| Bendigo Gold | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Names | |||
| Full name | Bendigo Diggers Football Club Ltd[1] | ||
| Nickname(s) | Gold | ||
| Former nickname(s) | Diggers,Bombers | ||
| Club details | |||
| Founded | 1998 | ||
| Dissolved | 2014 | ||
| Colours | Blue Gold | ||
| Competition | Victorian Football League | ||
| Ground(s) | Queen Elizabeth Oval (18,000) View Street, Bendigo | ||
| Uniforms | |||
| |||
Bendigo Gold was anAustralian rules football club based inBendigo,Victoria. The club debuted in theVictorian Football League (VFL) in 1998 as theBendigo Diggers Football Club, which remained its legal name for the duration of the club's existence despite subsequent nickname changes to theBombers and thenGold in proceeding seasons. The club disbanded at the conclusion of the2014 VFL season.[2]
The club entered the VFL in 1998 as the Bendigo Diggers. It struggled for on-field success, winning only seven games in its first three seasons, and enduring successivewinless seasons in 2001 and 2002.[3]
Starting from 2003 the club formed anaffiliation with theEssendon Football Club in theAustralian Football League, under which Essendon could field its reserves players in the Bendigo team. The Diggers mascot was changed to the Bendigo Bombers and the guernsey changed to black with a red sash, to match those of the Essendon AFL club. Over the following ten years of the clubs' affiliation, the club played finals five times, with its best finish and sole finals victory coming in2005, when the club finished fourth. The club also endured another winless season during the affiliation, in2009.[3]
After the completion of the 2011 season, Essendon announced that the 2012 season would be the last season of affiliation with Bendigo; Essendon fielded a stand-alone reserves team in the VFL from 2013, and Bendigo returned to fielding a stand-alone senior team. To reflect the impending change, the team changed its name to the Bendigo Gold, starting in 2012 (the final season of the clubs' affiliation).[4]
Without access to the professional players or financial support offered by its affiliation with Essendon, Bendigo quickly struggled to remain competitive as a stand-alone club. Bendigo was winless in both 2013 and 2014 – which, when added to the 2001 and 2002 seasons, represented four consecutive winless seasons as a stand-alone club. In June 2014, the club concluded that it was not financially viable in the long term; it consequently disbanded and left the VFL following the 2014 season.[2]
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