Australian Football

St. Bernard's

Although St. Bernard’s College, Essendon, had a strong football tradition, its small size (fewer than 300 students) tended to militate against it when it came to fielding competitive school teams. In 1961, however, it was blessed with an amazingly talented group of young footballers who defied both the opposition and the odds to win the coveted Associated Catholic Schools premiership. Two years later, many of these same players formed the nucleus of the inaugural St. Bernard’s Old Collegians side which lined up in E Section of the VAFA, and which further enhanced the school’s reputation by winning the premiership at the first time of asking. Grand final opponents Glenhuntly had been in the VAFA since 1926, but it was St. Bernard’s who played with the assurance of veterans in winning comfortably by 20 points, 13.19 (97) to 11.11 (77).

Winning a senior grade premiership in their very first season was an extremely laudable, but scarcely unique, achievement: in E Section alone, which in 1963 celebrated its tenth year, the feat had already been accomplished three times by the time St. Bernard’s managed it. However, St. Bernard’s went further, winning the E Section reserves pennant as well, the first time in VAFA history that this particular ‘double’ had been achieved on debut.

An important off-field development in 1963 was the opening by the College of a new campus in West Essendon which in time would see student numbers - and hence potential recruits for the club - almost double.

Meanwhile, on-field developments continued apace as St. Bernard’s made it two senior grade flags in succession in 1964 thanks to a 15.2 (92) to 7.18 (60) D Section grand final defeat of Old Brighton Grammarians. C Section proved a somewhat tougher nut to crack, but after consecutive preliminary final defeats in 1966 and 1967 the side made it through to the premiership decider in 1968, thereby assuring itself of promotion. On a disappointing note, however, the grand final, against Footscray Technical College Old Boys, was lost.

Right from the outset, the club’s self declared aim had been to reach A Section, and two years after earning promotion from C Section it was able to reflect with enormous satisfaction on a job well done. Despite the fact that, as in 1968, promotion was achieved as runner-up, this would all too soon be forgotten as the side embarked on a decade of noteworthy feats, capped by the ultimate achievement in amateur football, an A Section flag.

St. Bernard’s, in fact, was a force in A Section throughout the 1970s, qualifying for the finals half a dozen times in nine years, and on three occasions contesting the grand final. The first of these grand final appearances came in 1973, but Ormond, which was seeking its third consecutive flag, proved to be too tall an order and won by the equivalent of 5 goals. Two years later, however, many of the same St. Bernard’s players again lined up on grand final day and, opposed by a North Old Boys combination that had never previously contested a finals series, made their experience tell from the outset, winning in the end by 45 points, 19.13 (127) to 12.10 (82). After just thirteen seasons in the VAFA the club had reached the very pinnacle of the amateur game, an achievement which ranks with the most noteworthy in the competition’s history. It was very much a homegrown triumph, too, with the side coached by a former St. Bernard’s player in Gus Mitchell, and the majority of the players having played their early football for the school.

The 1976 season saw the same two sides contesting the grand final, but with the opposite result, North Old Boys winning by 49 points Among the key members of the club’s powerful mid-1970s combinations were 1977 Woodrow Medallist Peter Aughton, Greg Wade, Peter Rackham, Gavin Mitchell, and Mack Drennan.

If the 1980s proved rather less successful than the 1970s they were arguably every bit as memorable, if largely for the wrong reasons. On the field, the St. Bernard’s seniors spent the decade alternating between A and B Sections, winning premierships in the lower tier twice. It was off the field, however, that the club attracted the headlines.

During the 1988 AAFC Carnival in Launceston a St. Bernard’s official offered Terry Young, a Fawkner player, $2,000 to change clubs. The VAFA acted swiftly and emphatically, fining St. Bernard’s $5,000, suspending the club for the remainder of the 1988 season, and demoting it to B Section for 1989. St. Bernard’s, however, claimed that the official had acted privately, without the club’s authorisation, and took out a High Court injunction to that effect, but the judge, Mr. Justice Vincent, ruled in favour of the VAFA, and also awarded costs. With the continued existence of the club under very real threat, St. Bernard’s organised a sportsmen’s night which, besides generating funds well in excess of what was required, showed just how important the club had become to a wide range of people. 

In hindsight, it can also be seen as having sown the seeds of the club’s subsequent success, although in the short term the impact of the enforced demotion to B Section was considerable. Indeed, it took three seasons for the side to battle its way back to A Section - with ‘battle’ being very much the operative word as far the 1991 B Section grand final clash with Old Xaverians was concerned. In an extraordinary game, played in unseasonably inclement weather conditions, the two sides contrived a mere seventeen scoring shots between them for the entire match, with St. Bernard’s winning by 8 points, 5.5 (35) to 4.3 (27). The club remained in A Section until 2007 and contested four more grand finals at that level, losing to Old Xaverians in 2000 and 2003, and to University Blues in 2004, and beating Old Xaverians in 2002.

That 2002 premiership season was arguably the greatest in the club’s history to date. The side won 15 and drew 1 of its 18 home and away matches to secure the double chance in the finals with some comfort, and then survived a scare in the second semi final against Old Xaverians - one of only two teams to have defeated it all year - to snatch victory by one straight kick. Things were very different when the two teams met again on grand final day as St. Bernard’s produced an imposing and at times scintillating all round performance to win by 31 points, 20.15 (135) to 15.14 (104). On- ballers Danny Byrne, who became the club’s first Jock Nelson Medallist for best afield in an A Section grand final, and Ben Jordan were in irresistible form for the victors, while eighteen year old forward Sean Neeson posed a persistent threat, and booted 5 goals. Capping a marvellous all round season, the club’s under nineteens team also went top.

St. Bernard's next grand final appearance came in Premier B in 2011 after the side had succumbed to relegation. Opposed by Caulfield the Snow Dogs were in touch until the last change but Caulfield pulled away in the final term to record a comfortable 33 point victory.

Over the ensuing four seasons, competing at Premier level, St. Bernard's gradually improved. They got as far as the preliminary final in 2014 and the following year lost just 4 matches en route to their eighth senior grade flag. The grand final saw them embroiled in a tough, closely fought encounter with Old Trinity. At three quarter time Old Trinity led by a single straight kick but it was the Snow Dogs who finished the stronger, adding 5 last quarter goals to 2 to edge home by 8 points, 17.11 (113) to 15.15 (105).

After that, the 2016 season was little short of a disaster as it yielded just 5 wins from 18 matches, a result which consigned the club to relegation back to Premier B. The 2017 season saw the Snow Dogs performing solidly at this level, comfortably qualifying for the finals and ultimately finishing third. Then, in 2018 they swept all beore them in carrying off the minor premiership before accounting for Old Carey in both the second semi final and grand final to secure their fourth second tier VAFA premiership.