Australian Football

Coldstream

A Coldstream Football Club existed as early as 1890, but appears to have disbanded during the first world war. The present day Coldstream Football Club was established in 1952, and competed initially in the Croydon Ferntree Gully Football League, precursor of the Eastern Districts Football League, which commenced operations in 1962.

Most of Coldstream’s time in the EDFL (which dropped the word ‘Districts’ from its name in 1998) has been spent in Division Three, in which it contested its first ever senior grade grand final in 1965, losing to Olinda by 20 points. A second losing Division Three grand final appearance, this time against Upper Ferntree Gully, followed nine years later, before the side claimed its breakthrough premiership in 1975 with a 6 point grand final triumph over Norwood.

For much of the ensuing decade Coldstream was a force to be reckoned with in Division Three but losing grand finals in 1977, 1978 and 1983 were the closest it came to procuring a second flag. That second flag finally arrived in 1986 courtesy of a 14.19 (103) to 14.8 (92) grand final defeat of Fairpark.

During the ensuing couple of decades the Cougars twice more achieved premiership honours, in 1990 in Division Three, and most recently in 2001 in Division Four. The 2001 flag triumph brought promotion to Division Three, following which the seniors did well to reach a grand final two years later, only to lose to Norwood by 4 points. Subsequent to that the side was competitive for several seasons but in 2012 they slumped to a wooden spoon and with it relegation to Division Four, which is where they have continued to compete since. In 2017 they managed to qualify for the finals and ultimately finish fourth before dropping two places on the ladder in 2018. The 2019 season was highly promising as the Cougars came second after the home and away rounds and seemed a genuine premiership chance. However, a lack of big game experience arguably contributed to a "straight sets" finals exit at the hands of East Burwood and Fairpark.