The red and white of the Preston Bullants made an emotional return to Preston City Oval on Saturday, overcoming months of challenges to play on the 150-year-old ground for the first time since the Northern Bullants Football Club had its Victorian Football League (VFL) licence revoked.
Players from the Preston Bullants Amateur Football Club (PBAFC) made history when they ran out into the autumn sunshine. Even though they share a mascot, colours, and a team song with the ex-VFL side, PBAFC had never played men’s football at the ground before Saturday.
Despite the historic first, for many players and fans this wasn’t just another new client using the oval; it was a homecoming.
“Preston belongs here,” declared injured PBAFC senior men’s captain Alex Johnston. “So many of us played junior footy here, including myself. Everyone’s family and friends are trying to get down, there’s been a lot of talk, a lot of buzz about Preston being back here.”
Preston City Oval is Darebin’s oldest sporting ground. For 138 years, the Northern Bullants, now known by their original name, Preston Football Club (PFC), played home games there. That ended in October last year, when PFC had its VFL licence revoked.
Though separate entities, PFC was strongly aligned with the Preston Bullants Junior Football Club (PBJFC) and the PBAFC. After PBAFC’s formation in 2012, a pathway was established allowing talented juniors the opportunity to play senior football and top prospects the chance to train with and potentially join the VFL team.
When PFC was stripped of their VFL licence, its board looked for a way to keep the Bullants’ name and colours playing at the club’s historic home.
“[They] called us to a board meeting and said to us that while they were devastated that they were going into recession, ‘you wear the same colours [and] you sing the same song,’” explains PBAFC President Damian Howard. “[They asked us if we would] kind of be caretakers or custodians of the brand, and as a result, maintain a presence on Preston City Oval, like they’d had for 138 years.”
PFC wrote a letter of support, formally endorsing PBAFC and PBJFC to carry on the Bullants’ legacy, but, because the ground is owned by Darebin City Council, the clubs had to submit a formal expression of interest to host home games at the oval.
Despite the alignment and full support of the ex-VFL team, the journey to get PBAFC and PBJFC home games at the ground was anything but simple, with fixturing proving the biggest challenge.
As of 2026, Talent League side Northern Knights, and VFLW team Darebin Falcons are the primary tenants of the Cramer St oval. In their expression of interest submitted to the council, PBJFC and PBAFC sought a co-tenancy agreement, promising to work around the existing commitments of the already established teams.
They requested seven or eight rounds of matches, but when the initial EOI process was complete, PBAFC were awarded one game, with PBJFC not given any.
“We were pretty devastated with that outcome,” says Howard. “We never intended to go in and take over, just like how Preston didn’t try to take over; they worked with the other co-tenants.”
A campaign, driven by the committees of PBAFC and PBJFC, ensued, and, after working with local, state, and federal politicians, PBAFC had its allocation upped to three rounds.
PBJFC were awarded two rounds, but the first of these would subsequently be cancelled two nights before it was scheduled to take place, with the council citing unsafe playing conditions due to a wet surface.
Despite the last-minute change of plans, the weekend of festivities, named the “Proud to be Preston Round” by the clubs, proceeded, with throngs of red-and-white-clad supporters making their way down to the iconic ground.
They were treated to a footballing masterclass in the bright autumn sunshine from PBAFC’s reserves side, who put the Monash Blues to the sword, winning by 94 points as hype swelled for the seniors’ game.
As they prepared for the main event, senior Bullants players took time out of the warm-up to join a small group of volunteers, past players, and dignitaries in the club rooms. There, they listened to speeches about the club’s history at Preston City Oval and what it means to have senior men’s football back at the ground.
“This was the beating, working-class heart of Preston,” said Member for Preston, Nathan Lambert MP. “A lot’s changed in the world, most things have gotten better, but I think a lot of us realise that in a way… there’s been a decline in community events and community participation.”
“We’ve seen this decline in part because people have these individual options that they can take up, they can travel further, and entertain themselves how they want,” he says. “That’s fine, but we lost a little in that. As much as we gained other things, we lost a little in that, and it’s beautiful to see it back here.”
As the speeches concluded, attention returned to the pitch, with senior men’s player-coach Tom Hill using the club’s journey as motivation.
“We know how much our committee sort of fought to get us out here this year,” he said. “I think it’d be a good way to pay back the hard work from the football club to just come out and play a strong brand of footy.”
A strong brand of footy was exactly what the Bullants played. Led by eleven individual goalkickers, they comfortably dispatched the Monash Blues, rewarding the fans who’d come out with a 139-point win.
Damian Howard hopes the day, which concluded with a club-run trivia night, is just the beginning for the PBAFC.
“We would love to continue working with the co-tenants to make [Preston City Oval] a real home of Preston Football,” he says. “[We want] people to know that the Preston red and white, Preston on Preston City Oval, will always remain.”
“We’re not the only club that represents the Northern suburbs or plays in Preston, but we are the only club that is called ‘Preston Football Club’. We have the same logo, we’re called The Bullants, we sing the same song, so it makes sense that we carry the legacy, and hopefully, we carry the spirit to reboot [PFC] in whatever shape it may take in the future.”
The Bullants will return to Preston City Oval throughout the season, with the amateur side playing back-to-back rounds in July, the latter of which will also feature the club’s women’s team. Though fixtures are yet to be confirmed, the junior side is also set to make its long-awaited return, playing a round of matches later this year.
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