| Werribee Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Names | ||
| Full name | Werribee Football Club Limited[1] | |
| Nickname(s) | Tigers,Bees,Killerbees | |
| Club song | Tune of "US Marines Hymn" | |
| 2024 season | ||
| After finals | 1st | |
| Home-and-away season | 1st | |
| Leading goalkicker | Hudson Garoni (49)[2] | |
| Best and fairest | Dom Brew[3] | |
| Club details | ||
| Founded | 1964; 62 years ago (1964) | |
| Colours | Black Gold | |
| Competition | Victorian Football League | |
| President | Martin Carter | |
| Coach | Jimmy Allan | |
| Captain | Nick Coughlan | |
| Premierships | VFA/VFL (2) | |
| Ground | Chirnside Park (5,000) | |
| Uniforms | ||
| ||
| Other information | ||
| Official website | werribeefc.com.au | |
 Current season | ||
TheWerribee Football Club, nicknamed theTigers, is anAustralian rules football club based in the suburb ofWerribee. The club was formed in 1964 and currently plays in theVictorian Football League (VFL). It is the western-mostMelbourne-based VFL club as of 2021.
The Werribee Rovers Football Club was formed in May 1912.[4] The Werribee Football Club won the 1920 Lara-Werribee District Football Association premiership.[5][6]
The current Werribee Football Club was established in 1964 as part of a bid to enter theVictorian Football Association (VFA) in 1965. The new club was formed as an amalgamation of four local clubs which competed in the Werribee District Football League: Werribee South, Irish National Foresters, Services and Metro Farm.[7] In the early years the team was in the second division, and had little success over that time. Geographically distant from all other clubs in what was then a small town partway between Melbourne and Geelong, the club was unable to attract many strong non-local players, and was considered "the lonesome battler" of the Association. Up to 1980, the club had struggled through its sixteen seasons in Division 2 for one finals appearance and four wooden spoons.[8] Its sole success during this time was its victory in the 1978lightning premiership; it was the only Division 2 club to win that competition during its eight-year existence.[9]
The club embarked on a five-year plan in the late 1970s, which saw the club build its finances, improve its on-field performance to reach the finals in 1981, and open a $200k social club in 1980.[8] This saw the club promoted to Division 1 in 1982, as part of the Association'smerit-based restructure of the competition. The club was relegated after finishing last at the end of 1985.[10] The club won the Division 2 minor premiership in 1987,[11] but never won a premiership or even a finals match during its time in Division 2.[12]
In December 1986, Werribee had been earmarked for exclusion under the Association's controversial Football Organisation Review Team (FORT) recommendations, which sought to rationalise the Association to a stronger twelve-club competition in a single division, but which were never formally enacted after being rejected by the clubs.[13] However, after the VFA had contracted to a single division in 1989, Werribee began to enjoy on-field success, and Werribee was one of only two of the FORT review's excluded clubs to survive in the VFA beyond 1991, the other beingSpringvale.
The club played a major role in the finals during the early 1990s, winning the premiership in 1993, finishing as runner-up after winning the minor premiership in 1991, and playing in a total of five finals series from 1990 to 1995.
At the end of the 1995 season, the club faced another threat to its survival when theVictorian State Football League sought to align the VFA (which at that time renamed the VFL) with theTAC Cup, and needed only one western suburban team to align with theWestern Jets. Werribee andWilliamstown were ordered to merge;[14] when they could not agree to terms, the VSFL decided to grant the remaining licence to Williamstown, resulting in Werribee's expulsion from the VFL.[15] After Werribee supporters rallied and the club demonstrated a strong position to launch legal action, the VSFL reinstated Werribee's licence under then-unique conditions which left it as the only club without district and TAC Cup feeder teams.[16] The conditions did not harm the club on-field, as it continued to perform strongly, reaching the finals for the next four years, including winning the minor premiership and making a losing Grand Final appearance in 1998. The club was later permitted to take on theGeelong Falcons as its TAC Cup feeder team.[17]
Following the amalgamation of the AFL reserves and the VFL, Werribee entered areserves affiliation with theAFL'sWestern Bulldogs, which lasted from 2000 to 2007. The alliance allowed the club to have access to Bulldogs players who were not selected in the senior team. During that time, the club reached a further two Grand Finals in the 2000s: in 2001 and 2005, but lost both. From 2008 until 2015, the club was part of a split-affiliation structure with theNorth Melbourne Football Club, whereby half of North Melbourne's reserve players were allocated to Werribee and half were allocated toNorth Ballarat. From 2016 and 2017, the club was fully affiliated with North Melbourne and have access to all North Melbourne reserves players.[18]
In 2018, the club ended its on-field alignment with North Melbourne, becoming a standalone side again for the first time since 1999.[19]
In August 2018, the club announced senior coach John Lamont would be standing down at season's end after five years at the helm. In September,Port AdelaideAFL premiership coachMark Williams was announced as new senior coach on a three-year deal.[20]
In December 2020, following the departure of Mark Williams to theMelbourne Football Club,[21] the club announcedMichael Barlow as senior coach for season 2021.[22] At the end of the2023 season, in which Werribee was runner-up in the grand final, Barlow left to joinNorth Melbourne as a Development Manager.[23]
| Premierships | |||
| Competition | Level | Wins | Years won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Victorian Football League | Seniors | 2 | 1993,2024 |
| VFA/VFL Reserves | Division 1 | 1 | 2001 |
| Division 2 | 2 | 1987, 1988 | |
| VFA/VFL Thirds | Division 1 | 2 | 1990, 1992 |
| Other titles and honours | |||
| Lightning Premiership | Seniors | 1 | 1978 |
| Finishing positions | |||
| Victorian Football League | Minor premiership | 5 | 1991, 1998, 2001,2005,2024 |
| Grand finalists | 5 | 1991, 1998, 2001, 2005, 2023 | |
| Wooden spoons | 1 | 1985 | |
The club song is sung to the tune of theUnited States Marines Hymn.
