Collegians Football Club (nicknamed the ''Lions'') is an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

club based in the

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

suburb of Albert Park. Formed in 1891, it is the second-oldest club in the

VAFA The Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) is the largest senior community Australian rules football competition in Victoria. It consists of seven senior men's and women's divisions ranging from Premier to Division 4. In addition there ...

, after

Melbourne University Football Club Melbourne University Football Club, often known simply as University, is an Australian rules football club based at the University of Melbourne. The club fields two teams, known as the "Blacks" and "Blues", who both compete in the Victorian Amat ...

. The Lions have the longest continuous membership of the VAFA and its antecedents. Their home ground is the

Harry Trott George Henry Stevens Trott (5 August 1866 – 9 November 1917) was an Australian cricketer who played 24 Test matches as an all-rounder between 1888 and 1898. Although Trott was a versatile batsman, spin bowler and outstanding fielder, "it is ...

Oval.

History

In 1891, L.A.Adamson established a Wesley College Old Boys’ XVIII, which formally became Collegians Football Club in 1892. Adamson, who was for thirty years the Headmaster of Wesley College, was the President of the club for its first forty years. In 1892, Adamson established the Metropolitan Junior Football Association (of which he was president for 37 years), which in 1932 became the Victorian Amateur Football Association. Their 17 "A" grade premierships is more than any other club. Collegian's introduced the clubs first Women's football team in 2017, and added a second women's team in 2018. The club fields three senior men's teams, two senior women's teams and an Under 19's team.

Premierships

A Section

* 1892, 1896, 1898, 1899, 1902, 1904, 1936, 1937, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1986, 1992, 1993, 2011, 2012.

B Section

* 1926, 1956, 2006

Club song

The club's theme song is based on the first verse and chorus of "The Old Collegians Song", which appears in the Wesley College Songbook in all editions from 1893. The lyrics were written by Lawrence Arthur Adamson set to the tune of a traditional Irish Folk Tune, "Irish Jaunting Car", and the later tune "The Bonnie Blue Flag", a song from the US War of Independence. The original lyrics refer to the interim school colours "Blue and White", which returned to "Gold and Purple" at the end of 1902.

References

External links

Official Site

The history of a great football club : Collegians centenary 1892-1992 / Laurie T. Humphries
{{VAFA Victorian Amateur Football Association clubs 1891 establishments in Australia Australian rules football clubs established in 1891 Australian rules football clubs in Melbourne Sport in the City of Port Phillip Wesley College (Victoria)