NJFC 60th Birthday
Northcote Junior Football Club recently celebrated it’s 60th birthday at the club’s home ground, McDonell Park. What an afternoon! Cake, cake and more cake!
This momentous event was tied in with the formal opening of the McDonell Park facilities improvement project (including the new Coach’s boxes on the east oval), with local member Kat Theophanous MP and Darebin Council Mayor, Kristine Clisaris OAM and ward Councillor, Emily Dimitriadis in attendance. We also thrilled to share the project opening with Mitch Owen, President of Dennis Cricket Club and Jason Gasper and Melanie Wheeler of Northcote Tennis.
We are very pleased with how the works have improved the park and the facilities for our club and the wider community, and which have elevated McDonell Park’s role as the sporting heart of Northcote.
The club started life as Alphington Junior Football Club, which, in the 1960s, played in the newly formed junior football programme (aka ‘Sunday junior football’) within the Diamond Valley Football League.
AJFC made its home at McDonell Park in 2005, with the pavilion building that we know and love being opened in that year.
In 2009, AJFC became NJFC and so while ‘Northcote Junior Football Club’ is new in name, its history is long.
Over the decades, our club has given thousands of children the opportunity to play football, with our girls’ program kicking off in earnest in 2016, ahead of the launch of the AFLW. Our Auskick program has thrived for 20 plus years too, forming such a vital pipeline for young kids to become players at the club.
Never has it been more important to get our kids and ourselves outdoors, playing sport, ‘having a go’ and connecting with our local and wider communities.
We are very proud of our club, of all of players and the families (and those that came before us) that make it so great to be a part of.
We work hard to keep our club’s heart beating strong, and to create a legacy of another 60-plus years for the future generations of footy-loving kids.
Happy birthday Northcote Cougars !
NJFC First Nations 2025 Jumper
We are thrilled to be able to present our First Nations jumper and we can’t wait to see our players wearing it for Season 2025.
We will proudly wear the First Nations jumper over the course of the season including for ‘jumper clash’ games and Indigenous rounds.
Wearing them will enable our players and families to pay respect to the traditional owners of the land on which we play, to the First Nations families within the club and all First Nations children we will meet from other clubs at our matches.
We will proudly wear the First Nations jumper for away and ‘jumper clash’ games and Indigenous rounds.
About the new jumper – from artist Emma Bamblett (Mons: Wemba Wemba, Gunditjmara, Ngadjonji and Taungurung)
I worked with players in August 2024 to design a new playing jumper for NJFC.
All of the symbols on the jumper are important elements to the players and how they reflect and respect First Nations culture and their First Nations families at the club.
The oval in the middle represents the club, the dots surrounding the oval are the supporters. Bunjil the Wedge Tail Eagle is soaring and caring for Land, Country and the players. This symbol is paying respects to the Wurundjeri people.
The sun above Bunjil represents hope and aspirations.
The bottom left side of the jumper is a stream of elements:
- Clap sticks to represent the club song
- A footprint to represent the leadership, volunteers and families
- A football to represent the game
- Flowering wattle to represent the football season
Throughout the artwork is streams and lines to depict journeys to learning, understanding and building knowledge of local First Nations people and Cultures.
2025 Season Launch
Season 2025 is just around the corner and we’d love you to join us for our season launch at McDonell Park!
SUNDAY 16 FEBRUARY 2025
10.30am – 1.30pm – Mouthguard ordering
11.30am – 1.30pm – Jumper collection and the uniform and merch shop will be open
We’ll also have a sausage sizzle and official launch!
Get in early and register before 16 February at https://www.playhq.com/afl/register/1d8377 and you’ll receive a free NJFC tshirt if you bring proof of your registration on the day!
2025 Season Dates
The season kicks off with Round 1 on Sunday 6 April 2025. Click on the link below to see the calendar of 2025 season dates so far.
Our President Wins Community Award!
The Club is excited to announce that our dedicated and hard-working President, Kellie Burns, was honoured with the Essendon Football Club’s Community Award at a presentation ceremony during Grand Final week this year.
Kellie stated “I was thrilled and honoured to win Essendon Football Club’s Community Award, which I received at the Club’s Grand Final luncheon.
To be recognised for my work was very special, but for our club to be as successful as it is, is also thanks to the hard work contributed by our committee and volunteers, all year round.”
Congratulations Kellie – we’re all enormously proud of you!
New NJFC Merchandise
Toyota Good For Footy Raffle
Support Northcote Junior Football Club every step of the way and become a club legend by buying a ticket or two in the Good for Footy Raffle. Northcote Junior Football Club gets to keep 100% of proceeds, and you’ll go in the draw to win over $290,000 of prizes, including three brand new Toyotas. Because every dollar and every step matters.
Buy your tickets here – Toyota Good for Footy Raffle – Support Northcote Junior Football Club and Buy a Ticket (raffletix.com.au)
Container Deposit Scheme
NJFC is a Donation Partner for the Container Deposit Scheme (CDS).
Follow the instructions on setting yourself up as a CDS sponsor for the Cougars, and the Club will see the benefits you can set up here https://cdsvic.org.au/fundraising.
Refund facilities are everywhere around us – Julines Noodle House, Ikigai Motors, Collingwood Leisure Centre…as well as the CDS Depot itself, in Preston at 24 Quinn Street (east of the new Bunnings). Small contributions will add up to make the club a bigger and better place.
