Abers - Football Club History

Aberfeldie Football Club first entered competitive teams in the Essendon District Football League in 1948. (Our cricketers pre-date the club history, having first entered a competition known as the Northern District Progress Cricket Association in 1928.)

Originally known as ‘The Gorillas’, the football team wore a navy blue guernsey with an ACC monogram in reference to the Aberfeldie Community Centre. The first team to represent the club was an Under 17 side which first took to the field in 1948, later winning the club’s inaugural first premiership in 1951. 1950 saw the introduction of the first open age side in the B-Grade competition, which subsequently took out the premiership in 1953.

The 1960s saw the club expand to field sides in Open Age, Reserves, Under 17,15 and 13, with the only premiership won by the Under 17s in 1966. 1971 marked the beginning of the most successful period in the club’s history with the introduction of the Under 9 and 11 sides. The Under 11s, coached by former Essendon ‘great’ Stan Booth and the Under 9s, under the guidance of men such as Brian Donohoe, between them won eight premierships during the period 1971-1977. During this period additional flags were won by the Under 15s (two) and the A-Reserves (two).

After finishing second last in 1973, the A-Grade side recruited diligently and under coach David Collins found ultimate success with the A-Grade premiership in 1974 – an achievement yet to be repeated at senior level, albeit we did play off in grand final matches in the 2001 and 2002 seasons. It is no coincidence that in the pantheon of the club's rich history, this was also the year Abers became known as the Aberfeldie Sports Club, wholly incorporating both football and cricket at the club. Several grand final appearances followed without success before relegation to B-Grade in 1979. EDFL stalwart Kevin Beardsley, took on the mantle of coach in 1980. After being runners up in 1980 and 1981, success and a return to A-Grade was realised in 1982. The rest of the 1980s was relatively successful with the junior sides performing at their best.

There was a genuine move forward in our performance standard in the 1990s which were full of ups and downs as was the outlook for that particular period of time. Finally success again came our way when the seniors, under the direction of playing coach John Ford, won the B-Grade Grand Final in 1995 (losing only one game all season), which then propelled us back into the A-Grade competition where we felt we deserved to belong.

After many years, the club's well known jumper of the light blue colour with a navy blue yoke, was retired at the end of the 1999 season. The new strip, featuring the light sky blue with a navy blue flash down the front panel and both colours in halves on the rear panel was unveiled amid some controversy in 2000 when it was adopted. Purists preferred the old strip, but in keeping with modern times, the club's new look was certainly fresh and appealing. In the succeeding years the entire junior section from Under 16s downwards has also received the new strip, and although there has been some inadvertent mismatching of colours by the manufacturers (the junior version's light blue is considerably darker than it should be), the "Two Blues" jumper is still immediately recognisable.

A request to the Senior Football committee at the end of 2007 (initiated by player Mark Williams) resulted in the unanimous adoption from both the junior and senior sections to do away with the old navy blue socks, replacing them with a new "hooped" design in the club colours which was first unveiled at the start of the 2008 playing season and has been quite well received.

On the playing front, over the years the Club has produced many fine players with EDFL B&F winners in all grades including, Ken Priestley (1964), Phil Squires (1984), both A-Grade players, and fomer Richmond Football Club President Clinton Casey (1980, 1981, and 1982) in B-Grade.

Many players went on to represent VFL clubs at Under 19 and Reserves levels – the most notable being Bob Shearman, our 1955 Under 17s Captain and EDFL B&F winner, who represented Essendon in the Seniors before becoming somewhat of a legend in the SANFL, where he became Captain/Coach of the first S.A. side to defeat Victoria at the MCG. Jeff Gamble was also a famous local recruit to the Essendon Football Club. Appointments to the AFL of previous Abers players in the most recent years have included Jude Bolton (Sydney Swans), Scott Howard (Essendon) and Kristian DePasquale (Richmond). The most talked about addition was our own Brock McLean - taken at No.5 in the National Draft at the end of 2003 - now with Melbourne Football Club. In 2006, Jesse Smith was recruited to the Kangaroos Football Club under the father/son rule; Ross Smith being Jesse's father. The latest acquisition from local talent is Darcy Daniher (son of Anthony and the great Daniher family dynasty) being recruited to the Essendon Football Club in 2007.

The Senior Football Sub-committee has increased steadily in numbers and the added strength has been reflected by gains in on-field performance. Having said that, there is still room for improvement and we as a committee recognise this first and foremost. Season 2009 was on one hand a disappointment, but on the other the beginning of a very exciting future. The senior side was competitive in six matches and showed real determination on occasion but even the experienced coaching panel could not help them see their potential and encourage them to perform better. The Reserves fared much better, finishing their year as Premiers after going through the home and away series undefeated and losing just the semi-final match in the process. Whilst perspective must be maintained in that a Reserves premiership does not mean that our Senior Football Division had a successful season in an overall sense, the achievement of our Reserves group in winning an A-Grade Reserves flag (the club's first since 1977) is certainly an achievement in which we can all take great pride.

In the last decade the Under 18’s have been a revelation not only for their performance on the field, but they cemented themselves as the true stepping stone and future of Aberfeldie Football Club with a brilliant and much deserved fifth consecutive Grand Final win in 2004, which is an outstanding achievement at any level. After a couple of uneventful years and then settling in with their new coaching staff and bonding together as a team, the players found out that after a disappointing 2007 season, they had what it takes to go all the way and sealed a successful 2008 season with yet another Grand Final win, the first in four years. Whilst many of these grand finalists graduated to fully-fledged senior players in 2009, the incoming Under 16 graduates will no doubt enhance the Under 18s to the point where there is a renewed feeling of optimism as the team moves forward after a fairly lacklustre performance this year.

Make no mistake, we feel the professionalism and performance of the club has changed from a point of A-Grade survival to establishing a sound base with a glowing promise for future success with many talented youngsters making the graduation from U18s to Senior football as we strive for that seemingly elusive A-Grade flag in the Essendon District Football League, which of course we are proud to be associated with. The blending of youth and experienced players is still our primary undertaking and it is with this glimmer of hope that we look forward to Season 2010 with great anticipation for great times ahead.

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