Aberfeldie Football Club

Aberfeldie Football Club is an Australian rules football club located in the north-western suburbs of Melbourne. Aberfeldie first entered competitive teams in the Essendon District Football League in 1948.

Originally known as ‘The Gorillas’, the team wore a navy blue Guernsey with an ACC monogram in reference to the Aberfeldie Community Centre. The first team to represent the Club was an Under 17 side which first took to the field in 1948, winning the Club’s first premiership in 1951. 1950 saw the introduction of the first open age side in the B-Grade competition, which subsequently took out the Premiership in 1953.

The 1960s saw the Club expand to field sides in Open age, Reserves, Under 17,15 and 13, with the only Premiership won by the Under 17s in 1966. 1971 marked the beginning of the most successful period in the Club’s history with the introduction of the Under 9 and 11 sides. The Under 11s and the Under 9s between them won eight Premierships during the period 1971-1977. During this period additional flags were won by the Under 15s (two) and the A-Reserves (two).

After finishing second last in 1973, the A-Grade side recruited diligently found ultimate success with the A-Grade Premiership in 1974 – an achievement yet to be repeated at Senior level. Several Grand Final appearances followed without success before relegation to B-Grade in 1979. After being runners up in 1980 and 1981, success and a return to A-Grade was realised in 1982. The rest of the 1980s was relatively successful with the junior sides performing at their best.

Finally success again came their way when the Seniors won the B-Grade Grand Final in 1995 (losing only one game all Season), which propelled Aberfeldie back into the A-Grade competition.

Aberfeldie boasts a powerful junior program - fielding 15 under age teams each weekend.

The successful Under 18 team has in recent years has boasted five consecutive grand final wins (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004) which is a verifiable record for a single age group within the Essendon District Football League.

The club believes that there is much potential to build on in the medium to long term future. They are also excited about the potential of a number of the Under 18 group graduating as prospective senior players in the coming years. It is an important part of the Aberfeldie Football Club policy to create opportunity both on and off field for home grown players to progress through the under age ranks to eventually become fully fledged senior footballers.

Links

* [http://www.footypedia.com/ Footypedia]
* [http://www.essendondfl.com.au/ EDFL Website]
* [http://www.fullpointsfooty.net/aberfeldie.htm/ Full Points Footy profile of Aberfeldie Football Club]