AFL Barwon is proud to open nominations for the 2026 AFL Barwon Community Awards, celebrating the outstanding people who make our football and netball communities thrive.
The Community Awards recognise excellence across coaching, administration, officiating and volunteer service, incorporating the long-standing AFL Barwon Coaches Awards alongside honours for Community Netball Coaches, Club Administrators, Football and Netball Umpires, Club Trainers and Personality of the Year.
If you know someone who has made an exceptional contribution to their club or the wider football and netball community, we encourage you to nominate them by completing the relevant award category below.
Nominations are open to all AFL Barwon affiliated clubs, associations and leagues, including the Geelong Football Netball League, Bellarine Football Netball League, Colac & District Football Netball League, Geelong & District Football Netball League, Female Football, Junior Football & Netball competitions, and the All Abilities Football Netball League. Anyone within the community is welcome to submit a nomination.
Fire up the BBQ and support your club’s female football program by running a sausage sizzle at one of our 2026 AFLW home games!
The AFLW Sausage Sizzle is a grassroots initiative bringing local football spirit to life, designed to support and empower female football programs across the Barwon region.
Aligned with the AFLW home games, six local football clubs are selected each season to host a sausage sizzle at GMHBA Stadium.
Everything is provided – all the equipment, ingredients and support – and every dollar raised goes straight back into the clubs’ female football programs helping them invest in new equipment, uniforms, support staff, and more.
In 2024, Armstrong Creek Sharks were among those chosen.
Their goal was simple but urgent: to provide proper mouthguards for their female players. Many girls had none, some were using hand-me-downs from their brothers, and shockingly, a few were resorting to cardboard as makeshift protection.
But that all changed thanks to their hard work and the backing of this initiative. The Sharks raised enough money to buy bright pink mouthguards for every single girl at their club. And to celebrate this incredible achievement, Geelong Cats AFLW players joined the Sharks at training to hand-deliver both the mouthguards and guernseys, a moment filled with pride, joy, and unity.
The initiative launches on Monday July 6, follow the link here to express your interest for the program.
Road Safety Round returns from 23-26th July 2026, where we call upon football and netball players across Victoria to ‘Band Together’.
This year’s Road Safety Round will spotlight speeding, which is a contributing factor in at least 30% of fatal and 25% of serious injury crashes on Victorian roads. Don't risk it, slow down.
Players will take to the field or court wearing blue armbands to honour lives lost on the road and serve as a reminder that we can all be the difference in making them safer.
Road Safety Round collateral has been put into your clubs pigeon hole at AFL Barwon HQ.
The Netball Victoria Community Awards celebrate the significant achievements of individuals and groups who have contributed to the sport of netball in Victoria throughout the year.
The growth and development of netball within Victoria is at the heart of everything we do and we love to highlight the great work of our Victorian netball community.
Nominations for the 2026 Community Awards are now open!
As part of Netball Australia's Volunteer Action Plan, a new suite of resources are now available across a broad ranch of areas. These are designed to assist and support volunteers, making things easier, more rewarding and successful.
Netball Australia have released a survey to gather information about how netball affiliates are managed, particularly those that have a combination of volunteer and paid staff and administration. The results will help inform the future of the sport to best support participation growth and demands, governance requirements and long-term sustainability of associations, leagues and clubs. You can access the survey here
Netball Victoria has created a great new resource for beginner umpires! This resource includes a whole range of information for beginner umpires - what they need to know to start the game, how to penalise infringements, explanation of common rules, where to position, what hand signals they need to know and loads more! Share this resource with your umpire mentors and beginner umpires.
With petrol and diesel prices set to rise again, FrontRunners, a non-profit founded by David Pocock, is looking for clubs interested in being part of a carpooling pilot program to help reduce environmental impact and save money.
Grants of up to $2500 are available for individual community clubs. Interested in hearing more? Email
Netball Victoria has established the 2026 Disaster Relief Program under its Community Support Program to provide targeted financial assistance to affiliated clubs, associations, leagues and families impacted by natural disaster events during 2026. The hardship grant can also be accessed and applied for through this link. Community Support Program - Netball VIC
Community groups and not-for-profit organisations in bushfire-affected Victorian council areas can now apply for grants of up to $75,000 to deliver locally led recovery initiatives that help communities reconnect, rebuild and strengthen resilience following the January 2026 bushfires. Funding can support a wide range of projects, including community wellbeing events, workshops, trauma-informed training, psychological first aid programs, and emergency preparedness resources. With applications open until 31 August 2026, this is an excellent opportunity for organisations to secure funding for projects that address the unique recovery needs of their local communities. For more information and to apply, visit the Victorian Government's Community Recovery Grants Program.
FrontRunners carpool invitation (1).pdf