{"id":485159,"date":"2026-02-17T06:13:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T06:13:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/485159\/"},"modified":"2026-02-17T06:13:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T06:13:15","slug":"kyneton-womens-football-players-greenlit-to-join-central-victorian-football-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/485159\/","title":{"rendered":"Kyneton women’s football players greenlit to join Central Victorian Football League"},"content":{"rendered":"

A group of Victorian women’s football players now have a path to play in 2026, ending a 15-month saga since they defected from their former side.<\/p>\n

The women who left the Kyneton Football Netball Club in 2024 had been blocked from joining a league as the Kyneton Women’s Football Club.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Today the Riddell District Football Netball League (RDFNL) confirmed it would not appeal the players’ application to join the Central Victorian Football League (CVFL) under a new name, the Wedge-Tailed Eagles Football Club.<\/p>\n

The RDFNL had previously appealed the move due to the club’s use of Kyneton in its name.<\/p>\n

It also acknowledged the club’s nomination of Woodend Racecourse Reserve as a home venue.<\/p>\n

Natalie Korinfsky, Wedge-Tailed Eagles club president, said the overwhelming feeling for players was relief.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We are really happy that we’ve got a good result and one that sees our club able to stand out on our own,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Our players, who are all really close, get to play together which is all they ever really wanted.”<\/p>\n

The players had merged with another club to take the field in the Essendon District Football League in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The CVFL said in a statement it was “delighted” to accept the club in 2026 and beyond.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We believe their inclusion reflects the CVFL’s commitment to fostering growth, inclusivity, and opportunity across all levels of community football,” the statement said.<\/p>\n

\"Members<\/p>\n

Members of the Wedge-Tailed Eagles at a training session. (Supplied: Sophie McLeod)<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for AFL Victoria said it waived the deadline for the club to apply again to the CVFL under a new name, and confirmed its application had been accepted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The new application addressed key factors outlined in the AFL Victoria Appeal decision and followed the new club application process under the AFL Victoria Community Affiliate Regulations,” the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

League vice-president resigns<\/p>\n

Meanwhile the RDFNL board has confirmed its vice-president Andrew Power has resigned effective immediately due to comments he made on social media.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The board said the league became aware of the comments on Monday.<\/p>\n

“Following a brief review, Andrew Power and the RDFNL mutually agreed that his personal views are not aligned with the values of the league, its board and staff,” the board said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The RDFNL does not condone or support the behaviour reflected in those comments and apologises for any distress caused to members of our community.”<\/p>\n

Mr Power has been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n

The ABC has seen messages and comments directed at Ms Korinfsky by Mr Power.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ms Korinfsky said it had been a “really difficult” 15 months.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We’ve seen some pretty poor behaviour occur in that time and we just hope that AFL Victoria takes it really seriously,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“These leagues are entrusted to support and take care of clubs and players and we just want to make sure they’re doing the right thing by everyone.”\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A group of Victorian women’s football players now have a path to play in 2026, ending a 15-month…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485160,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,16386,245632,596,237088,209755,192815,85,245633,24351],"class_list":{"0":"post-485159","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-comments","11":"tag-cvfl","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-kyneton","14":"tag-kyneton-football-club","15":"tag-riddell-district-football-netball-league","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-wedge-tailed-eagles-football-club","18":"tag-womens"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485159","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=485159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}