Sport
24 October, 2025
Maryborough FNC elects to stay in recess for 2026, eye 2027 return in MCDFNL
The Maryborough Football Netball Club (MFNC) senior football and netball will remain in recess in 2026 after withdrawing its intention to join the Maryborough Castlemaine District Football Netball League (MCDFNL) next season, with plans to reapply and potentially join the league in 2027.
The decision comes after the MCDFNL board accepted to consider the Magpies’ third application to become an affiliate member club for the 2026 season at a meeting on Wednesday, October 1.
Despite the league preparing to schedule a special general meeting between board members and a representative from all 13 MCDFNL clubs to vote on their application, the MFNC advised the league on Tuesday, October 7 their wish to withdraw their application for membership and intentions to reapply next year to join in 2027.
According to MFNC president Glen Bardsley, it quickly became unviable for the Magpies to join the MCDFNL next year.
“The league accepted the application, but it’s just getting too late,” he said.
“We still didn’t have a date when the vote was going to be and it was going to be too hard to get up and going in 2026 when a lot of players and coaches have already signed for 2026 at their clubs.
“We had a committee meeting about it and everyone pretty much agreed that it’s getting too late.
“The seniors will stay in recess, and this way we can now say that our juniors will be playing in the Bendigo league next year, because that was up in the air a little bit.”
The Magpies officially submitted their third application to the MCDFNL on Tuesday, August 26, another chapter in a tumultuous journey for the club to secure its future away from the Bendigo Football Netball League (BFNL).
After an expression of interest to join the MCDFNL was rejected in 2024, and with no other viable options available, MFNC’s senior football and netball divisions were forced into recess in October last year for the first time since 1945.
With a return to the BFNL deemed “unfeasible” following three consecutive winless seasons in senior football and being unable to field reserve football or A grade netball teams in 2024 due to player unavailability, the Magpies launched a second application to the MCDFNL in May, with hopes of pulling themselves out of recess limbo in 2026.
After that application failed to receive the necessary 15 out of 20 votes from board members and club representatives at a league meeting on Wednesday, July 9, it seemed the Magpies would have to scramble to find an alternative solution to their uncertain survival.
However, following a meeting with the MCDFNL board and MFNC’s Return to Play Working Group, the MFNC issued its most recent application.
With the newest application received in the midst of their finals, the MCDFNL elected to wait until the end of finals to review the application on October 1.
Despite rescinding their recent application, Bardsley said the club still sees the league as “the best solution” for their future.
“This will give us the time we need to get it right, our club can think about it more,” he said.
“If we had a yes two months ago, we would have everything in place by now, but we just can’t. It’s just putting a lot of pressure on everybody.
“We haven’t given up — we are just going to reevaluate everything and see how we go when we reapply for 2027.” — Glen Bardsley, Maryborough Football Netball Club president.
While the decision buys the Magpies some valuable time to plan their next steps, the clocks are quickly nearing midnight for the club to extend its 153-year history.
As stated in the AFL Victoria Country Rules under the affiliated bodies section, “after a period of two years in recess, the club in recess will be deemed to have disbanded”.
That gives the Magpies 12 months to find a suitable solution for their senior football and netball program unless the club successfully applies to AFL Victoria Country to extend that timeline.
In the meantime, Bardsley said their attention has turned to planning for their junior football teams, who will officially remain in the Bendigo Junior Football League in 2026.
“Our focus now will be on our junior side of things and keeping our club running like we did this year with fundraisers in the hopes of moving forward in 2027,” he said.