The Prahran Football Club (), nicknamed the Two Blues, 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 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 Armadale. It has played at

Toorak Park Toorak Park is a cricket and Australian rules football arena in the Melbourne suburb of Armadale, Victoria, Armadale. It is the home ground of the Prahran Football Club and Old Xaverians Football Club of the Victorian Amateur Football Associatio ...

since 1899. As of 2025, the club competes Premier C division of 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).

History

VFA

Prahran Football Club was formed at a meeting at Prahran Court House on 20 March 1886. The club was admitted to 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) in

1886 Events January * January 1 – Upper Burma is formally annexed to British rule in Burma, British Burma, following its conquest in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of November 1885. * January 5–January 9, 9 – Robert Louis Stevenson ...

playing its home games at the Warehouseman's Cricket Ground. In

1887 Events January * January 11 – Louis Pasteur's anti-rabies treatment is defended in the Académie Nationale de Médecine, by Dr. Joseph Grancher. * January 20 ** The United States Senate allows the United States Navy to lease Pearl Har ...

, it moved to nearby Wesley College Ground. After the 1887 season, the VFA reduced the number of clubs and Prahran amalgamated with the neighbouring

St Kilda Football Club The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed the Saints, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier league. The club's name originates fro ...

, which was based less than a mile away. Prahran was reformed as a club on 15 March 1899, and rejoined the VFA that season, this time playing at

, approximately two miles from St Kilda. It played in the VFA between 1899 and 1994, with the exception of

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

when it competed in the

Metropolitan Football League The VFL Sub-Districts (VFLSD), sometimes referred to as the Victorian Sub-District Football League (VSDFL), was an Australian rules football competition played in the state of Victoria and managed by the Victorian Football League (VFL), now known ...

(MFL) because the Prahran City Council would not lease Toorak Park to Prahran's

reserves team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

, leaving the club expelled from the Association's requirements for failing to meet its minimum home ground requirements. At the end of

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, when administration of the VFA was turned over to the

Victorian State Football League The Victorian State Football League (VSFL) was an Australian rules football governing body. The VSFL was established at the end of 1991 to take over administration of football in Victoria from the Australian Football League, which was now becom ...

, Prahran left the Association as part of the VSFL's efforts to reduce the size of the VFA and align it with the

TAC Cup The Talent League (also known as the Coates Talent League under naming rights and previously as the NAB League and TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition based in Melbourne and run by the Australian Foot ...

. Although Prahran's identity was carried on within the TAC Cup from 1995, when the

Central Dragons Sandringham Dragons is an Australian rules football club playing in the Talent League, the top statewide under-18 competition in Victoria, Australia. They are based at the Moorabbin Oval in Moorabbin, Victoria, representing the southern suburba ...

club moved to Toorak Park and were renamed the Prahran Dragons (a name it carried until the end of 1999), there was no affiliation with Prahran Football Club.

VAFA

The club continued to exist in an administrative capacity after its departure from the VFA, and continued to operate the Prahran Tabaret – a gambling bar it owns and operates in

Chapel Street Chapel Street may refer to: * Chapel Street, Belgravia, England * Chapel Street, Liverpool, England * Chapel Street, Melbourne Chapel Street is a street in Melbourne, Victoria, running along the inner suburbs of South Yarra, Prahran, Windso ...

, Prahran – despite having no on-field presence. Following the 1998 VAFA season, the club merged with

Southbank Football Club The Southbank Football Club, nicknamed the Bankers, was an Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Southbank that competed in the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA). The club was formed in 1990 as State Commonwe ...

and joined the

(VAFA) under the stewardship of ''

Herald Sun The ''Herald Sun'' is a Conservatism, conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the American Rupert Murdoch, Murd ...

'' racing writer Tim Habel. It also re-established its junior arm, and, after commencing with just two junior teams, the club now has eight junior teams and has formed a joint under-19s team with

Caulfield Football Club The Caulfield Football Club, nicknamed Bears, was an Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Caulfield, Victoria, Caulfield. It competed in the Victorian Football Association (VFA) from 1965 until 1987, when the club fo ...

. In 2010, a joint venture with Assumption College was approved, and in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

the club changed its name to Prahran/Assumption Football Club. The club won 2 premierships in 2011 and 2017 as Prahran Assumption, before reverting to the "Prahran" moniker in

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

. Prahran returns to Premier C Section in 2025 after a dominant season in 2024 culminated in another premiership.

Honours

Premierships

VFA best and fairest awards

* VFA - Recorder Cup **1928 - Frank Smith **1931 -

Bill Koop William Spehr Koop (21 March 1906 – 14 April 1950) was an Australian rules footballer who played for Carlton in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1920s. Koop did not make much of an impact at Carlton in his first three seaso ...

**1935 - Les White *VFA - J J Liston Trophy **1993 - Michael Sinni

Club champions/best and fairest

* 1904 – George Brown (best all-round) * 1940 –

Bill Faul William John Faul (8 June 1909 – 14 September 1974) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the South Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and for the Subiaco Football Club in the Western Australian ...

* 1945 – A Gardiner * 1952 – Ian Armstrong

Team of the Century

*Back: Vin Crowe, Kerry Foley, Robert Anderson *Half back:

, Dick Culpin, Ian McGuiness *Centre: Frank Smith, Pat Walsh (c),

Ken Emselle Ken Emselle (born 17 June 1944) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1960s. His father Richie Emselle also played for Melbourne. A rover, Emselle was a premiership ...

*Half forward: Wayne Johnston, Bill Morrow, Glenn Dickson *Forward: Barry Pearson, George Hawkins, Les White *Follower: Rod Payne,

Kevin Rose Robert Kevin Rose (born 1977) is an American entrepreneur, Internet entrepreneur who co-founded Revision3, Digg, Pownce, and Milk. He also served as production assistant and co-host at TechTV's ''The Screen Savers''. From 2012 to 2015, he was ...

, Ray Harvey (vc) *Interchange: Kim Smith,

Graeme McMahon Graeme McMahon (15 February 1940 – 1 July 2014) was an Australian rules football player and executive, best known as chairman of Essendon from 1997 to 2003. McMahon was born in Essendon, Victoria in 1940. At a young age, he began playing Aust ...

, John Townsend, Ross Thornton, Michael Sinni. *Coach:

Selected in 2003 by - Jack Morgans, Ray Harvey, Charlie Roach and Ray Ryan.

VFL/AFL players

The following well known footballers played with Prahran FC prior to making their senior VFL/AFL debut. View the complete list at the bottom of this page under "Prahran Football Club Players". *1941 - Harold Bray – finished in the top three in the Brownlow Medal three times *1967 - Kevin Sheedy – former coach of

Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers or colloquially the Dons, is a professional Australian rules football club that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the game's premier competition. The club was formed by the McCrac ...

and former Richmond player, began his football career with Prahran. *1979 - Wayne Johnston – went on to play in four Premierships for

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club based at Princes Park (stadium), Princes Park in Carlton North, Victoria, Carlton North, an inner suburb of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. The c ...

*1980 - Ross Thornton – went onto to play for

Fitzroy Football Club The Fitzroy Football Club is an Australian rules football club currently competing in the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA). Formed in 1883 to represent the inner-Melbourne municipality of City of Fitzroy, Fitzroy, the club is base ...

*1984 -

Graeme Yeats Graeme Yeats (born 21 September 1964) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Melbourne in the VFL/AFL. A skilful and consistent defender/wingman, Yeats played 182 games with Melbourne, including 13 finals and the 1988 VFL Gran ...

– went on to play 182 games for

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 ...

*1987 -

Jim Stynes James Peter Stynes OAM (23 April 196620 March 2012) was an Irish footballer who converted from Gaelic football to Australian rules football and the first international player to be inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2003. ...

– won a

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 ...

and went on to set an

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

record for most consecutive games (244) for

The following footballers played with Prahran FC after playing senior VFL / AFL football, with the year indicating their first season with Prahran. *1951 -

Don Chipp Donald Leslie Chipp, AO (21 August 1925 – 28 August 2006) was an Australian politician who was the inaugural leader of the Australian Democrats, leading the party from 1977 to 1986. He began his career as a member of the Liberal Party, winnin ...

– Australian Federal politician. A former

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

Minister in the Australian government and inaugural leader of the

Australian Democrats The Australian Democrats is a centrist political party in Australia. Founded in 1977 from a merger of the Australia Party and the New Liberal Movement, both of which were descended from Liberal Party splinter groups, it was Australia's lar ...

political party. Played in the club's 1951 VFA Premiership team. *1978 -

Sam Kekovich Sam Kekovich (born 11 March 1950) is an Australian media personality, sports commentator, Australian meat lobbyist and former Australian rules football player. He is well known for his controversial behaviour, both on and off the field, and mo ...

–

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government ar ...

Premiership player and well known football identity. *1991 - Brian Taylor *2001 - Tony Free – player-coach in 2001 and 2002 after retiring from an illustrious career with the

Richmond Football Club The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers or colloquially the Tiges, is a professional Australian rules football team competing in the Australian Football League (AFL). Founded in 1885 in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond, Victoria, Ric ...

including being Captain of the Tigers. Thomas Anthony McLaughlin. Born Belfast, travelled to Australia to complete his professional Football career playing for Prahran 1963-1965

Notes

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Former Victorian Football League clubs Australian rules football clubs in Melbourne Sport in the City of Stonnington 1886 establishments in Australia Australian rules football clubs established in 1886 Victorian Amateur Football Association clubs