St Albans and Deer Park are officially Essendon District Football League clubs.
The league announced on Friday that an AFL Victoria appeal hearing into the move of the two clubs had been concluded and dismissed.
The hearing took place after the Western Region Football League, where the clubs had been playing, appealed the decision made by AFL Victoria at an earlier hearing rejecting the WRFL’s objection to the move.
The EDFL in a statement confirmed that AFL Victoria had made a final decision on the move.
“The Essendon District Football League is delighted to welcome the Deer Park and St Albans Football Clubs as the League’s two newest clubs,” the league said in a statement.
“AFL Victoria confirmed the outcome to the EDFL following a final appeal hearing with the WRFL earlier this week.”
League chairman Bernie Shinners said both clubs would be welcome additions to the league.
“Given the calibre of these clubs, our competition will be significantly strengthened and enriched and we look forward to embracing both as member clubs of the EDFL,” he said.
The WRFL also released a statement saying it had been made aware that its appeal had been unsuccessful
“Although we are disappointed to be farewelling two-long standing WRFL clubs, we are looking forward to continuing the growth of football and netball across the western suburbs of Melbourne,” it said.
Deer Park and St Albans play in the EDFL division 1 competition in 2023, with the division set to comprise 12 teams.
Further details surrounding the admission of Deer Park and St Albans as well as the division 1 fixture will be finalised in the near future.
On social media, Deer Park said they are glad this process is now completed and they can get on with season 2023 and joining the EDFL as planned.
St Albans president James Perkin took to the club’s social media to thank the people behind the scenes that had done a lot of hard work to get the club to this position
“It has been a roller coaster of emotions from the highs of being accepted, the lows of the unknown, with the appeal of the WRFL, but finally, we gained acceptance into a league that our club sees a bright future in,” he said.
“We are a team of people who share a common goal in wanting nothing more than the best for our families and members within our club, with that said we have a lot of hard work to do, but knowing the support we have, makes me feel very comfortable that we will play a very significant part of the EDFL moving forward.
“This is the start of a momentous change in our club’s history.”
