ELSTERNWICK
Current Affiliation: Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) since 1914
Home Ground: Oval no. 2, Elsternwick Park
Formed: 1906
Colours: Black and red
Senior VAFA Premierships: A Section - 1920, 1925 (2 total); B Section - 1939 (1 total); D Section - 1951 (1 total); D4 Grade - 2005 (1 total); F Grade - 1991 (1 total)
Senior Competition Best and Fairest Awards: L.S. Pepper Medal (D Section) - K.Holmes 1978; J. Fullerton Medal (E Section) - D.Sellers 1960; A.Ramsay 1973; G.Rosewarne 1982; L.Murphy 1986-7-8 (4 Medallists/6 Medals); O.J. Meehan Medal (D4 Section) - C.Mahony 2004 (1 total)
Most Games: P.Mahoney 407
| MINI-BIOGRAPHIES: | Les Gallagher Mel Morris Don Williams |
Formed in 1906, Elsternwick competed for a time, without success, in the Federal Football League, before crossing to the Metropolitan Amateur Football Association, precursor of today's VAFA, in 1914. The club's endorsement of the MAFA's ideals had, in fact, been publicly affirmed two years earlier, when it had added the word 'amateur' to its official name.
Elsternwick Amateur Football Club is the VAFA's longest standing district member club, and indeed, of all current clubs, only Collegians and Old Scotch Collegians have been involved for longer. It enjoyed a heyday in the decade or so following World War One, when it was twice successful in A Grade. Indeed, in the dozen seasons between 1920 and 1931 the senior side finished 1st twice, second three times, 3rd three times, and fourth once. Only in 1921, 1923 and 1929 did it finish outside the top four, but not since 1933 has Elsternwick finished as high as 4th place in A Section, a level at which it last competed in 1947.
Elsternwick's 1920 flag was particularly noteworthy in that the side lost only 1 match all year. However, the Association was in such dire straits financially that it was not until its president, Lawrence Adamson, dipped into his own pockets that sufficient funds were available to purchase the premiership pennant.
Elsternwick's power during the 1920s was exemplified in other ways. For one thing, it had a substantial supporter base, which quickly earned the ire of certain opposition teams - most notably those with Old Boy affiliations - because of what was perceived as "unseemly behaviour" (see footnote 1).
Between 1923 and 1926 Elsternwick had so many players available that, unusually for the time, it was able to field two separate senior teams every Saturday. It was the firsts who captured the attention, however, tanks to the consistent brilliance of players like centreman 'Tuds' Heard, and the Morris brothers, Mel, who went on to enjoy a sparkling VFL career with Richmond, and Les, who remained a key player for Elsternwick well into the 1930s.
In 1923, VFL club St Kilda offered Elsternwick a delegate's position on its own committee, presumably with the intention of forging some kind of partnership arrangement between the two clubs. Reminded by Adamson of the fate of clubs like Collingwood Districts, Carlton Districts, Fitzroy Juniors and Leopold, all of which had embarked, dewy-eyed, on 'special relationships' with VFL clubs only to end up being consumed by them (see footnote 2), Elsternwick declined.
The club's comparative decline as an on-field force since World War Two came about as more and more migrants settled in Melbourne's inner city suburbs. For many of these migrants, soccer was the preferred sport, and it is hard to imagine this not having an inimical effect on a club like Elsternwick, which recruited most of its players locally. Since the 1960s, Elsternwick's seniors have spent most of their time in the VAFA's middle grades, although they also endured a couple of stints in F Section. Even greater ignominy was experienced in July 1980 when it was discovered that the club had fielded a player under an assumed identity. As a result, the club's secretary was suspended for five years, its coach had his permit revoked, and the club was suspended for the remainder of the season.
Elsternwick's most recent premiership came in D4 Grade in 2005, thanks to a 15 point grand final win over St Mary's. In 2006 the side almost made it two promotions in succession, beating West Brunswick convincingly in the 1st semi final, but finding South Melbourne Districts too tough a nut to crack in the following week's preliminary final. In 2007, under the coaching of Dennis Grace, Elsternwick experienced something of a decline in fortunes to finish 5th with a 9-8-1 record.
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Footnotes
1. See For The Love Of The Game: The History Of The Victorian Amateur Football Association 1892-1992 by Joseph Johnson, pp. 58-9. A particular source of dismay and disgruntlement to the Old Boys fraternity was the Elsternwick supporters' habit of bringing bottles of beer with them to matches. Return to Main Text
2. The four clubs in question all joined the VFL's newly formed junior competition in 1919. Collingwood Districts, in fact, won the first two premierships, although the fact that most records these days simply list the winner as 'Collingwood' gives a strong clue as to what happened: within a few years, all four once autonomous clubs had been swallowed up by their ostensible partners - Carlton Districts by Carlton, Collingwood Districts by Collingwood, Fitzroy Juniors by Fitzroy, and Leopold by South Melbourne. Within a couple of years all pretence at autonomy evaporated when the two University teams, A and B, withdrew, meaning that all nine remaining sides could be said to boast some form of affiliation with a VFL club. The VFL junior competition became, in effect, a VFL reserves competition - something that the AFL, with its penchant for configuring the past to suit its present agenda and outlook, regards as having been the case all along. Return to Main Text