shared<\/a> a text message that is said to have been communicated to players, coaches and support staff. <\/p>\n\u201cAttention all players, coaches and support staff,\u201d it read. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe AFL have just informed the Preston Football Club that we will not be granted a licence for season 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Neil Howard is absolutely shattered by the news and decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have no option now but to allow all players and staff the freedom to explore new avenues for your football. <\/p>\n
\u201cNeil has expressed that players, coaches, strength and conditioning, and medical staff payments will still be honoured in due course,\u201d the message to players, coaches and support staff went on.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoys, 143 years of history looks to be done and dusted.\u201d<\/p>\n
Preston has had its VFL licence stripped. Picture: Valeriu CampanSource: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
Led by president Howard, the Bullants had in September presented a business case to the AFL but were made to wait on a verdict, with the league fully cognisant of the club\u2019s dire financial standing. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe need a decision. We have to know one way or the other,\u2019\u2019 Howard said in late September. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey (AFL) organised an audit and they know exactly what our position is. They have our business strategy plan. They\u2019ve had that now for two weeks. It\u2019s not a heavy document and it speaks for itself. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe need knowledge. We need verification \u2014 are you going to grant us peace of mind so we can get on with 2026 and are you going to provide a grant of any substance at all?\u201d<\/p>\n
The AFL\u2019s lack of financial support for standalone clubs \u2014 which no longer receive an annual $120,000 subsidy \u2014 continues to be a topic of contention. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Preston Football Club has had its Victorian Football League licence stripped. First reported by Code Sports\u2019 Paul Amy,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":192960,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,121922,64,63,689,55,639,121921,3239,77640,121927,83256,1127,121919,647,121926,121920,677,121925,121928,85,121923,121924,660],"class_list":["post-192959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-alignment-period","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-business-strategy-plan","tag-carlton-blues","tag-debt-crisis","tag-desperate-fight","tag-footy-history","tag-fox-footy","tag-independent-club","tag-melbourne","tag-neil-howard","tag-northern-blues","tag-oceania","tag-paul-amy","tag-preston-football-club","tag-sports","tag-stalwart-club","tag-standalone-clubs","tag-victoria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}