Reporter District Football Association.

1903

The Reporter District Football Association commenced. The clubs involved at this time included Canterbury, Ringwood, Mitcham, Bayswater, Ferntree Gully and Box Hill.
Between 1903-1909 the team with the most points at the end of the home & away season were premiers, but if two teams where tied on points a grand final was played to decide the premiership.

1910

In 1910 there was two sections with the top teams in each section playing off for the premiership. 2nd in each division also played of (but couldn't win the premiership) with the loser coming 4th & the winner playing the loser of the grand final to see who came second in the finals.

1911

In 1911 & 1912 clubs played in two section (A & B) with the top two clubs of each section making up the final 4. 1st in section (A) played 2nd in section (B) & 1st in section (B) playing 2nd in section (A) with the two winners playing off in the grand final.

1912

Kilsyth play as Croydon-Kilsyth for this year only.

1913

In 1913 the final four was introduced.

1916

From 1916 to 1918 the Reporter District Football Association was in recess due to World War I.

Ringwood District Football League.

1927

The Reporter District Football Association was absorbed by the Ringwood District Football League. The clubs involved at this time included Blackburn, Croydon, Doncaster, Kilsyth, Mitcham, Ringwood, Templestowe, Tunstall, Vermont & Warrandyte.

1930

Templestowe left the league and rejoin the Diamond Valley Football League.
Bayswater and Ringwood East join the competition.

1932

Mitcham and Vermont play together as Mitcham-Vermont (1932-34).

1934

Bayswater & Boronia play as Bayswater-Boronia.

1935

Bayswater and Boronia play as independent clubs.
Boronia withdrew after 3 matches.

1942

From 1942 to 1944 the Ringwood District Football League was in recess due to World War II.

Croydon Mail Football League.

1945

Football returned to the area in 1945 after a 3 year hiatus, due to players off fighting the war. With WWII still going in 1945 only 4 clubs participated this year & those clubs were Bayswater, Boronia, Croydon & Kilsyth. The league was named the Croydon Mail Football League.

1946

Ringwood East emerge after the war as East Ringwood. Montrose & Warrandyte also rejoin.

1947

Lilydale join from the Yarra Valley Football League.
Montrose leave the league.

Croydon-Ferntree Gully Football League.

1950

Seven delegates from the Croydon Mail Football League met under a tree in Forest Road, Ferntree Gully in 1950, with the view of changing the league’s name once again.
The men wanted to start a new league to incorporate football clubs from Ferntree Gully, Scoresby and Mulgrave. The only new clubs to join the league was Ferntree Gully & Upper Ferntree Gully. Participating clubs at this time included Bayswater, Boronia, Croydon, Ferntree Gully, Kilsyth, Lilydale, The Basin, Upper Ferntree Gully & Warrandyte.

1951

East Ringwood join the competition.

1952

Wantirna & South Wantirna join the competition.
Kilsyth win 3rd consecutive premiership.
Lilydale leave the competition and rejoins the Yarra Valley Football League.
Scoresby join the league as Wantirna, but change their name back to Scoresby after 1 season. They changed their name for 1952 so they could get into the CFTGFL, as the Dandenong Districts Football League didn't want to clear them. They were even going to go into recess for the year & join in 1953 but thankfully common sense prevailed.

1953

Mount Evelyn join the competition.

1954

Keysborough & Mulgrave join the competition after the collapse of the Dandenong Districts Football League.

1955

Mitcham & Ringwood join the competition from the Eastern Suburban Football League.

1956

The league introduced a second division.
Box Hill-Surrey Hills, Coldstream, Heathmont, Lilydale & Yarra Glen join the competition.
Ferntree Gully, Lilydale, Upper Ferntree Gully & Wantirna South left the competition.
Lilydale rejoin after 3 seasons in the Yarra Valley FL but due to not getting a clearance to join the CFTGFL they were forced to re-enter the YVFL in 1957. They were allowed to play out the 1956 season in the CFTGFL.

1957

Keysborough leave the competition.

1958

The league introduced a third division for one season only.
Boronia 2nds & East Ringwood 2nds field a side in division 3.

1959

Vermont join the competition from the Eastern Suburban Football League. Wandin join the competition from the Yarra Valley Football League.

1960

Silvan join the competition from the Mountain District Football Association.

1961

Blackburn & East Burwood join the competition from the Eastern Suburban Football League.

Eastern Districts Football League.

1962

At a meeting on the 15th of February 1962, a vote was taken to decide whether to call the new league, the Greater Eastern Football League, Croydon District Football League or the Eastern Districts Football League. The vote was 38 “for” to 32 “against” in favour of adopting the Eastern Districts Football League as the new name and so the EDFL was born.
Participating clubs at this time included Bayswater, Blackburn, Boronia, Coldstream, Croydon, Doncaster, East Burwood, East Ringwood, Heathmont, Kilsyth, Mitcham, Mount Evelyn, Mulgrave, Norwood High School, Nunawading, Ringwood, Ringwood Catholic Rovers, Scoresby, Silvan, Surrey Hills, The Basin, Vermont, Wandin, Warrandyte & Yarra Glen.

1963

Norwood High School field a team in the 2nd division reserves competition..

1964

Montrose join and field a team in the division 2 reserve competition.

1965

Ferntree Gully, Olinda-Ferny Creek & Soiuth Wantirna join the competition from the Mountain District Football Association. Lilydale join from the Yarra Valley Football League, whilst Rowville a new club join the competition.
Ringwood Catholic Rovers change their name to Ringwood Rovers.
Silvan left competition and rejoin the Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League.

1966

Mooroolbark a new club join the competition. Upper Ferntree Gully join the competition from the Mountain District Football Association.
Silvan play division 3 rserves (1966-70)

1967

Ringwood Rovers change name again, this time to North Ringwood.

1968

Bennettswood join the competition from the South East Suburban Football League.

1969

South Croydon a new club join the competition.
South Belgrave join the competiton from the Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League, tthe after 1 season rejoin the Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League.

1970

East Hawthorn join the competiton from the Metropolitan Football League. Forest Hill a new club, join the competition.
Norwood High School change their name to Norwood.

1971

Wandin left competition and join the Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League.
Rowville play in Division 3 Reserves.

1972

East Hawthorn leave the competition and rejoin the Metropolitan Football League.

1977

Sandown join the competition from the South East Suburban Football League.

1981

Fairpark join the competition from the Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League.
Kilsyth leave the competition to play in the Victoria Football Association (division 2).

1982

Beverley Hills join the competition from the Victorian Amateur Football Association.

1984

Blackburn South a new club, join the competition.
Sandown change their name to South Waverley Sandown.
Yarra Glen leave the competition and join the Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League.

1985

Clayton join the competition from the South East Suburban Football League.
Kilsyth rejoin the competition from the Victoria Football Association.
Olinda-Ferny Creek leave the competition and join the Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League.

1986

Wonga Park join the competition from the Eastern Suburban Churches Football Association.
Division 4 begins.

1987

Wonga Park change their name to North Croydon.
Bennettswood and Blackburn South merge to form Bennettswood-Blackburn South.

1989

Knox & Noble Park Bears join the competiton from the Eastern Suburban Churches Football Association.

1990

North Croydon leave the competition and join the Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League.
Bennettswood-Blackburn South folded.
Beverley Hills change their name to Doncaster East.

1991

Templestowe join the competition from the Diamond Valley Football League.
Waverley join the competition from the Victorian Amateur Football Association.

1992

Donvale United join the competition from the Eastern Suburban Churches Football Association.

1993

Donvale United change thei name to Donvale.

1994

Surrey Hills merges with East Camberwell and plays as Surrey Park in the Southern Football League.

1996

Balwyn Combined join the competiton from the Victorian Amateur Football Association, then fold.
Noble Park Bears fold.

1997

At the end of the 1997 season, after a year of negotiations, the EDFL and the KJFA merged and the Eastern Football League was formed.

Eastern Football League.

1998

Whitehorse Pioneers join the competition from the Southern Football League.
Clayton leave the competition and joins the Southern Football League.
South Waverley Sandown change their name to the Southern Cobras.
South Wantirna change their name to Wantirna South.
Waverley merges with Mount Waverley Burwood to form Waverley Blues.

1999

Despite finishing 2nd last in division 3 in 1998, Forest Hill play in 4th division in 1999.
The first night game for premiership points is played between Warrandyte & Wantirna South (Division 3).
Fairpark change their name to Eastern Lions.

2000

Chirnside Park join the competition from the Victorian Amateur Football Association.
Noble Park join the competition from the Southern Football League.
Southern Cobras enter recess for this season only.

2001

Mount Evelyn leave the competition and join the Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League.
Southern Cobras leave the competition and join the Southern Football League.
Despite finishing last in division 3 in 2000, Norwood remain in division 3 in 2001.

2002

Surrey Park join the competition from the Southern Football League.

2005

Glen Waverley Hawks join the competition.

2006

The first night game in division 1 for premiership points is played between Noble Park & Blackburn.
Balwyn & Heidelberg apply to join the Eastern Football League. Balwyn were accepted, Heidelberg was rejected by the Board of Victoria.
Despite being division 2 runners up in 2006, Norwood accept an offer from the EFL to join a new 12 team first division for 2007.

2007

Balwyn join the competition from the Southern Football League.
Glen Waverley Hawks break a 49 game losing streak in division 4 by beating Surrey Park.
A final 5 is introduced to division 1.

2008

South Belgrave rejoin the competition from the Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League.

2009

Canterbury join the competition from the Southern Football League.
A final 5 is introduced to division 4.

2011

Silvan join the competition from the Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League.
Park Orchards join the competition, fielding an under 18 team.
No team is relegated from division 3 at seasons end. Two teams from division 4 are promoted to division 3 for the 2012 season.

2010

Severely short of club administrators and having lost a significant number of senior players meant the Nunawading Football Club would not be competitive in division 3 in 2010. Consequently a move to division 4 was requested by the club to support their efforts to build an ongoing and more sustainable operation. Kilsyth (runners up in division 4 2009) provided the league with a request to take the position vacated by Nunawading, which was granted.

2012

Park Orchards field a Senior & Reserves team.
A final 5 is introduced to division 3.
The under-16 age group is replaced by an under-17 competition, while the under-18s will become an under-19 competition.

2013

Surrey Park break a 67 game losing streak by defeating Park Orchards in Round 1.
East Burwood finish last for the first time in their history of the EDFL/EFL.
South Croydon play division 1 Finals for the first time in their history.
Canterbury leave the competition and join the Victorian Amateur Football Association.

2014

Donvale enter recess for this season only.
division 4 revert back to a final 4.
With Donvale set to return to the EFL in 2015, the EFL decided that no team from the 2014 nine team division 2 competition will be relegated, with Donvale being deemed the relegated team, and division Four, where both the premier and runner up from the 2014 grand final will be promoted to division three for the 2015 season.

2015

Donvale return and play in division 4.
Rowville play division 1 finals for the first time in their history.

2017

The EFL Board on Monday night the 3rd July endorsed a restructure of the EFL senior football competition to five divisions from 2019. The five competitions will be named: Premier, Division 1, Division 2, Division 3 and Division 4, and consist of 10, 10, 8, 8 and 8 teams respectively.
South Croydon play in and win a division 1 Grand Final for the first time in the clubs history.
East Burwood finish last for the 4th time in 5 years and will play division 4 in 2018, the first time in their history.

2019

Croydon North-Mount lilydale Old Collegians join the competition (division 4).
In September, Berwick apply to join the Eastern Football League for the 2020 season, they were rejected by the other clubs. Berwick re-applied and the vote was put to all clubs on Wednesday night 4th December at the League’s Annual General Meeting, where an overwhelming majority voted ‘yes’ to the move, pending transfer approval from AFL Outer East and ratification by AFL Victoria in 2020.
After the conclusion of the 2019 season, on 15 October the league announced a re-branding to the Eastern Football Netball League, recognising netball as a key part of the league structure.

2020

The Eastern Football Netball League will introduce a Match Review System and an appointed Match Review Officer (MRO) in season 2020, with the expansion of match-day filming across all senior men’s divisions.
Season 2020 cancelled due to The COVID-19 pandemic.

2021

Premier division will be using a top six finals system in 2022, played out over three weeks, with the top two sides having a week off before heading into the second semi final.
Berwick join the competition. from the Outer East Football Netball League.
Season incomplete due to Covid-19.

2022

Oakleigh District join the competition from the Southern Football League.

2023

Glen Waverley informed the league that they would not be fielding a senior men's side in 2023.

2025

Bulleen Templestowe join the competition (Division 4) from the Victorian Amateur Football Association.