Eltham Football Club 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 ...

club in

Eltham, Victoria Eltham () is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 20 km north-east of the Melbourne City Centre, Central Business District, located within the Shire of Nillumbik Local government areas of Victoria, local governm ...

, currently competing in the

Northern Football League The Northern League is a British men's association football, football league in North East England, north east England. Having been founded in 1889, it is the second-oldest football league in the world still in existence after the English Footb ...

History

The Eltham Football Club began playing social matches at nearby Kangaroo Ground, Diamond Creek and Greensborough from around 1904. Phil McGavin was listed as Secretary in 1904. In 1907,

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"Ike" Stephens convened a meeting with the idea of providing entertainment for the lads and an outlet for their surplus energy. . Eltham continued to play social games however World War One saw these stop. After the return of the men in 1918-19, Eltham returned to the football field. In 1920, the Eltham Football Club joined the Heidelberg District Football League. The team travelled by train to

Ivanhoe ''Ivanhoe: A Romance'' ( ) by Walter Scott is a historical novel published in three volumes, in December 1819, as one of the Waverley novels. It marked a shift away from Scott's prior practice of setting stories in Scotland and in the more ...

to play their first game. Home games were played at Eltham Park, now called Eltham Lower Park. In 1922, Eltham joined other nearby clubs Greensborough, Diamond Creek,

Templestowe Templestowe is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 16 km north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Manningham local government area. Templestowe recorded a population of 16,966 at the . The ...

Warrandyte Warrandyte ( ) is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 24 km north-east of Melbourne's Melbourne City Centre, Central Business District, located within the City of Manningham Local government areas of Victoria, ...

, and Kangaroo Ground in establishing the Diamond Valley Football League. Eltham made their first finals appearance in 1928 and won their first premiership in 1930 by defeating

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

. In 1930, Eltham Central Park was opened, although this was only used by the footballers for training until 1935, when the club formally moved their home games there and this has been the club's home ever since. In 1935, Eltham defeated Epping in the

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

, but Epping lodged a protest over the eligibility of an Eltham player. A tribunal in Melbourne upheld the protest and ordered a replay. Eltham forfeited the replay and Epping was awarded the premiership. Eltham left the DVFL to play in VFL Sub Districts League for seasons 1936 & 1937 before returning in 1938. After five consecutive wooden spoons during the early 1960s, the club went through a golden period of four premierships in six seasons between 1969 and 1974. Eltham Football Club was relegated to the new DVFL Second Division for Season 1981, but quickly responded with the 1982 premiership and subsequent return to the First Division. This began a trend with Eltham "yo-yoing" between the two divisions – six Second Division premierships and five First Division wooden spoons. The 2002 Second Division premiership was the Panthers last success. After relegation in 2017 the Panthers went into the season strong favourites and won their first 15 games. On a blustery, raining day the seniors gave up a 3/4 time lead to lose on the siren to Lower Plenty. The reserves, coached by 2017 U/19 Premiership winning coach Tom Snell held on in a tough game to defeat Diamond Creek and only their 5th reserves premiership. Season 2020 was called off due to the COVID19 Pandemic.

Premierships

Seniors

(Division One) * 1930 Eltham 7.15.57 defeated Heidelberg 7.8.50 @ Memorial Park, Greensborough * 1932 Eltham 13.19.97 defeated Heidelberg 8.10.58 @ Warringal Park, Heidelberg * 1949 Eltham 8.8.56 defeated Greensborough 7.6.48 @ Warringal Park, Heidelberg * 1953 Eltham 9.16.70 defeated Lakeside Rovers 9.7.61 @ Warringal Park, Heidelberg * 1969 Eltham 16.11.107 defeated Diamond Creek 10.12.72 @ Warringal Park, Heidelberg * 1970 Eltham 14.13.97 defeated Diamond Creek 12.11.83 @ Epping * 1972 Eltham 15.19.109 defeated Reservoir Lakeside 11.11.77 @ Warringal Park, Heidelberg * 1974 Eltham 10.9.69 defeated Heidelberg 9.8.62 @ Warringal Park, Heidelberg (Division Two) * 1982 Eltham 15.13.103 defeated Macleod Rosanna 14.8.92 @ Nillimbik Park, Diamond Creek * 1989 Eltham 18.11.119 defeated Epping 17.8.110 @ Warringal Park, Heidelberg * 1995 Eltham 10.14.74 defeated West Preston 10.10.70 @ Warringal Park, Heidelberg * 1997 Eltham 13.9.87 defeated Mernda 7.13.55 @ Warringal Park, Heidelberg * 2000 Eltham 12.8.80 defeated Watsonia 8.6.54 @ Shelly St, North Heidelberg * 2002 Eltham 12.9.81 defeated Mernda 7.17.59 @ Whittlesea Showgrounds, * 2023 Eltham 12.13.85 defeated Diamond Creek 6.8.44 @ Preston City Oval. Preston

Reserves

(Division One) * 1947 Eltham 3.6.24 defeated Diamond Creek 3.5.23 @ Warringal Park, Heidelberg * 1971 Eltham 11.11.77 defeated Greensborough 10.8.68 @ Warringal Park, Heidelberg * 1974 Eltham 10.13.73 defeated

5.5.35 @ Warringal Park, Heidelberg (Division Two) * 2000 Eltham 13.16.94 defeated

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7.12.54 @ Shelley Street Reserve, North Heidelberg * 2018 Eltham 7.12.54 defeated Diamond Creek 5.8.38 @ Preston City Oval, Preston * 2021 No final series due to Covid Pandemic. Awarded Minor Premiership * 2022 Eltham 16.13.109 defeated Diamond Creek 3.8.26 @ Preston City Oval, Preston * 2023 Eltham 18.11.118 defeated Thomastown 8.6,42 @ Preston City Oval, Preston

Under 19

(Division One) * 2007 Eltham 16.13.109 defeated Northcote Park 10.7.67 @ Preston City Oval * 2017 Eltham 7.14.56 defeated

Greensborough Football Club Greensborough Football Club is an Australian rules football club in Greensborough, Victoria, currently competing in the Northern Football Netball League (Australia), Northern Football Netball League. History The Greensborough Football Club was ...

7.10.52 @ Preston City Oval * 2019 Eltham 13.10.88 defeated St Mary's Senior Football Club 11.14.80 @ Preston City Oval

Honourboard

Other highlights: * Most no. 'A' Grade games at Eltham Football Club Harry Barrett (dec.) (263) * Most no. Open Age games at Eltham Football Club David Brown 308 * Most no. 'A' Grade games as a player/umpire Eddie Mapperson (843). * Winner of VFL / AFL

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as Charlie), is awarded to the best and fairest player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by the f ...

Peter Moore 1979, 1984

AFL / VFL footballers from Eltham Football Club

* Nick Coffield – Current

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Originally named the Footscray F ...

Footballer * Patrick Lipinski – Current Collingwood Footballer * Lauren Brazzale – Current AFLW Carlton Footballer * Finnbar Maley – Current

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Footballer. *

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– Current

Footballer * Josh Caddy – Former

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Footballer *

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– Former

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Footballer * Daniel Currie – Former

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a Austral ...

and

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Adam Simpson Adam is the name given in Genesis 1–5 to the first human. Adam is the first human-being aware of God, and features as such in various belief systems (including Judaism, Christianity, Gnosticism and Islam). According to Christianity, Adam si ...

–

. Captain 2004 -09, Premiership's 1996 & 1999. Former Premiership Coach of the West Coast Eagles Football Club * Andrew Dale –

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 ...

in 1980s * Matthew Ryan - Collingwood,

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* Stephen Easton –

& Carlton in late 1970s, early 1980s * Darren McLaine – Collingwood in 1980s * Alexander "Sandy" Hyslop – Collingwood in 1980s * Peter Moore – Collingwood &

& dual

list, AFL and Collingwood Hall of Fame * John Caulfield -

1963 * Tom Butherway - Fitzroy 1937 * Jack Twyford -

South Melbourne South Melbourne is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. South Melbourne recorded a population of 11,548 at the 2021 ...

(1932 Premiership side) & Collingwood * Don Fraser -

1920s

External links

Official club website

Northern Football League

{{DVFL Northern Football Netball League clubs Australian rules football clubs established in 1909 1909 establishments in Australia Sport in the Shire of Nillumbik Australian rules football clubs in Melbourne