University Football Club: An amateur club that lasted in the VFL for only seven seasons

University Football Club played in the VFL from 1908-14.

The expansion and inclusion of football clubs into our country’s biggest sport has been far from unusual since the VFL was formed in 1897.

Melbourne, Geelong, Carlton, Essendon, St Kilda, South Melbourne, Fitzroy and Collingwood were the VFL’s inaugural clubs, after breaking away from the VFA.

Fast-forward to 1908 and Richmond joined the competition, but they were also joined by University Football Club.

University for much of their early existence featured in various lower league competitions, with the club having high hopes of reaching the VFA, the state’s premier competition at the time.

After a number of years of competing in amateur competitions, the club was admitted to the VFA in 1885.

University’s short tenure in the VFA was highly unsuccessful, winning five matches and drawing five during their 70 VFA matches.

To make things worse, four of their wins came in the 1887 season.

The club eventually withdrew from the VFA competition in 1888, with the inability to field a team resulting in them forfeiting numerous games.

Dropping out of the top-tier competition didn’t solve University’s problems, as the club struggled in the Metropolitan Junior Football Association.

They would also end up competing in the Colleges Football Association and the Metropolitan Football Association in the years that followed.

After a couple of decades of mediocre performance, the ‘Students’ as they were widely known as, started to peak as a football club.

Winning back-to-back flags in 1906 and 1907 resulted in the club being admitted into the VFL - a league that was transforming into a professional competition.

With countless clubs starting to pay their players, University were one of the only sides to remain amateur.

The ‘Students’ wore black guernsies with a mid-blue chevron - something that remains to this day.

Something distinctly unique to University, players had to have matriculated or hold a higher degree to be eligible to play in the team.

Round One of the 1908 VFL season saw the league’s newcomers face powerhouse side Essendon - with the Bombers recording a comfortable 66 point victory.

University’s first ever win came one week later when they beat fellow newcomer Richmond by 18 points.

Their debut season would be considered a success finishing sixth in a 10 team competition, two wins outside of qualifying for finals.

The club would hover around the same level of performance over the next two seasons, finishing in seventh in 1909 and sixth in 1910.

However, the start of the 1911 season was the beginning of the end for the club.

Before the season began, VFL delegates voted in favour of removing the rule that prevented player payments.

Each of the 10 VFL clubs had two delegates, with University and Melbourne the only clubs to vote against the movement.

Life would get harder for University, as many of the club’s players would walk away and those that remained would be heavily affected by mid-year exams.

The culmination of all these misfortunes would make the club highly noncompetitive.

The 1911 season would see them win one game, while the 1912 season saw no improvement, also finishing with one solitary victory from 18 games.

Little did the club know that their win against Richmond in Round Two of 1912 would be their final victory in the VFL.

The 1913 and 1914 seasons would see the club struggle massively, failing to win a match in either of those seasons.

University correctly put itself out of its own misery, withdrawing from the VFL at the end of the 1914 season.

In the 126 games the club played at VFL level, they would win 27, draw two and lose 97. They would also create an unflattering record of losing 51 games in a row.

Once University withdrew from the league, many of the club’s players would cross over to Melbourne Football Club, who they shared the MCG with.

Despite their terrible record in the league, the club had a number of good players, with Roy Park arguably producing the best individual season as a University player.

In the 1913 season, a year they would win zero games, Park kicked 53 goals to become the league’s highest goalkicker that season.

Astonishingly, University only kicked 113 goals that season, meaning Park was responsible for nearly half his team’s goals.

Park would go on to play 13 games in his one and only season for the Demons, kicking 35 goals in 1915.

He would give football away, and would end up playing one Test for the Australian Cricket Team during the 1920–1921 season .

During that time, football would be far from many peoples minds, as World War I would ravage the globe.

Of the 67 VFL footballers to have died in World War I, 19 came from University.

While the club is no longer a part of the top-tier of football, the Melbourne University now compete in the VAFA.

From the start of the VFL in 1897, only two football teams in the country’s top level competition have become defunct, University and Fitzroy.

South Melbourne would also face massive changes, being relocated to Sydney in 1982. However, they have still kept their old VFL records.

While University’s tenure in the VFL was short and unsuccessful, but you have to admire the club’s ability to compete against paid players from powerhouse clubs.

Although many of the records they hold are far from flattering, their story is unique and one that we will never see again.

UNIVERSITY (VFL MEMBERS FROM 1908 TO 1914)
VFL Premierships: 0
VFL games played/won/lost/drawn: 126 matches, 27 won, 97 lost, 2 drawn
Longest serving captain: George Elliot (1911 to 1912)
Longest serving coach: Gerald Brosnan (72 games from 1010 to 1912, and 1914)
Longest serving player: Bert Hurrey (101 games from 1913)
Brownlow medallists: 0