Australian Football

Ivanhoe

Ivanhoe Football Club has a long and proud history which has spawned numerous premierships, many fine players, and a fair number of memorably colourful characters. The club was formed in 1910, but during its first couple of years only engaged in social matches. When the Heidelberg District Football Association was established in 1912 Ivanhoe took its place as an inaugural member, with the team donning, for the first time, the black and white jumpers (albeit in a variety of different designs down the years) that have been associated with it ever since.

The club was competitive right from the outset, and soon successful. It contested both the 1912 and 1913 grand finals, emerging victorious against Fairfield in the latter, and when the HDFA resumed after world war one in 1920 it repeated the same pattern, losing the 1920 grand final to Heidelberg before beating the same opponent the following year.

When the HDFA disbanded in 1922, Ivanhoe crossed to the Sub-District Football League (SDFL), where it remained until it joined the VAFA in 1934. Although the club’s spell in the SDFL was unsuccessful in terms of premierships, it was nevertheless noteworthy in that it saw the emergence of two footballing brothers who would go on to achieve near legendary status in the VFL. Albert and Harry Collier would enjoy enormously memorable careers at Victoria Park, becoming household names whilst playing in the same black and white jumpers in which they had cut their teeth in the game. Older brother Harry spent somewhat longer with the ‘Hoes, winning a club best and fairest award in 1924, and crossing to the VFL two years later, by which time Albert already had a full season of top level football under his belt.

Despite not managing to crack it for a senior flag, Ivanhoe remained ambitious, and as the SDFL began to dwindle in both size and importance during the early 1930s the club’s committee began to look around for a more stable competition in which to participate. By 1932 the Metropolitan Amateur Football Association, which would change its name to the Victorian Amateur Football Association the following year, was a vibrant, forward-thinking body which had grown to encompass four senior divisions, and looked set to continue to expand still further in future. On 2nd March 1934, just weeks before the start of the football season, Ivanhoe announced its intention to compete in the VAFA, which is where, except for the wartime interlude, it has remained ever since.

Few people could have predicted the sensational nature by which Ivanhoe took the VAFA by storm during its first few seasons. Coached by John ‘Jiggy’ Harris, a former Collingwood premiership player, as well as captain-coach of Hawthorn in 1930-31, the ‘Hoes won sixty consecutive matches in three seasons, which needless to say produced three premierships. It was a record that has never come close to being equalled. The flags were sealed with wins over University High School Old Boys by 99 points in D Section in 1934, UHSOB again by 46 points in C Section in 1935, and Ormond by 43 points in B Section in 1936. Among the galaxy of accomplished players to line up in what at the time was a black jumper with white yoke were Hec Rutherford, Ron Smith, who booted a total of 236 goals in 1935-6, Curly Ellis, Frank Mahoney, Ted Pierce, Allan Horman, and football’s renowned ‘hot gospeller’ of the 1950s and ‘60s, Allan Killigrew.

During the remainder of the pre-war period the ‘Hoes competed in A Section, where they were competitive without managing to reach the finals. Their first A Section finals appearance came in 1947, which was the second season of the competition’s resumption after a six year break for war. Ivanhoe finished third on that occasion, but it proved to be a false dawn, and four seasons later, after no further finals ventures, the side was relegated back to B Section. The next three seasons saw the ‘Hoes on the promotion-relegation see-saw, returning to A Section in 1952 after losing the B Section grand final to Melbourne High School Old Boys, dropping straight back to B Section the following year, and then winning the B Section flag in 1954 thanks to a 10.10 (70) to 4.11 (35) grand final defeat of State Savings Bank.

Probably the best known personality associated with Ivanhoe during the club’s initial half a century and more of involvement in the VAFA was not a player or coach but a larger than life supporter who was “the epitome of the love, friendship and camaraderie that exists at amateur level”. Ida Marcon - popularly known as ‘Dame Ida’ or ‘Ivanhoe Ida’ - was actually just more than ‘just’ a supporter. From the early 1930s until her death in 1990 she demonstrably imbued and immersed herself in all things Ivanhoe, invariably referring to the club’s players as “my boys”, and devoting long hours, plus copious amounts of energy and drive, to raising funds and performing innumerable behind the scenes tasks of the sort that many token supporters never really appreciate or consider necessary. Despite manifesting an apparent, and very vocal, detestation of everything on the field of play not bedecked in an Ivanhoe jumper, she was widely respected, even loved, by opponents almost as much as her beloved ‘Hoes. For instance, Michael Ashford, a staunch De La Salle man, and author of his club’s official history book, displayed obvious admiration when writing about her, even going so far as to describe her as “the greatest female supporter in amateur football”.

Spurred on by Dame Ida’s vociferous and unstinting support, Ivanhoe enjoyed a halcyon era in the 1950s, capped by the only A Section premiership in the club’s history to date in 1956. In what was only the second all district A Section flag decider since world war two, Ivanhoe and Coburg engaged in a tortuous, slogging battle of attrition that saw the ‘Hoes emerge with what, given the tightly congested nature of much of the play, was actually a fairly convincing 8 point win. Final scores were Ivanhoe 6.14 (50) defeated Coburg 5.12 (42), with the victors coached by Harold Weinberg and with Merv Hughes, uncle of his namesake, an Australian Test cricketer in the 1980s and early 1990s, as captain. Key members of the team included Lloyd Williams, who went to Collingwood in 1957 only to suffer a badly broken leg in his second VFL match and never play again, the Miles brothers, Reg and John, and AAFC carnival player David Burt.

To give some kind of context to this achievement, the 1956 A Section finals series was only the second such that the ‘Hoes had contested, and just once since - in 1978, when they finished fourth - have they done so again.

The 1960s began and ended for Ivanhoe with B Section grand final appearances. The 1961 encounter with Melbourne High School Old Boys was lost, but the ‘Hoes secured their third B Section flag eight years later thanks to comfortable wins over De La Salle Old Collegians in both the second semi final and grand final.

The 1960s also saw the arrival on the VAFA scene of Assumption Old Collegians, Kilmore, the club with which Ivanhoe would end up forging a partnership. Commencing in F Section in 1964, the side achieved promotion as losing grand finalist at the end of its debut season, and won its first and only VAFA flag three years later after a 14.18 (102) to 8.9 (57) E Section grand final defeat of Tooronga Malvern. Assumption was a creditable performer throughout most of its nineteen season existence as an autonomous club, contesting finals series on seven occasions, and once clambering as high as B Section. The club was eventually forced to disband because of a lack of players.

For Ivanhoe, the 1970s, like the previous decade, produced two B Section grand final appearances, in 1972 and 1977, but this time ‘round both were lost, as indeed were the grand finals of 1982 and 1984, both in B Section, and 1995 in C Section. By the late 1990s the club was finding it increasingly difficult to recruit sufficient players, a problem it blamed on “a big change in demographics in the Ivanhoe district” which led to “many juniors ........ going to private schools and being wooed to play for old boys clubs”. In 1999, the club took the courageous decision to clasp the very nettle that was stinging it when it entered into an alliance with Assumption Old Collegians, a club which had been in recess for almost two decades. As a result of this merger the Ivanhoe Assumption Amateur Football Club came into being, an organisation which combined a proud district football tradition stretching back nearly a century with the equally proud ongoing legacy of Assumption College.

Following the establishment of the partnership in 1999 the club contested the finals three times without adding to its haul of premierships. After seven years the amalgamation was dissolved and in 2006 the Magpies (or 'Hoes as they are still sometimes known) endured a horror year which produced just 5 wins from 18 matches, and saw it consigned to relegation to D3 Section for the first in its history. The ignominy was swiftly dispelled in 2007 as the team displayed all its trademark grit to earn promotion as runner-up after reaching the grand final from third place. A year later the side performed exceptionally well to finish third in D2 Section.

Another stint in Division Three, as D Section had become known, came to an end in 2012 via the slightly undesirable route of a losing grand final against Yarra Valley. The first half of the match was evenly contested with the Magpies enjoying a narrow 8 point advantage at the main break. During the second half, however, Yarra Valley assumed complete control, adding 15.12 to 1.5 to win with consummate ease by 83 points, 19.20 (134) to 7.9 (51). The Magpies struggled somewhat in 2013 but their tally of 6 wins was nevertheless good enough for them to maintain their Division Two status. The 2014 season saw the team improve and manage 10 wins and a draw, and in 2015 the Magpies only lost twice all season en route to a grand final encounter with Old Paradians. It proved to be a tight, low scoring affair, but in the end Ivanhoe fell short by 15 points. Nevertheless, the mere fact of having played off for the premiership was sufficient to procure promotion to Division One, which is where the Magpies lined up in 2016, winning 8 and losing 10 matches which was good enough for a seventh place finish out of ten teams. A year later they again came seventh albeit after winning 2 fewer matches than in 2016. This was followed by a dire 2018 campaign which produced just a solitary win, consigning the team to the wooden spoon and relegation to Division Two.

Intermittent difficulties notwithstanding, Ivanhoe’s impact on the amateur game has undeniably been both considerable and, in some respects, arguably unmatched. Few VAFA clubs have produced so many high quality VFL players, for instance, while its achievements in both the 1930s and 1950s could validly be described as having had landmark significance. Whether the club will ever manage to emulate its former accomplishments is, of course, impossible to predict, but in having at least had the courage to move with the times - or, if you prefer, roll with the punches - it has almost certainly taken a first significant step in the right direction.