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Collegians

Few football clubs anywhere in Australia can boast a history as rich and eventful as that of Collegians. Moreover, with a total of seventeen top grade premierships to its credit it can lay claim to having been the Victorian Amateur Football Association's most successful club. It is also the only founder member still competing.

Football had been played at Wesley College for the better part of two decades by the time a formal 'old boys' club, Collegians, was formed in 1891. The club was, in effect, a by-product of the revitalised interest in the game which had been sparked by Lawrence Adamson, the school's sports master since 1886. Adamson, an Englishmen, was a staunch advocate of 'muscular Christianity', and saw the Australian code of football as its ideal expression. He also firmly believed that the ties of friendship forged at school should be maintained during adult life and this, as much as its athletic element, was a key purpose of the Collegians Football Club, although both Adamson and the club itself were not averse to the infusion of 'fresh blood' from other sources.

By lacing its ranks with 'foreigners', Collegians was able to field two teams in its inaugural season, and three in its second. That second season coincided with the formation of the Metropolitan Junior Football Association, precursor of the VAFA. Adamson was a prime mover behind the emergence of the Association, which he would later serve with enormous distinction as president, and therefore Collegians' involvement from the outset was in the nature of a given. However, in 1892 it was the club's second twenty which would compete in the Association, as it was believed that the first twenty would be too powerful.

The inaugural MJFA premiership was contested by nine clubs, of which two, like Collegians, fielded second twenties. Despite losing to both Alberton and St Jude's, Collegians made it through to the final and scored an emphatic 'revenge' victory over Alberton, 12.7 to 5.7 (behinds, of course, not yet counting in the score).

By the time of the first world war Collegians had claimed another five premierships, and was universally acknowledged as a mainstay of the Association. During the 1920s the amateur game flourished, and the Metropolitan Amateur Football Association as the competition became known in 1912, added second and third tiers, respectively known as B Section and C Section, in 1923 and 1926. Collegians had their first taste of B Section football in 1925 after a dire 1924 season had produced just 1 win out of 14. The club's inaugural stay in the lower tier was brief, however, as after contesting the finals in 1925 the side procured the premiership in 1926 thanks to a convincing challenge final defeat of minor premier St. Paul's.

The 1930s saw the re-emergence of Collegians as an A Section force, with the side contesting the finals on five occasions and claiming successive flags in 1936 and 1937. After the war the team twice succumbed to relegation to B Section but bounced back quickly on both occasions, as losing grand finalists against Commonwealth Bank in 1950, and premiers in 1956 at the expense of Power House. The 1956 flag lit the fuse on one of the club's greatest eras as it went on to add A Section premierships in 1957 1958, 1959 and 1961, besides finishing third in 1960, 1962 and 1963. Collegians was the first ever club to win B and A Section flags in consecutive years. 

The 1959 premiership was won against the odds after the club was docked 12 premiership points for fielding an ineligible player, Peter Bennett, in three matches. Bennett, a former St Kilda and VFL interstate full forward, had forfeited his amateur status earlier in the year by accepting his VFL Provident fund payment. The loss of points meant that Collegians commenced the finals in third place rather than as minor premiers, but the side still proved good enough to win the flag.

The quarter of a century after 1961 was in some respects the bleakest era in the club’s history, spawning no premierships and only a single grand final appearance, in B Section in 1981. That grand final appearance brought to an end Collegians’ longest ever stay in B Section - ten seasons - but celebrations were muted as it ended in defeat at the hands of University Blues.

The club’s return to A Section gave rise to another noteworthy phase in the club’s history, with finals appearances every season between 1983 and 1986, culminating in a grand final triumph over North Old Boys in the last of those years. Further grand final appearances followed in 1989 and 1990, both of which resulted in losses to Ormond, and 1992 and 1993, which featured a pair of wins over De La Salle. The all round strength of Collegians as a club was emphasised in these two seasons with the reserves claiming premiership honours in 1992 and the under nineteens the following year.

In the fifteen years after winning the 1993 A Section flag Collegians played off in three more grand finals at that level, but lost them all, against Old Melburnians in 1994, Old Xaverians in 1996, and St. Bede’s Mentone Tigers in 2008. The club also had to endure another couple of stints in B Section which were ended by means of a losing grand final against St Kevin’s Old Boys in 2004 and a 12.13 (85) to 9.10 (64) victory over Old Brighton two years later.

In recent years the club's fortunes have been very much restored thanks to two straight A Section/Premier premierships in 2011 and 2012. In the former year Collegians overcame a sluggish start to down St. Bedes Mentone Tigers in the grand final by 36 points, 18.20 (128) to 14.8 (92). In the following year's grand final the Lions had somewhat greater difficulty seeing off the challenge of Old Xaverians, one of only two clubs to have defeated them during the season. At the last change Old Xaverians held a slender 1 point advantage but Collegians produced a solid, purposeful final quarter to edge home by 7 points, 10.11 (71) to 9.10 (64).

After missing the 2013 finals the Lions returned to the end of season fray in 2014, downing Old Scotch in a semi final and St Bernard's in the preliminary final but going down by 44 points to University Blacks in the grand final. Collegians again made the Premier grand final in 2017 but fell short by three points against St. Kevin's, a result that was almost duplicated in the following year's premiership play-off as the Lions came roaring home with five last quarter goals to one only to fall short by five points. The 2019 season again produced finals qualification but the Lions' involvement was fleeting as they lost the first semi final to St Kevin's by 31 points.

Source

John Devaney - Full Points Publications

Footnotes

* Behinds calculated from the 1965 season on.
+ Score at the end of extra time.