| Northern Bullants | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Names | ||||
| Full name | Preston Football Club Inc., trading as Northern Bullants Football Club Inc.[1] | |||
| Former name(s) | Preston Juniors Football Club (1920s)[2][3] Preston Knights Football Club (1996−1999)[4] Northern Blues Football Club (2012−2020) | |||
| Nickname(s) | Bullants, Tonners, Ants | |||
| Former nickname(s) | Knights, Blues, Prestonians[5] | |||
| 2024 season | ||||
| Home-and-away season | 21st | |||
| Leading goalkicker | John Jorgensen (25) | |||
| Laurie Hill Trophy | Jean-Luc Velissaris | |||
| Club details | ||||
| Founded | 1882 | |||
| Colours | Red White | |||
| Competition | Victorian Football League | |||
| President | Whitlam Malkoun | |||
| Coach | Rohan Welsh | |||
| Captain(s) | Matthew King & Liam Mackie | |||
| Premierships | VFA/VFL (D1) (4) VFA (D2) (2) VJFA (5) | |||
| Ground(s) | Preston City Oval (10,000) | |||
| Uniforms | ||||
| ||||
| Other information | ||||
| Official website | northernbullantsfc.com.au | |||
The Northern Bullants are a semi-professional Australian rules football club that currently competes in the Victorian Football League (VFL). The club, which is based in the Melbourne suburb of Preston, plays its home games at Preston City Oval.
The club was established in 1882 as the Preston Football Club, the name which the club is still legally registered under. The club participated in the Victorian Football Association (VFA) between 1903 and 1911, and then since 1926. After World War II, the club was known as the Bullants, and wore a plain red guernsey with a white monogram. The club later became the Northern Bullants. It was affiliated with the Carlton Blues in the Australian Football League (AFL) from 2003 to 2020, and from 2012 until 2020, the club adopted the colours and nickname of its AFL affiliate to become the Northern Blues.[6] The alignment was terminated in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and since 2021, the club has again operated as a stand-alone VFL club under the Northern Bullants name.[7][8]
The club has won four Division 1 premierships and two Division 2 premierships, all during its most successful period from the 1960s to the 1980s.
- ^ "Current details for ABN 58 535 665 522 – PRESTON FOOTBALL CLUB INC". ABN Lookup. November 2014.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
laborcallwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "SOME FOOTBALL". Labor Call. 8 September 1921. Retrieved 27 July 2024.
- ^ "PRESTON FOOTBALL CLUB". GameDay. Northern Bullants. Archived from the original on 28 July 2024. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
- ^ "JUNIOR SEMI-FINAL PROSPECTS ANALYSED". Trove. Winner. 19 September 1917. p. 7.
The Prestonians have come on rapidly lately
- ^ Landsberger, Sam (29 July 2011). "Northern Bullants in with the Blues". Preston Leader. Archived from the original on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 29 July 2011.
- ^ "AFL 2020, financial crisis, Carlton, Northern Blues, VFL alignment, budget cuts, money". Fox Sports. 26 March 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
- ^ Paul Amy (13 October 2020). "Northern Bullants to return to VFL as a stand-alone club". Leader. Melbourne, VIC. Retrieved 13 October 2020.