SHEPPARTON UNITED (City United)
Current Affiliation: Goulburn Valley Football League (GVFL) since 1950
Formed: Late 1940s, as City United, through a merger between the Shepparton Preserving Company and Shepparton East Football Clubs
Club Address: P.O. Box 675, Shepparton 3632, Victoria
Colours: Navy blue and red
Emblem: Demons
Senior GVFL Premierships: 1954-5-6, 1962, 1967, 1974, 1980, 1987-8-9 (10 total)
| MINI-BIOGRAPHIES: | John Brady Bruce Ferrari Shaun Hart 'Jock' Spencer |
The City United Football Club was formed via a merger between Shepparton Preserving Company and East Shepparton. The club competed in the Central Goulburn Valley Football League for a brief time and in 1950 was admitted to the premier football body in the region, the Goulburn Valley Football League.
Playing in the same navy blue and red uniforms as VFL side Melbourne, and boasting the nickname of the Demons, City United wasted no time in establishing itself as a power to be reckoned with. The senior side reached a grand final in its debut season, losing by 21 points against Kyabram, while the reserves went one better and won a flag at the first time of asking. For the seniors, further losing grand finals followed in 1952 and 1953 before the side embarked on a glittering sequence of three successive premierships under the inspirational and resourceful guidance of captain-coach Kevin Kenna. The 1955 grand final was won easily against Mooroopna, but In both 1954 against Tatura and 1956 against Mooroopna the side had to fight tooth and nail in order to snatch victory by 3 and 2 points respectively. They were the sort of matches, and the kind of achievements, which form the building blocks of club tradition, but few clubs are fortunate enough to make such rapid headway so soon.
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Chris Kennedy, winner of the club's best and fairest award in 1995, 1997, and 2001-2-3. (Click to enlarge.) |
Kevin Kenna spent nine seasons as coach of the senior side, all bar the last in a playing capacity. Although the team struggled somewhat towards the end of his tenure there can be no doubt that he was heavily instrumental in establishing the standards of excellence that became, and remain, the club's trademark. In 1961 Kenna was succeeded as coach by John Brady, a former player with arch rivals Shepparton who had gone on to enjoy a highly illustrious VFL career with North Melbourne. Brady was coaxed to United at least in part by former North team mate 'Jock' Spencer, who was himself already a player with the club, and who would go on to twice top the GVFL's goal kicking list. A flamboyant character and a spectacular footballer, Brady spent three seasons with the Demons, masterminding the club's fourth senior flag in 1962 courtesy of a resounding 13.14 (92) to 3.8 (26) grand final defeat of Mooroopna. In 1965 the club adopted its present name of Shepparton United which two years later was inscribed on the GVFL's roll of honour for the first time following an impressive and highly satisfying grand final win over Shepparton. With just eighteen seasons of Goulburn Valley League football behind them, United had already contested eight senior grand finals for five wins; only Shepparton, a much older and longer established club, had a better record over the same period. After such an auspicious beginning it was perhaps inevitable that the club would experience something of a hiatus, and this was arguably the case during the 1970s. That said, United did manage another senior flag in 1974, and contested the finals as often as they missed out - records that several other clubs would have been happy to emulate. |
The 1980s proved to be perhaps the most eventful decade in the club's history, with serious financial problems being sandwiched between two further periods of premiership success. The decade got underway in the best way imaginable as United procured a seventh senior flag thanks to a 17.18 (120) to 12.15 (87) grand final defeat of Shepparton, with long serving full back and future captain and coach Richard Warburton best afield. The club made history that year as both the reserves and Thirds also went top - the first time that a single club had provided the premiers in all three GVFL grades in the same season.
Not long afterwards the Demons found themselves in the throes of a major financial crisis that might easily have brought the club to its knees. However, the club's administration displayed the same qualities of discipline and resolve that it had become customary to expect of its players, and within a comparatively short time the difficulties were resolved.
In 1984, John Williams became United's first Morrison Medallist, a success which was the prelude to the greatest era in the club's history as the senior side managed to contest the last six grand finals of the decade. The first three of these were lost, but in 1987 against Echuca, 1988 versus Shepparton, and 1989 against Rochester the Demons were successful. All three grand finals were similar in that United were strongly challenged for three quarters, only to pull away impressively in the last. One of the side's best players in the 1989 grand final win over Rochester was Shaun Hart, who left the club shortly afterwards to embark on a noteworthy AFL career with Brisbane.
Hart was by no means the only United footballer to achieve success at the game's highest level. Over the years, others have included Bruce Ferrari (Geelong), Des Campbell (Melbourne), Jason Traianidis (St Kilda), Adam Yze (Melbourne), and Justin Davies (Carlton), as well as current Fremantle coach Chris Connolly, who during the 1980s played 84 senior games for Melbourne.
The 1990s proved to be the first decade in the Demons' history of involvement in the GVFL that no senior premierships were achieved, although the side did reach grand finals in 1999 and 2000 under Richard Warburton. During the very early part of the twenty-first century United were scarcely better than a middle-of-the-road side, but after a 2006 season that produced finals qualification and an eventual 4th place there were realistic hopes of the imminent arrival of premiership number eleven. In December 2006 these hopes were enhanced when it was revealed that Justin Davies, who had commenced his football with the Demons before embarking on a 41 game AFL career with Carlton, would be returning home in 2007. United's senior coach Brad Hazelman was clearly excited by the opportunities that having a player of Davies's calibre at the club would give rise to, declaring "it's fantastic for a local bloke to come back to his old club, plus we're rapt to be able to secure a player of his ability and experience. He's still got a lot of mates here, he's going to fit in very well and I think the young guys and probably the older ones too will all be able to learn off him after six years on an AFL list" (see footnote 1).
The Demons' home and away form in 2007 was superb, with their tally of 15 wins from 18 matches securing pole position heading into the finals. However, their performances in those finals were immensely disappointing, suggesting that much hard work still needs to be done if the team is to take the last, most testing step of all.
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Footnotes
1. Quoted on the official VCFL website at http://vcfl.com.au/ on 7 December 2006. Return to Main Text