Camberwell Football Club


The Camberwell Football Club, nicknamed the Cobras, was an Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Camberwell. The club competed in the Victorian Football Association from 1926 until 1990, which was followed by three seasons in the Victorian Amateur Football Association before going into recess in 1995.

History

Early years

Camberwell was formed in 1886 and joined the Victorian Junior Football Association, with its earliest-recorded match on 1 May 1886 against.
The club finished sixth on the ladder in 1889, eighth in 1890, and eighth in 1891. At the 1895 VJFA AGM, the competition was reduced from 20 teams to 12 teams and Camberwell was one of the clubs that was not admitted and it appears that Camberwell FC went into recess for a number of years, before joining the Eastern Suburbs Football Association in 1899 and the Reporter District Football Association in 1905.
In 1912, Camberwell went into recess again, with their players being distributed to the Burwood and Kew football clubs. In 1913, the club was readmitted into the VJFA, rated by many as the third highest grade of football in Victoria at that time.
Camberwell won a three-peat in the Melbourne District Football Association from 1921 until 1923, with the latter grand final held as a curtain-raiser at the Melbourne Cricket Ground before played in the second Victorian Football League semi-final.
In its earliest years, the club was playing at Camberwell Junction ; the space that became the home of the Camberwell Football Club for 80 years was originally a vegetable garden and part of Camberwell Racecourse. The preparation of a new sports ground on this site was finished in 1909 and Camberwell Football Club first played at the new ground the following year. A grandstand for visitors' rooms was built in 1920. A much larger spectators' grandstand and pavilion was built in 1935 – and ready for the 1936 football season.

VFA

After establishing itself as a successful junior and sub-district club, Camberwell was seen by the 1920s as a likely strong fit for expansions into the eastern suburbs of either the Victorian Football League or the Victorian Football Association. It lodged applications to join both at different times during the early 1920s, and was admitted to the VFA for the 1926 season. It reached its first Grand Final in 1935, losing by nine points to Yarraville.
With the introduction of throw-pass football to the VFA in 1938, the club made one of the VFA's most significant ever recruiting coups when it recruited champion VFL player Laurie Nash for a huge salary of £8/wk. Following World War II, Camberwell won its first and only top division minor premiership in 1946, but lost in the Grand Final against Sandringham by seven points.
Following the end of the throw-pass era in 1950, Camberwell became one of several weaker VFA clubs who struggled throughout the 1950s. The club was operating as amateur in 1953 due to lack of funds, and it faced pressure to hold its lease at the Camberwell Sports Ground from local soccer clubs who could offer the council more money. It was generally near the bottom of the ladder, and found itself in Division 2 when the Association was partitioned in 1961. The club remained weak throughout the 1960s.
The club improved through the early 1970s, and became a regular Division 2 finalist from 1973. The club played in losing Grand Finals in 1975 against Brunswick and in 1978 against Frankston, before winning its first premiership in 1979, defeating Oakleigh by 38 points. Promoted to Division 1 for the first time, the club was relegated after one season, but won the Division 2 premiership again in 1981, defeating Waverley by 32 points in the Grand Final. In the next few years, Camberwell was considered one of the boom clubs of the VFA, and in 1984 it reached the Division 1 finals for the first time since the 1940s.
Camberwell's position deteriorated abruptly in 1985. Struggling financially, as many VFA clubs were, it asked its players to take a pay cut at the start of the season; but, still unable to make its player payments, senior players began to walk out on the club at midseason. Within a year, there had been an exodus of more than forty players, plus the club was left with a large damage bill after a grandstand fire. The inexperienced team which remained was winless with a percentage of only 30.1 in 1986, including suffering a VFA-record loss against Williamstown by 315 points, and was relegated. The club was more competitive in Division 2, but endured two consecutive winless seasons after the competition was recombined into a single division in 1989. After pre-season form indicated the club would be even less competitive in 1991, the club dropped out of the VFA a couple of weeks prior to the start of the season.

VAFA

Camberwell hoped to regroup and rejoin the VFA in 1992, but this did not eventuate. Instead, the club joined the Victorian Amateur Football Association as Camberwell Amateurs for the 1992 VAFA season, competing in the G North section. Although the club finished fifth at the end of the season and did not make the finals series, they were promoted to F2 Section in 1993, in which they finished second-last with only three wins. The club played at Rathmines Road Reserve in Hawthorn East during the 1993 season.
Camberwell's final season was in 1994 in the Club XVIII North section, with the club winning its final game against North Old Boys. In the summer of 1995, Camberwell went into recess and folded later that year.

Honours

Club records

Most goals in a season: 141 - Laurie Nash in 1941Most Consecutive games in a row: Harry Jones - 133

VFA best and fairest winners

Team of the Century

100-game players

The following footballers played at least 100 senior games for Camberwell in the VFA:
  • Greg Spithill: 163
  • Gary Hammond: 162
  • Ken Freiberg: 151
  • Oscar Skalberg: 150
  • Harry Jones: 143*
  • Jim Bohan: 140
  • Phil Neilson: 139
  • Colin Judd: 134
  • Roy Williams: 133
  • Bill Hazlett: 128
  • Geoff Mason: 127
  • Geoff Simpson: 123
  • Kevin Johnson: 116
  • Gordon Duff: 114
  • Jack Seelenmeyer: 113
  • Charlie Clamp: 113
  • Reg Fletcher: 113
  • Ken Douglas: 112
  • Dennis Boyd: 112
  • Mark Davidson: 110
  • John Hook: 110
  • Reg Horkings: 108
  • Peter Fox: 106
  • Bob Gibson: 106
  • Keith McGuinness: 105
  • John Smith: 105
  • Ern Dyball: 104
  • Geoff Brayne: 103
  • Ken Benbow: 101
  • Harry Jones: Played his first 133 games in a row for Camberwell.

Seasons

Source:

Grand finals

YearLeagueDivisionGradeOpponentScoreVenueCrowdDateReport
1899ESFASeniorsAlbion2.6 d. 1.2 Camberwell16 September 1899
1907RDFASeniorsMitcham2.6 d. 1.2 Blackburn31 August 1907
1908RDFASeniors
1909RDFASeniors
1911RDFAA SectionSeniorsBurwood14.14 d. 2.1
1921MDFASeniors10 point margin
1922MDFASeniorsMoreland8.9 d. 7.9 Dandenong7 October 1922
1923MDFASeniorsFairfield9.12 d. 8.8 Melbourne Cricket Ground"Large"29 September 1923
1935VFASeniorsYarravilleToorak Park14,6007 9 1935
1946VFASeniorsSandringhamSt Kilda Cricket Ground30,0005 10 1946
1963VFADivision 2ReservesSunshine7.11 d. 5.9 Box Hill City Oval7 September 1963
1975VFADivision 2SeniorsBrunswickToorak Park9,0007 9 1975
1978VFASeniorsFrankstonToorak Park8,00010 9 1978
1979VFADivision 2SeniorsOakleighToorak Park12,0239 9 1979
1981VFADivision 2SeniorsWaverleyToorak Park8,2506 9 1981
1981VFADivision 2ReservesOakleighToorak Park29 September 1923

VFL players

The following footballers played with Camberwell prior to making their VFL debut:

VFL players who joined Camberwell

The following footballers came to play and/or coach with Camberwell after senior experience at a VFL club: