Eltham Football Club 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 in

Eltham, Victoria Eltham () is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 20 km north-east of the Central Business District, located within the Shire of Nillumbik local government area. Eltham recorded a population of 18,847 at the 2021 census. Eltham is ...

, currently competing in the

Northern Football League The Northern League is a men's football league in north east England. Having been founded in 1889, it is the second-oldest football league in the world still in existence after the English Football League. It contains two divisions; Division ...

History

The Eltham Football Club began playing social matches at nearby Kangaroo Ground,

Diamond Creek Diamond Creek is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 23 km north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Shire of Nillumbik local government area. Diamond Creek recorded a population of 12,503 at the 20 ...

and Greensborough from around 1904. Phil McGavin was listed as Secretary in 1904. In 1907,

Police Constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...

"Ike" Stephens convened a meeting with the idea of providing entertainment for the lads and an outlet for their surplus energy. . Eltham continued to play social games however World War One saw these stop. After the return of the men in 1918-19, Eltham returned to the football field. In 1920, the Eltham Football Club joined the Heidelberg District Football League. The team travelled by train to

Ivanhoe ''Ivanhoe: A Romance'' () by Walter Scott is a historical novel published in three volumes, in 1819, as one of the Waverley novels. Set in England in the Middle Ages, this novel marked a shift away from Scott’s prior practice of setting st ...

to play their first game. Home games were played at Eltham Park, now called Eltham Lower Park. In 1922, Eltham joined other nearby clubs Greensborough,

Templestowe Templestowe is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 16 km north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Manningham local government area. Templestowe recorded a population of 16,966 at the . The s ...

Warrandyte Warrandyte is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 24 km north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Manningham local government area. Warrandyte recorded a population of 5,541 at the . Warrandy ...

, and Kangaroo Ground in establishing the Diamond Valley Football League. Eltham made their first finals appearance in 1928 and won their first premiership in 1930 by defeating

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

. In 1930, Eltham Central Park was opened, although this was only used by the footballers for training until 1935, when the club formally moved their home games there and this has been the club's home ever since. In 1935, Eltham defeated

Epping Epping may refer to: Places Australia * Epping, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Epping railway station, Sydney * Electoral district of Epping, the corresponding seat in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly * Epping Forest, Kearns, a he ...

in the

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

, but Epping lodged a protest over the eligibility of an Eltham player. A tribunal in Melbourne upheld the protest and ordered a replay. Eltham forfeited the replay and Epping was awarded the premiership. Eltham left the DVFL to play in VFL Sub Districts League for seasons 1936 & 1937 before returning in 1938. After five consecutive wooden spoons during the early 1960s, the club went through a golden period of four premierships in six seasons between 1969 and 1974. Eltham Football Club was relegated to the new DVFL Second Division for Season 1981, but quickly responded with the 1982 premiership and subsequent return to the First Division. This began a trend with Eltham "yo-yoing" between the two divisions – six Second Division premierships and five First Division wooden spoons. The 2002 Second Division premiership was the Panthers last success. After relegation in 2017 the Panthers went into the season strong favourites and won their first 15 games. On a blustery, raining day the seniors gave up a 3/4 time lead to lose on the siren to Lower Plenty. The reserves, coached by 2017 U/19 Premiership winning coach Tom Snell held on in a tough game to defeat Diamond Creek and only their 5th reserves premiership. Season 2020 was called off due to the COVID19 Pandemic.

Premierships

Seniors

(Division One) * 1930 Eltham 7.15.57 defeated Heidelberg 7.8.50 @ Memorial Park, Greensborough * 1932 Eltham 13.19.97 defeated Heidelberg 8.10.58 @ Warringal Park, Heidelberg * 1949 Eltham 8.8.56 defeated Greensborough 7.6.48 @ Warringal Park, Heidelberg * 1953 Eltham 9.16.70 defeated Lakeside Rovers 9.7.61 @ Warringal Park, Heidelberg * 1969 Eltham 16.11.107 defeated Diamond Creek 10.12.72 @ Warringal Park, Heidelberg * 1970 Eltham 14.13.97 defeated Diamond Creek 12.11.83 @

* 1972 Eltham 15.19.109 defeated Reservoir Lakeside 11.11.77 @ Warringal Park, Heidelberg * 1974 Eltham 10.9.69 defeated Heidelberg 9.8.62 @ Warringal Park, Heidelberg (Division Two) * 1982 Eltham 15.13.103 defeated Macleod Rosanna 14.8.92 @ Nillimbik Park, Diamond Creek * 1989 Eltham 18.11.119 defeated Epping 17.8.110 @ Warringal Park, Heidelberg * 1995 Eltham 10.14.74 defeated West Preston 10.10.70 @ Warringal Park, Heidelberg * 1997 Eltham 13.9.87 defeated Mernda 7.13.55 @ Warringal Park, Heidelberg * 2000 Eltham 12.8.80 defeated Watsonia 8.6.54 @ Shelly St, North Heidelberg * 2002 Eltham 12.9.81 defeated Mernda 7.17.59 @ Whittlesea Showgrounds, Whittlesea

Reserves

(Division One) * 1947 Eltham 3.6.24 defeated

3.5.23 @ Warringal Park, Heidelberg * 1971 Eltham 11.11.77 defeated Greensborough 10.8.68 @ Warringal Park, Heidelberg * 1974 Eltham 10.13.73 defeated

5.5.35 @ Warringal Park, Heidelberg (Division Two) * 2000 Eltham 13.16.94 defeated

Macleod MacLeod, McLeod and Macleod ( ) which cited: are surnames in the English language. Generally, the names are considered to be Anglicised forms of the Scottish Gaelic ', meaning "son of '". One of the earliest occurrences of the surname is of Gi ...

7.12.54 @ Shelley Street Reserve, North Heidelberg * 2018 Eltham 7.12.54 defeated

5.8.38 @ Preston City Oval, Preston * 2021 No final series due to Covid Pandemic. Awarded Minor Premiership * 2022 Eltham 16.13.109 defeated

3.8.26 @ Preston City Oval, Preston

Under 19

(Division One) * 2007 Eltham 16.13.109 defeated

Northcote Park Bill Lawry Oval, formerly known as Northcote Park, is a cricket and Australian rules football stadium located on Westgarth St, Northcote, Victoria. It is most notable as the home ground of the Northcote Cricket Club in the Victorian Premier Cr ...

10.7.67 @ Preston City Oval * 2017 Eltham 7.14.56 defeated

Greensborough Football Club Greensborough Football Club is an Australian rules football club in Greensborough, Victoria, currently competing in the Northern Football Netball League. History The Greensborough Football Club was founded in 1893 playing its first game agai ...

7.10.52 @ Preston City Oval * 2019 Eltham 13.10.88 defeated

St Mary's Senior Football Club The Northern Football Netball League (formerly known as the Diamond Valley Football League and later Northern Football League) is an Australian sports league based in the Diamond Valley region of suburban Melbourne, Victoria. The league regul ...

11.14.80 @ Preston City Oval

Honourboard

Other highlights: * Most no. 'A' Grade games at Eltham Football Club Harry Barrett (dec.) (263) * Most no. Open Age games at Eltham Football Club David Brown 308 * Most no. 'A' Grade games as a player/umpire Eddie Mapperson (843). * Winner of VFL / AFL

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as "Charlie"), is awarded to the " best and fairest" player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by ...

Peter Moore 1979, 1984

AFL / VFL footballers from Eltham Football Club

Nick Coffield Nicholas John Coffield (born 23 October 1999) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was drafted by St Kilda with their second selection and eighth overall ...

– Current St Kilda Footballer * Patrick Lipinski – Current Collingwood Footballer * Lauren Brazzale – Current AFLW

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Footballer *

Marcus Bontempelli Marcus Bontempelli (born 24 November 1995) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Western Bulldogs in the Australian Football League (AFL). He has served as Western Bulldogs captain since the 2020 season, and was previ ...

– Current

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Footballer *

Josh Caddy Joshua Nicholas Caddy (born 28 September 1992) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who last played for the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played for the Gold Coast Football Club fr ...

– Former

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

Footballer *

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– Former

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Footballer *

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– Current

Footballer * Daniel Currie – Former

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a reser ...

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and

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–

. Captain 2004 -09, Premiership's 1996 & 1999. Currently Coach of West Coast Eagles Football Club * Andrew Dale –

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 ...

in 1980s * Matthew Ryan - Collingwood,

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* Stephen Easton –

in late 1970s, early 1980s * Darren McLaine – Collingwood in 1980s * Alexander "Sandy" Hyslop – Collingwood in 1980s * Peter Moore – Collingwood &

& dual

list,

AFL AFL may refer to: Sports * American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues: ** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...

and Collingwood Hall of Fame * John Caulfield -

1963 * Tom Butherway -

Fitzroy Fitzroy or FitzRoy may refer to: People As a given name *Several members of the Somerset family (Dukes of Beaufort) have this as a middle-name: **FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788–1855) ** Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset, 8th Duke of Beau ...

1937 *

Jack Twyford Jack Twyford (12 October 1908 – 15 August 1991) was an Australian rules footballer who played in the VFL in 1929 for the South Melbourne Football Club, between 1930 and 1933 for the Richmond Football Club and in 1934 for the Collingwood Foo ...

South Melbourne South Melbourne is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. South Melbourne recorded a population of 11,548 at t ...

(1932 Premiership side) & Collingwood * Don Fraser -

1920s

External links

Official club website

Northern Football League

{{DVFL Northern Football League (Australia) clubs Australian rules football clubs established in 1909 1909 establishments in Australia Sport in the Shire of Nillumbik Australian rules football clubs in Melbourne