Prahran Football Club
Prahran/Assumption Football Club (/pɛ'ræn/), nicknamed The Two Blues, is an Australian rules football club based at Toorak Park in Orrong Road between High Street and Malvern Road, Armadale, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Since 2007, the club has competed in D1 Section of the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA). The nickname Two Blues comes from the club uniform which has been royal blue and sky blue since the club formed in 1886.
Teams
Prahran fields Senior, Reserves, Club XVIII and junior teams. The senior team was coached in 2006 by Leigh Stafford, who resigned from the coaching role at the end of the season. In 2007 the new coach is Paul Greenham, who has played for Richmond, Port Melbourne & St Kevins.
Its sister team is the Deakin Devils – a Division 1 Victorian Women's Football League (VWFL) team.
Famous players
- Jim Stynes – won a Brownlow Medal and went on to set an Australian Football League record for most consecutive games (244) for Melbourne Football Club
- Graeme Yeats – went on to play 182 games for Melbourne Football Club
- Wayne Johnston – went on to play in four Premierships for Carlton Football Club
- Ross Thornton – played for Fitzroy Football Club
- Harold Bray – finished in the top three in the Brownlow Medal three times
- Andre Pitts played his 350th game for the club in 2007
- Tony Free – player-coach in 2001 and 2002 after retiring from an illustrious career with the Richmond Football Club including being Captain of the Tigers.
- Kevin Sheedy – former coach of Essendon Football Club and former Richmond player, began his football career with Prahran.
- Sam Kekovich – North Melbourne Premiership player and well known football identity.
- Don Chipp – Australian Federal politician. A former Liberal Minister in the Australian government and inaugural leader of the Australian Democrats political party. Played in the club's 1951 VFA Premiership team.
Thomas Anthony McLaughlin. Born Belfast, travelled to Australia to complete his professional Football career playing for Prahran 1963-1965
History
A club from Prahran first played as a senior club in the Victorian Football Association in 1886 and 1887,[1] playing its games first at the Warehouseman's Cricket Ground, then at the Wesley College Ground.[2] After 1887, it amalgamated with the neighbouring St Kilda Football Club, which was based less than a mile away.[3]
A new senior Prahran Football Club was established in March 1899, and joined the VFA that season,[4] this time playing at Toorak Park, approximately two miles from St Kilda. It played in the VFA between 1899 and 1994, with the exception of 1959, when it competed in the Metropolitan League; this was because the Prahran Council would not lease Toorak Park to Prahran's Seconds team, leaving the club expelled from the Association's requirements for failing to meet its minimum home ground requirements. At the end of 1994, when administration of the VFA was turned over to the Victorian State Football League, Prahran left the Association as part of the VSFL's efforts to reduce the size of the VFA and align it with the TAC Cup; Prahran's identity was carried on within the TAC Cup from 1995, when the Central Dragons club moved to Toorak Park and was renamed the Prahran Dragons,[5] a name it carried until the end of 1999.
The club continued to exist in an administrative capacity after its departure from the VFA, and continued to operate the Prahran Tabaret – a gambling bar it owns and operates in Chapel Street, Prahran – despite having no on-field presence. In 1999, the club merged with Southbank Amateur Football Club in 1999 and joined the Victorian Amateur Football Association under the stewardship of Herald Sun racing writer Tim Habel. It also re-established its junior arm; and, after commencing with just two junior teams, the club now has eight junior teams and has formed a joint Under 19 team with Caulfield Football Club. In 2010, a voint venture with Assumption College was approved and in 2011 the club changed its name to Prahran/Assumption Football Club.
Premierships
VFA Division 1: 1937, 1951, 1970, 1973, 1978
VFA Division 2: 1966, 1987
Metropolitan League: 1959[6]
Club champions/best and fairest
- 1904 – George Brown (best all-round)
- 1940 – W Faul
- 1945 – A Gardiner
- 1952 – Ian Armstrong
References
- ↑ "The Football Season". The Argus. Melbourne, VIC. 30 April 1886. p. 6.
- ↑ Vin Maskell (11 March 2012). "Albert Cricket Ground, Victoria, Australia". Retrieved 23 March 2014.
- ↑ Rover (7 April 1888). "Football". The Telegraph, St Kilda, Prahran and South Yarra Guardian. p. 7.
- ↑ "A senior club at Prahran". The Argus. Melbourne, VIC. 16 March 1899. p. 7.
- ↑ Adrian Dunn (13 October 1994). "Plan a 'victory' for VFA identity". Herald Sun (Afternoon ed.). Melbourne, VIC. p. 73.
- ↑ "Prahran gets Toorak Oval". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne, VIC. 6 October 1959. p. 52.
Further reading
- Fiddian, Marc The Blue Boys: a History of the Prahran Football Club, Prahran Football Club, Melbourne 1986