5:  CONTINUED

Senior Grade participating clubs 1909 – 1981: Ellindale, one of the original clubs played on a ground owned by Mr. W.Ellin opposite the McKinnon Hotel from 1909 to 1914, before going into recess due to WW1 and appears to be the forerunner of the Bentleigh Football Club. The Bentleigh Reserve was opened for the 1915 cricket season and a new pavilion named after Mr. William Burgess was added the following year.

A Bentleigh Club played in the Federal 1920,1923,24,25,26,27 and 28. The Burgess pavilion burnt down in June 1928 and a new Grandstand with much better facilities was opened in March 1930. I suspect that due to a lack of facilities the club transferred to the Amateurs where they stayed until 1937, then moving to the C.O.D.F.L. In 1957 the club transferred back to the Federal where they remained until folding/merging in 1979.

The C.O.D.F.L. fixture book for the 1953 season states that in its early days the Bentleigh club also played on a paddock to the west of the Bentleigh Railway Station. Mordialloc, also an original club played from 1909 to 1957 before entry into the V.F.A. where they remained until 1988. Due to financial problems they were forced to transfer to the S.E.S.F.L. a few weeks into the 1988 season. The Ben Kavanagh Reserve has been their home base for many years.

Press reports up to the early 1920s often, but not always had match reports using the name Moorabbin ‘Park’ which was the original name of that club with the nickname ‘The Gardeners’, playing or using as its home ground the Dane Road Reserve. From 1932 to 1934 another separate junior Moorabbin club played at the Sir William Fry Reserve. A new club, Moorabbin City was formed in 1935 which played in the C.O.D.F.L. at the Sir William Fry reserve and the Jasper Road McKinnon park until 1940. This new club wanted to distance itself from Moorabbin as its reputation in many regards was very poor.

When senior football resumed in 1945 it appears that these two clubs joined forces by deleting ‘Park’ and ‘City’ to become the Moorabbin Football Club, the ‘Magpies’ which entered the V.F.A. in 1951. The new Linton Street Oval was not ready for the clubs first season and home games were played at Cheltenham. The St. Kilda F.C. moved to the Linton Street oval in 1964 under the guise that the new V.F.L. club would be called St.Kilda-Moorabbin. The V.F.A. acted swiftly and suspended Moorabbin. The club gave restricted clearances to many of its players, at least ten of whom went to Brighton-Caulfield.

In 1979, Bentleigh and McKinnon, who had gone into recession the previous year merged to reform the Moorabbin Football Club, playing in its original colours at the McKinnon Reserve. The new club played in the Federal League until 1981 then the S.E.S.F.L. in 1982. Admission was granted into the V.F.A. in 1983 playing its first year at the Linton Street Oval. The club then moved to McKinnon for 1984 then in 1985 moved again to the Bentleigh Reserve. In 1987 they played its first two matches then forfeited the next two after the coach resigned and many players walked out in support. The V.F.A. suspended the club for not being able to field a team in all three grades, went into recession and ultimately folded.

The original Caulfield Football Club was based in Caulfield Park. Established around 1895 it played in the Amateurs until 1915 and for some time used the main oval which they had fenced in enabling them to charge entry fees for their games. 

Recommencing after WW1 their application to re-join the Amateurs was refused as prior to the recess their reputation was ‘intolerable’. Being forced to remove their perimeter fence they then played in many local under age and junior leagues and moved to the East Caulfield Reserve then joined the Sub-Districts League in 1926.Two years prior in 1924, another club Caulfield City also based in Caulfield Park played for a few years in the Amateur Association as well as the C.O.D.F.L. until it joined the E.S.F.L. in 1932 at which time they moved to the Princes Park, South Caulfield Reserve. The Caulfield club left the Sub-Districts and joined the Federal League in 1932 where it remained until 1970 then changing its name to East Caulfield eventually disbanding at the end of 1976. The original colours were black with a yellow sash which were changed in 1932 to a dark maroon jumper, navy blue collar and yolk with a white monogram.

There was considerable interest shown in 1925 and for a number of years following by the V.F.A. to have in their competition a club from the suburb of Caulfield. Discussions with Council between all parties concerned were promising and councillors were keen to have a senior grade club in their district. The decision of where to play was always going to be a problem. The options were confined to Caulfield Park, East Caulfield Reserve and the newly constructed Princes Park, South Caulfield. 

Another problem was that the two major clubs that would make up the side to enter had very little time for one another. From the press reports of the day the council was reluctant to make a decision that would appease both clubs and the ratepayers as the costs involved in bringing any facility up to V.F.A. standards was quite substantial. Council appeared to be sitting on their hands a little which pushed discussions into the Depression years and the talks were put on hold. The topic was raised again in 1935 when the Caulfield City club applied for entry into the V.F.A. Their application was accepted on the proviso that their chosen ground and facilities were up to the required standards. The main oval situated in Caulfield Park was the preferred option put forward by the football club.

The Caulfield Cricket and Lacrosse clubs as well as local residents strongly opposed the idea as they had been long term tenants of the main oval for over forty years. The possible interference with the gardens and the vista of the park were major considerations and the Council once again dilly dallied and by the time costings were done etc. World War 2 broke out. Camdentown was the original name of the area now known as South Caulfield and the club played for two seasons 1913 and 1914 on the grounds of the Camden Town Sporting Club near the Glenhuntly and Hawthorn Roads intersection and used the London Hotel in Hawthorn Road as its headquarters.

Continued Page 6