COBURG
Affiliated: VFA 1925-1995; VFL 1996-present
Club Address: P.O. Box 154, Coburg 3058, Victoria
Home Ground: Coburg Oval, Laurel Street, Coburg
Formed: 1891
Colours: Navy blue and red
Emblem: Tigers (formerly Lions)
Premierships: VFA/1st division - 1926-27-28, 1979, 1988-89 (6 total); 2nd division - 1970, 1974 (2 total)
Recorder Cup Winners: E.'Snowy' Martin 1927; H.G.Reville 1936 (2 total)
J.J.Liston Trophy winners: J.Sullivan 1967; G.Sheldon 1988; E.Poyas 2001 (3 total)
J.Field Trophy Winner: J.Sullivan 1969 (1 total)
Coburg's Official 'Team of the Century': Click here
Highest Score (against current VFL clubs only): 37.19 (239) vs. Frankston on 28 April 1974
Most Games: 219 by David Starbuck 1945-56
Record Home Attendance: 15,000 approximately on 26 August 1973: Preston 27.9 (171); Coburg 22.22 (154)
Record Finals Attendance: 36,289 for 1941 grand final at MCG: Port Melbourne 15.18 (108); Coburg 11.23 (89)
Few clubs have taken their bows in a competition as auspiciously as did Coburg in the VFA. Admitted to the competition in 1925 from the VFL's seconds competition, just as Footscray, Hawthorn and North Melbourne were moving in the opposite direction (albeit to the VFL seniors), the side reached the finals in its very first season and followed this up with a highly meritorious sequence of three premierships in succession from 1926 to 1928.
The 1926 grand final took place at the Motordrome and pitted minor premiers Coburg against Brighton. After a closely fought first half from which the seasiders emerged a single point to the good Coburg gradually took control, adding 6 goals to 3 in the second half to run out comfortable victors by 16 points, 12.9 (81) to 9.11 (65). The premiers were best served by wingman 'Snowy' Martin, centre half forward Harry Kerley, centreman Colin Martyn and ruckman Paddy Gardiner.
Coburg won all 18 home and away matches in 1927 to top the ladder but then surprisingly succumbed to Port Melbourne in the semi final after a replay. However, under the finals system in operation at the time they were entitled as minor premier to challenge the winner of the final between Brighton and Port Melbourne for the flag. Much perhaps to Coburg's secret relief this proved to be Brighton, and, in front of an estimated crowd of 20,000, Coburg duly won a high scoring challenge final by 34 points, 19.10 (126) to 13.12 (90), after leading at every change. The victory came in spite of the absence through injury of two of Coburg's better players, rover Clarrie Mears and centre half back Norman Ford. However, their loss was more than counterbalanced in the 2nd quarter when Brighton lost Chris Irwin with a broken ankle and, with no replacements allowed, had to play out the remainder of the game a man short. Coburg full forward Paddy Gardiner became the first player to kick 10 goals in a VFA grand final and he was joined on the best player list by centre half forward and skipper Harry Kerley, centreman Colin Martyn, and key defenders Fred Chapman and Aub Charleston.
Coburg made it three flags in a row in 1928 but victory had to be earned the hard way after final opponents Port Melbourne went into the long break with a 20 point advantage. In a stunning turn around Coburg then added 8.5 to 2.2 in the 3rd term to effectively clinch the match. Ruckmen Jim Jenkins and Frank Walsh, rover Clarrie Mears, full back Fred Chapman and back pocket Jim McGrath were the mainstays of Coburg's eventual 7 point triumph which was watched by a crowd of roughly 11,000 spectators at Brunswick Oval.
Some Coburg Players of the 1930s |
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| W.Leahy, centreman | A.Duncan, centre half back | J.Jenkins, follower | G.Stockdale, utility player | |||
The 1929 season brought a new experience Coburg's way as the side missed the finals for the first time, a failure which was repeated in both 1930 and 1931. The period between 1932 and 1934 was dominated by Northcote but Coburg proved to be the Brickfielders' biggest rivals, finishing runners-up on all three occasions. In 1932 and 1934 Northcote's pre-eminence was emphatic but in 1933 - the first year of the Page-McIntyre finals system in the VFA - Coburg entered the grand final as favourites after inflicting a 2 point defeat on their nemesis in the 2nd semi final. For three quarters of the grand final there was nothing to choose between the sides, with Coburg actually 3 points ahead at the last change. However, Northcote then steadied to run out comfortable 16 point victors.
Coburg's next grand final appearance did not come until 1941, after which the VFA suspended competition until after World War Two. A crowd of 36,289 turned up at the MCG for the match which saw Port Melbourne, which had not defeated Coburg since 1929, triumph by 19 points.
Coburg did not enjoy any immediate post war success, and indeed it was not until 1959 that the side again qualified for the 'big one'. It was another day of frustration, however, as a three quarter time lead of 9.9 (63) to 6.14 (50) was squandered enabling opponents Williamstown to emerge with a comfortable 35 point victory.
Eleven years later Coburg finally broke through for a flag but unfortunately for the Lions it was only in division two. However, a premiership is still a premiership, regardless of the level, and the fact that Coburg's victory was achieved at the expense of hot pre-match favourites Box Hill enhanced the pleasure. Sadly, the side did not last long in 1st division, although relegation, when it came in 1973, was with the unusually high tally of 24 points for the season. Victory by 56 points over Brunswick in the following year's 2nd division grand final "emphasised the point that they were a first division team playing in the lesser grade". [see footnote 1]
This time 'round Coburg proved highly competitive, reaching the 1st semi final in 1975 and the preliminary final two years later. Then in 1979 came the moment the club's supporters had waited for for over half a century: victory in the VFA's most prestigious match of the season, the 1st division grand final.
A crowd of 17,947 turned up at Toorak Park and were treated to a thriller. Kicking with the aid of a strong breeze in the opening term Coburg managed only 1.6 to Geelong West's 5.8 and observers could have been forgiven for thinking the match as good as over. However, the Lions then put in a desperate 2nd quarter performance to narrow the gap at the main break to just 19 points before making full use of their 3rd term wind advantage to go into the last change with a 14 point lead. Geelong West hit back with predictable vigour in the opening minutes of the final quarter and as time on approached had eked out a 3 point advantage, only for Coburg to lift their game once again, dominating the closing stages completely to snatch victory by just 8 points. Final scores were Coburg 16.15 (111) to Geelong West 14.19 (103) with half forward flanker Terry Dohnt, who was moved into the centre early on in order to curb the influence of Roosters' danger man Tony Gilmore, ruckman Gary Milroy, full back Gary Pitt, and half forward flanker Robert Herbert, who was actually named on the interchange bench, best for the Lions.
Coburg continued to make regular division one finals appearances throughout the 1980s, finishing runners up to Port Melbourne in 1980, 3rd in 1982 and 1985, and 2nd again (to Williamstown) in 1986. The Lions then brought the decade to a satisfactory conclusion with back to back premierships. Coburg squared the ledger against Williamstown in the 1988 grand final with a 16.18 (114) to 12.15 (87) victory before clinching the 'series' a year later in the first season of the VFA's reversion to a single division format. Coburg won by 3 goals, 10.13 (73) to 7.13 (55), and although premiership glory has not been attained since the Lions have at least - unlike many of their former compatriots - remained in existence. Indeed, Coburg's record during sixty-eight seasons of involvement in the VFA was enormously creditable, with the club managing an overall success rate of 59.2%.
The late 1990s saw a number of seismic shifts in the landscape of Victorian football and Coburg could not help but be affected. In 1996 the Victorian Football Association metamorphosed into the Victorian Football League, extending its purview to embrace clubs from outside the Melbourne metropolitan zone, whilst simultaneously being denuded of status, impact and relevance. At the end of the 1999 season the AFL reserves competition was disbanded and its former member clubs all threw in their lots in various ways with the VFL. Some clubs - such as Essendon and Carlton - opted to field virtual reserve sides in the competition; others formed alliances of differing kinds with the VFL's resident members. Coburg elected to pursue a uniquely different line, announcing that they would be 'merging' with the resurrected remnants of former AFL club, Fitzroy. The 'Coburg-Fitzroy' combination lasted just one season, however. In 2001 the Lions entered into a more 'conventional' (and financially more lucrative) arrangement with extant AFL side Richmond whereby the Tigers' reserves and supplementary list players would be eligible for selection by Coburg. As for Fitzroy - which theoretically continues to exist as part of the Brisbane Lions consortium in any case - no acknowledgement of its demise was made.
Coburg's future then, while by no means secure (what club's is?), at least looks potentially viable. Whether it will be seen as truly contiguous with its past is another matter.
Since entering into the alignment arrangement with Richmond the closest Coburg has come to achieving premiership success was a losing grand final appearance against Geelong in 2007.
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Footnotes
1. Marc Fiddian, The Roar of the Crowd, page 112. Return to Main Text