| Home of Australian Fencing | |
|---|---|
| Country | Australia |
| Established | 1949 |
| Affiliation |
Fencing Victoria Australian Fencing Federation |
| Rating | |
| Location | Tigerland, Punt Road, Richmond |
| Pistes | 14 |
| Coaches |
Gerry Adams David Mok Elli Wellings |
| Olympians | 30 |
| Olympiads | 1956 • 1960 • 1964 • 1968 • 1972 • 1976 • 1980 • 1984 • 1988 • 1992 • 1996 • 2000 • 2004 • 2008 • |
| Commonwealth Games | V • VI • VII • VIII • IX |
| Commonwealth Fencing Championships | 1974 • 1978 • 1982 • 1986 • 1990 • 1994 • 1998 • 2002 • 2006 • 2010 • |
VRI Fencing Club located in Richmond, Victoria is an Australian fencing club distinguished as being one of few sports clubs in any sport to have produced athletes for every Olympiad since 1956.
The Club was founded a week after the International Olympic Committee awarded Melbourne the 15th Olympiad on 28 April 1949. Formed by employees of the Victorian Railways, VRI Fencing Club was funded, equipped and accommodated under the auspice of the Victorian Railways Institute, an organisation dedicated to providing self-learning, social and sport opportunities for railway employees. In addition to encouraging public participation in the sport of fencing, the club sought to train and develop competitive athletes in three weapons to represent Australia at the Melbourne 1956 Summer Olympics.
The club produced four athletes for the Melbourne Olympiad. Since 1956 it has produced 30 athletes for 14 consecutive Olympiads, including most recently, three athletes for the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics. VRI Fencing Club has produced 48 per cent of Australia’s total number of Olympic fencers.
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VRI Fencing Club operates seven days a week. It is accessible to beginners and social fencers, and provides frequent beginner classes. The club’s ongoing childrens and schools programs make an introduction to the sport an easy and fun social occasion for children. It caters for all levels of skill - beginners young and old (from Musketeers aged 7 to 13; to fencers in their fifties, sixties and seventies); social fencers and competitive fencers. Many junior and senior athletes compete nationally and internationally. The club attracts visiting fencers from around the world who travel to Melbourne to combine work or study with an opportunity to train with its athletes. Fencers from the USA, UK, Italy, France, India, China, Japan, New Zealand, Malaysia and Singapore are frequent visitors.
Three post-war Hungarian refugees employed by the Victorian Railways provided the impetus for forming the VRI Fencing Club. Maitre Andy Szakall, Sandor Szoke and Leslie Fadgyas had fenced in Hungary in the pre-war period and saw the 1956 Melbourne Olympics as an opportunity to compete for their new country. Andy Szakall became the club’s senior coach and remained active with the club until his death in 1988.
With a commitment to develop skills in all three weapons – epee, foil, sabre – VRI produced a number of elite level fencers of international quality, including former Olympians maitre John Fethers, Greg Benko, and Helen Smith. The club’s members have achieved more than 500 podium finishes in state, national and international tournaments and represented Australia at 14 consecutive Olympiads; making VRI Fencing Club the most consistent and highest performing club in Australian fencing history.
The club pioneered and wrote programs for ‘Swordplay’ a games, fun and fitness based training program for young children that use plastic weapons to introduce children to the sport of fencing. The club’s schools program and Musketeers class for children aged 7 to 13 attracts many children to the sport. VRI’s most prominent Musketeer, cadet and junior fencer is Chris Nagle who in 2010 became the first student at Harrow School since Sir Winston Churchill to win gold (in foil) at the British Public Schools Fencing Championship, the world’s largest annual fencing tournament. In 2011 he repeated the achievement and set a new record by becoming the first student to win gold in all three weapons - epee, foil and sabre. VRI provides adult education courses,[1] including theatrical fencing training for actors. The club’s most prominent actor-fencer being Geoffrey Rush prior to his appearance in Pirates of the Caribbean.
VRI Fencing Club operated for many years in the Victorian Railways Institute Grand Ballroom at Flinders Street Station, Melbourne. When the Institute folded in 1984 the club retained its VRI identity, became a community sports club and between 1985 and 2010 operated from three different venues in the inner-city suburb of Richmond. In 2009 the club was invited to become a tenant at Punt Road Oval, Yarra Park, East Melbourne.
On 10 October 2009, the club celebrated 60 years. The club’s members, living Olympians, VOC representatives and Government Ministers recognised the life achievement of 1952 Olympian Maitre John Fethers and 1976, 1980 and 1984 triple Olympian Helen Smith. Former club member and Victorian junior sabre champion the Hon. Bill Shorten MP, Federal Member for Maribyrnong; the Hon Richard Wynne MP, State Member for Richmond; and Steve Wright, CEO of the Richmond Football Club announced inclusion of VRI Fencing Club in the redevelopment of the Punt Road Oval.
Punt Road Oval or Tigerland, is the traditional home of the Richmond Tigers AFL Football Club. In 2008 the Richmond Football Club allocated $2.5M and received grants from the Victorian Government ($4.5M); City of Melbourne ($2.0M); Australian Football League ($1.5M) and the Australian Government ($9.75M) to fund a $20M redevelopment of the iconic home ground. VRI Fencing club was subsequently provided a home [2] within a new state of art sports facility, becoming the tenant of a modern purpose-built 14 piste indoor fencing training centre.[3]
In 2011 the VRI Fencing Club and its Tigerland training centre was named the Home of Australian Fencing. The name reflects the club’s status as the oldest, largest and most successful fencing club in Australia and its extraordinary record of producing Olympic athletes. The Australian Fencing Federation has recognised VRI Fencing Club as the nation’s High Performance Club of the Year every year since the award was introduced in 2002.[4]
Recognised internationally as a quality training provider in fencing, VRI Fencing Club is the convenor of the annual three-week intensive residential Ultimate Fencing Camp designed to meet the needs of emerging cadet and junior fencers. The camp is notable for providing a comprehensive program of lectures, training, cross-training (in pentathlon), coaching, preparation for international competition, biometric analysis and education in nutrition, fitness, sport psychology, physiotherapy and injury management. The UFC is attended by junior male and female fencers from across Australia, New Zealand, Asia and the Middle East. Former World Champion Sergei Golubitsky was the resident guest coach during the 2010 UFC.
In the 62 year history of the VRI Fencing Club, 30 members have competed for Australia in 14 consecutive Olympiads. The club has contributed 48 per cent of Australia’s Olympians in fencing and on two occasions (1976 and 2008) has provided Australia’s only Olympic competitors.
VRI Fencing Club provided a number of competitors to the 1954 and 1958 British Empire Games and the 1962, 1966 and 1970 British Commonwealth Games. VRI club members, led by Ivan Lund, (later made a member of the Australian Sports Hall of Fame), achieved a number of podium finishes.
Overall total of medals achieved by VRI Fencing Club members for individual and team events at the British Empire Games (1954–1958) and British Commonwealth Games (1962–1970), prior to the establishment of the Commonwealth Fencing Championships in 1974.
| Fencing | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| Australia | 3 | 15 | 11 | 29 |
| VRI FC | 2 | 8 | 5 | 15 |
VRI Fencing Club has provided competitors to every Commonwealth Fencing Championships since the club was established. The club has produced eight Australian gold medalists and contributed members to five Australian gold medal teams.
Overall total of medals achieved by VRI Fencing Club members for individual and team events at the Commonwealth Fencing Championships from 1974 to 2010.
| Fencing | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
| VRI FC | 5 | - | - | 5 |