Tara Murray
It’s the beginning of a new era for St Albans as it joins the Essendon District Football League.
The club, which has called the Western Region Football League home, is one of two clubs making the move to the EDFL.
St Albans and Deer Park were accepted into the EDFL by the league’s board, before the WRFL launched an objection.
AFL Victoria dismissed the objection and said both clubs will be permitted to affiliate with the EDFL.
Saints vice-president Bekim Muhtari said they were happy to finally get the result they were after following a long process.
He said this was the best move forward for the club, from juniors all the way through to seniors.
“Everyone is excited about the new chapter,” he said.
“There’s been a lot of good feedback and support from the members and the playing group, from juniors to seniors.
“The decision to leave the Western Region Football League [WRFL] was not an easy one and we wish for their competition to continue to grow, but our future sits elsewhere.
“The club has a three year plan where it wants to be and we can start to put that into place.”
Muhtari said the junior side of things was one of the biggest reasons for making the move.
He said many juniors didn’t want to play in the WRFL, while it presented travel concerns especially for families with children in multiple age groups.
“The geographical nature of the club means we are better suited to the EDFL than the WRFL,” he said.
“We want to be able to bring more juniors in through the club and the EDFL is more suitable for that.”
Muhtari also highlighted that being in the EDFL means that all their teams can play in the one competition.
The club’s third senior side played in the Riddell District Football League’s Club 18’s competition this year, as the WRFL doesn’t have a competition.
It was the first time the club had a third senior side in 26 years.
“We finally had some good retention of players and the third side played on Friday nights and won the grand final,” Muhtari said.
“The WRFL doesn’t have a thirds competition for us and with the Riddell league we were travelling to Bacchus Marsh, Wallan and Eynesbury.
“We had 42 players in our Friday night squad and the EDFL offers that competition for our players.”
Muhtari confirmed that the senior team would play in the division 1 competition, the EDFL’s second flight. The side finished seventh in the WRFL’s top grade this year.
He said part of the club’s three year plan was to get into the premier division.
The Saints have already announced a number of re-signings already for next season, along with some recruits.
Victor Micallef, Ade Akintola and Andre Srour have all been announced as signing with the club, while Muhtari said there were more new signings to come.
