The Battle of Bell Street. Preston vs Coburg. 3072 vs 3058.

A famous rivalry between two mighty clubs – the Northern Bullants and Coburg Football Club – came to an end due to the mounting financial pressures of a pandemic. 94 years and 157 meetings of history between the two teams seemingly lost forever.

In 2020, after 17 seasons of being affiliated with Carlton, the Bullants had to bow out of the VFL when the AFL club cut their financial ties. After 138 years in the league, the club was no more.

In March the following year, former Bullants CEO Steven Icke told their fanbase that it wasn’t looking likely that the financially-ravaged club would return to competition. But in 2022, the club worked tirelessly, hiring people such as former AFL Victoria president Bob Tregear to its board, and made their return to competition a reality. The beleaguered club now had hope and the ability to compete as a standalone VFL team for the first time in nearly two decades.

Meanwhile, the league as they had once known it had undergone a drastic change. The VFL and the North East Australian Football League (NEAFL) merged in 2021, providing the league with several more AFL affiliate clubs and, therefore, a deeper pool of AFL talent. It’s also meant that this year, six of the bottom eight teams on the VFL ladder have no AFL affiliations.

That’s why the tone of this year’s Battle of Bell Street was different. When the two teams squared off this season, the Northern Bullants and Coburg Football Club had won two games combined and were sitting 20th and 21st on the ladder, respectively.

The Bullants form up until that point was not an anomaly, as the team had amassed a record of 3 wins and 33 losses since their re-introduction—the worst win-loss record in that time period. And Coburg was hardly better, only registering one more win in that same period.

These standalone clubs mean more to people than their record on the field. They are still vital testing grounds for players, and an opportunity to show what they can do.

That’s where you find people like first year Northern Bullants player Daniel O’Dwyer – someone who has spent his life travelling the country chasing his dream of playing football professionally.

“I was training with Williamstown, and I did a couple of pre-seasons with them. And then when COVID hit I got delisted after not getting a game,” he tells upstart.

“I’ve always kind of like wanted to test my skills, see how I’d go if I was ever up to VFL.”

“It’s interesting to see when you’re watching the footy you see on TV, you played against them last week and things like that, which is funny.”

Playing against people he sees on TV doesn’t mean O’Dwyer thinks he can’t compete, saying he hasn’t felt too out of his depth and that for the most part he has held his own, highlighting that competing with AFL talent is not the issue for these clubs to succeed.

For a club like Coburg, they can see a standalone success story just a 30-minute drive down the highway in Werribee.

Grand finalists in 2023 after finishing the season in second place, Werribee were the highest of any affiliate club.

Coburg Football Club General Manager Jeremy Dickson tells upstart that he sees similarities between the two clubs and is taking inspiration from their triumphs.

“Right now, they’re [Werribee] sitting on the top of the ladder and probably aside from the two AFL Queensland teams, probably in that top tier of favouritism to win the VFL flag,” he says.

Despite the lack of wins from the Preston or Coburg club, O’Dwyer and Dickson see one common theme to enable their teams to get where clubs like Werribee and Williamstown are, and that is continuity. Both desire a chance to build something special, so they can go ahead and deliver on what they believe they can do.

“People look at AFL and go, oh, you can’t compete against the AFL teams. That’s just inherently not true,” Dickson says.

“There is no reason a VFL side set up properly, or a standalone side set up with good business practices, a really strong identity, a strong culture, a strong desire to compete both commercially and on the football ground, there’s no reason that we can’t compete at the level.”

Despite the resource and talent advantage AFL clubs have over teams like Coburg and the Bullants, the standalone clubs are up for the challenge to succeed.  Powered by comradery and affection for their community, these clubs are battling so neither of them leave the competition again.

Photo: Supplied.