The Port Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Borough, 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 inner-Melbourne suburb of

Port Melbourne Port Melbourne is an inner-city List of Melbourne suburbs, suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the Cities of ...

. The club was founded in 1874 and has been competing in the Victorian Football Association/League (VFL) since 1886. Port Melbourne is the most successful club in the VFL, having won 17 senior men's premierships, three more than its nearest rival, Williamstown. The club has maintained stand-alone status, without being in a formal reserves affiliation with a club from the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

(AFL), for all but five years of its history. Consequently Port Melbourne is considered one of the strongest Victorian-based football clubs that does not compete in the AFL. The club has fielded a women's team in the

VFL Women's VFL Women's (VFLW) is the major state-level women's Australian rules football league in Victoria. The league initially comprised the six premier division clubs and the top four division 1 clubs from the now-defunct Victorian Women's Football L ...

(VFLW) competition since 2021, and in the past it has fielded premiership-winning teams in the now-defunct VFL Reserves and Development leagues.

History

The Port Melbourne Football Club joined the senior ranks

Victorian Football Association The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

(VFA) in 1886, its inaugural team formed in large part from members of the powerful nearby South Melbourne Football Club which had dominated metropolitan football in 1885. The club has played in every VFA/VFL season since that time. In 1897, Port Melbourne was left out of the group of eight clubs which formed the breakaway VFL competition, despite having regularly been about the sixth- or seventh- best performing team onfield. Historian Terry Keenan theorised that the likeliest reason for Port Melbourne's exclusion was the reputation for the poor behaviour that its players and spectators had developed over the previous decade; its rivalry with and proximity to South Melbourne and the fact that Port Melbourne had supported the gate equalisation measures which the breakaway clubs were trying to escape were also speculated to have contributed to the decision. The club, and the suburb of Port Melbourne in general, were heavily associated with wharf labourers and the union movement. During a 1928 waterfront strike in Melbourne, a wharf labourer protesting the use of scab labour was shot by police; as a result, the club banned any police from playing with them. The policy remained in place until the late 1950s. Port Melbourne went on to become one of the strongest clubs in the VFA, and today still attracts some of the biggest crowds to its games. The club had very strong links with the Port Melbourne community, arguably the strongest community relationship within the VFA; local juniors often held stronger aspirations to play for Port Melbourne than for the VFL's South Melbourne – which by the 1950s was perennially struggling and to which the Port Melbourne area was zoned – and even players as highly decorated as

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 ...

lists Peter Bedford and

Bob Skilton Robert John "Bob" Skilton (born 8 November 1938) is a former Australian rules footballer who represented in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Playing as a rover, Skilton is one of only four players to have won the Brownlow Medal three tim ...

returned to play with Port Melbourne after their VFL careers. Over the twenty-eight seasons from 1961 until 1988 that the VFA was partitioned into two divisions, Port Melbourne played every season in the first division – a distinction shared only with the

Sandringham Sandringham can refer to: Places * Sandringham, New South Wales, Australia * Sandringham, Queensland, Australia * Sandringham, Victoria, Australia **Sandringham railway line **Sandringham railway station **Electoral district of Sandringham * Sand ...

. Traditionally, Port Melbourne's greatest rivals are the

Williamstown Seagulls The Williamstown Football Club, nicknamed The Seagulls, is an Australian rules football club based in Melbourne. The club currently competes in the men's and women's Victorian Football League and VFLW competitions. History The Williamstown F ...

and the

Sandringham Zebras The Sandringham Football Club, nicknamed The Zebras, is an Australian rules football club based in Melbourne which was formed in 1929 and plays in the Victorian Football League (VFL) which was formerly called the Victorian Football Associatio ...

. All three teams continue to play in the VFL to this day. Prior to the original breakaway of the VFL from the VFA in 1897, Port Melbourne's greatest rival was . Since the AFL reserves competition merged with the Victorian Football League in 2000, Port Melbourne has been involved in two affiliations: with the

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 ...

(2001–2002), and with the

Kangaroos Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

(2003–2005); since 2006, Port Melbourne has existed as a stand-alone VFL club. The club has fielded a team in the

competition since 2021. In under-age football, Port Melbourne has been affiliated with the

Oakleigh Chargers The Oakleigh Chargers is an Australian rules football club playing in the NAB League, the top statewide under-18 competition in Victoria, Australia. They are based at Warrawee Park in Oakleigh, Victoria, representing the southeastern suburban ...

NAB League The NAB League Boys (also referred to as simply the NAB League and formerly known as the TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition held in Australia. It is based on geographic regions throughout country Victo ...

team since the 1999 season, and the Chargers adopted Port Melbourne's colours as part of the affiliation. Port Melbourne had previously been affiliated with the

Geelong Falcons The Geelong Falcons is a youth Australian rules football representative club in the NAB League, the Victorian statewide under-18s competition, Victoria, Australia. The club takes in talented junior players from the Geelong, Colac and Warrnambo ...

(1996–1998), and in 1995 was part of a three-way affiliation which saw it share the

Calder Cannons The Calder Cannons is an Australian rules football club from Melbourne, Australia. The club competes in the NAB League, the Victorian Statewide Under-18s competition, and fields squads in the Under-15s, Under-16s and Under-18s. The club was forme ...

and

Western Jets The Western Jets is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Victorian premier U19 competition, the NAB League, since its inception in 1992. The club have developmental squads in the U16, however much of the attention is towards its U ...

with Williamstown and

Coburg Coburg () is a town located on the Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only in 1920. Until the revolution of 1918, it was ...

. The club's onfield nickname is the ''Borough'' or ''Boroughs'', one of the more unusual nicknames in the sport, coming from the club's location in what was once the Borough of

. The name stuck, even after the area was upgraded to the status of town in 1893, and eventually city in 1919.

Club Jumper

The Port Melbourne Football Club's Guernsey is royal blue with red vertical stripes.

Uniform evolution

Club song

The club song is sung to the tune of "You're a Grand Old Flag".

2011 season

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

, Port Melbourne completed a

perfect season A perfect season is a sports season, including any requisite playoff portion, in which a team remains and finishes undefeated and untied. The feat is extremely rare at the professional level of any team sport, and has occurred more commonly at the ...

, winning all eighteen home-and-away games, then three finals matches, culminating in a 56-point win against Williamstown in the Grand Final. It was the first perfect season in the VFA/VFL first division since 1918.

Team of the Century

The Port Melbourne ''Team of the Century'' was selected in August 2003:

Honours

Grand Final performances

*1897 – runners-up North Melbourne *1901 – runners-up Richmond *1922 – Port Melbourne 9.6 (60) d Footscray 8.10 (58) (Crowd: 22,000) *1940 – Port Melbourne 23.22 (160) d Prahran 17.11 (113) (Crowd: 30,882) *1941 – Port Melbourne 15.18 (108) d Coburg 11.23 (89) (Crowd: 36,289) *1947 – Port Melbourne 15.13 (103) d Sandringham 11.8 (74) (Crowd: 24,000) *1953 – Port Melbourne 21.15 (141) d Yarraville 12.9 (81) (Crowd: 40,000) *1964 – Port Melbourne 14.17 (101) d Williamstown 10.5 (65) (Crowd: 20,000) *1966 – Port Melbourne 13.12 (90) d Waverley 6.11 (47) (Crowd: 20,000) *1974 – Port Melbourne 22.20 (152) d Oakleigh 11.17 (83) (Crowd: 23,936) *1976 – Port Melbourne 19.18 (132) d Dandenong 10.15 (75) (Crowd: 32,317) *1977 – Port Melbourne 23.19 (157) d Sandringham 7.15 (57) (Crowd: 29,664) *1980 – Port Melbourne 11.15 (81) d Coburg 10.10 (70) (Crowd: 22,010) *1981 – Port Melbourne 32.19 (211) d Preston 15.8 (98) (Crowd: 20,186) *1982 – Port Melbourne 21.15 (141) d Preston 20.14 (134) (Crowd: 20,732) *2011 – Port Melbourne 22.12 (144) d Williamstown 13.10 (88) (Crowd: 11,896) *2017 – Port Melbourne 11.8 (74) d Richmond 10.10 (70) (Crowd: 17,159) *Total Premierships – 17 *Total Grand Finals – 33

Post War Placings

Records

*League History:

VFA/VFL The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). I ...

1886-15, 1918–41, 1945–present *Record Attendance: 36,289 v the Coburg Lions in 1941 *Most Games: 253 by Fred Cook *Most Goals: 1210 by Fred Cook *Liston Medallists: E. Hyde (1930), W. Findlay (1946), F. Johnson (1952), V. Aanensen (1979, 1981), S. Allender (1980), W. Swan (1982, 1983), S. Harkins (1990), S. Valenti (2010, 2011) *Highest Score: 43.29 (287) v

in 1941 *Lowest Score: 0.2 (2) v Prahran in 1902 *Longest Winning Run: 28 (2011–2012) *Longest Losing Run: 14 (1909)

Coaches

* Percy Wilson (1927–1929) * Charlie Stanbridge (1930–31) * Percy Wilson (1932) * B Lovett (1933) * Gus Dobrigh (1934) *

Tommy Lahiff Thomas 'Tommy' 'Turk' Lahiff (31 July 1910 – 8 December 1996) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Essendon, South Melbourne and Hawthorn in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and for Port Melbourne in the Victorian Football A ...

, Ron Shapter (1935) * B Rudd (1936) *

Jack Bissett John James Bisset (1 September 1900 – 21 August 1966) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Richmond Football Club and played for and coached the South Melbourne Football Club in the VFL. Family He married Bridget Cat ...

(1937) * H Crompton (1937) *

(1937–38) *

Frank Kelly Francis Kelly (28 December 1938 – 28 February 2016) was an Irish actor, singer and writer, whose career covered television, radio, theatre, music, screenwriting and film. He is best remembered for playing Father Jack Hackett in the Channel 4 ...

(1940–41) *

(1941, 1945–46) *

Bill Findlay Bill Findlay (29 October 1913 – 28 May 1986) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Footscray and North Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL). He played as a rover and was sometimes pushed forward where he was a handy ...

(1947–48) * Jim Cleary (1949–1952) * Don Fraser (1953–55) * Frank Johnson (1956–57) * T Brooker (1958–59) * Don Furness (1960–61) *

(1962) *

Laurie Mithen Lawrence Sidney Mithen (15 April 1934 – 2 February 2022) was an Australian rules footballer who played for Melbourne in the VFL during their successful period in the late 1950s under Norm Smith. Education He was awarded a Bachelor of Arts ...

(1963–65) * Brian Buckley (1966–68) *

Bob Bonnett Robert "Bob" Bonnett (1933 – 11 May 2018) was an Australian rules footballer who played with the Port Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football Association (VFA) in the 1950s and 1960s. A full-forward from the Port Melbourne area, Bon ...

(1969–71) * Ian Collins (1972–73) *

Norm Brown Norman Brown (6 August 1943 – 1 December 2022) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Fitzroy in the VFL. Football Fitzroy (VFL) Brown joined Fitzroy from North Heidelberg in 1962. Known for his size (191 cm), physical st ...

(1974–78) *

Peter McKenna Peter McKenna (born 27 August 1946 in Brunswick West, Victoria) is a former Australian rules footballer who represented Collingwood and Carlton in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1960s and 1970s. He also represented Devonport ...

(1979) *

Gary Brice Gary Brice (born 7 October 1948) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with South Melbourne in the VFL during the 1970s. A solidly built wingman who could play at half forward, Brice started his career at Port Melbourne in the V ...

(1980–1983) *

Warwick Irwin Warwick Irwin (born 3 June 1952) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Fitzroy and Collingwood in the Victorian Football League (VFL). A rover, he won the club's best and fairest award in 1975. Irwin also features in the Fitz ...

(1984) *

(1985) *

Peter Chisnall Peter Chisnall (born 22 January 1949) is a former Australian rules footballer for North Melbourne Football Club. Chisnall, from Corowa originally, played for the North Melbourne Football Club from 1968 to 1970, during the struggling years f ...

(1986) * G Allen (1987–88) * Brett Yorgey (1989–90) * Doug Searl (1991–92) *

Damian Drum Damian Kevin Drum (born 28 July 1960) is an Australian politician who has represented Murray and Nicholls in the Australian House of Representatives since the 2016 federal election as a member of The Nationals. Drum served as the Assistant Mi ...

(1993) *

David Cloke David Cloke (born 28 January 1955) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Richmond Football Club and the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A tough and skilled footballer with an imposing ...

(1994) *

Shane Molloy Shane Molloy (born 21 June 1949) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Fitzroy in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Molloy, recruited from Macleod-Rosanna, was a back pocket player. He made his Fitzroy debut at Princes P ...

(1995) * N Ross (1996–1998) *

Darren Crocker Darren Crocker (born 26 March 1967) is a former Australian rules footballer who is currently the coach of the AFL Women's team. He formerly played for the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Playing career Cr ...

(1999) * David Dunbar (2000–2003) * Gerard FitzGerald (2004) * S Ghazi (2005–2007) *

Gary Ayres Gary James Ayres (born 28 September 1960) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is currently the senior coach for the Montrose Football Club in the Eastern F ...

(2008–2021) * Adam Skrobalak (2022-present)

VFLW squad

1. Olivia Barton 2. Kate Dudley 3. Lucy de Gloria Cade 4. Courtney Bromage 5. Hannah Fosbrooke 6. Lisa Davie 8. Maddy Baldwin 9. Melissa Kuys (cc) 10. Sophie Locke 11. Maddi Shaw 12. Nayely Borg 14. Lucy Grocock 15. Claire Dyett (cc) 16. Beth Wilson 17. Bridie Winbanks 18. Kaitlyn O'Keefe 19. Caley Ryan 21. Tara Jasper 22. Akayla Peterson 23. Zoe McWhinney 24. Jess Joyce 27. Emily Harley 29. Bella Stutt 30. Mia Breidis 32. Kate Adams 33. Chloe Locke 35. Sabine Navarro 44. Lauren Atkinson 48. Stella Reid 52. Ingrid Houtsma 59. Sarah Dargan

References

Sources

* Atkinson, G. (1982) ''Everything you ever wanted to know about Australian rules football but couldn't be bothered asking'', The Five Mile Press: Melbourne. . *Terry Keenan. 2006. ''Unduly Rough Play – A History of the Port Melbourne Football Club, Volume 2 1918 – 1944''. Albert Park: Eucalyptus Press *Terry Keenan. 2004. ''Kicking into the Wind – A History of the Formative Years of the Port Melbourne Football Club 1874–1917''. Petersham: Walla Walla Press *Terry Keenan. 1999. ''A Taste of Port''. Albert Park: Eucalyptus Press *Terry Keenan. ''A Family Feud''. Port Melbourne: Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society. *Terry Keenan. ''Keeping Out the Riff-Raff''. Port Melbourne: Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society. *Marc Fiddian. ''The VFA – A History of the Victorian Football Association 1877–1995''.

External links

*
Full Points Footy Profile for Port Melbourne

Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society
{{Authority control Victorian Football League clubs Australian rules football clubs in Melbourne 1874 establishments in Australia Australian rules football clubs established in 1874 Sport in the City of Port Phillip