Australian Football

Dunnstown

The Dunnstown Football Club was formally established at a meeting at McGrath’s Shamrock Hotel in the town in May 1894. A local association was established at the same time, in which Dunnstown was joined by four other clubs.

Dunnstown’s matches during the early years were not regularly reported in the local press, and it was not until the 1920s that reliable records of the club’s achievements began to be compiled. The club enjoyed intermittent success in both the 1920s and 1930s, but it was in the 1950s that it really came into its own, contesting four grand finals for the decade, and winning all of them. Further grand final appearances came in 1963 (lost to Wendouree), 1964 (beat Buninyong), 1975 (lost to Sebastopol), 1976 (defeated Maddingley) and 1978 (won against Ballan).

Since 1979 the Towners have competed in the Central Highlands Football League. Regular finalists from the start, it was not until 1994 that they broke through for a premiership. Mind you, they did so in style as undefeated champions, while the fact that 1994 was the club’s official centenary year made the achievement all the more memorable, appropriate and gratifying.

Prior to 1994 Dunnstown had lost no fewer than five CHFL grand finals. Following their 1994 triumph, the Towners emerged as the competition force they had long threatened to become, contesting the next five grand finals, for wins in 1998 against Bungaree, and 1999 against Beaufort. So far, however, the twenty-first century has yielded no further flags, and indeed the Towners have not even contested the finals since 2011 when they fell at the first hurdle against Gordon. The last five seasons have brought modest performances yielding 13th place in 2015, 10th in 2016, ninth in 2017, eighth in 2018 and ninth in 2019.