The Brighton Football Club, nicknamed the Penguins, was an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

club based in the

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

suburb of

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

. The club was a founding member of the

Metropolitan Junior Football Association The Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) is the largest senior community Australian rules football competition in Victoria, Australia, Victoria. Founded in 1892, it consists of six senior divisions, ranging from Premier to Division 3 i ...

(MJFA) in 1892, before moving to the

Victorian Football Association The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFA) in 1908. After suffering financial hardship throughout the 1950s, the club merged with South Caulfield in

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

to become the Brighton-Caulfield Football Club, before eventually moving to the suburb of Caulfield and becoming the

Caulfield Football Club The Caulfield Football Club, nicknamed Bears, was an Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Caulfield, Victoria, Caulfield. It competed in the Victorian Football Association (VFA) from 1965 until 1987, when the club fo ...

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

History

Early years

An advertisement in '' The Argus'' on 8 June 1859 announced a meeting to be held on the 9th of that month, at the Devonshire Hotel, to form the Brighton Football Club. There are references to an active Brighton Park club in 1867, and Brighton Football club in 1872, 1878, 1882 and 1883. Those clubs may or may not have been connected. The club is believed to have been formed in 1885 and seven years later became a foundation member of the

(MJFA) in the inaugural 1892 season, winning a premiership in

1903 Events January * January 1 – Edward VII is proclaimed Emperor of India. * January 10 – The Aceh Sultanate was fully annexed by the Dutch forces, deposing the last sultan, marking the end of the Aceh War that have lasted for al ...

VFA

1908 This is the longest year in either the Julian or Gregorian calendars, having a duration of 31622401.38 seconds of Terrestrial Time (or ephemeris time), measured according to the definition of mean solar time. Events January * January ...

, Brighton joined the VFA as one of the teams to replace

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

, who had shifted to the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFL), and West Melbourne, who had merged with

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government ar ...

in a failed attempt to do the same. During this time, Brighton played its home matches at the Brighton Beach Oval, before shifting to

Elsternwick Park Elsternwick Park (known as Sportscover Arena between 2002 and 2018 because of naming rights) is an Australian rules football and cricket stadium in Brighton, a suburb of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. The name also refers to the wider parkla ...

in 1927. Brighton first played finals football in the VFA in 1926 with help from former Fitzroy player

Gordon Rattray Gordon Kitchener Rattray (19 October 1898 – 10 December 1964) was an Australian rules footballer who played with and coached Fitzroy in the Victorian Football League (VFL). He was the first VFL player to use the torpedo punt. Family The son ...

who coached the club. They made it all the way to the grand final before losing to

Coburg Coburg ( , ) is a Town#Germany, town located on the Itz (river), Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Ernestine duchies, Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only ...

, the club that would beat them again in the grand final the following season. They were runners-up in 1938. Brighton almost folded while the Association was in recess during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, but was able to compile a committee and resume playing in

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II, the fall of Nazi Germany, and the Empire of Japan. It is also the year concentration camps were liberated and the only year in which atomic weapons have been used in combat. Events World War II will be ...

when the Association resumed. Four years later, in 1948, the club won its first and only top division premiership. Under the coaching of Col Williamson, they had finished the home and away season in third place and after defeating Brunswick in the preliminary final they qualified for the decider against Williamstown, whom they downed by nine points. The club was one of several which struggled badly both on and off the field after the throw-pass era ended in 1950. In twelve seasons from 1952 until 1963, the club won eight wooden spoons, including the first three Division 2

wooden spoons A wooden spoon is a utensil commonly used in food preparation. In addition to its culinary uses, wooden spoons also feature in folk art and culture. History The word ''spoon'' derives from an ancient word meaning a chip of wood or horn carved ...

in 1961, 1962 and 1963. The club had a very low supporter base, a very small group of committeemen, who were increasingly unable to manage all of the administrative work, it struggled to retain players, and, in some seasons, it had to operate as an amateur club due to lack of money.

Merger

Coupled with its existing off-field problems, the club lost occupancy of its home ground at

after the 1961 season. In 1962, the club

merged Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

with the South Caulfield Football Club, which played in the Federal District Football League, forming a new team known as Brighton-Caulfield. The merger did not help the club's on-field performances, and its first two seasons as a merged club yielded wooden spoons. The club's on-field performance briefly improved in 1964, when it recruited a core of twelve senior players from defending Division 1 premier

Moorabbin Moorabbin is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 15 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Kingston local government area. Moorabbin recorded a population of 6,287 at the . Most of the e ...

after that club's sudden expulsion from the VFA just before the season. After competing as Brighton-Caulfield for three seasons, the club eliminated almost all links to its Brighton heritage in 1965 as it sought to appeal more strongly to fans in its new suburb. The name was shortened to Caulfield, the Penguin emblem was replaced with a Bear, and the club's colours were changed from maroon and gold to blue and white, effectively bringing an end to the Brighton Football Club's existence. The club competed in the Association as the

until the end of the 1987 season.

Honours

Premierships

(1) **

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

Runners up

1938 Events January * January 1 – state-owned enterprise, State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France (SNCF) and the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – NS). * January 20 – King Farouk of Egypt marries Saf ...

Notable players

* Carlton –

Norm Clark Norman Childers "Hackenschmidt" Clark (12 November 1878 – 26 December 1943) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Carlton Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) between 1905 and 1912. Family The son of Edward J ...

, Percy Daykin,

Harry Vallence Henry Francis "Soapy" Vallence (4 June 1905 – 25 July 1991) was a champion Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and the Victorian Football Association (VFA). He played at full-forward for the VFL's Carlton Footbal ...

and

Keith Warburton Keith John Warburton (7 June 1929 – 28 June 2018) was an Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League. Warburton first played senior football for the Brighton Football Club in the Victorian Football Association. He was a mem ...

* Collingwood – John Harris * Fitzroy –

Barclay Bailes Barclay 'Titch' Shrapnell Bailes (9 August 1883 – 24 September 1955), sometimes known as "Bark" Bailes, was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Perth Football Club, Perth in the West Australian Football League, West Australi ...

and

* Melbourne -

Hugh Purse Hugh Landles Purse (2 October 1881 – 6 September 1952) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Purse, originally from Victorian Football Association (VFA) club Brighton, was the yo ...

* South Melbourne – Bruce Sloss * St Kilda – Jack Connell, Gordon Dangerfield and

Keith Miller Keith Ross Miller (28 November 1919 – 11 October 2004) was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. His ability, irreverent m ...

References

External links

* on Fullpointsfooty
Caulfield Bears (successor club)
{{VFL

Brighton Football Club The Brighton Football Club, nicknamed the Penguins, was an Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Brighton, Victoria, Brighton. The club was a founding member of the Victorian Amateur Football Association, Metropolitan ...

Australian rules football clubs in Melbourne 1885 establishments in Australia 1964 disestablishments in Australia Australian rules football clubs established in 1885 Australian rules football clubs disestablished in 1964 Victorian Junior Football Association clubs Former Victorian Amateur Football Association clubs Defunct Australian rules football clubs