Australian Football

The competition known today as the North Central Football League can trace its history back as far as 1913 when it went by the name of the North Western Football Association. After the first world war it was renamed the North Western District Football Association, and it was in this competition, in 1923, that St. Arnaud won its first premiership. The 1926 season saw another change of name for the competition, which became known as the North Central District Football League. St. Arnaud won the first two flags in this competition, and went top again in 1930, the season that saw the word ‘District’ dropped from the competition’s title. St. Arnaud proved to be the league’s most successful club during the 1930s, claiming a total of four premierships which included three in succession from 1932 to 1934.

St. Arnaud’s first post-war grand final appearance came in 1948, and resulted in a 13.10 (88) to 12.9 (81) defeat of Watchem Corack. The Saints did not again contest a grand final until 1957 when they went down by 15 points to Wycheproof. Amends were made the following year with a 12.13 (85) to 8.13 (61) grand final triumph over their 1957 conquerors.

The 1960s proved to be a barren decade as far as grand final appearances were concerned, but the 1970s saw the Saints playing off for the premiership no fewer than five times, although only once, in 1978 against Donald, were they successful. The 1973 grand final clash with Charlton afforded a classic case of “the one that got away” as, despite St. Arnaud managing ten more scoring shots than their opponents, the game ended in a draw. A week later Charlton comfortably won the replay.

During the 1980s St. Arnaud contested two senior grade grand finals, losing to Donald in 1987, and overcoming Charlton in resounding fashion the following year. The 1990s were the club’s most successful post-war decade, spawning four grand final appearances for two wins. St. Arnaud reached their first grand final of the present century in 2003, losing by 46 points to Charlton. Their next grand final in 2012 also ended in defeat, this time at the hands of Wedderburn. Finally, in 2015 the Saints broke through for their thirteenth senior grade NCFL flag when they accounted for Charlton in the grand final by 8 points, 13.8 (86) to 11.12 (78). The next three seasons saw the Saints' fortunes decline somewhat as they finished seventh in 2016, eighth and last in 2017 and sixth in 2018.