Melbourne University Football Club

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Melbourne University Football Club – often known simply as "University" – is an Australian rules football club.

The club achieved prominence by being part of the game's most elite competition in the early 20th century, the Victorian Football League (the forerunner of the Australian Football League).

The club is the fourth - oldest club in any code of football in Australia behind Melbourne, Castlemaine and Geelong Football Clubs.

[edit] Early history

University was founded in 1859 by students and graduates of the University of Melbourne. The first report of the university participating in a match was against St Kilda in June 1859. According to ‘Gymnastic’, writing in the sporting newspaper Bell’s Life in Victoria, the ‘long pending match’ finally came off between two teams of 15. University was captained by a player called Phillips and St Kilda emerged the winners, under the method where the first team to score two out of three goals was victorious.

That same year it played against teams from Albert Park, Carlton, Melbourne, Royal Park and South Yarra. In 1861, University defeated Melbourne to win the first ever trophy for Australian football, instituted as part of the Calendonian Society's Games.

During the 1870s, the club played in the Second Twenties competition, one level lower than the main competition, the South Yarra Challenge Cup. From 1885 to 1888, University played in the VFA which at the time was the sport's major governing body. Following these years, the club was variously dormant or played in other competitions including the Metropolitan Junior Football Association, the Colleges Football Association and from 1905 to 1907 was a dominant member of the Metropolitan Football Association.

[edit] VFL stint

Gerald Brosnan, 1911-12 coach of University, pictured here during his Fitzroy playing days

Albert Hartkopf, footaller in the University VFL team 1908-11 & 1914. The club's leading goalkicker, 1909 (17), 1910 (30) & 1911 (19). Hartkopf was also a fine cricketer palying for Victoria from 1911 to 1928, as well as representing Australia in one test.

On October 4, 1907 the eight founding clubs of the VFL voted unanimously to include University in the league as its ninth team. Richmond Football Club became the 10th team two weeks later. The club's home ground was originally the East Melbourne Cricket Ground, where it was a tenant of the Essendon Football Club. Later the club relocated to the Melbourne Cricket Ground which it also shared, this time with the Melbourne Football Club.

The club was nicknamed The Students and The Professors and The Shop. The players wore a black guernsey with a blue "V" and blue collars and cuffs (the same design is still used to this day), black and blue socks and an optional black and blue cap. Players had to have matriculated or hold a higher degree to be eligible to play in the team. It is unique among VFL/AFL clubs in never having any professional (paid) players.

The club was not particularly successful: it never finished higher than sixth in the 10 team competition, and never played in a finals series. It finished last in the competition from 1911 to 1914, losing its last 51 games in a row. In total, it lost 97 of its 126 games between the 1908 and 1914 seasons.

When World War I broke out, many young men enlisted to fight, leaving the club with far too few players. It withdrew from the League before the beginning of the 1915 season, and disbanded. There was no hope of re-forming it after the War as it suffered the highest rate of casualties of the league.

[edit] VFL Honour roll

[edit] University VFL Players

THE CLUBS. The Complete History of Every Club in the VFL/AFL by Garrie Hutchinson, John Ross, et al ( Viking Press, 1998, Melbourne) states that University had 112 players during its seven year VFL stint. The list below covers the details of 109 of these team members and is compiled based on statistics in The Enclyclopedia of AFL Footballers by Russell Holmesby & Jim Main ( CrownContent, 2002, Melbourne):

[edit] Return to football

A Melbourne University Blacks player takes a mark in front of a Collegians opponent in a 2008 VAFA match

In the summer of 1919, after the War, Melbourne University began to rebuild its football involvement. Deciding not to reapply for a position in the VFL, they were instead requested by the VFL to supply two teams to the newly-formed VFL Reserves competition, or the Victorian Junior Football League. These two teams were initially called University A and B, but soon became known as "University Blues" and "University Blacks", respectively (the teams were only officially called the Blues and Blacks in 1930). The Blues contested the 1919 and 1920 VJFL Grand Finals, losing to Collingwood on both occasions; the Blacks moved to the Metropolitan Amateur Football Association in 1920, and the following season, were joined by the Blues. Both contested the 1921 MAFA Grand Final, with the Blacks winning what to date is the only grand final the two teams have contested in the MAFA or VAFA.

Melbourne University students and alumni continue to maintain their involvement in football through the Blues and Blacks. The Melbourne University Football Club is unique in that it only plays under this name in inter-university matches, and its regular weekly competition is provided through its component teams, University Blues and University Blacks. The Blues and Blacks play in the Victorian Amateur Football Association, and have been a perennial power in the highest division of a high-standard amateur competition.

Whilst the Blacks have won 13 A section flags and the Blues three (with their most recent being in 2004), in the years since the 1980s it has been the Blues that have maintained the club's presence in A Section. Throughout their history, the Blues and Blacks have often played together in A section of the MAFA/VAFA, although the last time this occurred was in 1982, as the Blacks have suffered from a prolonged absence from A section since, until they recently stormed back into A section in 2008. In head to head matches, the Blues lead the win tally with 41 wins to the Black's 36 and one draw.

Both teams have consistently been a spawning ground for young players who go on to the AFL. To date 239 MUFC players have played in the VFL/AFL competition.

From 1955 until 1996, an additional team was fielded by the club called "University Reds" which competed in the VAFA, with a firsts and reserves team and predominately in the lower sections (the Reds achieved the lofty heights of D Section in 1982, but otherwise played mainly in E or F Section). When the team was discontinued by the club, players and supporters of the team decided to keep the team operating and it continues to this day as Fitzroy Reds.

[edit] Affiliated Women's Club

Melbourne University women's team during their 2007 VWFL Grand Final appearance.

In 1996, a women's team was formed, but established under its own club structure rather than being part of the MUFC. Named the Melbourne University Mugars (Melbourne University Girls Aussie Rules Squad), the women's football club wears the same uniform and currently fields 3 senior teams and 2 under-age teams in the Victorian Women's Football League and AFL Victoria's Youth Girls competitions. The MUWFC has won 5 premierships since making it's first of ten VWFL grand finals in 2001. The club is Australia's largest women's football club, with 145 players participating in 2007 across the five teams.

[edit] See also

• Category:University Football Club players
• Adelaide University Football Club
• Sydney University Students AFC
• University of Queensland Australian Football Club

[edit] External links

• Complete University Player Records
• Victorian Amateur Football Association
• University Blues Home Page
• University Blacks Home Page
• Melbourne University Football Home Page
• Full Points Footy History of the University Football Club
• University Jumpers on Footyjumpers.com
• Melbourne University Women's Football Club

[edit] References

• Kevin Taylor, The Sydney Swans. Allen & Unwin, 1987.
• University Blues Team History
• Black & Blue, The Story of Football at the University of Melbourne