The 2022 fixtures for the NFNL’s senior men’s football competitions have been released.
All three senior men’s football competitions will commence their 2022 home and away season on Saturday April 2.
It will make for an action-packed return of football in the NFNL, with matches to be played across 14 venues on the opening day of the season.
With promotion and relegation scrapped for the 2021 season after it was cut short due to Melbourne’s extended lockdown, all men’s football competitions will feature the same teams in 2022.
Meadows Greyhounds Division 1 and MC Labour Division 2 will both feature 10 teams, while eight teams will compete in Heidelberg Golf Club Division 3.
With even numbers in all three senior men’s football competitions, every club will play 18 home and away games in season 2022.
In both Meadows Greyhounds Division 1 and MC Labour Division 2, each club will play each opponent once in the opening nine rounds, before the reverse fixtures are staged in the second half of the year.
The same formula will be applied in Heidelberg Golf Club Division 3, with each club to play each opponent in the opening seven rounds, with the reverse fixtures scheduled between rounds 8-14.
Clubs in Heidelberg Golf Club Division 3 will play four opponents on three occasions. Two of these opponents will be teams that finished inside the top-four on the ladder in 2021, and two who finished outside the top-four. The third meeting will be played from rounds 15-18.
Meadows Greyhounds Division 1 and MC Labour Division 2 will both feature a top-five finals series, while the top-four sides will play finals in Heidelberg Golf Club Division 3.
The finals series for both MC Labour Division 2 and Heidelberg Golf Club Division 3 will commence on the weekend of August 20-21, a week prior to the start of the Meadows Greyhounds Division 1 finals.
All men’s football grand finals will again played on Saturdays.
Key features of the 2022 NFNL senior men’s football fixtures include:
• Every Round 1 match to be played on the afternoon of Saturday April 2.
• Two Round 2 matches in Meadows Greyhounds Division 1 to be played in later timeslots. Bundoora and Montmorency will meet at Yulong Reserve in a match commencing at 4:10pm, while Northcote Park will host North Heidelberg under lights at Bill Lawry Oval, with the first bounce at 6:30pm.
• Watsonia to host St Mary’s at Binnak Park in Round 2.
• Three matches to be played on Good Friday. They include:
– Greensborough vs Macleod at Greensborough War Memorial Park
– North Heidelberg vs Bundoora at Shelley Reserve
– Thomastown vs Epping at Main Street Recreation Reserve
• Whittlesea and Hurstbridge to meet on Anzac Day (Monday April 25) at Whittlesea Showgrounds.
• Montmorency and Greensborough to play in a twilight game at Montmorency Park North Oval in Round 4.
• Macleod and North Heidelberg to play a standalone game over the Queen’s Birthday weekend. The match will be played at De Winton Park on Saturday June 11.
• Fitzroy Stars and Thomastown to compete for the NAIDOC Cup in their July 9 match at Sir Douglas Nicholls Oval. The match will be held during NAIDOC week and the NFNL’s Sir Douglas Nicholls Round.
• Meadows Greyhounds Division 1 to feature a split round in Round 14. Matches will be played across Saturday July 16 and Saturday July 23.
Please note: Round 1 grading fixtures for all under-19 and women’s football competitions will be released early in 2022 once team numbers have been confirmed.
To view the fixtures online, please click here.
To download the 2022 NFNL senior men’s football fixtures, which include each club’s round-by-round fixture, please click on the links below:
