Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Melbourne University Football Club
Melbourne University Football Club – often known simply as "University" – is an Australian Rules Football club, which played in the game's most elite competition in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including the Victorian Football League (or VFL, the forerunner of the AFL).
The club is the third-oldest club in any code of football in Australia, and was founded in 1859 by students and graduates of the University of Melbourne. That same year it played in the inaugural Challenge Cup, against teams from Albert Park, Carlton, Melbourne, Royal Park and South Yarra.
During the 1870s, the club played in the Second Twenties competition, one level lower than the main competition, the South Yarra Challenge Cup.
On October 4, 1907 the eight founding clubs of the VFL voted unanimously to include the University Club in the league as its ninth team. Richmond Football Club became the tenth team two weeks later. The club's home ground was the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which it shared with the Melbourne Football Club.
The club was known as The Students or The Professors. The players wore a black guernsey with a blue "V" and blue collars and cuffs, black and blue socks and an optional black and blue cap. Players had to have matriculated or hold a higher degree to be eligible to play in the team. It is unique among VFL/AFL clubs in never having any professional (paid) players.
The club was not particularly successful: it never finished higher than sixth in the 10 team competition, and never played in a finals series. It finished last in the competition from 1911 to 1914, losing its last 51 games in a row. In total, it lost 87 of its 126 games between the 1908 and 1914 seasons. When World War I broke out, many young men enlisted to fight, leaving the club with far too few players. It withdrew from the League before the beginning of the 1915 season, and disbanded. There was no hope of re-forming it after the War as it suffered the highest rate of casualties of the league.
Melbourne University students and alumni maintained their involvement in football with a club in amateur competitions, the Melbourne University Blues. The Blues play in the Victorian Amateur Football Association, and have been a perennial power in the highest division of a high-standard amateur competition. They were the premiers in 2004 and have consistently been a spawning ground for young players who go on to the AFL. Unlike American universities, however, support from the University itself is restricted to the provision of a ground and a subsidy for affiliation fees. The University's football team is not watched or supported to any great extent in the wider university community.
External Links
References
- Kevin Taylor, The Sydney Swans. Allen & Unwin, 1987.
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