	2022-	1	Div 1: 2022
Dingley		Dingoes	Souter Oval, Dingley Village	MPNFL	1958	2007-	5	Div 1: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019 Div 2: 2008
East Brighton		Vampires	Hurlingham Park, Brighton East	CODFL	1949	1963-	11	A1: 1966, 1973, 1976, 1991 A2: 1988 Div 1: 1993, 2004, 2012, 2014 Div 2: 2002, 2023
Mordialloc		Bloodhounds	Ben Kavanagh Reserve, Mordialloc	VFA	1891	1988–	2	Div 2: 1999, 2014
Port Melbourne		Colts	JL Murphy Reserve, Port Melbourne	WRFL	1957	1975-80, 2016-	2	A2 1975 Div 2: 2016
Springvale Districts		Demons	Springvale Reserve, Springvale	ESCFL	1959	1993-	2	Div 2: 2007 Div 3: 2018
St Pauls		Bulldogs	McKinnon Reserve, Bentleigh	ESCFL	1948	1993-	4	Div 1: 2008, 2011, 2013, 2018

Division 2

Club	Colours	Nickname	Home Ground	Former League	Est.	Years in Comp	SFNL Premierships	SFNL Premiership years
Caulfield Bears		Bears	Koornang Park, Carnegie	–	1993	1993-	1	Div 2: 1994
Doveton		Doves	Robinson Oval, Doveton	OEFNL	1959	2022-	0	-
East Malvern (Known as Tooronga/Malvern prior to 2012)		Panthers	D. W. Lucas Oval, Malvern East	VAFA	1964	1964-	5	A2: 1978, 1985, 1990 Div 2: 2012 Div 3: 2001
Endeavour Hills		Falcons	Barry Simon Reserve, Endeavour Hills	–	2011	2011-	1	Div 3: 2023
Hampton Park		Redbacks	Robert Booth Reserve,Hampton Park	SEFNL	1958	2018-	1	Div 3: 2019
Highett (known as Highett Districts prior to 1997)		Bulldogs	Turner Road Reserve, Highett	–	1988	1989-	4	Div 2: 2004, 2011, 2018 Div 3: 1996
Keysborough		Burras	Rowley Allan Reserve, Keysborough	MPNFL	1947	2015-	0	-
Murrumbeena		Lions	Murrumbeena Park, Murrumbeena	CODFL	1918	1963-	4	A1: 1963, 1974 Div 2: 2003 Div 3: 1993
Skye		Bombers	Carrum Downs Recreation Reserve, Carrum Downs	–	2005	2006-	1	Div 3: 2009
St Kilda City		Saints	Peanut Farm Reserve, St Kilda	NMFL	1946	1965-	9	A2: 1971, 1980 Div 1: 2002, 2007, 2009, 2010 Div 2: 1998, 2005 Div 3: 1994

Division 3

Club	Colours	Nickname	Home Ground	Former League	Est.	Years in Comp	SFNL Premierships	SFNL Premiership years
Ashwood		Magpies	Essex Heights Reserve, Ashwood	–	1985	1985-	2	Div 2: 1996, 2001
Black Rock		Jets	McDonald Reserve, Black Rock	ESCFL	1908	1986-	4	Div 3: 2004, 2007, 2015, 2022
Carrum Patterson Lakes		Lions[9]	Roy Dore Reserve, Carrum	–	2013 - Reformed, Carrum FC folded after the 1996 season in the MPNFL	2013-	0	-
Frankston Dolphins		Dolphins	Overport Park, Frankston South	–	2017	2018-	0	-
Heatherton		Tunners	Heatherton Recreation Reserve, Heatherton	ESCFL	1913	1993-	3	Div 2: 2006, 2009 Div 3: 1998
Lyndhurst		Lightning	Marriott Waters Reserve, Lyndhurst	–	2009	2016-	1	Div 4: 2022
Narre South Saints		Saints	Strathaird Reserve, Narre Warren South	VAFA	2007	2020-	0	-
South Mornington		Tigers	Citation Oval, Mount Martha	VAFA	2006	2006, 2020-	1	Div 4: 2023

Division 4

Club	Colours	Nickname	Home Ground	Former League	Est.	Years in Comp	SFNL Premierships	SFNL Premiership years
Clayton		Clays	Meade Reserve, Clayton	EFNL	1908	1982-1985, 1999 -	5	A1: 1982, 1984 Div 1: 2001, 2006 Div 2: 2010
Dandenong West		Westerners	Greaves Reserve, Dandenong	ESCFL	1964	1993- (known as Dandenong West until 2003, Dandenong Demons until 2009, Dandenong Redlegs until 2023) (Not connected to former VFA club Dandenong)	0	-
Doveton Eagles		Eagles	Power Reserve, Doveton	VAFA	1980	1995-	4	Div 2: 2019 Div 3: 2013, 2017 Div 4: 1995
Hallam		Hawks	Hallam Recreation Reserve, Hallam	OEFNL	2011	2012-2022, 2024-	0	-
Hampton		Hammers	Peterson Street Reserve, Highett	ESCFL	1947	2022-	0	-
Lyndale		Pumas	Barry Powell Reserve, Noble Park North	ESCFL	1961	1993-	3	Div 3: 2000 Div 4: 1997 Div 5: 1995
Moorabbin		Kangaroos	A.W Oliver Reserve, Hampton East	ESCFL	1978	1982, 1993-	3	Div 3: 2005, 2012 Div 5: 1993
South Yarra		Lions	Leigh Park, Balwyn North	ESCFL	1967	1993-	3	Div 3: 2008 Div 4: 1993, 2019

Open Grade Only

Club	Colours	Nickname	Home Ground	Former League	Est.	Years in Comp	SFNL Premierships	SFNL Premiership years
Heatherhill		Hawks	Bruce Park, Frankston	–	2023	2023-	0	-

Women's Division 1

Club	Colours	Nickname	Home Ground	Former League	Est.	Years in Comp	SFNL Premierships	SFNL Premiership Years
Bentleigh		Demons	Bentleigh Reserve, Bentleigh	–	1965	2018-	0	-
Black Rock		Jets	McDonald Reserve, Black Rock	–	1908	2022-	1	Div 2: 2022
Casey Thunder		Thunder	The Hunt Club Reserve, Cranbourne East	–	2019	2021-	1	Div 1: 2023
East Brighton		Vampires	Hurlingham Park, Brighton East	–	1949	2018-	1	Div 2: 2023
Endeavour Hills		Falcons	Barry Simon Reserve, Endeavour Hills	VWFL	2011	2018-2022, 2024	2	Div 1: 2019, 2022
Lyndale		Pumas	Barry Powell Reserve, Noble Park North	–	1961	2018-	1	Div 2: 2019
Narre South Saints		Saints	Strathaird Reserve, Narre Warren South	–	2007	2022-	0	-

Women's Division 2

Club	Colours	Nickname	Home Ground	Former League	Est.	Years in Comp	SFNL Premierships	SFNL Premiership Years
Chelsea Heights		Demons	Beazley Reserve, Chelsea Heights	–	1969	2023-	0	-
Casey Thunder		Thunder	The Hunt Club Reserve, Cranbourne East	–	2019	2021-	0	-
Clayton		Clays	Meade Reserve, Clayton	–	1908	2018-	1	Div 2: 2018
Frankston Dolphins		Dolphins	Overport Park, Frankston South	–	2017	2018-	0	-
Hallam		Hawks	Hallam Recreation Reserve, Hallam	OEFNL	2011	2018-2022, 2024-	0	-
Murrumbeena		Lions	Murrumbeena Park, Murrumbeena	–	1918	2018-	1	Div 1: 2018, 2017
Narre South Saints		Saints	Strathaird Reserve, Narre Warren South	–	2007	2022-	0	-
Skye		Bombers	Carrum Downs Recreation Reserve, Carrum Downs	–	2006	2021-	0	-

Men's seniors

Women's seniors

• Official SFNL website