Australian Football

Upwey Tecoma

In 1946, the newly formed Upwey Tecoma Football Club was one of eight founding members of the Mountain District Football Association, and quickly established itself as a force, contesting grand finals in each of its first four seasons. In 1947 against Belgrave, and 1949 against South Belgrave, it was successful.

The 1950s started brightly with qualification for the finals on four successive occasions, making it eight in a row all told since inception. However, in 1954 the side slumped to sixth, and did not contest the finals again during the decade.

The Tigers began the 1960s promisingly, reaching the preliminary final in 1960, and losing a hard fought grand final against Ferntree Gully by 2 goals the next year. These achievements were made against the backdrop of a league that was increasingly finding it hard to make ends meet, principally because the local population was in decline. In a bid to alleviate matters, discussions were held with the nearby Yarra Valley Football League, which was experiencing similar problems, about the possibility of the two competitions combining forces. At the end of the 1965 season, this was precisely what happened, and the Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League commenced operations the next year.

The merged competition provided a new lease of life for football in the region, and no-one benefited from this more than the Tigers. In 1966 they lost just 3 of their 17 home and away matches in comfortably qualifying for the finals, and once there scored straight sets wins over Healesville to clinch their first flag for seventeen years. A year later they went back to back for the first time in their history after recovering from the setback of a narrow second semi final loss to Woori Yallock to win both preliminary final (against Marysville) and grand final re-match narrowly. Further finals appearances in 1968 (third) and 1969 (fourth) followed.

The Tigers struggled for much of the ensuing decade, and indeed did not again manage to qualify for the finals until 1977, when they ended up giving a good account of themselves in a high scoring grand final loss to Healesville. The 1978 season proved to be arguably the greatest in the club’s history as the side won the premiership unbeaten. On four occasions during the home and away rounds it kicked in excess of 30 goals, and it won the grand final against Gembrook by 99 points, 26.18 (174) to 11.9 (75). For good measure, the club’s reserves team also went top, just as it had in 1977.

Winning a premiership as champions is hard to top, but by following it up with further successes in both 1979 and 1980 Upwey Tecoma went some way towards doing precisely that. The reserves did even better, claiming flags in 1979, 1980 and 1981 to make it an astonishing five in succession.

Most of the remainder of the 1980s proved disappointing, but the Tigers rounded off the decade in style by taking out the 1989 premiership, a triumph that was a prelude to the most successful decade in the club’s history to date. The seniors qualified for every finals series during the 1990s, reaching eight out of ten grand finals for five wins. The winning habit percolated throughout the club as well, with the reserves also winning a premiership, and the under eighteens landing three. Following their 1999 success the Tigers made losing grand final appearances in 2001, 2004 and 2006 before capturing a league record twelfth Division One flag in 2009. Two years later they enhanced this record still further thanks to a 13.16 (94) to 11.15 (81) defeat of Gembrook Cockatoo in the Division One grand final. The Tigers also contested the 2012 and 2013 grand finals but lost narrowly on both occasions to Woori Yallock. Recent seasons have seen them finish fourth in 2014, seventh in 2015 and fifth in 2016, 2017 and 2018.