Australian Football

Brunswick (VAFA)

The original North Melbourne Christian Brothers College Old Boys Football Club was established in 1932, and was promptly admitted to the newly formed D Section of the Metropolitan Amateur Football Association, which changed its name the next year to the VAFA. North performed extremely creditably in its first few seasons, finishing fourth in D Grade in 1932, second in D Grade in 1933, and second in C Grade in 1934. In 1937 the side made the B Section finals, ultimately finishing fourth, but far from proving a herald of better things it was tantamount to a last hurrah. 

Two years later the club found itself subjected to the indignity of expulsion from the VAFA for wilfully fielding a debarred player under an assumed name. The deception might never have been uncovered had not the player in question been something of a hothead who, having abused an umpire and been dragged before the tribunal, appears to have been rather less circumspect than North’s officials might have wished. His true identity divulged, the player was sent packing, but the matter was far from over. The VAFA launched a detailed investigation which revealed that the whole affair had been the brainchild of a couple of rather ambitious members of the club’s committee, who had acted entirely without the knowledge or sanction of their peers. Despite this, the VAFA was not disposed to be lenient - it seldom was where matters of amateur integrity were concerned - and North was unceremoniously ousted. Many felt that the punishment far outweighed the crime in this instance, and that the VAFA’s real motives were sectarian, but such feelings did not translate into any kind of tangible support for North, and the onset of war a few weeks later quickly relegated concerns of this nature to the back burner.

The 1939 season also saw the arrival on the VAFA scene of North Old Boys’ future partner, St Patrick’s Old Collegians of Ballarat. St Pat’s initial stint had only lasted a season and a half when the Association called a halt to its proceedings because of the war, but the club would twice more resurface, and during its final incarnation between 1964 and 1975 would enjoy a fair amount of success. That success got underway in the 1964 season itself with a 9.5 (59) to 3.6 (24) defeat of Assumption Old Collegians in the first ever F Section grand final. The following year brought a second consecutive premiership thanks to a 13.16 (94) to 10.17 (77) E Section grand final win over Kooyong, and after finishing third in D Section in 1966 the side made it three flags in four seasons with a 12.7 (79) to 9.3 (57) grand final victory over Hampton Rovers. St Pat’s fourth and final VAFA premiership was won in E Section in 1971 thanks to a 7.16 (58) to 8.9 (57) grand final defeat of Latrobe Blacks. In 1975 the club altered its name to St Patrick’s Monivae Old Collegians, but two years later it found itself unable to recruit enough players to continue, and went into mothballs.

North Melbourne Christian Brothers College Old Boys Football Club meanwhile had been resurrected in 1963, and readmitted to E Section of the VAFA the same year. After a season of acclimatisation, the side had hopped aboard the A Section express, stopping only the minimum time necessary in each of the intervening grades en route. In plain English, this meant that North won promotion from sections E, D, C and B in successive years, arriving in A Section for the first time in the club’s history in 1968. The first two grand finals - against Old Geelong Grammarians in E Section, and Preston in D Section - were both won, and won well, but in C Section and B Section grand finals the side went down to Geelong Amateurs and Ormond respectively.

Having completed their ascent in the shortest time possible, North’s progress stalled, and by 1970 they were back in B Section. Recovery was swift, however, and promotion back to A Section in 1971 was a prelude to the most noteworthy decade in the club’s history, although such an assessment is tempered to some extent by the feeling that it could, perhaps should, have been even better. In the view of some, North’s teams of the mid to late seventies were among the finest ever seen in amateur football,[1] but for some reason they only once managed to produce their best football when it mattered most. Every season from 1975 to 1978 North entered the finals as warm flag favourites, a rating they typically embellished by winning the second semi final, but only once - in 1976 - did they emerge victorious from the premiership decider.

Captain-coached by Shane Maguire, the North team that comfortably disposed of St Bernard’s Old Collegians in the 1976 grand final was littered with talent in the shape of players like Mauro Borcich, Domenic Butera, Barry O’Connor, Mick Welch, Mark Hannebury, Barry Anderson and Les Murray. Anderson won the club’s best and fairest award in 1976, while Murray achieved the rare feat of playing in a senior grade premiership team whilst serving as president of the club. As for the coach, he was undoubtedly one of the key figures in the club’s history, playing in excess of 250 senior games, and winning a best and fairest award in 1973. A regular Victorian amateur interstate representative, he was state captain at the 1976 Adelaide AAFC Carnival, and twice earned selection in All Australian amateur teams.

North Old Boys’ A Section grand final losses in this period came at the hands of St Bernard’s by 45 points in 1975, De La Salle by 3 points in 1977, and Old Scotch by 5 points in 1978. The Old Scotch loss was especially galling in that the decisive goal was not kicked until moments before the end of the match.

The early 1980s brought another flourish as North reached consecutive A Section grand finals in 1981-2, and finished fourth in 1983 and 1985. Terry Scanlon was coach of the both the grand final sides, against Old Xaverians in 1981 (lost by 19 points), and De La Salle the following year. The De La Salle match was one in which everything came together for North, who won convincingly 19.7 (121) to 8.15 (63). The fact that the standard of VAFA football in general was probably at an all time high during this period makes the achievement all the more noteworthy.[2] A highlight of North’s 1982 grand final win was veteran Mick Welch’s feat in playing in his second such side, making him the club’s only dual A Section premiership player to date.

Over the course of the decade following the 1982 triumph North remained in A Section, contesting further grand finals in 1986 and 1991, both of which were lost. Following the 1991 defeat the club experienced something of a dip in fortunes, with third place finishes in B Section in 2000 and 2002 the closest it came to a return to premiership glory prior to 2012. In 2005 North Old Boys joined forces with St. Patrick’s College, but unfortunately this coincided with relegation to C Section, where the side had last competed in 1966. The 2006 season was certainly not one to write home about either as North Old Boys St Pat’s managed just 6 wins from 18 matches to avoid a second consecutive relegation by the merest whisker. However, this represented but a temporary stay of execution, as a year later the side managed just 3 wins from 18 matches to plummet to last place on the C Sectionm ladder, consigning them to relegation to D1 Section, which is where they remained until 2012 when they obtained promotion as premiers, downing Peninsula Old Boys by 3 goals in the grand final. The Dragons lost only 1 match all year, to Peninsula Old Boys in round two.

The 2013 season was the total reverse of the previous year as the Dragons only managed a single win to plummet to relegation back to D Section, which is where they have competed since, albeit that the section is now known as Division Four. In 2015 the club was renamed Brunswick NOBSPC. Performances have been mixed: in 2014 the side qualified for the finals but bowed out of the flag race in "straight sets", while in both 2015 and 2016 they finished well down the list. In 2017 they were compelled to compete in the Club XVIII competition as they did not possess sufficient players to field both senior and reserves teams. They endured a difficult season, winning just five games to finish only one place off the bottom of the ladder. A year later the Dragons were able to resume in the VAFA's mainstream competitions. Assigned to Division One, they struggled somewhat, winning just three of 18 matches to succumb to relegation to Division Two for 2019, where they immediately bounced back, earning promotion at the first time of asking after reaching the grand final, albeit that this was lost at the hands of Whitefriars.