Sport
2 June, 2026
Maryborough Magpies submit official application to join MCDFNL in 2027
The long-awaited announcement that’s circled the local football and netball landscape has officially arrived as the Maryborough Football Netball Club submitted their application to join the Maryborough Castlemaine District Football Netball League (MCDFNL) in 2027.
After notifying the league last Wednesday, the Magpies made their application to become an affiliate member of the MCDFNL public on Sunday evening.
The application will be tabled at the MCDFNL’s upcoming board meeting next Wednesday, June 10, which is also a president’s and secretaries’ meeting, where they’ll set a resolution to hold a special general meeting to vote on the application under a revised format.
“The Maryborough Football Netball Club confirms that it has submitted an application to join MCDFNL as an affiliate member for 2027,” Maryborough Football Netball Club Return to Play Working Group chair Alisha Chadwick said in a prepared statement.
“The reasons behind our application are to build a stronger future for our club, support local football and netball, keep our 77 existing junior footballers and 32 existing junior netballers, as well as reconnect people with sport.
“We respectfully ask all members, supporters and wider community to remain kind, considerate and respectful while this process is undertaken.
“We thank everyone for their understanding and continued support of the Maryborough Football Netball Club.”
MCDFNL competition coordinator Ben Connell said the league’s board members are currently reviewing the application’s documents before next week’s meeting.
“It’ll take its due process and hopefully it’ll all be resolved in due time,” he said.
“If the vote goes the Magpies’ way, we would be happy to have them in.”
Sunday’s announcement is the latest stop in the 154-year-old club’s tumultuous three-year fight for survival that began when they investigated the possibility of ending their 33-year stint in the Bendigo Football Netball League (BFNL) in May of 2024.
After the MCDFNL and the Central Highlands Football League (CHFL) both rejected their applications to join for the 2025 season, and merger discussions were left unmaterialised, Maryborough entered into recession for the first time in 80 years, with aspirations of returning to the BFNL in 2026.
However, a designated taskforce deemed a return to the BFNL unviable after the club lost its past 64 football matches in the senior division, dating back to the 2021 season, and was forced to withdraw from A grade netball during the 2024 campaign.
With the MCDFNL deemed the only sustainable, competitive pathway for the Magpies’ future, the club lodged a second application to join the local league in May last year.
Following a formal vote conducted that July, the league advised Maryborough that their provisional membership had not been approved, as the vote did not yield the required 75 percent majority support from MCDFNL board members and club representatives for entry.
Despite submitting a third application to the league last August, the Magpies withdrew it by October and remained in recess for the 2026 season, advising their intent to reapply for the 2027 season.
With AFL Victoria Country Rules stating “after a period of two years in recess, the club in recess will be deemed to have disbanded”, the Magpies’ current application could potentially be make or break.
Unlike previous votes, Maryborough’s application only requires a 66 percent majority from representatives of all 13 MCDFNL clubs after a rules change in April meant the league’s seven board members no longer hold a vote.
The decision follows a request from Maryborough for the MCDFNL to undertake an independent review of last year’s unsuccessful vote.
The review, completed by Nevett Wilkinson Frawley Lawyers, stated “the vote may have been conducted in a manner suffering from technical breaches of the rules, but not of the nature of voter ineligibility based on our preferred reading of the rules.”
Connell said he wasn’t involved in the MCDFNL’s noticeable change to their application process.
“I think it’s because when the board holds a vote, you’ve also got board members that are linked back to clubs, so it probably just removes that perceived bias,” he said.
“The rules update went through our legal firm and between them and the board, they recommended that the board not hold the vote when it comes to the affiliation of a member.”