Macleod Football Club

The Macleod Football Club is an Australian rules football club founded in 1947 and is located in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria.

History

The club, like most football clubs, had humble beginnings. In 1946, Mr Harold Busbridge, who was the station master at the Macleod Railway Station, approached some local identities with the view to forming a football club in the local area.

Interest in forming a club gathered momentum and at the next meeting it was decided unanimously to begin fund-raising and purchase jumpers and socks for the newly-formed Macleod Football Club. Nick George, who later became Macleod’s first captain, suggested the colours be blue and white as he had played at North Melbourne in the VFL for two years. The colours registered were royal blue jumpers with a white collar and cuffs, royal blue socks with white tops. Later the jumper changed to royal blue and white vertical stripes, as per the North Melbourne jumper.

It was decided to play homes games at De Winton Park, Rosanna, because Macleod Cricket Club did not have a fence. The club attracted young men from Rosanna and Greensborough and had no problems getting enough numbers to form a senior team (but no reserves) for the 1947 season.

In the early 1960s, there was a tug of war between committee members with half wanting to rename the club Rosanna and the other half wanting to retain the name Macleod. Eventually there was a compromise and the club was renamed Macleod-Rosanna in 1962.

They won their sole first division senior premiership in 1971. After 1971, the club fell on some hard times and despite the best efforts of coaches, players, committees and supporters, slipped back into second division where it has remained. In the 1980s, the club was held together by stalwarts such as the Hansen family, the Pearn family, the Boland family and the Melican family. It contested the 1982 second division grand final but was beaten by Eltham.

By the mid-1990s, the club was starting to emerge as a force again in the DVFL. It started a successful under-19s side that won a premiership in just its second season (1993, under Jamie Boland) and many of those players have gone on to represent the club with distinction. Former Collingwood ruckman and DVFL star Derek Shaw was appointed coach in 1998 and the club, which had dropped the name ‘Rosanna’ from its name and reverted back to Macleod, made the finals in 1998 (for the first time since 1982) and 1999. It also contested finals in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. In 2006 and 2007 the club was coached by former Carlton star Wayne Harmes.

The Macleod Senior Best and Fairest award is named after Tom Melican Sr, a club stalwart and six-time best and fairest.

Junior Club

Macleod formed a successful association with Macleod Junior Football Club and, in 1997, both clubs agreed to wear the same colours – royal blue, white and gold panels – and sing the same theme song. The club has a strong link to the MJFC which fields sides from under-9s to under-17s in the Yarra Junior Football League. MJFC puts almost 300 players on the field each week and has produced AFL players such as Matthew Collins, Jarrod Molloy, Mark Richardson, Robert Scott, Tony Woods and Ron McKeown. MJFC’s under-17s won four successive YJFL Division 1 under-17 premierships (a League record) in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003. In recent years there has been a tremendous influx of some of the most talented players in the Diamond Valley area coming to Macleod seniors. The junior club started an Auskick program in 2002 and there is now a clear pathway from the bottom to the top in the area.

External links

* [http://www.macleodfc.com.au Macleod Footy Club homepage]
* [http://www.footypedia.com Footypedia]