‘The AFL don’t want to know about it’: Town’s 153-year-old footy club on verge of extinction

Maryborough Football Netball Club players have gathered in the heart of their old gold mining town for the past 153 years.

Fans have watched from the wooden benches of the club’s heritage-listed grandstand as teams traded blows on the picturesque Prince’s Park oval on Saturday afternoons.

But the once vibrant Bendigo league club is now on the verge of extinction.

Club president Glen Bardsley told this masthead this week they were a vote away from having to close their doors for good.

He said if the Magpies’ coming bid to join the Maryborough Castlemaine District Football Netball League was rejected, they would be forced to fold.

Doubts about their future followed news this week that Lara Football Club had withdrawn their senior teams from the powerful Geelong Football Netball League because they were no longer competitive.

There is a pervading feeling in the bush that clubs are being left to wither on the vine – a product of ageing populations, dwindling junior numbers and alternative forms of entertainment.

Maryborough is a town of 8000 people settled between Bendigo and Ballarat. The football club has not fielded a senior team since the start of 2025.

They withdrew from the Bendigo Football Netball League because they were suffering 30-goal “floggings” and continually struggling for numbers. They could only scramble together 14 players for their last game.

But they believe they can regroup and be competitive in the Maryborough Castlemaine District Football Netball League – a minor league competition made up of 13 clubs, seven of them within 30 minutes of Maryborough.

But so far, their attempts have been rejected.

To gain entry into the Maryborough Castlemaine District Football Netball League an application is put to a vote – decided by the league’s 13 clubs and seven board members.

The applicant needs a 75 per cent majority, or 15 out of the 20. Bardsley believes their bid in July last year fell one or two short.

“It’s very disappointing,” he said. “It’s just a couple of clubs that don’t like Maryborough. They just want our players.

“I would say 90 per cent of the community wants this to happen. But because of the way the vote is, the minority trigger wins.”

Bardsley said the Magpies did not have a right of appeal.

He said they had spoken to AFL Victoria but claimed the organisation was powerless to act. AFL Victoria was contacted for comment.

“We went to everybody we possibly could think of,” Bardsley said. “The AFL really don’t want to know about it.”

The Maryborough Magpies intend to lodge another application to join the MCDFNL in coming weeks.

Their fate will once again be placed in the hands of potential rivals – the competition’s nearby towns and districts drawing from the same dwindling talent pool.

“We’re hoping to get it done before the season starts because a lot of people have put a lot of time and effort in, and they’re just mentally drained from all this,” Bardsley said.

“If it’s a ‘no’, well, then we just shut the doors, I suppose. It’s going to be pretty sad for the town.”

MCDFNL president Paul Wicks said last year’s vote was kept confidential, so no one knew which way the numbers fell.

“It was a secret ballot, we didn’t release any voting numbers or who voted what [way],” Wicks said.

The league president said he had been involved in football in the Maryborough district for more than 30 years, but was not aligned to a club.

He admitted that several of his board members were tied to individual clubs, but was adamant that the MCDFNL board voted in the best interests of the league.

Loading

“Clubs all vote in the interest of the clubs, board members vote in the interest of the league,” he said.

“I would love to have them (Maryborough) in the league if the league voted them in. Maryborough know my view on it, but they also understood that I am one of 20 votes.”

Wicks said there was a bitter fallout from last year’s ‘no’ vote, resulting in personal online attacks.

“When they missed out, their Facebook pages went ballistic and all these people were calling all the board members names,” he said.

“You wouldn’t believe how much we copped.”

Natte Bealiba Football Netball Club sits on a crossroad 30km from Maryborough, an oval and clubrooms surrounded by farm land.

For decades, it has traded players with Maryborough – young players keen to ply their trade in a major league, or mature players looking to take a step back and play for extra cash.

Balzan said his club held talks with Maryborough Football Club to be part of a three-way merger three years ago, but the Magpies opted out.

He said there were barely enough footballers and netballers to go around, with seven nearby teams – Maryborough Giants, Carisbrook, Talbot, Dunolly, Lexton, Avoca and Natte Bealiba – already competing for the same players.

“I am not sure where they are going to get their players from … but I wish them the best of luck,” Balzan said.

Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter.

Click here to read article