Australian Football

Chadstone

Syndal Football Club was the reigning Eastern Suburban Churches Football Association (ESCFA) A Section premier when it merged with Tally Ho in 1980. The merged club won further ESCFA flags in 1984 (A Grade) and 1987 (B Grade) before crossing to the Southern Football League in the early 1990s. A more recent switch came in 1997 when it joined the VAFA, earning promotion as D4 Section premiers in its fifth season. Opposed in the grand final by Swinburne University, the Synners as they were known at the time won convincingly by 51 points, 16.11 (107) to 8.8 (56), but after failing to consolidate in D3 Grade currently find themselves back in D4, where in 2007 they won 6 out of 18 matches to finish eighth (out of twelve). This was followed by a dire 2008 season which produced just 1 win and the ignominy of a wooden spoon.

During the close season it was announced that the club would be adopting the name of the district in which it based, Chadstone. It was an inauspicious move as the renamed club did not manage to win a game for four years, and indeed the Demons as they became known in 2016 continued to struggle, winning just two of 102 Division Four matches contested between 2011 and 2016. However, the 2017 season brought an upswing in fortunes, which paradoxically was born out of hardship. Specifically, the club found itself unable to field both senior grade and reserve teams, meaning that it was consigned to section two of the Club XVIII league. Here, it found the standard of competition much more to its liking, and after qualifying for the finals in second place went on to reach the grand final. Unfortunately, opponents Box Hill North proved to have the Demons' measure, but to finish runners-up represents a significant step forward for a club which has struggled badly for so long.

The 2019 season saw Chadstone competing in Thirds Division Four where they finished fifth of nine clubs. After a season spent in recess because of the coronavirus pandemic the club will resume in this competition in 2021.

Chadstone also has a team which participates in the Football Integration Development Association (FIDA) competition for players with an intellectual disability.