Essendon District Football League
The Essendon District Football League is a semi-professional Australian rules football league competition based in Essendon, Victoria, consisting of teams based in the north-west suburbs of Melbourne. Founded in 1930, the men's competition consists of three leagues: Premier Division, Division 1 and Division 2, with 10 clubs in the Premier Division, 11 clubs in Division 1 and 9 clubs in Division 2. Ahead of the 2025 competition, two teams will be relegated from Division 1 to Division 2 to ensure that there are 10 teams across each of the top three divisions.
Promotion and relegation between these divisions occurs, with the lowest-placed clubs in the Premier Division and Division 1 being relegated at the end of each season replaced in their respective divisions by the winners of Division 1 and Division 2 premierships respectively Each men's team also fields a reserves side and an under-18 side that play fixtures mirroring that of the senior side.
Since 2017, the League has also run a competition for women's Australian rules football. In its inaugural year, this was a joint competition featuring teams from the EDFL as well as the Western Region Football League. In 2018, 13 teams competed in a single division season, expanding to 19 teams and two divisions in 2019.
The league consists of clubs spanning as far north as Sunbury, as far south-east as Moonee Ponds, and as far west as Hillside. The furthest distance between two clubs is Moonee Valley Football Club and Sunbury Kangaroos totalling a travel distance of 35.2 km.
A number of junior players from the EDFL play for Calder Cannons in the Coates Talent League due to the geography of being based at Highgate Recreation Reserve, Craigieburn and consequently receiving the majority of players from teams in the Northern and North-West Suburbs. A smaller number of players represent Western Jets, being based at Burbank Oval, Williamstown which receive a number of players from clubs based in the western suburbs of Melbourne.
Clubs
The league consists of clubs spanning as far north as Sunbury, as far south as Ascot Vale or Moonee Ponds at a senior level, as far east as Coburg or Fawkner, and as far west as Hillside. The furthest distance between two clubs is Moonee Valley Football Club and Sunbury Kangaroos totalling a travel distance of 35.2 km.The league borders the RDFNL to the north and north-west, WFNL to the south and west, and the NFNL to the east and north-east. A number of clubs have transferred to and from these various leagues throughout their respective existences.
The league recruits a number of current players listed on VFL lists from the Northern and Western Suburbs of Melbourne, such as Coburg, Essendon, Werribee, and Williamstown
Premier Division
Division 1
Division 2
Thirds only
| Player | AFL club/clubs | EDFL club/clubs | Year drafted | Draft pick no. | AFL games1 |
| Rory Atkins | Adelaide Football Club and Gold Coast Suns | Maribyrnong Park | 2012 | 81 | 133 |
| Noah Balta | Richmond Football Club | Essendon Doutta Stars | 2017 | 25 | 85 |
| Mark Blicavs | Geelong Football Club | Taylors Lakes and Sunbury Lions | 2012 | 54 | 246 |
| Jack Bytel | St Kilda Football Club | Maribyrnong Park and Aberfeldie | 2018 | 41 | 22 |
| Jordan Croft | Western Bulldogs | Maribyrnong Park | 2023 | 15 | 0 |
| Paul Curtis | North Melbourne Football Club | Keilor | 2021 | 35 | 36 |
| Joe Daniher | Essendon Football Club and Brisbane Lions | Aberfeldie | 2012 | 10 | 172 |
| Jayden Davey | Essendon Football Club | Moonee Valley | 2022 | 54 | 0 |
| Brandon Ellis | Richmond Football Club and Gold Coast Suns | West Coburg | 2011 | 15 | 241 |
| Hugo Garcia | St Kilda Football Club | Taylors Lakes and Greenvale | 2023 | 50 | 0 |
| Luke Grego | West Coast Eagles | Keilor | 2024 | 48 | 0 |
| Nick Hind | St Kilda Football Club and Essendon Football Club | Keilor | 2018 | 54 | 80 |
| Isaac Kako | Essendon Football Club | Northern Saints and Pascoe Vale | 2024 | 13 | 0 |
| Buku Khamis | Western Bulldogs | St Albans | 2018 | Category B Rookie | 10 |
| Jayden Laverde | Essendon Football Club | Keilor | 2014 | 20 | 110 |
| Keighton Matofai-Forbes | Geelong Football Club | Hillside, Burnside, Keilor | 2024 | 69 | 0 |
| Matthew McLeod-Allison | St Kilda Football Club | Strathmore | 2020 | 26 | 0 |
| Jake Melksham | Essendon Football Club and Melbourne Football Club | 2009 | 10 | 221 | - |
| Brody Mihocek | Collingwood Football Club | Maribyrnong Park | 2018 | 22 | 126 |
| Touk Miller | Gold Coast Suns | Maribyrnong Park | 2014 | 29 | 173 |
| Reilly O'Brien | Adelaide Football Club | Moonee Valley | 2014 | 9 | 100 |
| Harry O'Farrell | Carlton Football Club | Maribyrnong Park | 2024 | 40 | 0 |
| Dion Prestia | Gold Coast Suns and Richmond Football Club | Greenvale | 2010 | 9 | 212 |
| Cameron Rayner | Brisbane Lions | Hillside and Essendon Doutta Stars | 2017 | 1 | 111 |
| Brandon Ryan | Hawthorn Football Club and Brisbane Lions | Maribyrnong Park and Aberfeldie | 2012 | 12 | 3 |
| Luke Ryan | Fremantle Football Club | Moonee Valley and Maribyrnong Park | 2016 | 66 | 132 |
| Adam Saad | Gold Coast Suns, Essendon Football Club and Carlton Football Club | West Coburg | 2015 | 25 | 177 |
| James Sicily | Hawthorn Football Club | Keilor | 2013 | 56 | 134 |
| Joel Smith | Melbourne Football Club | Maribyrnong Park and Taylors Lakes | 2014 | 41 | 42 |
| Curtis Taylor | North Melbourne Football Club | Keilor and Rupertswood | 2018 | 46 | 57 |
| Zac Taylor | Adelaide Football Club | 2021 | 44 | 0 | - |
| Rhylee West | Western Bulldogs | Strathmore | 2018 | 26 | 25 |
| Peter Wright | Gold Coast Suns and Essendon Football Club | Moonee Valley | 2014 | 8 |
;Notes
Former clubs
;Notes- 6th Melbourne Scouts
- Ascot Rovers/Maribyrnong
- Ford Company
- Tullamarine-Airport West
Premiers
History
The EDFL was first formed in 1930 at the instigation of the Essendon Football Club to increase the pool of local talent available for recruitment. Consequently, the league has consistently had positive ties with Essendon Football Club which can also be seen with the use of former Essendon home ground Essendon Football Ground, now known as Windy Hill as the headquarters of the EDFL since 1958 and hosting training for umpires of the league and occasional use of the ground for home and away season matches as well as being a commonly featuring ground for men's grand finals.The first season in 1930 consisted of eight clubs, Ascot Vale, Flemington and Kensington, St John's, Kensington Methodist, Essendon High School Old Boys, Northern Juniors, West Essendon and Woodlands. None of the original foundation clubs exist in their current state as a result of participating in mergers or folding since. The completion of the season saw Les Rennie recruited by Essendon, the first successful recruitment of a player from the EDFL, he went on to play for Essendon throughout the 1931 VFL season. Later, in 1933 the great Dick Reynolds, one of just four players to have won three Brownlow Medals was recruited from Woodlands in the EDFL and began his successful 320 game career with Essendon.
In 1936, the first juniors competition was launched which contained a solitary under 16s division, once more at the instigation of the Essendon Football Club however this was abandoned and resumed at a later date in 1948 with the introduction of under-17s. By 1949, 32 teams took part in 3 grades of junior age football. 1962 saw the induction of under-15s to the EDFL and the competition was won by Essendon Doutta Stars, however as a result of fielding an overage player forfeited all their points for the season. In 1967, the inaugural A grade under-13s competition was launched which was a resounding success and resulted in demand for a B grade competition after just one year in 1968.
As a result of World War II the competition went into recess in 1941 with many players fighting in the war, once the war had ended two clubs chose not to resume participation in the competition, despite this, After four years of recess a successful resumption of the leagues activities in this year. A 10 team competition on resumption resumed the success of the pre War Competition.
1949 saw the first split of the teams into two divisions with Essendon Doutta Stars taking out the first ever undefeated season and Glenroy winning the inaugural B grade competition. Later in 1961, C grade was introduced to help facilitate the introduction of more clubs into the EDFL and was won by Doutta Stars, believed to be a reserve team for Essendon Doutta Stars. However, this competition did not last for long before going into recess after the 1982 season and only returning after the 30-year hiatus in 2012.
In 1961, The Umpires Association was inaugurated to help with the recruitment of umpires to officiate games. Despite this the league was consistently short of umpires. Notably in 1990, the season commenced with a desperate shortage of umpires. The problem was solved in the short term by former umpires who came out of retirement to assist the league.
in 1989, then prime minister of Australia Bob Hawke attended the A-grade seniors grand final.