Australian Football

Monash Blues

Melbourne’s second university, Monash, was established by Act of Parliament in 1958, and first enrolled students three years later. In 1962 the Monash Blues Amateur Football Club was formed and admitted to the VAFA’s E Section, where it performed with considerable distinction right from the outset, ending the season by becoming the seventh club in the Association’s history to win a flag at the first time of asking. The grand final was a tough, tortuous affair, with the Ashes’ low score of 8.9 (57) proving good enough to overcome Old Haileyburians, who managed just 2.11 (23), with surprising comfort.

As the university expanded rapidly, going from an initial student intake of just 347 in 1961 to several thousand by 1967, so its football club grew in size, stature and prowess. D Section football was obviously not to its liking, as it spent just a single season at that level, earning promotion after another grand final clash with Old Haileyburians, albeit a losing one on this occasion. A second university team, Monash Whites, was established in 1964 and reached the F Section finals in its first season. However, when the VAFA dispensed with F Section in 1966 the team went into temporary abeyance, only resuming when F Section was restored in 1971. Over the years the Whites enjoyed modest success, capped by an F Section grand final defeat of Heatherton in 1975. In 1997 the team was reconstituted as Monash University’s presence in the VAFA’s Club XVIII competition.

The decade from 1967 saw the Ashes achieving the greatest success in their history to date, including two stints in A Section. The first and longer of these ran from 1969 to 1973 and included a fifth place finish in 1970, which remains the highest position the club has so far attained. The side’s route to A Section had taken in consecutive grand final losses to Alphington in C Section in 1967 and Ormond the following year in B Section, with the side captained on both occasions by Peter Rattray. Another B Section grand final berth was earned in 1974 to secure an immediate return to A Section following relegation the previous year. This match too, however, was lost, although as the final scores of Old Trinity Grammarians 13.10 (88) to Monash 10.18 (78) make evident it was by no means an inglorious reversal. The team narrowly avoided relegation in its first season back among elite company, but a last place finish in 1976 brought not only demotion but the start of a decline in fortunes that saw the side struggle in B Section for the better part of a decade. Worse was to follow, for in 1984 and ‘85 the team endured consecutive relegations to find itself back in D Section, the grade it had so contemptuously eschewed two decades earlier.

In 1986, judging by the speed with which they concocted an escape, the Ashes were just as unimpressed by the atmosphere in D Section as they had been on first acquaintance. They still could not manage a premiership, however, going under in the grand final against Balaclava by 14 points.

The long awaited second senior flag finally arrived in 1987 courtesy of a 13.18 (96) to 10.11 (71) win over Kew in the C Section grand final. A solid first season in B Section raised hopes, but within a couple of years the side was back in C Section. The club remains a vibrant and integral part of the VAFA scene, with premierships in D Section in 1996 and D1 Section in 2003 adding further gloss to an already impressively burnished tradition. 

In 2016, after losing the 2015 Premier C grand final to Old Haileyburians, the Ashes competed in Premier B and did well, ultimately finishing fourth after losing the first semi final to Old Scotch. The 2017 season ended in the same fashion although on this occasion it was St. Bernard's who inflicted the coup de grace. A year later the Ashes dropped down the ladder to eighth after managing just 4 wins from their 18 home and away matches.