Beaconsfield Football Club
| Beaconsfield FC | ||
|---|---|---|
| Names | ||
| Full name | Beaconsfield Football Club | |
| Nickname(s) | 'Eagles, Beacy | |
| Club details | ||
| Founded | 1890 | |
| Colours | Navy, Gold, White | |
| Competition | South East FL | |
| Premierships | 8 (DDFA once, SWGFL 3 times, WGFL twice, MPNFL twice) | |
| Ground(s) | Holm Park Reserve | |
| Uniforms | ||
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| Other information | ||
| Official website | ||
The Beaconsfield Football Club is an Australian rules football club located in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria. The club is a member of the South East Football Netball League and are based at Holm Park Reserve in Beaconsfield, Victoria. The club recently hosted an Australian Football League pre-season game between Hawthorn Football Club and Richmond Football Club , helping both the club and ground gain publicity.
History
On the 21 April 1890, at a public meeting held at Gissing’s Gippsland Hotel, Beaconsfield (now the Central Hotel), it was agreed to form a football club. A team representing the Town of Beaconsfield played a number of matches that year, the first against Cranbourne on the week ending 20 June 1890. This was held at the Beaconsfield ground, which was located in the centre of the racetrack adjacent to the Gippsland Hotel on the Princes Hwy. (Information courtesy of the Mornington Herald of that year; recently discovered information courtesy of the Dandenong Advertiser has confirmed this as the date when the event was reported on) . Cranbourne won that initial match 3.9 to 1.6 and the Beaconsfield team for that game was captained by Mr W Keating. The initial club secretary was Mr Mangen and the president Mr L.L.Smith M.P. In this initial game the team is referred to as the Yellow and Black men and the newspaper reports on the female supporters wearing these colours to support their team. A well known district name in the original Beaconsfield team was an Adamson and many of that family were represented in the football team during the first 70 years of the club’s history.
Beaconsfield then went onto play Berwick and Pakenham, and had return matches against these three clubs during 1890. The club did not win any of these “friendly” matches during this initial season. Details are very sketchy after this, but photos of Beaconsfield teams of 1909, 1926 & 1931 indicate that the club was competing during these early years. The 1909 team photo shows a number of the players wearing jumpers with a star in the centre and the team photo has the heading Beaconsfield Stars. A picture of young Beaconsfield footballers from the same era also shows them with jumpers with the star on them. In the Thirties the club played in the District competition against clubs as far flung as Pakenham, Gembrook, Clayton, Ferntree Gully and Belgrave. At this time the club's home ground was located just east of the Central Hotel with the racecourse bordering it.
After a recess during the war years, the club reformed in 1947 as Officer-Beaconsfield, competing in the Dandenong & District Football Association, In 1948 it reverted to the Beaconsfield Football Club and achieved its first premiership in 1953 when it defeated Keysborough in the B grade Grand Final under captain-coach Mick Mears.In 1954 Beaconsfield was a foundation member of the South West Gippsland Football League, along with Rythdale-Cardinia, Cranbourne, Berwick, Tooradin-Dalmore, Narre-Hallam and Officer. It is interesting to note that in the initial year, the season only lasted from May1st to the Grand Final on September 4th and a membership ticket at Beaconsfield was 10s (ten shillings).
Beaconsfield did not enjoy too much success in the 50's and 60's but the 70's saw them build up as a power. Premierships were achieved in 1974, 1980 and 1981(all under legendary coach Jim Read, a member of St Kilda's only premiership). The club competed in 12 senior final series over a 20 year period. Life member Brian Southorn was a member of these three premierships, continuing the family tradition established by his father Dick Southorn, in the 1953 side.
In 1993 the club moved to the country atmosphere of the West Gippsland Football League and incorporated their U/15 & U/17 teams along with the revived Netball club into a busy Family Saturday. The club enjoyed immediate success at Reserves and junior team level but it had to wait until 1999 for their initial senior premiership in West Gippsland under coach, Russell Rowe, It was followed up with another Senior premiership in 2001 when coached by Leigh Clifford. The club also won five Reserves, three U/17's & three U/15 premierships during this eight year period in the West Gippsland League.
A major VCFL restructure saw Beaconsfield join the Mornington Peninsula Nepean League in 2002 and senior premierships were achieved in 2003/2004 under Leigh Clifford, as part of the Peninsula division. The club is now part of the Casey Cardinia Division which closely resembles the area and clubs covered under the former South West Gippsland League, and won its first premiership in that division with the U/18's team in 2006.
The senior team returned to the finals after a 4 year absence in 2010 under coach Austinn Jones who returned to Beaconsfield after a stellar AFL career, and a successful stint coaching Narre Warren & Gippsland Power. The club celebrated their 120th anniversary year in style with the Seniors, Reserves & U/18’s all making the grand final. The U/18’s were the only winners on the day, capping off an unbeaten season.