Camberwell Football Club
Names
Full name	Camberwell Amateur Football Club[1]
Nickname(s)	Tricolours,Cobras,Wells
Club details
Founded	Mid-1880s
Dissolved	1995; 30 years ago (1995)
Colours
Competition	Various
Premierships	RDFA (4) 1907 1908 1909 1911 MDFL (3) 1921 1922 1923 VFA (D2) (2) 1979 1981
Ground(s)	Camberwell Sports Ground
Uniforms
Home

TheCamberwell Football Club, nicknamed theCobras, was anAustralian rules football club based in theMelbourne suburb ofCamberwell. The club competed in theVictorian Football Association (VFA) from 1926 until 1990, which was followed by three seasons in theVictorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) before going into recess in 1995.

Camberwell was formed around the mid-1880s, with a published match in 1886.^[2]

The club first competed in theVictorian Junior Football Association (VJFA) in 1889, finishing sixth on the ladder, eighth in 1890 and eighth in 1891. At the 1895 VJFAAGM, 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 theEastern Suburbs Football Association (ESFA) in 1899 and theReporter District Football Association (RDFA) in 1905.

In 1912, Camberwell went into recess again, with their players being distributed to the Burwood andKew football clubs.^[3] In 1913, the club was readmitted into the VJFA, rated by many as the third highest grade of football in Victoria at that time.^[4]

Camberwell won a three-peat in theMelbourne District Football Association (MDFA) from 1921 until 1923, with the latter grand final held as acurtain-raiser at theMelbourne Cricket Ground beforeEssendon playedSouth Melbourne in the secondVictorian Football League (VFL) semi-final.^[5]

In its earliest years, the club was playing at Camberwell Junction (the corner of Burke and Riversdale Roads); the space that became the home of the Camberwell Football Club for 80 years (eventually known as "Camberwell Sports Ground") was originally a vegetable garden ("Brooks Paddock") and part of Camberwell Racecourse. The preparation of a new sports ground (originally dubbed "Bowen Park") on this site was finished in 1909 and Camberwell Football Club first played at the new ground the following year (1910). A grandstand for visitors' rooms (the "Tramways Grandstand") was built in 1920. A much larger spectators' grandstand and pavilion was built in 1935 – and ready for the 1936 football season.^[6]

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 theVictorian Football League (VFL) or theVictorian Football Association (VFA). It lodged applications to join both at different times during the early 1920s,^[7][8] and was admitted to the VFA for the1926 season.^[9] It reached its first Grand Final in1935, losing by nine points toYarraville.^[10]

With the introduction ofthrow-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 playerLaurie Nash for a huge salary of £8/wk.^[11][12] Following World War II, Camberwell won its first and only top division minor premiership in1946,^[13] but lost in the Grand Final againstSandringham by seven points.^[14]

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,^[15] and it faced pressure to hold its lease at the Camberwell Sports Ground from local soccer clubs who could offer the council more money.^[16] It was generally near the bottom of the ladder, and found itself in Division 2 when the Association waspartitioned in 1961. The club remained weak throughout the 1960s.

The club improved through the early 1970s, and became a regular Division 2 finalist from1973. The club played in losing Grand Finals in1975 againstBrunswick^[17] and in1978 againstFrankston,^[18] before winning its first premiership in1979, defeatingOakleigh by 38 points.^[19] Promoted to Division 1 for the first time, the club was relegated after one season, but won the Division 2 premiership again in1981, defeatingWaverley by 32 points in the Grand Final.^[20] In the next few years, Camberwell was considered one of the boom clubs of the VFA, and in1984 it reached the Division 1 finals for the first time since the 1940s.^[21]

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.^[22] Within a year, there had been an exodus of more than forty players,^[23] plus the club was left with a large damage bill after a grandstand fire.^[24] The inexperienced team which remained was winless with a percentage of only 30.1 in 1986, including suffering a VFA-record loss againstWilliamstown by 315 points,^[25] and was relegated.^[26] 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.^[a] 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.^[29]

Camberwell hoped to regroup and rejoin the VFA in1992, but this did not eventuate. Instead, the club joined theVictorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) asCamberwell Amateurs for the1992 VAFA season, competing in the G North section.^[1] Although the club finished fifth at the end of the season and did not make the finals series, they were promoted to F2 Section in1993, in which they finished second-last with only three wins.^[30]

Camberwell's final season was in1994 in the Club XVIII North section (formerly known as G Section North), with the club winning its final game againstNorth Old Boys.^[1] In the summer of1995, Camberwell went into recess and folded later that year.^[1][31]

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

• J. J. Liston Trophy winners
  • 1950 –Frank Stubbs
  • 1957 –Ken Ross
• J. Field Medal winner
  • 1971 – Rodney Evans

• Backline:Colin Judd,Jim Bohan,Ken Ross
• Half back: Geoff Mason, Harry Jones,Marcus Boyall
• Centre: Reg Horkings, Lloyd Holyoak, Charlie Clamp
• Half forward: Ian Whitten,Laurie Nash, Roy Williams.
• Forward:Bill Luff, Garry Hammond, Geoff Simpson^[32]
• Followers:Frank Stubbs, Godon Duff,R.J. 'Nipper' Bradford
• Interchange: Brendan Budge, Mark Davidson, Peter Oliver, Peter Stevenson, George Stone,^[33]Ross Wright
• Coach:A 'Horrie' Mason
• CaptainJim Bohan
• Vice CaptainColin Judd

The following footballers played at least 100 senior games for Camberwell in the VFA:

• Harry Jones: Played his first 133 games in a row for Camberwell.

Source:^[34]

The following footballers played with Camberwell prior to making their VFL (now AFL) debut:

The following footballers came to play and/or coach with Camberwell after experience at a VFL (now AFL) club:

Wikimedia Commons has media related toCamberwell Football Club.

• Fullpointsfooty^[usurped]
• Footypedia
• Boyles History of Camberwell FC. By Ken Mansell

• Former Victorian Amateur Football Association clubs
• Former Victorian Football League clubs
• Australian rules football clubs in Melbourne
• 1880s establishments in Australia
• 1995 disestablishments in Australia
• Australian rules football clubs disestablished in 1995
• Sport in the City of Boroondara
• Victorian Junior Football Association clubs

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