Eastern Melbourne footy clubs fighting to stay in the game

Shifts in interest from younger players, along with older players retiring, are pushing many amateur and community football clubs to the brink.

Now, two clubs in eastern Melbourne are fighting to rebuild in a changing landscape.

❓What’s happened? On April 14, the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) confirmed Box Hill North Football Club would not field any open-age men’s or women’s teams in 2026, entering a period of recess.

• Two days later, the club released a statement describing the outcome, which followed weeks of negotiations with the VAFA, as “disappointing”.

🗓️ Years of history: Marcellin Old Collegians Football Club president Paul Harvey has only been in the role for five weeks, but his ties to the club span more than 350 games as a player, and coaching the senior women’s team over the past three seasons.

• “I like the egalitarianism of footy — that everybody's equal,” Harvey told the Eastern Melburnian. “You could work in the sewers or be a merchant banker, but everyone’s equal if you put your head over the ball.”

🩸 No young blood: Harvey said a key issue was the lack of pathways for younger players. 

• The last season in which the club fielded an under-19s team was 2023, with declining interest and higher-level clubs with higher budgets attracting young talent contributing to dwindling player numbers.

• “If you don’t have under-19s, you don’t have a future,” said Harvey. “You need that injection of youth, otherwise you end up with an ageing team and can’t compete.”

• Harvey said the club was now working to re-establish an under-19s side.

📈 Rapid recovery: In February 2025, Nunawading Lions Football Netball Club announced it would not field a senior men’s or development team due to a number of player retirements and poor results on the ladder for a number of years.

• Senior men’s coach Thomas Flood said the club has since rebuilt, drawing players from its under-19s program and surplus players from Berwick.

• 🗣️ “Without that relationship, we wouldn’t have the ability to exist this year,” Flood told the Eastern Melburnian.

⏭️ What’s next? Flood said only a few committee members from a decade ago remain, leaving the 2026 squad as a “fledgling entity”.

• 🗣️ “We’re hopeful for the future,” said Flood.

Thumbnail Image Credit: HappyWaldo