The Castlemaine Football Netball Club, nicknamed '' The Magpies'', is 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 ...

and

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

club based in

Castlemaine, Victoria Castlemaine ( , Variation in Australian English, non-locally also ) is a town in west central Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, in the Goldfields region of Victoria, Goldfields region about 123 kilometres (76 miles) northwest by road ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and is currently a member of the

Bendigo Football League The Bendigo Football Netball League (previously known as the Bendigo and District Football Association, Bendigo Football Association and Bendigo Football League) is an Australian rules football and netball competition based in the Bendigo regio ...

. The club is notable for several reasons. Formed in 1859, it is the second oldest documented football club in Australia after the

Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons or colloquially the Dees, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier comp ...

and it has produced many notable Australian rules footballers.

History

Foundation

The "Castlemaine Football Club" was formed on 15 June 1859 at the Supreme Court Hotel and chaired by T Butterworth. Castlemaine played its first match on 22 June 1859 on the Cricket Ground Barkers Creek. Records for the foundation date was discovered in 2007 which rewrote history; as many had previously believed that the

Geelong Football Club The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed the Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club based at Kardinia Park in South Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier comp ...

had been formed earlier.

Competition

The club was formed in an era before codified rules organised competition, but according to some sources, including Graeme Atkinson, "football" was popular in the goldfields region; and, without a league to participate in, the club was an irregular competitor during its first decade.

Uniform

The original uniform was a white cap with royal-blue

Maltese cross The Maltese cross is a cross symbol, consisting of four " V" or arrowhead shaped concave quadrilaterals converging at a central vertex at right angles, two tips pointing outward symmetrically. It is a heraldic cross variant which develope ...

1925

In 1925, Castlemaine joined the Bendigo Football League, Coached by the West Australian champion Phil Matson, Castlemaine made the 1925 Grand Final, but lost to South Bendigo by 14 Points: 7.12 (54) to 6.4 (40).Bendigo League Premiership Won by South Bendigo, ''The Australasian'', (Saturday, 10 October 1925), p.37.
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Alumni

Castlemaine players in the VFL/AFL

References

External links

* {{Bendigo Football League Australian rules football clubs established in 1859 Australian rules football clubs in Victoria (state) 1859 establishments in Australia Bendigo Football Netball League clubs