Melbourne Football Club
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the Australian rules football club. For the association football club, see Melbourne Victory FC.
 |
|
| Names | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Melbourne Football Club |
| Nickname(s) | The Demons, The Dees |
| Season 2008 | |
| Top Goalkicker | Brad Miller |
| Best & Fairest | Cameron Bruce |
| Club Details | |
| Founded | 1859 [1] |
| Colours | Navy Blue and Red |
| Competition | Australian Football League |
| Chairman | Jim Stynes |
| Coach | Dean Bailey |
| Captain(s) | James McDonald |
| Ground(s) | Melbourne Cricket Ground (Capacity: 100,000) |
| Other information | |
| Official website | www.melbournefc.com.au |
 |
|
Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League (AFL), based in Melbourne, Victoria.
In 1859, [2] a few days after it was founded, some of its members created the code of football that it still plays. In 1862 it competed in what may be the earliest challenge trophy competition, was a foundation member of the Victorian Football Association (VFA) (1877), one of two associations and governing bodies formed in the same year and in 1897 it became a foundation member of the Victorian Football League (VFL) competition which later became the national Australian Football League.
In 2008 the club celebrated what it claimed to be the 150th anniversary of the first meeting of its founding members, published "Melbourne FC - Since 1858 - An Illustrated History" and commemorated its formation by naming "150 Heroes" as well as a birthday logo which appears on its official jersey. This is despite the club having not been formed until May 1859.[3][4]
[edit] History
[edit] Origins
The seeds of the Melbourne Football Club were set in 1858 with matches and early meetings involving influential cricketer Tom Wills, Scotch College headmaster Thomas H. Smith and Melbourne Cricket Club member and publican Jerry Bryant, a personal friend of Wills. Wills was instrumental in the push to establish senior football teams and in the same year wrote a letter pushing for a football club with a "code of laws" to be established. Melbourne's early team had a strong link to the Melbourne Cricket Club through its players playing both football and also for the cricket club and playing under the name of Melbourne, with Wills as its inaugural captain.
The team was formally acknowledged and established as a separate sporting entity by the Melbourne Cricket Club on May 14 1859.[5]
[edit] Foundation
On 17 May in 1859, the Melbourne Football Club was incorporated at Bryant's Parade Hotel in East Melbourne. In attendance were Tom Wills, W.J. Hammersley and J.B. Thompson (some sources also include Thomas H. Smith and/or H.C.A. Harrison). During the meeting, the first set of written rules.
In 1861, Melbourne participated in the Caledonian Society's Games, but lost the trophy to the Melbourne University Football Club. The club pushed for its rules to be the accepted rules, however many of the early suburban matches were played under compromise rules decided between the captains of the competing clubs.
Although Melbourne was associated with the cricket club, it was not initially allowed to use the Melbourne Cricket Ground, so the club used a nearby field at Yarra Park as its home ground instead.
By 1866 several other clubs had also adopted an updated version of Melbourne's rules (which was drafted by H.C.A. Harrison.
During the 1870s, Melbourne fielded teams in the Seven Twenties and South Yarra Cup competitions.
After a visit to England by one of the club's officials, the colours of red and blue were officially adopted by the club. Shortly following, the club began wearing a predominately red strip and became informally known by supporters as the "Redlegs".
The name "Redlegs" was coined after a Melbourne official returned from a trip to England with one set of red and another of blue woollen socks. Melbourne wore the red set whilst the blue set were, allegedly, given to the Carlton football club. This may be the source of Carlton's nickname, 'The Blueboys'.
[edit] Founders of the VFA
In 1877, the club became a foundation member of the Victorian Football Association. During this time, the club was known as the "Fuchsias".
In 1889 the MFC was reincorporated into the MCC, and for many years the two organisations remained unhappily linked. The MFC's close association with the MCC allowed it to claim the MCG as its home ground and gave it access to a wealthy membership base, but Melbourne's reputation as an "establishment" club was not always an advantage. The MCC members' automatic right to attend all events at the ground, including MFC football games. This meant many potential members had a reduced incentive to join the football club, and Melbourne's membership remains among the lowest in the competition.
[edit] Entry to the VFL
In 1897 the MFC was part of the breakaway Victorian Football League , and has been a part of the competition ever since. The team became known as the "Redlegs". This nickname is still used by certain membership and supporter groups within the club.
In 1900 Melbourne won its first VFL premiership. They defeated Fitzroy. Melbourne's greatest player of these early years of the VFL was Ivor Warne-Smith, who in 1926 won the club's first Brownlow Medal, the League's annual award for the fairest and best player. In that year Melbourne won its second flag. Warne-Smith won a second Brownlow in 1928.
[edit] Age of greatness
In 1933, the club changed its moniker to the "Demons".
F.V. "Checker" Hughes became Melbourne's coach in 1933, and under his leadership the club entered a golden age. In 1939, 1940 and 1941 Melbourne won its third, fourth and fifth flags. In 1946 Don Cordner became the second Demon to win the Brownlow. In 1947 Fred Fanning kicked a record 18 goals in the last game of the season. The following season Melbourne played the first ever drawn Grand Final, against Essendon and went on to win the premiership the following week.
Norm Smith became Melbourne's coach in 1952, and the following season Ron Barassi played his first game. These two were to take Melbourne to new heights in the coming years. The Demons made the Grand Final in 1954, losing to Footscray, won the flag in 1955, 1956 and 1957, lost to Collingwood in 1958, and then won again in 1959 and 1960 with Smith as Coach and Barassi as Captain.
1964 Melbourne won its 12th flag, defeating Collingwood, at the end of the season, Barassi left the club to become captain-coach of Carlton. The following season Norm Smith was sacked after a dispute with the club. Although he was soon reinstated, things were never the same again for the Demons. The club appeared in Grand Finals from 1954-1960 and every Finals' Series from 1954-1964.
After the 1954 Grand final loss to Footscray, no team was able to score 100 points against the club until Collingwood in round 5 1963. The next team was Geelong with 110 in round 1 1964. The 1965 season started with 8 wins but only two wins from the next 10 games saw the end of the era. They would have to wait until 1987 for Melbourne to make the finals again.
[edit] Decades of disappointment
Poor recruiting zones and management meant that Melbourne, under coaches John Beckwith (1968-70), Ian Ridley (1971-73), Bob Skilton (1974-77), Dennis Jones (1978) and Carl Ditterich (1979-80), languished at the bottom of the League ladder throughout the 1970s. However, in 1971 the club started the season at the top and maintained that position until it lost to Collingwood in round 6. Melbourne was still in second place at the start of the second half of the season but within five weeks was out of the top four and finished with only two more wins and a draw.
Melbourne collected Wooden spoons in 1974 and 1978.
In 1980 the MFC finally legally separated from the MCC, becoming a public company, in an effort to attract more members and improve the club's finances. The season produced one less win than 1979 (five) but the club finished higher - 9th. It became evident that drastic action was needed for a club that had missed 16 finals series in a row the return of former star Ron Barassi was seen as the cure. When Barassi had left in 1965 it was felt that he would eventually return and his arrival caused much excitement and an expectation of immediate success.
In 1981, under the chairmanship of Sir Billy Snedden, Barassi returned to Melbourne as coach and immediately appointed Robert Flower as captain. In Barassi's first year the team finished last, but this was attributed to working out who the willing players were and the club won some powerful victories in the next three seasons. But although Brian Wilson won the Brownlow in 1982, and Peter Moore won it in 1984, Barassi was unable to get the club back into premiership contention.
In 1986 Barassi was replaced by John Northey. Under Northey, Melbourne made the finals in 1987, for the first time since 1964, losing the Preliminary Final to Hawthorn on the last kick of the game after the final siren. It was also the last game played by the team captain Robert Flower. In 1988 the Demons did even better, reaching the Grand Final, only to be defeated, again, by Hawthorn.
From 1987 to 1991 Melbourne had five positive win-loss differentials in successive seasons which the club had not been able to achieve since the 1954-65 era. Thereafter things went downhill for Northey, although Jim Stynes won the Brownlow in 1991. In 1992 the club finished 11th, and Northey was replaced by Neil Balme as coach. Balme got Melbourne into the finals in 1994, but a last game loss to Brisbane saw them drop out of the top eight in 1995, and the club lingered at or near the bottom of the ladder for most of the 1996 season.
[edit] Facing oblivion
By 1996 the club was also in dire financial straits. The board, headed by past player Ian Ridley decided on the desperate step of a merger with Hawthorn. In the ensuing weeks, a passionate debate was fought between pro and anti-merger supporters. In the first few days of this debate, life-long supporters Mark and Anthony Jenkins met with coterie member George Zagon to form the Demon Alternative - an anti-merger group that was to signifiacntly impact on the plans of the incumbent board.
The Demon Alternative recruited members from a wide range of areas but the two most recognised were former player and politician Brian Dixon and Rabbi Joseph Gutnick. The group quickly organised itself into a creditable option for Melbourne supporters; however given the support of the AFL and other factors, when the merger issue was put to a vote a majority of Melbourne members supported the Board. In a meeting run on the opposite side of town, the Hawthorn members had rejected their board's proposal and eventually the merger was defeated.
In the aftermath of the merger meetings Ridley focused on a compromise with the Demons Alternative to ensure that Melbourne could continue as a viable business. His board co-opted Gutnick and Mark Jenkins onto the board and a truce of sorts was struck between all parties.
In the months following the 1996 merger vote, the businessman and rabbi Joseph Gutnick became president. He put $3 million of his own money into the club, and sacked Balme as coach midway through the 1997 season. In 1998, under new coach Neale Daniher, the club spent most of the season in the top eight and beat the eventual premiers Adelaide in the Qualifying Final. Melbourne also eliminated St Kilda, but lost to North Melbourne in the Preliminary Final. In 1999 Melbourne finished in the bottom three.
[edit] Partial revival
In 2000 Daniher took Melbourne to the Grand Final, where however the Demons were convincingly beaten by a rampaging Essendon. The members had expected a new era of success, but in 2001 it was same old story: Melbourne finished 11th. In 2002, although Melbourne again made the finals, Gutnick was voted out by the members.
In 2003 Melbourne plunged into a new crisis, winning only five games for the year and posting a $1 million loss. President Gabriel Szondy resigned and it seemed that Daniher's tenure as coach was under threat. But, continuting the recent trend, in 2004, Melbourne climbed the ladder again, winning 14 games and leading the competition, albeit for one round only, in Round 18. And although the team lost its remaining four games, the club still made the finals, only to lose narrowly to Essendon.
During the 2004 post-season the Demons tragically lost defender Troy Broadbridge in the Asian tsunami, when he was swept off Phi Phi island in Thailand. He was walking along the beach with his wife Trisha when the tsunami struck. His body was found on January 3, 2005, and brought home. A funeral was held on January 20, 2005 in recognition to the No. 20 guernsey he wore during his playing days. During the 2005 off-season, the whole team travelled to the island in which Broadbridge was killed to build a new school for those struck by the tsunami. The No.20 jumper was then rested for two years.
Melbourne started 2005 strongly, being second after Round 12, however losing momentum by Round 19 appeared unlikely to play finals, then wins against Western Bulldogs , Geelong at Geelong (where Melbourne had not won since the late 1980s), and Essendon in Round 22, placed the club seventh and a finals berth,only to lose the Elimination Final to Geelong by 55 points.
In 2006, after a slow start, Melbourne again finished the season in seventh position. After defeating St Kilda in the first Elimination Final by 18 points the season ended the following week when Fremantle beat the Demons by 28 points. Melbourne's coach Neale Daniher had become the second longest-serving coach in the AFL, and the longest-surviving in the entire history of the VFL-AFL not to have coached a premiership side.
[edit] Daniher's departure and rebuilding
2007 was a poor season for Melbourne. After losing their first 9 games through a combination of injury and poor form, they finally broke through with wins against Adelaide and Collingwood. But, following a loss to Richmond the next week, Daniher was sacked by the club, and Mark Riley was appointed as caretaker coach. The sacking of Daniher caused significant tension at the club. It was an unpopular move with the leadership group, and captain David Neitz expressed their disatisfaction over the decision. Winning three of their remaining nine games, Melbourne avoided the wooden spoon and finished 14th.
Dean Bailey was appointed as coach for the 2008 season, but success did not follow, as Melbourne lost their first 6 matches, before breaking through with a record comeback win in round 7 against Fremantle. They showed signs of improvement, putting up a good fight in round 9 against top-of-the-ladder team Hawthorn, who were undefeated at the time. Melbourne had to wait until Round 14 for the second win. After good performances against Collingwood, Richmond, and Sydney in the preceding weeks, the Demons defeated Brisbane by a solitary point in the two team's first encounter at the MCG in 9 years.
[edit] 2008 - Birthday Celebrations and Financial Crisis
Off field, the club remained in serious turmoil. In the first sign of troubles on February 2008, CEO Steve Harris resigned. Paul Gardner addressed the media in response to comments from the club's auditors spelling disaster for the club. Gardner reiterated that the club had posted a $97,000 profit at the end of 2007[6]. Harris was replaced by the high profile former Wimbeldon tennis champion Paul McNamee.[7] Despite celebrating the club's birthday with an official mid-season function at Crown Casino[8], shortly afterward chairman Paul Gardiner resigned, handing the presidency to former club champion Jim Stynes who revealed a $4.5 million debt which media pundits suggested would cripple the club.[9] Hawthorn's president Jeff Kennett caused controversy with remarks about relocating the Demons to the Gold Coast[10], something which Stynes spoke against. AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou dispelled the notion that the club's future was in doubt, he admitted that Stynes board faced a huge challenge.[11]. Demons legend, games and goalkicking record holder David Neitz announced his immediate retirement due to injury on May 9.[12]
Stynes wasted no time attempting to change the club's direction and eliminate its debt, commencing a drive called "Debt Demolition", beginning with a call for members to sign up.[13] Under his direction, a new board sacked Paul McNamee after just four months. During McNamee's tenure, he had drawn criticisms for holidaying in Wimbledon to compete in a legends match and after his sacking an attempt to lure Brisbane Lions star Jonathan Brown was also revealed[14]. An August 5 fundraiser raised $1.3 million AUD. To date the club has raised well over $3 million AUD.[15] Despite the reduced debt, in November club CEO Cameron Schwab declared that it required urgent AFL assistance to continue, requesting additional funding to its special annual distribution. In December, a fallout in negotiations between the Melbourne Cricket Club resulted in the MCC not committing an expected $2 million to the club and Schwab declared that the club's immediate future was in doubt.[16]
This doubt was quickly put away when the AFL and MCC finalised negotioations. The AFL is to commit $1million to the MFC in 09, with the MCC replicating the AFL's actions. [17]
[edit] Membership base
Melbourne Football Club has listed a record amount of members in 2009, but still has one of the smallest membership bases in the AFL competition. This is partly because many traditional Melbourne supporters are already members of the Melbourne Cricket Club (around 23% of MCC members have Melbourne Football Club nominated support[18]), which gets them privileged access to the MCG, so they don't see the need to pay for a separate MFC membership. With approximately 21,850 MCC members supporting the football club, if these members were to become full members, the Demons would have one of the largest memberships in the competition. Although previously not allowed, for the 2007/08 season, the Melbourne Football Club are offering MCC members the chance to become official members of the club for a heavily reduced cost, in order to entice members to join. This helped the club to achieve a membership of over 28,000 - well over the club's previous record - even with a poor season on-field. On the 20th June, 2008 a new membership record was set, surpassing the 28,077 of 2007. It was later announced the club finished with 29,619 members, a great effort in such a poor year on-field. On the 24th April 2009 the Demons broke their all-time membership record, registering 29,706 members. Five days later the MFC recorded its target of 30,000 members registering 30,032 for the first time in their history.
| Year | Members | Finishing position |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 17,870 | 4th |
| 1999 | 19,713 | 14th |
| 2000 | 18,227 | 2nd |
| 2001 | 22,940 | 11th |
| 2002 | 20,152 | 6th |
| 2003 | 20,555 | 14th |
| 2004 | 25,252 | 7th |
| 2005 | 24,220 | 8th |
| 2006 | 24,698 | 5th |
| 2007 | 28,077 | 14th |
| 2008 | 29,619 | 16th |
| 2009 | 31,508¹,³ | 16th² |
¹ Numbers from melbournefc.com.au as of July 1, 2009
² Position as of Round 12, 2009
³ Club Record
[edit] Club Song
The official Melbourne Club Song is called "It's A Grand Old Flag" (sung to the tune of "You're a Grand Old Flag")
- Its a grand old flag
- Its a high flying flag
- Its the emblem for me and for you
- Its the emblem of the team we love
- The team of the red and the blue
- Ev'ry heart beats true
- For the red and the blue
- And we sing this song to you (What do we sing!)
- Should auld acquaintance be forgot
- Keep your eye on the red and the blue
[edit] Club Jumper
The current Melbourne club jumper consists of a red v-neck on a navy blue background, with the AFL logo on the front as well as the Hankook Tyres logo, their main sponsor. Kaspersky Lab, Melbourne's other sponsor, has a logo on the back beneath the player's number. The Melbourne clash strip, new in 2009, consists of a red backing with a traditional blue Demon on the chest.[19] This replaced the much derided grey and red jumper of 2008.
[edit] Prominent Fans
- Ron Barassi AFL Legend (No.1 Ticket Holder)
- Terry Bracks wife of Steve Bracks (No. 1 female ticket holder)[20]
- John So former Lord mayor of Melbourne
- Dennis Cometti[21] sports commentator
- Ian Johnson Managing Director, Channel 7, Melbourne[citation needed]
- Hamish Blake Radio Presenter FOX FM (Melbourne)[22]
- Mike Sheahan Herald-Sun Football Writer[23]
- Rob Sitch comedian
- Max Walker former cricketer and TV presenter (who played for MFC from 1967-1972)
- Brad Hodge Australian cricket[citation needed]
- Victor Perton former Victorian State Liberal MP[citation needed]
- Beverley O'Connor journalist and club vice-chairman
- David Hobson Opera Singer and TV Celebrity[citation needed]
- Philip Davis Victorian State Liberal MP[citation needed]
- Peter Berner comedian/radio presenter (No.2 Ticket Holder)
- Alan Stockdale Former Victorian Kennett Liberal Government Treasurer
- Mal Walden Television News Presenter[citation needed]
- Ron Walker Fairfax Media Chairman[citation needed]
- Noong Arr Prominent Media Commentator[citation needed]
- Don Argus Chairman of BHP Billiton[citation needed]
- Graeme Samuel Chairman, ACCC[citation needed]
- Ian Henderson, ABC TV newsreader[citation needed]
- Steve Moneghetti (marathon runner[citation needed])
- Ella Hooper Jesse Hooper (Killing Heidi)[citation needed]
- Nicky Buckley (television personality)[citation needed]
- Geoff Cox (television presenter)[citation needed]
- Bobby Valentine (musician)[citation needed]
- David Bridie (singer/songwriter)[citation needed]
- John Rothfield aka Dr Turf (radio presenter)[citation needed]
- Rob Gell (television weatherman)[citation needed]
- Greg Evans (television personality)[citation needed]
- Jan Sardi (Oscar nominated screenwriter)[citation needed]
- Michael Veitch (comedian and writer)[citation needed]
- Archie Thompson Soccer player[citation needed]
- Tony Hawk (American star skateboarder)[24]
- John Burgess (ex-TV game show host)
- Clint Stanaway (Nine News reporter)
- Mark Bradtke (ex-Australian Boomers Basketballer)
- Neil Mitchell (3AW Talkback Radio Host)
[edit] Current squad
As of November 29, 2008:
|
|
|
||||
