Grovedale Football Club

Grovedale Tigers Football Netball Club plays in the Geelong Football League in Victoria, Australia. They play their home games at Burdoo Reserve.

Club history

They were originally named Germantown, but following anti-German sentiment the club and location was changed to Grovedale after a local homestead. In 1920 Grovedale formed a football side. They put them self in the Freshwater Creek DFA which in these days does not run any more. In 1923 they made the "Grand Final" against Belmont now known as Sth Barwon, they lost the game by 16 pts. Two years later in 1925, they made another Grand Final, in which they played Barrabool, but again they lost the game.

Merger

In 1956 they entered into the Geelong & DFL, a division that was called the Jarman Cup, and they merged with Marshall to form Marshall-Grovedale. In 1963 they made the Jarman Cup where they played against Leopold, they won by 27 pts. The following year thet were promoted to the Woolworth Cup division. In 1970 they changed their name back to Grovedale Football Club.

1970s

In 1973 they had to make two divisions because there were so many teams, so the club went into Division 2. Between 1973 & 1976 Grovedale made it to every Grand Final where they played Modewarre. In '73 they lost by 19pts, in '74 they lost again, this time by 25pts. In 1975 they won by 5pts. The following season Modewarre beat them by 21 pts.

Geelong Football League

In 1978 they were promoted to Division 1 but they didn't win many games that year. The following year the Geelong Football League was formed. But the Following 36 years seldom made the finals.

Famous players

They had always had great junior players coming up through the ranks, but somehow they just seem to leave and play at other clubs (notably Modewarre Football Club in recent years). Over the years, Grovedale has had numerous players who played at AFL level who started their careers at the club.

Grovedale has had David (The Mountain) Mensch, Michael Schulze and Matthew Primus all playing for the team. Even in 2004 Tim McGrath came down for a playing-coach role, and he brought a couple of good players, but not enough in this league.

List of VFL / AFL listed players

• David Bolton
• Kent Butcher
• Adam Donohue
• Daniel Fletcher
• Simon Fletcher
• David Mensch
• Matthew Primus
• Michael Schulze
• Shane Crothers
• Craig Evans

Book

Cat Country - History of Football In The Geelong Region - John Stoward - ISBN 978-0-9577515-8-3

References