Australian Football

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KEY FACTS

Official name
Allansford Football Club

Known as
Allansford

Former name
West End Allansford

Former name date
2000-01-01

Formed
1971: merger of Allansford and West End

Colours
Navy blue and white

Emblem
Cats

Associated clubs
Allansford (Original); West End

Affiliation (Current)
Warrnambool & District Football Netball League (WDFNL) 1971–2024

Senior Premierships
Warrnambool and District Football League - 1971, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1983, 1987 (7 total)

Website
allansfordfc.vcfl.com.au

Allansford

The club which today bears the name of Allansford came into being early in 1971 through the amalgamation of West End of the Warrnambool and District Football League and the original Allansford Football Club, which had been competing in the Purnim and District Football League since shortly after the war. Both merger partners had enjoyed reasonable amounts of success, with West End having claimed nine senior post-war flags and Allansford three, but the late 1960s had seen them both fall on hard times. The wisdom of the decision to merge was shown immediately as the new club, known initially as West End Allansford, won a WDFL premiership at the first time of asking after downing Merrivale by 3 points in the 1971 grand final.

During the 1970s and 1980s the Cats as they were known were a consistent force. Between 1976 and 1987 they contested all bar two grand finals for triumphs in 1976, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1983 and 1987. By contrast, the last three decades have produced mediocre results, with a losing grand final against Russell’s Creek in 2004 the closest the club, known since 2000 simply as Allansford, has come to augmenting its premiership haul.

In 2008 the Cats won 8 and drew 1 of their 18 fixtures to finish in seventh place on the twelve team ladder. This represented a slight decline in fortune after a 2007 campaign that produced finals qualification for an ultimate finishing position of fifth. In 2009 the Cats failed to qualify for the finals only on percentage before slumping to the lower half of the premiership ladder in 2010 and 2011. The 2012 season saw the Cats performing superbly during the home and away rounds to win 16 of their 18 matches and qualify for the finals in second place. Disappointingly, however, they then bowed out of the flag race with successive finals losses to Kolora Noorat and Dennington. The hangover from this fade-out arguably extended into a 2013 season which saw them drop down the list to fifth. Further finals appearances followed in 2014 and 2015. In 2016 the Cats won 10 of their 18 home and away matches to finish sixth (of twelve) before dropping to tenth (of eleven) in 2017 when they only managed to win a couple of their 16 games. The 2018 season brought a measure of improvement as the Cats finished seventh after winning 6 out of 16 matches. A year later they finished one place adrift of finals qualification in sixth before joining a large number of clubs from throughout Australia in going into recess in 2020 because of the global coronavirus pandemic.

Source

John Devaney - Full Points Publications

 

Footnotes

* Behinds calculated from the 1965 season on.
+ Score at the end of extra time.