Australian Football

Lancefield

Lancefield Football Club dates back to 1872, and was playing competitively by the ensuing decade. Prior to the first world war the club won a total of at least half a dozen premierships in a variety of competitions. (Records for some leagues and associations are somewhat scanty, so it is quite possible that there were more.)

For most of the inter-war period Lancefield competed in the Riddell District Football Association, claiming flags in 1923, 1924 and 1932. The first couple of decades after the second world war saw the club consistently featuring among the pace setters in a competition which was by then known as the Riddell District Football League. The Tigers procured their first post-war premiership in 1946 thanks to a 5 point grand final victory over Sunbury. This was followed three years later by a 10.13 (73) to 7.7 (49) grand final defeat of Romsey.

The 1950s produced another couple of flags which were achieved at the expense of Kilmore in 1952 and Sunbury in 1958. In the 1966 grand final Lancefield overcame Romsey by 19 points, but there then followed the unprecedented experience of a prolonged premiership drought which was not broken until 1995. The RDFL at that time was a two tier competition, and the Tigers’ success, which came thanks to a 16.12 (108) to 12.4 (76) grand final victory over Woodend, was achieved in Division Two.

The reward of promotion to Division One was not automatically bestowed on the Division Two premier, and Lancefield remained in Division Two for a 1996 season that produced another flag, this time achieved at the expense of Riddell.

As of 1997 the RDFL became a single division competition, and since the turn of the century the Tigers have performed consistently well capturing premierships in 2004 and 2009 which gives them a total of ten. Only Romsey and Riddell have won more.

Recent seasons have been something of a struggle for the Tigers who have failed to contest the finals nine times in a row.