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South West Gippsland Football League

The South West Gippsland Football League (SWGFL) was an Australian rules football league containing clubs based in West Gippsland and Melbourne's outer south-east.

History

The South West Gippsland Football League was formed in late 1953, when 5 clubs of the Dandenong Districts Football Association - Beaconsfield, Cranbourne, Officer, Rythdale-Cardinia and Tooradin-Dalmore resigned from it to form a new league. They would later joined by Berwick and the newly-formed Narre Hallam to form a 7-team competition in 1954.

The league became more suburban as new clubs joined from newly-developed suburbs past Dandenong in Melbourne's south east. Lyndhurst-Hampton Park joined in 1958, Doveton in 1959, Chelsea Heights in 1973 and Devon Meadows in 1977. Dingley also joined from the South East Suburban FL in 1977. Country-based clubs began to depart the league during the 1970s. Tooradin-Dalmore left for the West Gippsland FL in 1976, while Officer merged with Rythdale-Cardinia after a year in recess in 1976. The merged club also moved to the WGFL after two more seasons, 1979. South Belgrave joined the SWGFL in 1978 after being denied promotion to the Yarra Valley Mountain District FL's first division despite winning two premierships in a row. They would return to the YVMDFL after a winless 1982 season.

The 1980s were dominated by Cranbourne and Doveton, who won 10 premierships between them between 1982 and 1991. Cranbourne scored 32.18 (210) against Doveton in the 1986 grand final, which remains one of the highest grand final scores ever recorded.

Beaconsfield and Chelsea Heights both departed the SWGFL after the 1992 season, leaving the league with 8 clubs. Following a VCFL review in 1994, the SWGFL was merged into the Mornington Peninsula Nepean Football League, with Devon Meadows joining the Southern division and the rest of the SWGFL clubs forming the new Northern division of that competition.

Clubs

Final

Former

Grand finals

References