Caulfield Football Club
 | |
| Names | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Caulfield Football Club |
| Nickname(s) | Bears |
| Club details | |
| Founded | 1965 |
| Colours | Blue and White Red |
| Competition | Southern Football League (Victoria) 1993- |
| Ground(s) | Koornang Park, Carnegie |
| Other information | |
| Official website | http://www.caulfieldbears.com/ |
Caulfield Football Club is an Australian rules football club which played in the VFA from 1965 until 1987, and in the Southern Football League from 1993 to present day. Nicknamed The Bears, they were initially based in the Melbourne suburb of Caulfield and wore a blue and white guernsey but now call Koornang Park in Carnegie home.
They also have a Junior club that competes in South Metro Junior Football League.
History (1965-1987)
The suburb first had a team in the VFA during 1962 season after Brighton had relocated there. Brighton merged with local club South Caulfield and they played in the VFA as Brighton-Caulfield. The club dropped Brighton from their name in 1965 on the request of the local council and Caulfield Football Club was formed. They replaced their maroon and gold team colors with blue and white hoops and replaced Brighton's Penguin emblem with a Bear.
Caulfield initially played in the second division and failed to make the finals during the rest of the 1960s. In 1971 they managed to lure former Richmond premiership player Tony Jewell to coach the club. They also recruited his teammates Paddy Guinane and Neville Crowe to the playing group. With VFL players in the team they had immediate success, topping the second division ladder and dropping just three games in the home and away season. Caulfield however lost their preliminary final and thus missed out on playing in the grand final. They went one better the following season and made it to the decider which they lost to Geelong West in the last minute; the Geelong club had been unbeaten all season, but Caulfield put up a fight, leading by 12 points at 3 quarter time.
In 1973 they got their first and only premiership, defeating Brunswick 18.20 (128) to 14.22 (106) in the grand final. Their full forward John Logan kicked six goals. This victory earned them promotion to the 1st division and they remained there until 1982. In their first season back in the 2nd division they made the grand final, losing to Northcote by 5 points. Caulfield played their last season in 1987 before financial problems forced them out of the league.
In 1988 the club merged with local club Ashburton to form Caulfield/Ashburton, and won the premiership in the South East Suburban FL first division, but the club then folded for good just prior to the 1989 season.
History (1993 onwards)
The Caulfield Football Club was reformed in 1993 after the merging of two clubs, St. Kevins Ormond F.C. and St. Andrews Gardenvale F.C. Both clubs had competed in the Eastern Suburban Churches Football Association and their coming together coincided with the merger of the ESCFA with the Southern Football League, which changed its name from the South East Suburban FL the previous year.
St. Kevins Ormond F.C., the dominant club, was originally formed in 1946, and competed in the C.Y.M.S. competition, winning premierships in 1948, 1952, and 1963, and then transferring to the Y.C.W. competition in 1967 and having premiership teams in 1968 and 1974. The club, church based, was one of the very few strong clubs south of the Yarra River in the seventies and eventually due to constant travelling into the northern suburbs, the club decided to move to the E.S.C.F.A. for the commencement of the 1976 football season. The players were a lot happier as there was less travel and the competition was larger and more fierce.
The club started in C grade and whilst unsuccessful in winning premierships, they were runners-up in 1983 (C Grade lost to Mazenod), 1986 (B Grade lost to Box Hill Pioneers), and 1989 (A Grade lost to Donvale). With the demise of the original Caulfield F.C. in the mid eighties, many of the players and officials became associated with St. Kevins, which became very strong in the late eighties.
In the early nineties, with the imminent league merger and the waning of St Kevins as a football power, the club decided to look to St. Andrews for a merger so as to gain access to the main oval at Princes Park and to strengthen its player base.
St Andrews had been formed in 1943 and had played in the E.S.C.F.A. the whole time. Whilst there had been moderate success, the Club had never won a premiership and by 1992 it was struggling to survive as a club. They had played all their football at Princes Park, mainly where the soccer currently resides.
The Club moved to the main oval in the late eighties and it was this tenancy which assisted with the merger at the end of 1992. St Kevins however had originally played at McKinnon Oval, moving to the E.E. Gunn Reserve in the mid fifties. In 1965 the Club moved to Bailey Reserve and finally to Koornang Park in 1980.
In 1996, the merged Club successfully moved to Princes Park; the new Club found immediate success by winning a reserves premiership in 1993 and winning both seniors and reserves premierships in 1994 in the first division.
Since that time, ultimate success has eluded the club and it now competes in the second division in the Southern Football League. Its association with the junior club which caused the move to Koornang Park in 1980 has been successful and many current senior players have come from their ranks. In 2010 the club returned to Koornang Park to reunite with the juniors. With a full complement of junior teams, the club looks forward to gaining full strength and establishing itself as a permanent football club in the Glen Eira municipality in the twenty first century.
VFA Premierships
- 1973 (2nd division)
Notable players
- Neville Crowe (Richmond)
- Paddy Guinane (Richmond)
- Tony Jewell (Richmond)
- Darren Kappler (Fitzroy/Hawthorn/Sydney)
External links
| |||||||||||