The Wangaratta Magpies Football Club, officially known as the

Wangaratta Wangaratta ( ) is a city in the northeast of Victoria, Australia, from Melbourne along the Hume Highway. The city had an estimated urban population of 19,318 at June 2018. Wangaratta has recorded a population growth rate of almost 1% annually ...

Magpies Football & Netball 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, which first played in the

Ovens and Murray Football League The Ovens and Murray Football Netball League (O&MFNL) is an Australian rules football and netball competition containing ten clubs based in north-eastern Victoria, the southern Riverina region of New South Wales and the Ovens and Murray are ...

in 1893 and is based in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

at the

Showgrounds and play on the Norm Minns Oval.

Club History

On 20 June 1864, the first Wangaratta Football Club in Wangaratta was formed, with Edward Lucas, President, Henry B. K. Leigh as Secretary and Thomas Cusack and seven others as committee. The Wangaratta Football Club was then reformed in Wangaratta, in 1875, when matches were played intermittently against other local towns like – Albury, Beechworth, Benalla, Chiltern, Corowa, Howlong, Rutherglen, Tarrawingee and Wahgunyah. There were two Wangaratta teams that entered the

Ovens & Murray Football League The Ovens and Murray Football Netball League (O&MFNL) is an Australian rules football and netball competition containing ten clubs based in north-eastern Victoria, the southern Riverina region of New South Wales and the Ovens and Murray ar ...

in 1893, Wangaratta Central FC and West End FC (1893 only), with Wangaratta Central (Magpies) remaining in the O&MFA and moving between the

Ovens & 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 ...

on a number of occasions prior to

World War Two World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. These two teams played in the Wangaratta Football Association in 1892, with Wangaratta FC finishing on top of the ladder and winning the premiership. In July, 1897, the club withdrew from the O&MFA competition after not winning any matches up until that point. Wangaratta FC then joined the Murray Valley Junior Football Association and won the 1898 premiership, before rejoining the O&MFA for the 1899 season. In July, 1900, Collingwood, 12.18 - 90 defeated Wangaratta, 2.8 - 20 in Wangaratta. Wangaratta FC moved into the Ovens and King FL in its first year of competition in 1903. Wangaratta's first golden era was between 1919 and 1926 when they played in eight consecutive senior football grand finals, with the first three in the

and the last five in the

, winning an O&KFL premiership in 1920 and an O&MFL premiership in 1925, under coach,

Percy Rowe Percival Henry Rowe (4 January 1896 – 27 August 1976) was a player and coach in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and Victorian Football Association (VFA). In 1915, Rowe played for Lake Rovers Football Club in the Ovens and Murray Footbal ...

. In late September 1931, Wangaratta (O&KFL premiers) defeated Weir United (O&MFL Premiers) in a challenge match to decided the champion club in the North East of Victoria. Then in 1932, Wangaratta (O&KFL Premiers) defeated Corowa (O&MFL Premiers) to once again be the North Eastern Victoria champion club. Wangaratta FC entered two sides into the Ovens & King FL in 1941 and they both played off in the grand final, with the "Rainbows" defeating the more fancied Wangaratta team. In 1945 Wangaratta entered a team in the Murray Valley Football League and they became undefeated premiers. Wangaratta FC have been in the

continuously since 1946. Wangaratta's second golden era was between 1945 and 1957 when they won six premierships, and were runners up in 1955, winning a record four consecutive premierships between 1949 and 1952 under their captain / coach, former Collingwood player, Mac Holten. The club had a very lean period between 1997 and 2002, collecting six consecutive wooden spoons and losing 32 consecutive games between 1997 and 1999, but by the mid 2000's were playing finals and later played in six O&MFNL senior football grand finals between 2007 and 2022, winning four premierships. Since 2012, the club has fielded three football teams and four netball teams in the

Football competition timeline

;Seniors *1892: Wangaratta Football Association *1893–1897: Ovens & Murray Football Association *1898: Murray Valley Junior Football Association *1899–1902: Ovens & Murray Football Association *1903–1914: Ovens & King Football Association *1915: Ovens & Murray Football Association *1916–1918: O&MFA & Club in recess due to

World War One World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

*1919–1921: Ovens & King Football Association *1922–1930:

*1931–1932: Ovens & King Football Association *1933–1940:

*1941: Ovens & King Football Association *1942–1944: Club in recess due to

*1945: Murray Valley Patriotic Football League *1946–2019:

*2020: - O&MFL in recess due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

*2021–2022:

;Reserves *1930:

*1949–1952: Benalla Tungamah Football League *1953–2022:

;Thirds / Under 18's *1973–2022:

Football Premierships

;Seniors ;Reserves ;Thirds

Football League Best & Fairest Award Winners

; Seniors *

**Morris Medal: 1933 to present day ***1933 - Fred Carey ***1953 - Tim Lowe ***1955 - Ray Preston ***1957 -

Lance Oswald Lance W. Oswald (18 February 1937 – 20 March 2019) was an Australian rules footballer who played for St Kilda Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Biography Oswald originally played for South Wanderers Junior Football Clu ...

***1969 - Jeff Hemphill ***1975 - Jack O'Halloran ***1976 - Jack O'Halloran ***2007 - Jonathon McCormick ***2010 - Jamie Allan ;Reserves *

**Ralph Marks Medal: 1953 - 1963 **Les Cuddon Medal: 1964 - 1975 **Leo Burke Medal: 1976 - present day ***1963 - Ron Wales ***1967 - Alan Benton ***1992 - Tony Gleeson ***2003 - Colin McClounan ***2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011 - Carl Norton ;Thirds *

**3NE Award: 1973 - 1984 **Leo Dean Award: 1985 to present day ***1974 - Mick Ketchup ***2013 - Louis Vescio ***2014 - Hugh Amery ***2015 - Hugh Amery

Team of the Century

Below is the Wangaratta FNC Team of the Century, that was announced on Saturday evening, 5 August 2006. *Back line: Graeme Nish, Jack Ferguson, Kevin French *Half Backline: Fred Carey, Lionel Wallace, Jack McCormack *Centre line:

Des Steele Des Steele is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Collingwood in the Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tie ...

, Alec Fraser,

*Half Forward line: Norm Minns, Ernie Ward, Mac Holten *Forward line: Phil Nolan, John Leary, Bert Carey *Ruck: Bill Comensoli *Ruck Rover: Jack O'Halloran *Rover: Tim Lowe *Interchange: Graham Wood, Jeffrey Hemphill, Jason Lappin, Kevin Mack, Ken Nish *Coach: Mac Holten *Administration: Norm McGuffie, Jack White

Ovens and Murray Football League The Ovens and Murray Football Netball League (O&MFNL) is an Australian rules football and netball competition containing ten clubs based in north-eastern Victoria, the southern Riverina region of New South Wales and the Ovens and Murray are ...
- Hall of Fame Inductees

*2005 - Norm Minns *2006 - Mac Holten *2010 - Tim Lowe *2013 - Bob Constable *2014 - Kevin Mack *2014 - Phil Nolan *2016 - John Henry *2016 - Jack O'Halloran *2017 - Kevin Allan *2018 - Jack McCormick

VFL / AFL Footballers

The following footballers played for Wangaratta FC prior to making their VFL / AFL debut & / or were drafted to an AFL club, with the year indicating their debut or year drafted. * 1902 - Bill Hickey - South Melbourne * 1906 -

Charlie Meadway Charles Bernard Meadway (16 October 1879 – 1 January 1962) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Carlton and Collingwood in the Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules foo ...

- Wangaratta * 1912 -

Gil Ebbott Gilbert Henry Ebbott (26 August 1890 – 9 February 1960) was an Australian rules footballer who played with St Kilda in the Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Austral ...

- St. Kilda * 1926 - Jack Nolan - North Melbourne * 1927 -

Dinny Kelleher Denis "Dinny" Kelleher (22 July 1902 – 30 May 1963) was an Australian rules footballer who played for Carlton and South Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Early life Born in the small rural town of Baddaginnie in 1902. H ...

- Carlton * 1927 -

Allan Skehan William Allan Skehan (1 January 1906 – 20 April 2004) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Carlton Football Club in the Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football leagu ...

- Carlton * 1928 -

Ray Usher Ray Usher (16 October 1904 – 15 April 1964) was a former Australian rules footballer who played with Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Usher played with the Ebden Rovers Football Club in their losing grand final agai ...

- Melbourne * 1929 - Percy Jones - Geelong * 1930 - Arthur Mills - Hawthorn * 1930 - Bert Mills - Hawthorn * 1932 - John Connell - St. Kilda * 1932 - Leo Nolan - Melbourne * 1950 -

Mac Hill John McMahon "Mac" Hill (22 March 1925 – 24 September 1995) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Collingwood in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Originally from Beechworth where he won their 1947 best and fairest aw ...

- Collingwood * 1953 - Peter Hughes - Hawthorn * 1953 -

- St. Kilda * 1960 - Gary Holmes - St. Kilda * 1960 -

Ian Rowland Ian Rowland (born 11 May 1961) is a corporate speaker, trainer and consultant based near London, England. He has been a contributor to The Straight Dope Message Board and guest contributor of Staff Reports under the user name ianzin. Citing Ro ...

- St. Kilda * 1965 - Ian Montgomery - Collingwood * 1966 - Ian Nicoll - Carlton * 1984 - Darren Steele - North Melbourne * 1988 - Damian Simmonds - Fitzroy * 1989 -

Danny Craven Danny Craven (born 3 May 1967) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with St Kilda Football Club, St Kilda and the Brisbane Bears in the Australian Football League, Victorian/Australian Football League (VFL/AFL). Playing as a rove ...

- St. Kilda * 1989 - Daniel Frawley - Geelong * 1990 -

Chris Naish Chris Naish (born 27 September 1971) is a former Australian rules football player who played in the Australian Football League (AFL), for Richmond Football Club from 1990 to 1997 and Port Adelaide from 1998 to 1999. AFL career Richmond car ...

- Richmond * 1991 - Daryl Donald - Geelong * 1995 -

Luke Norman Luke Thomas Norman (born 16 December 1971) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Melbourne in the Australian Football League (AFL). Norman was originally from Wangaratta and got selected by Melbourne with pick 68 in the 1994 ...

- Melbourne * 2002 - Steve Johnson - Geelong * 2003 - Jonathon McCormick - Carlton * 2007 - Daniel Boyle - Port Adelaide

Most Football Games

;Seniors * 300+ - Daine Porter* * 264 - Brett Keir * 260 - Judd Porter * 249 - Ken Nish * 249 - Graham Wood * 217 - John Leary * 214 - Graeme Nish * 210 - Kevin Mack * 203 - Alec Fraser * 200+ - Matt Kelly* * 200+ - Chris Crimmins * - still playing

Senior Football Honourboard

* - Ladder position is at the end of the home & away series of games * - # Also won the O&M goal kicking award * - * Includes goals kicked in finals * - wins / losses also includes finals, when details checked.

References

Links

1926 - Wangaratta FC Officials1926 - Wangaratta FC & St. Patrick's FC team photos
(June, 1926)
1926 - Ovens & Murray FL Grand Final team photos: Wangaratta FC & St. Patrick's FC
(September, 1926)
1929 - Wangaratta FC team photo1930 - Wangaratta FC & East Albury FC team photos1931 - Wangaratta FC & Moyhu FC team photos1933 - Wangaratta FC & Border United FC team photo1934 - Wangaratta FC & Rutherglen FC team photos1937 - Wangaratta FC & Corowa FC team photos1938 - Ovens & Murray FL Grand Final team photos: Wangaratta FC & Yarrawonga FC1939 - Wangaratta CYMS FC team photo1941 - Ovens & King FL Premiers: Rainbows FC team photo1945 - Murray Valley Patriotic Football League Premiers: Wangaratta FC grand final day team photo1945 - Murray Valley Patriotic Football League Premiers: Wangaratta FC team photo (undefeated)1969 - O&MFL Grand Final Critic
{{Ovens & murray football league Ovens & Murray Football League clubs Australian rules football clubs in Victoria (Australia) Sport in Wangaratta 1909 establishments in Australia Australian rules football clubs established in 1909