The St. James Football Club was 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 St. James, in North East Victoria, Australia, and was formed in May 1883.

History

The first recorded football match for St. James Football club was against

Tungamah Football Club The Tungamah Football Netball Club Inc, nicknamed the Bears, is an Australian Rules football club playing in the Picola & District Football League. The club is based in the small Victorian town of Tungamah, a town of just 300 people located ap ...

Tungamah Tungamah is a town in the Goulburn Valley region of northern Victoria, Australia. The town is located in the Shire of Moira local government area, from the state capital, Melbourne. Tungamah is situated on the banks of Boosey Creek and at the ...

on Saturday, 16 June 1883, with

winning three goals to two goals. The team won its first senior football premiership in 1884, winning the J. H. Fitzgerald Cup. The football club's president in 1908 was Sir George J. Coles, whose very first retail business was in St. James, which he purchased from his father, George W. Coles. His company, the

Coles Group Coles Group Limited is an Australian public company operating several retail chains. Its chief operations are primarily concerned with the sale of food and groceries through its flagship supermarket chain Coles Supermarkets, and the sale of l ...

, would grow to become Australia's largest retail business. In its short existence the St. James Football Club won an incredible eighteen premierships in various local football competitions and also produced several players that went onto play in the

Victorian Football League 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 ...

. An amazing achievement for such a small town. In 1910, St. James entered two teams in the Dookie Football Association, with the St. James – "Socialables" defeating St. James in the Grand Final. Jim Flynn started and finished his football career in St. James, but in between he played with both the

Geelong Football Club The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed the Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition, and are the 2022 ...

and Carlton Football Club in the

in the early 1900s. Jim went onto become the club captain and premiership player at Carlton Football Club. Jim was still playing football with the St. James Football Club in his early 40s and was a member of the St. James Football Club premiership teams in 1910, 1911 and 1913. Former Carlton Football Club premiership player and captain, Gordon Green's original club was St. James, before he went onto play with the Yarrawonga Football Club and then Carlton Football Club, debuting in 1911.

Pat Pelly Patrick John Pelly (12 November 1877 – 20 February 1939) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Carlton in the Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia ...

was also another local player who played eight games with the Carlton Football Club in 1908. St. James FC played in the Murray Valley Football League in 1947, then the Benalla – Tungamah FL when it formed in 1948 until 1954. In 1955 St. James FC merged with Devenish – United FC, to become known as "St. James / Devenish United FC". This team played in the Benalla – Tungamah FL from 1955 to 1960, which was their last season of competition football. The Devenish FC then entered the

Benalla & District Football League The original Benalla District Football League was formed in 1929 from the following clubs - Baddaginnie, Benalla - "B", Swanpool, Tatong, Thoona and Winton. The Benalla & District Football League (B&DFL) was formed immediately after World War T ...

in 1963 as a stand-alone football club and played in the B&DFL until they folded early on during the 2006 season. The

eventually folded after the 2009 season, with the remaining club's joining the

Ovens and King Football League The Ovens & King Football Netball League is a minor country Australian rules football league based in North-Eastern Victoria in the vicinity of Wangaratta and more recently Benalla. History The ''Ovens & King Football League'' was formed on ...

Senior Football Premierships

Senior Football Runners Up

*Moira Football Association **1905 *Benalla – Yarrawonga Football Association **1909 *Dookie Football Association **1910 *Benalla – Mulwala Football Association **1932 *Murray Valley Patriotic Football Association **1946

References

{{reflist

External links

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Full page pictorial of the 1924 Benalla Yarrawonga Football Association Grand Final match between St. James & Wilby

Picture of the 1931 St. James Football Club premiership team
from the Benalla / Mulwala Football Association Australian rules football clubs established in 1883 1883 establishments in Australia