Australian Football

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KEY FACTS

Official name
Merbein Football Club

Known as
Merbein

Formed
c 1900s

Colours
Black and white

Emblem
Magpies

Affiliation (Current)
Sunraysia Football Netball League (SFNL) 1945–2024

Affiliation (Historical)
Mildura and District Football League (MDFL) 1912–1944

Senior Premierships
Mildura and District Football League (MDFL) - 1923, 1926, 1930, 1932, 1937-8, 1944 (7 total); Sunraysia Football League - 1948, 1962-3, 1975, 2002-3 (6 total)

Postal Address
P.O. Box 604, Merbein 3505, Victoria

Website
www.merbeinfc.vcfl.com.au

Merbein

Merbein commenced in the Mildura and District Football League in 1912, and reached the grand final for the first time three years later. However, Mildura Rovers proved too strong, winning by 27 points.

After the first world war the Magpies qualified for their second grand final in 1921 but were once again defeated, this time by Mildura. The club’s first flag arrived in 1923 thanks to an 8.8 (56) to 6.9 (45) grand final triumph over Red Cliffs. The remainder of the inter-war period saw the Magpies contesting another nine grand finals, from five of which they emerged victorious.

Between 1941 and 1943 the MDFL was in recess owing to the war before resuming for one last season in 1944. Merbein won the premiership that year, the club’s seventh, which was a competition record shared with Irymple.

The 1945 season saw the MDFL superseded by the Sunraysia Football League, and the Magpies rapidly established themselves as a force in this new competition, contesting a grand final in their second season, and breaking through to claim their first flag in 1948. By contrast, the 1950s proved to be a dismal decade, with a losing grand final against Mildura in 1958 the closest the club came to adding to its premiership haul.

The 1960 season brought another grand final appearance but Mildura again proved to have the Magpies’ measure and won convincingly by 49 points. A year later Merbein again reached the grand final and lost to Red Cliffs in a thriller by 3 points. The losing cycle was ended in 1962 when the Magpies accounted for Imperial in the grand final by 16 points, 6.15 (51) to 5.5 (35). The following season the same two sides played off for the premiership with Merbein triumphing again, albeit with rather more difficulty by a bare 6 point margin.

The 1970s produced just a single senior grade grand final appearance for Merbein, but it was a successful one as the side overcame Irymple by five straight kicks in 1975. The Magpies have only contested two senior grade grand finals since, downing Imperials in 2002 by the narrowest margin possible, and again in 2003 by 30 points. Since their 2003 premiership the Magpies have experienced mixed fortunes, including a number of wooden spoons, but the 2016 season witnessed some promising displays which ultimately procured finals involvement for an eventual finishing position of fourth. The Magpies failed to build on this promise in 2017, however, as they managed just 4 wins from 16 matches to tumble down the list to seventh (of nine) before faring even worse the following year when they won just once in 16 games to succumb to the wooden spoon.

Source

John Devaney - Full Points Publications

 

Footnotes

* Behinds calculated from the 1965 season on.
+ Score at the end of extra time.