Lower Plenty 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
Montmorency, Victoria
Montmorency is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-east from Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Banyule local government area. Montmorency recorded a population of 9,250 at the 2021 census.
Mont ...
, 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 Lower Plenty Football Club located 18 km north-east of
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 the suburb of
Montmorency. The club's home ground is the upper oval at Para Road Reserve, adjacent to the
Montmorency Football Club
Montmorency Football Club is an Australian rules football club in Montmorency, Victoria, currently competing in Division 1 in the Northern Football League.
History
The club was formed in 1924 by Harold Hodgson and was original based at Memorial ...
home ground.
The club wore a brown and gold vertical striped guernsey and were known as the Hawks before changing to a gold and maroon guernsey and becoming the
Bear
Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...
s due to a clash with existing Second Division Club Heidelberg West.
Founded in 1961 as the Diamond Valley Churches Football Club the club was affiliated with the Metropolitan Churches League. When the league folded in 1970, the club became Diamond Valley United and joined the
Eastern Suburban Churches Football Association.
In 1983, the club transferred to the Panton Hill Football League before returning to the ESCFA in 1986
The club played seasons 1993 & 1994 in the
Southern Football League
The Southern League is a men's football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from the South and Midlands of England. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and eight of the English fo ...
before settling into the Second Division of the
Diamond Valley Football League
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 Creek, Victoria, Diamond Valley region of suburban Melbourne, Vi ...
in 1995.
Winning the 1999 Second Division premiership the club was promoted to First Division, where the club survived for a few seasons before falling back to Second Division.
In the 2010 Northern Football League Second Division Grand Final played at Preston City Oval on 11 September the club was beaten by Whittlesea 9.3.57 to 9.17.71.
In the 2011 Northern Football League Second Division Grand Final played at Preston City Oval on 17 September the club defeated Epping 12.14.86 to 4.10.34 and promotion to
the Northern Football League First Division in 2012.
In 2012, Lower Plenty competed in Division One for the first time since 2005. They lost around half of their 2011 Premiership players and were tipped to finish last and be relegated back to Division Two. In the final round of the
2012 season, Lower Plenty sat on the bottom of the ladder. They played Whittlesea, who were second bottom, and needed to win by 29 points or more to make up the 3% needed to finish 9th on the ladder. They won by 37 points, thus securing a spot in Division One for 2013 while condemning Whittlesea to Division Two.
In 2018 Lower Plenty beat Eltham after the siren in the grand final to earn promotion from Division 2. In 2019 they will again compete in Division 1.
Premierships
Northern Football League (Formerly Diamond Valley Football League)
Seniors
*Second Division: 1999, 2011, 2018
Reserves
*Second Division: 2011
Thirds
*Second Division: 1997, 1999, 2011
Eastern Suburban Churches Football League
Seniors
*1986
Jumper
The club originally wore Brown and Gold vertical stripes but changed to Maroon and Gold due to a clash with Heidelberg West. After changing the jumper again to be more like the
Brisbane Bears
The Brisbane Football Club, nicknamed the Bears, was a professional Australian rules football club based in Queensland on the Gold Coast (relocated to Brisbane in 1993). The club participated in the Victorian/Australian Football League (VFL/A ...
(who hadn't merged yet), the club decided to wear a Maroon strip with a White outlined, Yellow V. In 2002 the club changed the jumper again to a custom strip with a Gold top and Maroon bottom separated by a Navy and White bear outline. In 2009 the club changed back to the previous Brisbane Bears jumper to be the same as their alignment club
Research Junior Football Club
External links
Official club website
{{Use dmy dates, date=April 2020
Australian rules football clubs established in 1961
Northern Football League (Australia) clubs
1961 establishments in Australia
Sport in the City of Banyule