The Brunswick Amateurs Football Club, nicknamed the Lions, 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 Brunswick West. The club competed in the

Victorian Amateur 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 ...

(VAFA) almost continuously from 1926, winning a total of six senior premierships. In 2001, the club merged with Broadmeadows Power to form the Brunswick Power Football Club, which competed in the

Western Region Football League The Western Football Netball League (WFNL) is a semi-professional Australian rules football and netball league, based in the western suburbs of Melbourne. History The league was formed in 1931 as the Footscray District Football League (FDFL). ...

(WRFL) until the end of 2007.

History

Brunswick Amateurs

Brunswick Amateurs was formed by past members of the Brunswick Presbyterian Young Men's Club in

1926 In Turkey, the year technically contained only 352 days. As Friday, December 18, 1926 ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Saturday, January 1, 1927 '' (Gregorian Calendar)''. 13 days were dropped to make the switch. Turkey thus became the ...

, entering the

Metropolitan Amateur 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 ...

(MAFA, later VAFA) the same year in C Section. The club made its won its first premiership in

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...

, defeating West Hawthorn by 10 points in the B Section grand final, and entered A Section for the first time in

1933 Events January * January 11 – Australian aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independen ...

. Old Scotch full-forward Bill Pearson kicked 30 goals against Brunswick in a

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

A Section match. The club was based at Dunstan Reserve in Brunswick West in its early years. At one point in

1939 This year also marks the start of the World War II, Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Events related to World War II have a "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Coming into effect in Nazi Ger ...

, the VAFA instructed the club to find another home ground to play at as it was in a "shocking condition". They were defeated by

Elsternwick Elsternwick is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 9 km south-east of Melbourne's Melbourne city centre, Central Business District, located within the City of Glen Eira local government areas of Victoria ...

later that year in the B Section grand final where a

melee A melee ( or ) is a confused hand-to-hand combat, hand-to-hand fight among several people. The English term ''melee'' originated circa 1648 from the French word ' (), derived from the Old French ''mesler'', from which '':wikt:medley, medley'' and ...

also took place, resulting in Brunswick being warned by the VAFA about "drastic action" if a similar incident happened again. Brunswick won its second premiership in

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

, defeating East Malvern by 32 points in the C Section grand final. At the end of the 1994 season, Brunswick left the VAFA and joined the Footscray District Football League (FDFL). On 8 June 1997, Brunswick captain-coach Danny Hall was stabbed to death during a street brawl. He had previously played for Preston, Moomba Park, Broadford and Southbank as a ruckman, and played in Brunswick's 1992 VAFA E Section premiership and the VAFA's representative side in 1993. Brunswick's vice-captain and another player were also stabbed but survived. In

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

, Brunswick returned to the VAFA in D4 Section. The club remained in D4 Section in

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, but withdrew from senior competition and entered the VAFA's Club XVIII social competition in

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

Brunswick Power

In late 2001, Brunswick were struggling to find players and made the decision to merge with Broadmeadows Power (also known as Broady Power), a club run by

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

, to form the Brunswick Power Football Club. The club played in Club XVIII North Section in

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

before being promoted to D4 Section for the 2003 season. After one senior season in the VAFA, Brunswick Power moved to the

(WRFL) in 2004, competing in Division 2 and playing its home games at Fleming Park in

Brunswick East Brunswick East is an inner-city List of Melbourne suburbs, suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north of Melbourne's Melbourne city centre, Central Business District, located within the City of Merri-bek Local Govern ...

. In 2005, the club had 180 registered players − 80% Indigenous and 20% from other backgrounds, including Lebanese and

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

. However, their on-field performances were poor, including a 59.28 (382) to 2.4 (16) loss to Central Altona in round 16. During the 2006 season, Brunswick Power was suspended by the WRFL for fielding unregistered players. The club returned to the WRFL for the 2007 season, but only won a single match and folded at the end of the season.

Seasons

Seniors

Notes

References

{{VAFA Former Victorian Amateur Football Association clubs 1926 establishments in Australia Australian rules football clubs established in 1926 2001 disestablishments in Australia Australian rules football clubs disestablished in 2001 Australian rules football clubs in Melbourne