St. Kilda Football Club

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St. Kilda
St. Kilda's 2006 AFL logo.
Full name St. Kilda Football Club
Nickname The Saints
Strip Red, white, and black vertical panels on guernsey; black shorts; red, white, and black hooped socks.
Founded 1873
Sport Australian rules football
League Australian Football League
First season 1897
Ground Telstra Dome
Club song When the Saints Go Marching In
President/Chair Rod Butterss
Coach Ross Lyon
Captain Luke Ball, Lenny Hayes & Nick Riewoldt
2006 6th of 16 after 22 rounds, knocked out in elimination final against Melbourne Football Club

The St. Kilda Football Club, commonly known as The Saints, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League. While the club was originally founded in St Kilda, Victoria and played at Junction Oval between 1897 and 1964, it was moved to Moorabbin Oval in Moorabbin (1965-1992), then proceeded to move to Waverly (VFL) Park (1993-1999). St.Kilda's current home ground is Telstra Dome in Docklands, and has been since 2000. St. Kilda still have their administration and training base at Moorabbin Oval to this day.

With its only premiership in 1966 (beating Collingwood by one point) and a league record 27 "wooden spoons" (awarded to the team finishing last), St. Kilda have been the perennial strugglers of the competition. In the absence of team success, its fans have idolised many Brownlow Medal winning star players.

Contents

[edit] Club history

The club, formed in 1873, was initially based out of the Junction Oval in St Kilda. The Saints' motto is Fortius Quo Fidelius, a Latin phrase meaning "strength through loyalty". The club was one of the founding members of the Victorian Football Association in 1877, before joining with other clubs to break away to the Victorian Football League in 1896.

During World War I the club felt so embarrassed at accidentally having team colours which matched the flag of the German Empire that its players pinned Union Flags to their jumpers. Before the next season began in 1915, the club decided to change their colours from red, black, and white to red, black, and yellow — the colours of Australia's ally Belgium. However the war forced the club into recess. After three years in recess St. Kilda resumed in 1918, but did not return to the original colours until after 1920.

St. Kilda's shield logo as it appeared in the 1980s.
St. Kilda's shield logo as it appeared in the 1980s.

After the 1964 season, the club moved to Moorabbin Oval in the South Eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Champion player Daryl Baldock captained the Saints to their first and only premiership in 1966, defeating Collingwood by a solitary point. Baldock returned to coach the Saints between 1987 and 1989, lifting them off the bottom of the ladder. In the 1980s, St. Kilda seemed to become the perennial wooden-spooners and did not perform well right through the early to mid 1990s. St. Kilda have the highest total of wooden spoons of any club with 27.

The team came close to success in 1997, losing the AFL Grand Final to the Adelaide Crows after leading by 13 points at half-time. The club fired then coach Stan Alves after losing both finals in 1998. In 2000, the Saints moved to their new playing home at the Telstra Dome, whilst maintaining their headquarters at Moorabbin.

After a period of rebuilding, in 2004 the Saints signalled promise for the future with a win in the pre-season competition, the Wizard Cup. Following this was an unprecedented ten game winning streak in the home-and-away season. Unfortunately injury and inexperience meant that the Saints only finished third at the end of the season, and were eliminated in an epic Preliminary Final by eventual premier Port Adelaide Power, going down by just one goal.

Full-forward Fraser Gehrig won the Coleman Medal for the most goals kicked in the 2004 season (103), and again in the 2005 season with 74 goals. The Saints went in to 2005 with high expectations and arguably the best list in the competition. They looked set to fulfill them when they defeated Adelaide in the Qualifying Finals at AAMI Stadium but were then beaten by Sydney in a home Preliminary Final.

Since the inaugural Australian Football International Cup in 2002, St. Kilda F.C. have sponsored the Japanese national Australian rules football team. Also known as the Samurai, the team members wear the St. Kilda colours when representing their nation.

In 2006 the Saints were stripped of two competition points (equivalent to a draw) temporarily gained from a controversially drawn match against Fremantle after the AFL Commission overturned the result of their disputed match and handed the full win to Fremantle. Because the umpires on the field did not signal the end of the game after the siren went, the Saints scored a behind from Steven Baker to tie the scores, which was first cancelled after an illegal bump. Baker went a second time, but that time he also scored a point. Both points were cancelled out and Fremantle were handed the win.

On September 12, 2006, after losing their Elimination Final against Melbourne four days previous, coach Grant Thomas and the club mutually decided to "part ways". On October 11, 2006, former Fitzroy forward Ross Lyon was appointed as the new coach for the Saints. [1]

[edit] Supporter base

Year Members Finishing position¹
1997 2nd
1998 23,204 6th
1999 20,793 10th
2000 17,855 16th (last)
2001 22,248 15th
2002 17,696 15th
2003 23,626 11th
2004 30,533 3rd
2005 32,043 3rd
2006 32,327 6th
2007 22,869²

¹ Following finals matches.
² As of 9th of March 2007

[edit] Club records

Win-Loss Record: Played: 2097 Won: 789, Lost: 1287, Drawn: 21 (to end 2006 & Finals)
Highest Score: 204 points (31.18)    versus Melbourne Football Club, Round 6 6 May 1978
Lowest Score: 1 point versus Geelong Football Club, Sect. Round 3 9 September 1899
Greatest Winning Margin: 139 points versus Brisbane Lions, Round 22 27 August 2005
Biggest Loss: 178 points versus Collingwood Football Club, Round 4 28 April 1979
Longest Winning Streak: 10 games Round 1 27 March 2004 to Round 10 30 May 2004
Longest Losing Streak: 48 games Round 1 8 May 1897 to Round 14 12 August 1899
Most Games Played: 335 Robert Harvey 1988–Present
Most Goals Kicked: 898 Tony Lockett 1983–1994
Most Best & Fairests: 4 Bill Cubbins 1921, 1923, 1928, 1929
Robert Harvey 1992, 1994, 1997, 1998

[edit] Premiership

Senior

Reserves

  • 1942, 1943, 1961

Under 19s

  • 1957

[edit] Runners-up

  • 1913 - St Kilda 5.13 (43) defeated by Fitzroy 7.14 (56) - by 13 points.
  • 1965 - St Kilda 9.16 (70) defeated by Essendon 14.21 (105) - by 35 points.
  • 1971 - St Kilda 11.9 (75) defeated by Hawthorn 12.10 (82) - by 7 points.
  • 1997 - St Kilda 13.16 (94) defeated by Adelaide 19.11 (125) - by 31 points.

[edit] Night Series/Pre-Season premierships

  • 1958 - St. Kilda 16.13.109 defeated Carlton 15.11.101 - by 8 points.
  • 1996 - St. Kilda 20.10.130 defeated Carlton 10.12.72 - by 58 points.
  • 2004 - St. Kilda 15.8.98 defeated Geelong 11.10.76 - by 22 points.

[edit] McClelland Trophy

[edit] Wooden spoons

St. Kilda F.C. have won a total of 27 wooden spoon awards for coming in last place in the following years:

1897, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1901, 1902, 1904, 1905, 1909, 1910
1920, 1924, 1943, 1945, 1947, 1948, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1977
1979, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 2000

[edit] Individual awards

[edit] Best and Fairest

See Trevor Barker Award.

[edit] Brownlow Medal winners

[edit] Michael Tuck Medal winners

[edit] Leigh Matthews Trophy winners

[edit] Coleman Medal winners

Called the Leading Goalkicker Medal prior to 1955.

[edit] AFL Rising Star winners

[edit] Current squad

As of March 31, 2007

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Rookies

  • 38 Clinton Jones
  • 39 Luke van Rheenen Flag of South Africa
  • 40 Robert Eddy
  • 41 James Wall
  • 42 Jarryn Geary
  • 43 Jayden Attard1
  • Note 1: Elevated to the senior list


See also St Kilda Football Club 2006 playing list.

[edit] Famous Fans

[edit] Players of note

[edit] Team of the Century

St. Kilda's official Team of the Century.

St. Kilda Team of the Century
B: Barry Lawrence Verdun Howell Kevin Neale
HB: Trevor Barker Neil Roberts Daryl Griffiths
C: Nicky Winmar Ian Stewart Lance W. Oswald
HF: Stewart Loewe Darrel Baldock (Captain) Bill Mohr
F: David J. McNamara Tony Lockett Nathan Burke
Foll: Carl Ditterich Robert Harvey Ross Smith
Int: Barry Breen Allan Morrow Robert W. Murray
Jim A. Ross
Coach: Allan Jeans

[edit] Australian Football Hall of Fame Players

[edit] St. Kilda F.C. Hall of Fame

[edit] Not to be forgotten


See also: List of St. Kilda F.C. players with Wikipedia articles.

[edit] Club jumpers

Home
The home jumper has three large, red, white and black stripes on the front.
The home jumper has three large, red, white and black stripes on the front.
Clash
The away jumper has red, white and black halved vertical stripes.
The away jumper has red, white and black halved vertical stripes.

These are the current 2007 jumper designs. The club's current major sponsors are Bill Express, Vodafone and Skins. Bill Express and Skins logos are displayed on the front of the 2007 guernsey and the Vodafone logo is on the back of the guernsey.

[edit] External links


Clubs in the Australian Football League
Adelaide | Brisbane Lions | Carlton | Collingwood | Essendon | Fremantle | Geelong | Hawthorn
Kangaroos | Melbourne | Port Adelaide | Richmond | St. Kilda | Sydney | West Coast | Western Bulldogs
Former clubs: Brisbane Bears | Fitzroy | University
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