Australian Football

Old Xaverians

Over the years, quite a number of A Grade VAFA clubs have produced what could reasonably be classified as premiership dynasties. One thinks, for example, of the Old Scotch teams of the early 1930s, those of University Blacks on either side of world war two, Old Paradians in the 1960s, and Ormond in the 1980s. Arguably the most noteworthy and laudable premiership dynasty of all, however, was that forged by Old Xaverians between 1995 and 2000. Whilst technically it did not represent the first ever time that an A Section team had captured six successive titles, University Blacks having done likewise from 1938 to 1949 (allowing for the six season gap for the war), the achievement is magnified by virtue of the fact that it was achieved when the level of competitiveness, and arguably the all round standard of football, in the VAFA was higher than ever. Old Xaverians not only managed to fend off the challenges of teams which, in almost any other era, would have been deemed to be of premiership calibre, they almost invariably did so with supreme conviction and conclusiveness. Moreover, when stretched - as in the 1996 and 1997 grand finals, for instance - the team proved eminently capable of digging its heels in and displaying a champion’s resilience.

It perhaps does not need to be said that such pre-eminence was not easily arrived at. Indeed, the club’s early history could scarcely have contrasted more with its prodigious feats of more recent seasons. Formed in early 1923 by a group of four alumni of Xavier College in Kew, the club was admitted to the Metropolitan Amateur Football Association, precursor of today’s VAFA, in A Section. Most of the club’s original players were former students of the College, and this indeed has remained the case right through to the present day.

Towards the end of the team’s debut season a number of creditable results were achieved, but not enough to prevent relegation to B Section. Over the next few years the optimistic determination that had permeated the club at the outset gradually trickled away, and in 1926 an anonymous writer in the College’s official publication, ‘The Xaverian’, ruefully reflected that “Considering the number of able footballers who carried the colours to victory in recent years in the School eighteens, the football club is not progressing as it should”. Moreover, “Considering that the Association to which the OXAFC belong is probably the best in this State, as regards good, clean football, it is remarkable that the club has not had a greater following and lacks a good playing membership to choose teams from”.

Whether in response to these complaints or not, the following year’s AGM attracted a bumper turn-out, and the team’s on-field displays gradually began to improve as well. In 1928 the club achieved a major coup when, thanks to the generosity of Collingwood president John Wren, Magpie legend Jock McHale was made available to train the Old Xaverians team each Wednesday during the season. The initiative bore instant fruit as the side reached the B Section finals, although any pleasure at this achievement was soon cut short when State Savings Bank won the first semi final by 13 points.

McHale continued to assist in 1929, but the fact that he was not able to reinforce his Wednesday coaching sessions by attending matches on Saturdays began to make the arrangement seem rather less than ideal. Old Xaverians endured their worst season to date, plummeting to second from last on the ladder, which meant they had to endure the ignominy of relegation to C Section. Jock McHale was unable to resume as coach in 1930, and was replaced by another man with Collingwood links in Bert Laxton who thankfully was able to devote more time to the job than his predecessor. However, although the side showed improved form to qualify for the finals, it was destined to find the task of extricating itself from C Section frustratingly onerous. Between 1930 and 1937 Xavs missed the finals more often than they made them, but finally in 1938 all the pieces of the jig-saw fitted together perfectly and the team not only achieved promotion, but did so by winning the first premiership in the club’s history. Grand final opposition was provided by University Blues, and it was the sort of match in which, other than via the score, it was almost impossible to discern significant superiority in either side. Suffice to say that Old Xaverians kicked straighter, and showed greater determination when it mattered most, in edging home by 9 points, 13.10 (88) to 11.13 (79).

It would be a decade before the team could contrive an escape from B Section, but six of the ten potential seasons during that time were lost to war. The Xavs side of 1948 would not only achieve promotion, it would do so in a way that would, in effect, light the touch paper to a tradition that would smoulder and spark invisibly for decades before bursting forth with unique and - to those outside the club - wholly unexpected magnificence. Underdogs in all three finals contested, Xavs emerged victorious by less than 10 points each time, culminating in an 11.7 (73) to 9.16 (70) grand final defeat of Brunswick that almost defied logic. Typifying the team’s almost pig-headed refusal to buckle under pressure, ruckman Peter Peppard played all three finals with a debilitating knee injury, and as a consequence “buggered the rest of my career”⁴. Victories of this sort really cannot be summed up in words, however, and their impact on those who share in them endures for life.

The next couple of decades would see Old Xaverians contest a total of four senior grand finals, one in C Section, two in B Section, and one - the club’s first ever - in A Section. Only the 1962 B Section match was won, but at least the losses in B and C Sections carried with them the significant consolation prize of promotion. There was no such pill sweetener in A Section, however, and the side’s loss in the 1964 grand final at that level must have been rendered all the more unpalatable by virtue of the fact that the margin was less than a single straight kick. Old Paradians won the match, and with it their third flag in a row, 10.11 (71) to 9.13 (67), after Xavs had won the second semi final encounter between the sides quite convincingly, 12.19 (91) to 10.4 (64).

The 1970s did not prove especially memorable, at least not on the field, with the senior side’s relegation to D Section in 1973 representing one of the major low points in the club’s history. It took Xavs three seasons to clamber back to C Section, with consecutive third place finishes in 1974-5 being followed by a resounding 20.17 (137) to 15.7 (97) grand final victory over AJAX in 1976. Two years later the side fought its way out of C Section, again as premiers, having only just squeezed into the finals in fourth place, and it is illustrative of the club’s status in the modern amateur game that the majority of the time since has been spent in the VAFA's top tier competition.

That status was first achieved via a 1980 B Grade grand final in which Old Scotch were downed by just 2 points, 12.12 (84) to 12.10 (82). Xavs were coached by former alumni Michael Green, who had enjoyed a distinguished VFL playing career with Richmond. Green continued at the helm in 1981 and the end result was another premiership, the club’s first in A Section. Once again, the victory was achieved against both expectations and odds, after the side had looked anything but premiers-in-waiting in going down to North Old Boys in the second semi final by more than 15 goals. It was a different story in the re-match a fortnight later, however, as Xavs matched their supposedly classier opponents for pace and skill, as well as outmarking and out-rucking them. In front of a crowd of about 6,000, judged to be a near record, Xavs maintained at least a slight advantage on the scoreboard for most of the day before winning in the end by 19 points, 15.22 (112) to 13.15 (93). Although the Jock Nelson Medal for the best player in an A Section grand final had yet to be introduced, club skipper and ruckman John Noonan earned the ‘official’ nod as best afield, and was able to take a trophy home as proof. But above all this it was a collective triumph, shared by all connected with the club, from president David Burnes down.

As time would make clear, it was also akin to the initial tremor that warns of an imminent earthquake.

The remainder of the 1980s proved to be a topsy-turvy time during which, on the con side, Xavs endured fleeting acquaintance with B Section on two occasions, while the chief pros were consecutive A Section grand final appearances in 1987 and 1988. Disappointingly, both of these contests were lost.

The early 1990s brought another brief dose of B Section blues which came to an end after one of the lowest scoring VAFA grand finals ever played, St. Bernard’s Old Collegians winning the 1991 such match by 8 points, 5.5 (35) to 4.3 (27). Both sides would soon go on to enjoy A Section success, modest in the case of St. Bernard’s, unprecedented for Old Xaverians.

Under the coaching of Grant Thomas in 1992 the side only managed to avoid relegation to B Section by beating North Old Boys in the last match of the season. Thomas was unfortunate in that he repeatedly had to do without key players because of injury, but under his replacement, Matt Hannebery, Xavs really started to show signs of their potential, finishing third in both 1993 and 1994. Then Barry Richardson arrived as coach in 1995, and suddenly one of, if not the, greatest teams in VAFA history was crouching, focused and intent, in the starting blocks. The way in which it ran, only intermittently challenged, to the finishing line is probably worthy of more than a brief summary, but that is all that space and time allow:

Michael Blood, Adam Sassi, Michael Holmes, Simon Lethlean, Andrew Brushfield, John Bowen, David Landrigan, Sam Tucker, Anthony McDonald, Sam Hunter, Michael Brennan, Dan Richardson, Tim Ockleshaw, and Dermott Dann were just some of the many fine players to don the famous black and red during this halcyon phase. Barry Richardson had left after the 1995 premiership win, and been replaced by Simon Meehan, but after Xavs had endured a woeful start to the 1996 season, winning just 2 of their opening 9 games, he gave way to former player Nick Bourke. Under Bourke, the team won the 1996 and 1997 flags, and under his successor, Tim O’Shaughnessy, went top in 1998, 1999 and 2000.

There was still more to come, however, with Michael Sholly masterminding an A Section grand final defeat of St. Bernard’s in 2003, and Barry Richardson doing likewise against University Blues on his return to the club in 2005, and again two years later against Old Brighton.

The club’s eleventh A Grade/Premier flag came in 2009 courtesy of a grinding three-point grand final defeat of De La Salle. This was followed up a year later with an 11.8 (74) to 7.12 (54) grand final triumph over Collegians.

Old Xavs have competed continuously in Premier section for a quarter of a century now and their habit of collecting premierships shows no signs of ending any time soon. They have reached three Premier grand finals in the last half a dozen seasons, losing by 7 points to Collegians in 2012 before downing St. Bede's Mentone Tigers by 50 points the following year and Old Trinity by 7 points in 2016.

At the start of the 1995 season, Old Xaverians’ top tier premiership tally stood at one. Two decades later, it stands at fourteen, and counting, so it is doubtful if you will find anyone associated with the club who is not convinced that the future is not the colour claimed by a certain mobile ‘phone company, but black and red.