Australian Football

Mazenod OC

Mazenod Old Collegians Football Club came into being in 1978 when it was admitted to the Eastern Suburban Churches Football Association’s E Grade competition. After struggling in its debut season its performances steadily improved. It made the finals for the first time in 1980, and the following year saw it achieve promotion to D Grade as premiers after upsetting the odds to beat Noble Park in the grand final.

The team maintained its improvement over the next few seasons, obtaining promotion to C Grade in 1982, winning a C Grade premiership the following year, and winning a B Grade flag in 1985. Relegated from A Grade to B Grade at the end of the 1987 it recovered superbly to win the 1988 B Grade premiership, but instead of proceeding to A Grade to club transferred to the Victorian Amateur Football Association, where it was initially placed in F Section.

Mazenod proved to be just as upwardly mobile in the VAFA as it had in the ESCFA. In its debut season, the club won senior and reserves premierships and its under nineteens finished second, which collectively was good enough to secure the VAFA’s Champion Club Award. After losing against AJAX by a point to miss an E Section grand final berth in 1990 the seniors recovered to take out the following season’s premiership thanks to a 15.19 (109) to 9.15 (69) grand final defeat of Williamstown CYMS. Once again, as in 1989, the club’s reserves side also went top.

The senior team’s upward progress continued in 1992 when it earned the D Section flag with a 13.13 (91) to 11.18 (84) grand final victory over Caulfield Grammarians, followed by a record breaking 29.17 (191) to 11.16 (82) annihilation of AJAX in the following season’s B Section grand final. The win over AJAX meant that the Mazenod senior side had contested eight grand finals in its first fifteen seasons and won them all. During the same period, the reserves had played in six grand finals, winning five, and the under nineteens had won two premierships from three grand finals.

The seniors’ dream run came to an end in 1995 when promotion to A Section was achieved only on the strength of a losing grand final against Old Haileyburians. Nevertheless, the side’s feat in going from the bottom of the ESCFA to the highest tier of amateur football in just eighteen seasons was remarkable, and probably only bettered, in terms of speed, by Marcellin Old Collegians who entered F Section in 1971 and had reached A Section by 1987.

Since 1995 Mazenod has added two further senior flags to its haul, the first of which was in B Section in 2000 when it overcame the grand final challenge of Old Brighton Grammarians by 7 points. Unfortunately, relegation from A Section followed immediately, and although the side reached the B Section finals in 2002 it subsequently fell back among the pursuing pack, where it remained until succumbing to relegation in 2006. The following year saw the side comfortably qualifying for the C Section finals, but bowing out of premiership contention at the first hurdle against Old Carey, while the 2008 season brought the mediocre return of 9 wins from 18 matches, which was only good enough for a fifth place finish.

After several near misses the Nodders finally achieved promotion from Premier C (as C Section was now known) in 2013, albeit only as runners-up as they were beaten in the grand final by Old Ivanhoe. Their sojourn in Premier B lasted just a couple of seasons, but following their relegation they bounced straight back by winning the 2016 C Premier premiership. Opposed in the grand final by Peninsula Old Boys they trailed narrowly at the first change but thereafter were dominant over most of the ground, adding 13 goals to 7 to win by 34 points, 13.15 (93) to 8.11 (59). The 2017 season brought consolidation in Premier B as the Nodders won 8 out of 18 matches to finish in sixth place on the ten club ladder. A year later, however, the Nodders endured a campaign to forget as they managed just 3 wins from 18 matches to slump to the wooden spoon, a result which meant relegation back to Premier C.