Kew Football Club

The Kew Football Club, nicknamed the Bears, is an Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Kew. As of 2025, the club's men's team currently competes in Division 1 of the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA), while the women's team is in the Premier Division of the VAFA Women's (VAFAW) competition.

History

Early years

Kew was founded in 1876 and won its first premiership in 1880 in the second-rate ranks of the Hawthorn District Zone competition. The club entered a first-rate league for the first time in 1889 when it joined the Victorian Junior Football Association (VJFA), finishing 20th with two wins and six draws.

The club withdrew during the 1891 season after failing to win a game, and dropped down to the 2nd rate and 3rd rate ranks of the VJFA. The club continued in the Association until 1896, when the VJFA mandated that all clubs must play on a fenced oval. As Victoria Park was unfenced, the club withdrew from the VJFA and "reluctantly" went into recess for two years.

In 1899, Kew returned and entered the Suburban Junior Football Association (SJFA). However, in May of that year, Metropolitan Junior Football Association (MJFA) club St Francis Xavier disbanded. Kew was chosen to fill the vacancy, and it played in the MJFA for the remainder of the 1899 season.

RDFA and VJFA return

Following the 1900 season, Kew left the MJFA and joined another competition, also known as the MJFA. They joined the Reporter District Football Association (RDFA) in 1911, withdrawing mid-season in 1915 because of a loss of players due to World War I enlistments, but resumed when the RDFA returned after the war in 1919.

Kew returned to the VJFA in 1920. The club was winless in its return season, but eventually rose up the ladder and finished sixth with 10 wins in 1926. Kew also applied for admittance into the Victorian Football Association (VFA) when Brunswick was temporarily excluded, but although VFA officials were "greatly impressed" with the club's home ground and surroundings, its application was unsuccessful and Brunswick remained in the VFA for the 1927 season.

At the time, the VJFA was also transitioning to become a reserves competition for the VFA, and as Kew was not a VFA member, it left the VJFA.

VFL Sub-Districts

For the 1927 season, Kew entered the Victorian Football League (VFL) Sub-Districts, and won the premiership in its first year in the competition. Further premierships came in 1929, 1931, 1932, and 1934, and the club ultimately made finals in all but five of its 18 seasons in the Sub-Districts. In 1935, Kew drew with Fairfield in the grand final. The replay was won by Fairfield, with the game resulting in four players being suspended for fighting.

Kew also had an autonomous reserves team, the Kew Junior Football Club, which was formed in 1922 and won a premiership in the Eastern Suburban Junior Football Association (ESJFA) in 1925. The juniors entered the Metropolitan Amateur Football Association (MAFA, formerly MJFA) in 1926 and was renamed to Kew District Football Club, before joining the VFL Sub-Districts in 1927 and winning premierships in 1928, 1929, and 1930. Kew District joined the Eastern Suburban Football League (ESFL) in 1934 but folded in 1938 after an unsuccessful finals campaign in 1937.

VAFA return

In 1949, amid "unruly behaviour" from a majority of other Sub-Districts clubs, Kew left and returned to the MJFA/MAFA, which had been renamed to the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) in 1933. The club was ranked very highly by the VAFA Executive, and was admitted into C Section instead of the lower D Section for its return season.

Kew won the 1949 minor premiership and was set to be automatically promoted to B Section, but after a round 18 victory over East Caulfield, an anonymous caller to VAFA headquarters stated Kew was fielding an ineligible player who had fought as a professional boxer during his army service in World War II. Kew was stripped of the eight games he played in, along with their place in the finals series, and remained in C Section for the 1950 season.

In 1950, Kew were undefeated and won the premiership, earning a promotion to B Section for 1951. The B Section grand final was won in 1953, and Kew entered A Section for the first time in 1954.

Further premierships followed in 1962, 1964 (C Section) and 1966 (B Section). However, with the exception of the 1979 (C Section), Kew was unable to find further premiership success. By the 1990s, the club had fallen to D Section for the first time in its history, and fell all the way down to Division 4 (F Section) in 2004.

21st century

In 2007, the North Kew Football Club amalgamated with Kew. North Kew was formed in 1932 and had been competing in the Southern Football League (SFL) prior to the merger.

Former footballer Ian Aitken was appointed Kew senior coach in 2011. He led the club to a three-peat in 2013, 2014 and 2015, before leaving at the end of the 2016 season. Aitken returned in 2019 and remained in the role until the end of the 2023 season.

Kew entered two women's in the Victorian Women's Football League (VWFL) in 2014. Dwindling squad numbers meant one of the sides withdrew after round 7, while the other able to continue and ended up as runners-up in the grand final. The women's sides entered the Northern Football League (NFL) in 2017, then the VAFA Women's (VAFAW) in 2018.

In August 2021, a Richmond Central player recorded Kew players training (against COVID-19 lockdown rules) at Richmond Central's home ground, Kevin Bartlett Oval, and was also involved in a verbal confrontation with Ian Aitken. Kew said it did not sanction the training session, and the VAFA did not sanction the club, although it did refer Aitken to AFL Victoria.

Seasons

Source:

Men's

Seniors

Notes

References

{{VAFA

Victorian Amateur Football Association clubs
1876 establishments in Australia
Australian rules football clubs established in 1876
Australian rules football clubs in Melbourne
Sport in the City of Boroondara
Victorian Junior Football Association clubs