The Caulfield Football Club, nicknamed Bears, 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 Caulfield. It competed in 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) from 1965 until 1987, when the club folded due to financial difficulties.

History

Origins

On 29 March 1962, the South Caulfield Football Club from the Federal District Football League merged with the

's struggling

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 ...

which could barely field a team and had been evicted from its home ground at Elsternwick Park to form a club known as "Brighton-Caulfield". The merged club was based at South Caulfield's home ground at Princes Park on Hawthorn Rd, Caulfield. Caulfield City Council wanted a VFA club in its municipality but not without the municipality name.

Caulfield formation

In 1965, after three seasons of competing as Brighton-Caulfield, the club with pressure from the Caulfield council, severed all links to its former Brighton identity, and became known as the Caulfield Football Club. The club adopted a new guernsey of white with navy blue hoops, and adopted Bears as a new nickname.

VFA

Caulfield initially played in the second division and failed to make the finals during the rest of the 1960s. In 1971 they managed to lure former Richmond premiership player

Tony Jewell Tony Jewell may refer to: * Tony Jewell (footballer) Tony 'TJ' Jewell (born 8 December 1943) is a former Australian rules football player who played in the Australian Football League, VFL between 1964 and 1970 for the Richmond Football Club. ...

to coach the club. They also recruited his teammates Paddy Guinane and Neville Crowe to the playing group. With VFL players in the team they had immediate success, topping the second division ladder and losing just three games in the home and away season. Caulfield however lost their preliminary final and thus missed out on playing in the grand final. They went one better the following season and made it to the decider which they lost to Geelong West in the last minute; the Geelong club had been unbeaten all season, but Caulfield put up a fight, leading by 12 points at three-quarter time. In 1973, the club won its first and only premiership, defeating Brunswick 18.20 (128) to 14.22 (106) in the grand final; full forward John Logan kicked six goals. This victory earned the promotion to the first division, where it competed for eight years. In its time in the top division, the club reached the finals once, in 1976; and, in 1977 it won the

lightning premiership Lightning is a natural phenomenon consisting of electrostatic discharges occurring through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions. One or both regions are within the atmosphere, with the second region sometimes occurring on ...

and was runner-up in the

Centenary Cup The Centenary Cup were two Gaelic Games competitions arranged by the Gaelic Athletic Association to mark the organisation's centenary in 1984. This was followed by the similar, but less popular Open Draw in 1985. The hurling competition was won ...

. At the end of 1981, Caulfield was demoted to Division 2 as part of a restructure of the Association's two-division system, in large part because of its substandard playing facilities. In its first season back in Division 2, the club reached the grand final, losing to Northcote by five points. The club endured financial difficulties through the 1980s, and it was eventually suspended from the Association after the 1987 season, due to having falling $11,000 behind on affiliation levies. In 1988 the club merged with local club Ashburton to form Caulfield-Ashburton Football Club, and won the premiership in the South East Suburban FL first division; but, the club was suspended shortly before the 1989 season after it sent an abusive letter to the league secretary, and folded permanently.

Other clubs

Caulfield is not to be confused with: *Caulfield Football Club (1983−1984), which competed in the SESFL *Caulfield Amateur Football Club (1946−1971) *Caulfield City Football Club (1924−1959), formerly known as Caulfield *Caulfield District Football Club (1939−1955) *

East Caulfield Football Club The East Caulfield Football Club, known as the Caulfield Football Club for most of its history, was an Australian rules football club based around the Melbourne suburbs of Caulfield and Caulfield East. It was considered one of the strongest clubs ...

(1890s−1976), formerly known as Caulfield *East Caulfield Football Club (1935−1951), which competed in the ESFL and

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

Notable players

Neville Crowe Neville Crowe (1 June 1937 – 2 September 2016) was an Australian rules footballer who represented in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1950s and 1960s. He also served as club president from 1987 to 1993, and was at the forefront ...

(Richmond) *

Paddy Guinane Patrick Guinane (31 January 1939 – 8 December 2019) was an Australian rules football player who played in the Victorian Football League (VFL) between 1958 and 1968 for the Richmond Football Club. Football career ''Paddy'' Guinane was a power ...

(Richmond) *

Darren Kappler Darren Kappler (born 23 January 1965) is a former professional Australian rules footballer. Recruited from South Australian National Football League club South Adelaide, Kappler played 187 games for Fitzroy, the Sydney Swans and Hawthorn i ...

(Fitzroy/Hawthorn/Sydney) * Lou Milner (Hawthorn)

References

External links

Caulfield Bears
on Sporting Pulse website {{VFL Former Victorian Football League clubs Australian rules football clubs in Melbourne 1965 establishments in Australia Australian rules football clubs established in 1965 1988 disestablishments in Australia Australian rules football clubs disestablished in 1988 Defunct Australian rules football clubs