Australian Football

Springbank

The most noteworthy phase in the Springbank Tigers’ history came during the 1960s when they won five consecutive Clunes Football League premierships. They won a sixth flag in 1972 thanks to a hard fought 13.15 (93) to 12.17 (89) grand final defeat of Bungaree.

When the Central Highlands Football League was established in 1979 Springbank was a founder member and reached the finals, as it would do in each of its first five seasons, albeit without breaking through for a premiership. That had to wait until 1990, when Newlyn provided the grand final opposition. A year earlier, the Tigers had lost the ultimate match of the season to Hepburn.

Springbank’s teams at the turn of the century were among the strongest in the club’s history. In 2000, the Tigers trounced Clunes by 65 points, 20.9 (129) to 9.12 (66), to take out the flag, and they followed this up with a 12.12 (84) to 9.7 (61) grand final victory over Buninyong in 2001. 

Recent seasons have again seen the Tigers coming to the fore. They qualified for the grand final in 2014, but lost by 58 points to Bungaree. A year later they made amends with a 10.8 (68) to 4.11 (35) grand final defeat of Gordon, a success that was repeated in 2016 when they put Buninyong to the sword to the tune of 35 points. The 2017 season brought a slight decline in fortunes as their finals campaign was brought to an end by Beaufort at the preliminary final stage. A year later there was further decline as the Tigers finished fifth.