The Williamstown Football Club was formed in 1864. Other clubs at the time were Melbourne, Geelong, South Yarra, Carlton, Albert Park, Royal Park, Brunswick, University, Warehouseman's, Kyneton, Ballarat, Hotham and Belfast (Port Fairy). Games were organised on a fairly ad hoc arrangement and the Victorian Football Association was formed on May 7, 1877.
Williamstown was granted "senior status" in 1884 and joined the VFA. South Williamstown was also in the VFA at that time but the two local teams never met. They merged in 1888 and Williamstown's original colours of black and yellow were changed to blue and gold.
Williamstown (the town) was named after King William IV in 1837 and was often referred to as the "village" in 19th century Melbourne. The nickname "The Villagers" stuck with the footy club until the late 1930s when Larry Floyd and Bill Dooley (great grand father of Leigh and Paul) decided a more appropriate synonym was needed and adopted the "Seagulls".
Williamstown Football Club has won a premiership in each decade of the 1900s except the second - 1907, 1921, 1939, 1945, 1949, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1969 (Second Division), 1976 (Second Division), 1986, 1990. Each of these Premierships hold special memories for our club - the 1939 flag followed one of the worst years in the club's history - 1938 Williamstown finished last in the competition and was on the brink of disaster. It had also finished last in 1934 and 35 and near last in 1933, 36 and 37. However two men, Dooley and Floyd, decided on a bold and daring recruiting raid of the VFL and hired Ron Todd - probably one of the greatest players ever in the competition - and Des Fothergill to turn disaster into great success.
The teams of the 50s were skilful and well coached by Wally Carter and Gerry Callahan. The string of premierships that followed was fair reward for an era of good management and hard work.
Then Williamstown slumped and by the middle of the 60s was headed for Second Division at the end of 1967. Max Papley - Best and Fairest at South Melbourne - was appointed Captain and Coach and after losing the Grand Final in 1968 went on to win promotion to First Division - no mean feat. Papley was a fine player and an excellent coach who left his mark on Williamstown and the VFA.
Max was followed by Barry Gill - ex-Carlton and then the club appointed Ted Whitten as Coach in 1975. Williamstown finished last - back to Second Division and farewell to EJ! Mal Allen from the enemy - Port Melbourne - won a Second Division Premiership and Willy returned to the First Division for one year. Merv Hobbs - Footscray, and Rod Oborne - Collingwood and Richmond had little success.
Then the Board of Management had the foresight to appoint Terry Wheeler in 1984 and by 1986 Terry had gathered a group of players together including Barry Round and Tony Pastore good enough to win the Premiership. This Grand Final had all the hallmarks of high drama - Phil Cleary was the Captain Coach of Coburg and was sent of the ground by the field umpire. In the time he was off the game was as good as over - Willy to win its first senior division pennant since 1959.
More excitement was to follow. After two defeats by Coburg, Williamstown overcame great odds to win the 1990 Premiership against Springvale. Great memories captured in full living colour for everyone to see and re-live.
The 1990 Premiership was the most satisfying of them all - won in the face of tremendous odds. Appearing to finish runners-up for the third consecutive year, the events in the last quarter almost defied belief.
Football clubs have their good and poor times. It is the measure of good footballs that strength is gained from the poor times. During the middle 1990s Williamstown slipped - after finishing second to Sandringham in 1992 success began to desert the club and in 1995 the club failed to win a game in either the firsts or seconds. The administration also lost its way and the club was on the brink of folding and joining many other ex-VFA teams on the scrap heap.
The spirit of players who stayed and played in that period had to be seen to be believed. It does one good to reflect on the efforts of players like Pas and Saade, Adam Bugeja, Richie Hore, Adam Hough, Tommy McGowan and Troy West among many others who stayed when others left for much greener pastures.
The cycle continued in 1996 with the appointment of Merv Keane and the re-organisation of the administration. As in 1939 and 1968 before, a football team is lead by its administration - the revamped Board and staff of the club have begun the long and difficult task of establishing a long-term future for this proud club.
The mid 1990's saw many changes to the competition. Firstly VFA clubs were granted a licence which linked each club with an affiliated TAC Cup Under 18 club - in Williamstown's case the Western Jets. With the competition and its member clubs struggling to survive financially, a dwindling supporter base and our relevance in the football landscape diminishing; a revamp of the competition was necessary.
Following the VFA changing its name to the VFL in 1996, the decision to cease the AFL Reserves competition in 1999 opened the possibility of AFL clubs aligning with VFL clubs. The Western Bulldogs decided to split their players between Williamstown and Werribee for the 2000 season. At the completion of the 2000 season the Western Bulldogs decided to go alone with Werribee which opened the door for a Williamstown-Collingwood alliance. It was a perfect partnership with both clubs having a strong working class background, large supporter base and enjoyed success over a long period. Great names like Ron Todd and Des Fothergill have been outstanding players at both Williamstown and Collingwood.
This current marriage has just been extended for a further 5 years (2004-2008).
While Williamstown is well known for the players who have played here and gone onto greatness elsewhere - Ian Fairly, Ron James, Danny Delre, among them - this club has also been to the forefront with providing plethora of administrators to the VFA and VFL.
Three Williamstown men have been President of the Victorian Football Association - J.J. Liston (he of the Liston Medal and Liston Stakes), John Grieve and Tony Hannebery (former player, President of the WFC and former All-Australian Amateur footballer).
Williamstown has proved a great training ground for coaches as well. Wally Carter and Terry Wheeler both coached VFL/AFL teams after success at Williamstown. Many former players have gone on from Williamstown to coach successfully in local competitions - Mark Fotheringham at Keilor, Ken Barnes at Spotswood, Ian Rickman with Lara among many, many more.
This club is a great club - like many football clubs it has great reservoir of committed people who are here only to see the club succeed.
GAMES RECORD HOLDER: TROY WEST 208
GOALS RECORD HOLDER: RON TODD 672
LONGEST WINNING SEQUENCE: 20 (1956-57)
LONGEST LOSING SEQUENCE: 19 (1994-95)
NORM GOSS MEDALLISTS: T. PASTORE 1986, B. ROUND 1990, A. FLETCHER 2003.
J.J. LISTON MEDAL WINNERS: C. STANBRIDGE (1933), F. BROOKS (1935), N. HUGGINS (1937), A. CUTTING (1938), D. FOTHERGILL (1941), J. MARTIN (1956), B. ROUND (1987), B. McTAGGART (1988), S. GHAZI (1989), P. DOOLEY (1996).
Last Modified on 28/04/2005 11:03
