{"id":119028,"date":"2026-01-29T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?p=119028"},"modified":"2026-01-28T17:20:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T06:20:08","slug":"bfnl-locks-in-2026-season-dates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/bfnl-locks-in-2026-season-dates\/","title":{"rendered":"BFNL locks in 2026 season dates"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>THE Ballarat Football Netball League&#8217;s junior competition will kick-off on 19 April this year, and the women&#8217;s competition on the weekend of 28-29 March<\/p>\n<p>Season starts and other key dates, including interleague fixtures and league byes, were unveiled by the BFNL late last week.<\/p>\n<p>The schedule has been released to assist clubs and participants with planning and preparation ahead of the 2026 season.<\/p>\n<p><strong>BFNL JUNIOR COMPETITIONS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Season starts: Sunday 19 April.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Whole league byes: Sunday 7 June (King&#8217;s Birthday); Sunday 4 July (school holidays).<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Interleague: Saturday 23 May.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Grand final: Sunday 13 September.<\/p>\n<p><strong>BFLW COMPETITIONS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Opening round: Saturday 28 March (women&#8217;s); Sunday 29 March (all other grades).<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Competition byes: Sunday 5 April (Easter); Sunday 7 June (King&#8217;s Birthday); Sunday 5 July (school holidays).<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Interleague: Saturday 23 May (under-18 girls); Saturday 4 July (women&#8217;s, under-18 girls and under-15 girls).<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Grand final: Sunday 30 August.<\/p>\n<p>For BFNL junior competitions, clubs will have until 31 January to confirm their team entries, while clubs participating in the BFLW competitions will have until 11 February to submit their entries.<\/p>\n<p>Once all club entries have been finalised, the BFNL will commence work on the 2026 fixtures for these competitions.<\/p>\n<p>To assist clubs in managing team numbers and planning for the season, players are encouraged to register with their club prior to these dates.<\/p>\n<p>Anyone interested in becoming involved at a local club is encouraged to visit the BFNL website to explore all affiliated clubs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>THE Ballarat Football Netball League&#8217;s junior competition will kick-off on 19 April this year, and the women&#8217;s competition on the weekend of 28-29 March Season starts and other key dates, including interleague fixtures and league byes, were unveiled by the BFNL late last week. The schedule has been released to assist clubs and participants with [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/bfnl-locks-in-2026-season-dates\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":240,"featured_media":119029,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-119028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>BFNL locks in 2026 season dates - Ballarat Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"BFNL 2026 season dates are here! Junior footy starts April 19, while BFLW kicks off March 28. Plan your season with the full schedule.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/bfnl-locks-in-2026-season-dates\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BFNL locks in 2026 season dates - Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BFNL 2026 season dates are here! Junior footy starts April 19, while BFLW kicks off March 28. Plan your season with the full schedule.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/bfnl-locks-in-2026-season-dates\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ballarat Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-28T17:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/01\/27-aug-tng-4_24403.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kieran Iles\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kieran Iles\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/bfnl-locks-in-2026-season-dates\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/bfnl-locks-in-2026-season-dates\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kieran Iles\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/648f33b474e59aed09644feca1d7a318\"},\"headline\":\"BFNL locks in 2026 season dates\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-28T17:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/bfnl-locks-in-2026-season-dates\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":231,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/bfnl-locks-in-2026-season-dates\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/27-aug-tng-4_24403.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/bfnl-locks-in-2026-season-dates\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/bfnl-locks-in-2026-season-dates\\\/\",\"name\":\"BFNL locks in 2026 season dates - Ballarat Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/bfnl-locks-in-2026-season-dates\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/bfnl-locks-in-2026-season-dates\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/27-aug-tng-4_24403.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-28T17:00:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"BFNL 2026 season dates are here! Junior footy starts April 19, while BFLW kicks off March 28. Plan your season with the full schedule.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/bfnl-locks-in-2026-season-dates\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/bfnl-locks-in-2026-season-dates\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/bfnl-locks-in-2026-season-dates\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/27-aug-tng-4_24403.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/27-aug-tng-4_24403.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"Darley's senior BFLW team will be chasing a four-peat of premierships when the 2026 season launches on Saturday 28 March. Photo: SUPPLIED\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/sport\\\/bfnl-locks-in-2026-season-dates\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"BFNL locks in 2026 season dates\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ballarat Times\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Ballarat Times\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2021\\\/10\\\/BALT.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/9\\\/2021\\\/10\\\/BALT.png\",\"width\":739,\"height\":98,\"caption\":\"Ballarat Times\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/648f33b474e59aed09644feca1d7a318\",\"name\":\"Kieran Iles\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/ballarat\\\/author\\\/kieraniles\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"BFNL locks in 2026 season dates - Ballarat Times","description":"BFNL 2026 season dates are here! Junior footy starts April 19, while BFLW kicks off March 28. Plan your season with the full schedule.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/bfnl-locks-in-2026-season-dates\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"BFNL locks in 2026 season dates - Ballarat Times","og_description":"BFNL 2026 season dates are here! Junior footy starts April 19, while BFLW kicks off March 28. Plan your season with the full schedule.","og_url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/bfnl-locks-in-2026-season-dates\/","og_site_name":"Ballarat Times","article_published_time":"2026-01-28T17:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/01\/27-aug-tng-4_24403.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kieran Iles","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kieran Iles","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/bfnl-locks-in-2026-season-dates\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/bfnl-locks-in-2026-season-dates\/"},"author":{"name":"Kieran Iles","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/person\/648f33b474e59aed09644feca1d7a318"},"headline":"BFNL locks in 2026 season dates","datePublished":"2026-01-28T17:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/bfnl-locks-in-2026-season-dates\/"},"wordCount":231,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/bfnl-locks-in-2026-season-dates\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/01\/27-aug-tng-4_24403.jpg","articleSection":["Sport"],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/bfnl-locks-in-2026-season-dates\/","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/bfnl-locks-in-2026-season-dates\/","name":"BFNL locks in 2026 season dates - Ballarat Times","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/bfnl-locks-in-2026-season-dates\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/bfnl-locks-in-2026-season-dates\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/01\/27-aug-tng-4_24403.jpg","datePublished":"2026-01-28T17:00:00+00:00","description":"BFNL 2026 season dates are here! Junior footy starts April 19, while BFLW kicks off March 28. Plan your season with the full schedule.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/bfnl-locks-in-2026-season-dates\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/bfnl-locks-in-2026-season-dates\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/bfnl-locks-in-2026-season-dates\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/01\/27-aug-tng-4_24403.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2026\/01\/27-aug-tng-4_24403.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"Darley's senior BFLW team will be chasing a four-peat of premierships when the 2026 season launches on Saturday 28 March. Photo: SUPPLIED"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/sport\/bfnl-locks-in-2026-season-dates\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"BFNL locks in 2026 season dates"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#website","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/","name":"Ballarat Times","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#organization","name":"Ballarat Times","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2021\/10\/BALT.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2021\/10\/BALT.png","width":739,"height":98,"caption":"Ballarat Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/#\/schema\/person\/648f33b474e59aed09644feca1d7a318","name":"Kieran Iles","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/author\/kieraniles\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/240"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119028"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/ballarat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=119028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}