The Picola & District Football Netball League is an Australian rules football and netball league affiliated with the AFL Victoria Country.
The league covers a large area of northern Victoria and southern New South Wales from Shepparton in the south to Jerilderie in the north and consists of teams from the smaller communities and towns.
History
The original Picola & District Football Association was formed on Saturday 13 May 1905 at the Picola Hotel, with delegates representing the following clubs – Barmah, Koptupna, Moira, Nathalia and Picola present and was active until 1907.
At a meeting of club delegates on Tuesday, 26 May 1908 at the Federal Hall from the – Federal, Koptupna, Moira, Nathalia and Picola football clubs, it was decided to form an association called the Western and Moira Ridings Football Association and was a strong and vibrant competition up until 1933.
At the 1934 annual general meeting of the Western and Moira Football Association it was decided to change the official name of the football association to the Picola & District Football Association. The founding clubs were Barmah, Kotupna, Moira, Nathalia Seconds, Picola, and Yalca North.
Between 1945 and 1958 Nurmukah and Nathalia both field second XVIII sides in the PDFNL.
In 1971 founding clubs Picola and Yalca North merged to form Picola United.
In 1992 Danny Irwin of Waaia kicked 215 goals in a season, which was bettered by Aaron Purcell in 2013 with 222 goals.
In 2006, Dookie United and Shepparton East made their debut with the league. They were previously in the now defunct Central Goulburn Football League.
Splitting the league
In the 2009 season, the Picola League split into South East and North West divisions based on the geographical location of each club. The league copped a lot of criticism by making this move but has generally been successful and has resulted in reduced travel. The exception has been Wunghnu, which inexplicably was placed in the NW division despite being surrounded by SE division clubs. Wunghnu folded less than two seasons after the split.
In 2014 Tocumwal transferred from the stronger Murray League after struggling to be competitive in that competition.
In 2018 the North West and South East were merged as the PDFNL reduced to one 13 team competition as the PDFNL were not offered affiliation by AFL Golburn Murray as 4 clubs Tungamah, Katandra, Dookie Utd and Shepparton East decided split away wanting to stay affiliated with AFLGM.
In 2019 the Picola & District League re-affiliated with the AFL Goulburn Murray but remained as one division in a 13 team competition.
