Australian Football

Bulleen Templestowe

Bulleen Templestowe commenced in F Section of the VAFA in 1975. Within a decade, after one of the most meteoric ascents in the competition’s history, the senior side was playing off in an A Section preliminary final. That ascent involved participation in five grand finals in the space of seven seasons, three of which were won, and is worth summarising:

The 1984 season was far and away the most noteworthy in the club’s history to date, but it ended disappointingly with a 50 point loss to Ormond in the A Section preliminary final. Rover Rick Demarte’s Woodrow Medal win afforded a measure of consolation, however. Demarte polled 16 votes, to win by 2 from Nick Wilton of Old Xaverians. Rick Van Den Driest, Andrew Smythe, Mal Palmer and Andrew Keenan were some of the other key players for Bulleen Templestowe at this time.

At the 1985 AAFC Carnival in Melbourne, Smythe, who was a member of the Victorian team, found himself at the centre of controversy, and ultimately in very hot water indeed, when it was discovered that he had played VFL reserves football with Melbourne just before the carnival commenced. As a result, his amateur status had been compromised, and Victoria, which had won the opening match of the carnival against Western Australia with Smythe in the team, was stripped of the points won.

After 1984, Bulleen Templestowe’s fortunes declined, although nothing like as swiftly as they had blossomed. During the 1990s there were grand final appearances against Fawkner in C Section in 1992 and against AJAX in D Section in 1999, but both games were lost. Since the turn of the century there have been hints of a renaissance, most notably in 2004 when the side overcame Old Carey Grammarians by 39 points to win the D2 Section premiership. In 2006, the Bullants as they are known could be considered somewhat unfortunate in that, despite winning 12 of their 18 matches, they missed the D1 Section finals on percentage. In all bar one of the other seven senior grades, 12 wins would have comfortably secured finals participation. A year later, they were only marginally less competitive, finishing fifth once more with a 10-8 record.

The 2008 season saw the Bullants covering themselves in glory as they won their second premiership at the equivalent of D1 Section level thanks to a 21.9 (135) to 17.21 (123) grand final triumph over Old Geelong Grammarians. They remained in D Section as it was now known until a disastrous 2011 season which saw them manage just a single win for the year. In 2012 the Bullants claimed their sixth flag with a two point defeat of Prahran in the E Section grand final. Their time in D Section was again something of a struggle, but they survived until their relegation at the conclusion of the 2015 season. The 2016 season saw them competing in Division Two as E Section was now known. Performances were comparatively unexceptional and they managed just five wins to finish seventh (of nine). A year later they performed slightly better, winning seven of their 28 home and away matches to once again end up in seventh place on what this season was a ten team competition. This was followed by a solid 2018 campaign which saw the side climb one rung on the premiership ladder, a result that was repeated in 2019.