Grovedale Football Club

Grovedale Football Club plays in the Geelong Football League in Victoria, Australia. They play their home games at Burdoo Reserve, or as people know it as the Stuart Boyd Oval.

Club History

In 1920 Grovedale formed a football side. They put them self in the Freshwater Creek DFA which in these days does not run any more. In 1923 they made the "Grand Final" against Belmont now known as Sth Barwon, they lost the game by 16 pts. Two years later in 1925, they made another Grand Final, in which they played Barrabool, but again they lost the game.

Merger

In 1956 they entered into the Geelong & DFL, as the Cup was called the Jarman Cup, and they merged with Marshall to form Marshall-Grovedale. In 1963 they made the Jarman Cup where they played against Leopold, they won by 27 pts. The following year the cup was renamed the Woolworth Cup. In 1970 they changed their name back to Grovedale Football Club.

1970's

In 1973 they had to make two divisions because there were so many teams, so the club went into Division 2. Between 1973 & 1976 Grovedale made it to every Grand Final where they played Modewarre. In '73 they lost by 19pts, in '74 they lost again, this time by 25pts.In 1975 they won by 5pts. The following season Modewarre beat them by 21 pts.

Geelong Football League

In 1978 they were promoted to Division 1 but they didn't win many games that year. The following year the Geelong Football League was formed. But the Following 36 years seldom made the finals.

Famous Players

They had always had great junior players coming up through the ranks, but somehow they just seem to leave and play at other clubs. Grovedale had a couple of players who played at AFL level who started their careers at the club.

Grovedale has had David Mensch, Michael Schulze and Matthew Primus all playing for the team. Even in 2004 Tim McGrath came down for a playing-coach role, and he brought a couple of good players, but not enough in this league.

Recent History

Below is information about the club in the last two seasons.

2006 Season

In 2006 they had a chance to make the finals. The club gained a new president in the shape of Reece Chadwick, and with the likes of David "MONSTER" Mensch coming back to where it all started for him in the juniors. Mensch played 144 games for the Geelong Cats in the AFL and Kicked 152. With Tim McGrath still coaching, he brought in another couple of players, such as Michael Poon and Peter O'Brien, but they needed some more better players as once again, they failed to make the finals.

They finished 9th out of 12 teams in what was a disappointing season. Once again the under 18s just missed the out on the finals. A couple of players played falcons such as Daniel Broderick and Luke Delaney. With Daniel and Luke playing for most of the season in the Senior side. Even in the last couple games of the season Sam Bourke played in some games and really stood out. Jack Chafer and Devon Eddy also got a game in the Seniors.

2007 Season

With 2007 footy season just around the corner the team had to make a few changes, and they did.

With Tim McGrath leaving, they replaced him with David Mensch who took over the coaching roles.With him taking over in that role, he brought in a couple of handy football players. Andrew Barrs (who is 21) also signed for them after playing at Modewarre for 2 years. He also played for the club in the Juniors.

The signing of the season would have been 22 year old Brad Edwards who also played for the juniors, but instead went to coach Belmont Lions. The club is currently talking to other players.

References