Oakleigh Football Club

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Oakleigh Football Club were an Australian rules football club from Oakleigh which played in the VFA from 1929 until 1994. Nicknamed The Devils, Oakleigh wore purple guernseys with a gold monogram thus giving them their original nickname The Purple and Golds.

Contents

[edit] History

1950 premiership side
1950 premiership side

The club was formed in 1891 and after having success in the Melbourne Districts Association League they were one of two teams admitted into the VFA in 1929, the other being Sandringham. With future Carlton coach Frank Maher in charge they won a premiership in just their second season with a 9 point win over Northcote. The two sides met in the Grand Final the following year and Oakleigh again got the better of them, downing Northcote by 7 points in a spiteful game.

It would be the last time the club saw finals football until 1949 when they made it all the way to the Grand Final before losing to Williamstown. They earned the minor premiership the following season and outplayed Port Melbourne to win their third premiership. In 1952 the teams met again in the Grand Final and Oakleigh won comfortably.

Another drought ensued and Oakleigh didn't make the finals again until 1959. They won their 5th premiership in 1960 despite not being able to play at their home ground which was having resurfacing work.

In 1966 Oakleigh were demoted to the second division by finishing bottom of the first division but won the second division premiership at their first attempt in 1967 and returned to the top flight for 1968. In the following decade they made consecutive Grand Final appearances in 1972, 1973 and 1974. The 1972 grand final saw them defeat Dandenong in a high scoring match, 167 to 123. In 1976 they were relegated again and remained in the second division, losing a number of grand finals along the way, until 1988 when they finally won the premiership. At the end of this season, the two division format was scrapped and all of the existing VFA clubs were merged into one competition for the following season.

Oakleigh struggled to make an impact after this and never managed to move far off the bottom of the ladder again. They decided to leave the VFA after the 1994 season, when the VFA was restructured, in order to create an Under-18 feeder club for another VFA team, local rivals Springvale.

[edit] VFA premierships

  • 1930
  • 1931
  • 1950
  • 1952
  • 1960
  • 1972

[edit] Notable players

[edit] External links

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Former Victorian Football Association clubs