AustralianFootball.com Celebrating the history of the great Australian game
Official name
Melton Football Club
Known as
Melton
Formed
1880
Colours
Maroon and white
Emblem
Bloods
Affiliation (Current)
Ballarat Football Netball League (BFNL) 1997–2024
Affiliations (Historical)
Bacchus Marsh Football League (BMFL) 1913–1972; Riddell District Football Netball League (RDFNL) 1973–1996
Senior Premierships
Bacchus Marsh Football League (BMFL) - 1913-14-15-16-17-18-19, 1923, 1930-1, 1935, 1963 (12 total); Riddell District Football League (RDFL) Division One - 1973, 1981, 1984, 1986 (4 total); Ballarat Football League - 2000-01, 2005, 2022 (4 total)
Website
www.takeoff.to/thebloods
Over the course of its century-plus history Melton has enjoyed consistently high levels of success wherever it has played. The club emphatically set out its stall during its early involvement in the Bacchus Marsh Football League by capturing an incredible seven flags in a row between 1913 and 1919, the BMFL being one of only a handful of Victorian country football competitions to continue throughout the first world war.
In terms of premiership success the next five decades were less fruitful but the Bloods were nevertheless consistent participants in the September fray in both the BMFL and the Riddell District Football League, in which they competed between 1973 and 1996. The club’s initial season in the RDFL was one of the most memorable in its history as the seniors won the premiership without losing a match.
Since 1997 the Bloods have been members of the Ballarat Football League. They qualified for the finals on debut, and did so almost every season for a decade, claiming premierships in 2000, 2001 and 2005. The 2001 triumph was especially noteworthy as it came via an incredible 138 point grand final defeat of Melton South, the Bloods winning 25.15 (165) to 3.9 (27).
The Bloods' fortunes after claiming their third flag were almost uniformly disappointing for more than a decade, with no finals appearances whatsoever between 2006 and 2017. Finally, in 2018 the Bloods not only re-entered the finals fray they went on to qualify for the premiership deciding match. A fortnight earlier they had beaten grand final opponents East Point in the second semi final and so were marginally favoured to win. For most of the first half things panned out more or less as expected with Melton going into the main break 22 points to the good. However, in the third quarter the Kangaroos rattled on 9 goals to three to take a 15 point lead into the final break. The scene was set for a rip roaring finale and this is precisely what happened, with Melton chipping away at the deficit and getting to within 2 points with just seconds to go. Unfortunately there was no time for further scoring and when the siren sounded the scoreboard showed East Point as victors with scores of 15.7 (97) to 14.11 (95).
John Devaney - Full Points Publications