ST KEVIN'S OLD BOYS
Current Affiliation: Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) since 1947
Home Ground: Righetti Oval, Kooyong
Formed: 1947
Colours: Navy blue, green and gold
Senior VAFA Premierships: B Section - 2004 (1 total); C Section - 1996 (1 total); D Section - 1952 (1 total)
Senior Competition Best and Fairest Awards: G.T. Moore Medal (B Section) - M.Dollman 1997 (1 total); L.S. Zachariah Medal (C Section) - C.Robson 1985; G.Mulcahy 1988; M.Dollman 1996 (3 total); L.S. Pepper Medal (D Section) - N.Guggenheimer 1948; J.Douglas 1959; M.Olive 1993 (3 total)
Most Games: 365 by Robert Hawkins
| MINI-BIOGRAPHIES: | Phonse Kyne |
St Kevin's Old Boys Football Club was admitted to the VAFA in 1947 when its senior team was placed in the third of the competition's four tiers, C Section. It did not remain long at that level, however, for after enduring a miserable debut season it was relegated to D Section, where it spent the next five years.
The 1952 season brought a kind of 'coming of age' for St Kevin's as, captain-coached by Dick O'Neil, the senior side procured its first premiership, thanks to a 10 point grand final win over Caulfield Grammarians, and with it promotion to C Grade. After showing initial promise by reaching the 1st semi final in 1954, however, the side struggled, and narrowly escaped relegation the following year before succumbing to it in 1956.
Apart from single season excursions to B Section in 1962 and E Section in 1976 St Kevin's spent the ensuing forty years alternating between what were by this time the VAFA's two intermediate grades, C and D.
With Jack Douglas, the man who in 1970 would become the club's first life member, as captain-coach, the side brought a sequence of undistinguished years to an emphatic end in 1960 by boarding an express train to B Grade, albeit by the somewhat disappointing route of consecutive grand final losses to St Kilda CBOC and State Savings Bank. As intimated above, however, this initial stay in B Section was only fleeting.
Achieving promotion by means of reaching a grand final, only to lose, brings a tainted pleasure, but it is one to which St Kevin's supporters of long standing have grown accustomed. On no fewer than half a dozen occasions between the club's first senior flag in 1952, and its second in 1996, promotion was attained in this manner. The 1996 season, however, finally yielded that long overdue second flag, thanks to a 12.15 (87) to 9.6 (60) C Section grand final defeat of St Kilda South Caulfield. As often seems to happen, the club derived momentum from this achievement, and the following year saw it procure a place in A Grade for the first ever time via the almost inevitable losing grand final against Old Brighton Grammarians.
The Brighton boys may have had greater cause than St Kevin's to celebrate in 1996, but before long they were back in B Section, while their vanquished grand final opponents enjoyed a prolonged sojourn among the VAFA's elite company, capped by a grand final appearance against Marcellin Old Collegians in 2001. Sadly for St Kevin's, this proved to be one of those games were virtually nothing went right, and a final score of 9.19 (73) to Marcellin's 16.7 (103) tells its own tale. Nevertheless, 2nd position in A Grade was a thoroughly commendable achievement, and remains the club's highest placed finish.
Since 2001 St Kevin's has won its third senior flag, in B Section in 2004, following its relegation the previous year. This was thanks to a 16.8 (104) to 12.7 (79) grand final victory over Collegians. Unfortunately, however, on this occasion the club's players and supporters were only granted the briefest of whiffs of the heady atmosphere of A Section, as relegation back to B Grade followed immediately. Things might indeed have been even worse, for it took a last round win over Mazenod in 2006 to secure the side's B Section status for another year. Departing coach Dave Murray, who had endured something of an emotional roller-coaster ride during his three seasons in charge, had nevertheless, by common consent, been heavily instrumental in helping bring about much needed changes to the club's culture. His successor as coach, Mick Duggan, was able to capitalise on this to some extent in 2007 by steering his charges to a commendable 4th place on the B Grade ladder, and the club will doubtless be hungry for further improvement as it embarks on its seventh decade as a VAFA member.
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