Sandringham Football Club

The Sandringham Football Club, nicknamed the Zebras, is an Australian rules football club based in Melbourne which was formed in 1929 and plays in the Victorian Football League (VFL) which was formerly called the Victorian Football Association (VFA).

Sandringham
Names
Full nameSandringham Football Club
Nickname(s)Zebras, Sandy
2023 season
Home-and-away season16th
Club details
Founded1929 (1929)
Colours  Black   Gold   Blue
CompetitionVictorian Football League
PresidentNick Johnstone
CoachJake Batchelor[1]
Captain(s)Anthony Seaton[2]
Premierships10 (1946, 1962, 1985, 1992, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2006)
Ground(s)Trevor Barker Beach Oval (capacity: 10,000)
Uniforms
Home
Other information
Official websitesandringhamfc.com.au

History

Sandringham entered the VFA competition (now VFL) for the 1929 season, although first steps towards establishing a semi-professional football team from the Sandringham region began two years earlier. The club was formed in that time as a three-way merge of the existing amateur clubs in the area, Sandringham Amateurs, Black Rock FC and Hampton Amateurs. The club colours of gold, black and blue were taken from those three local teams respectively. In the clubs' first 10 years of existence, they achieved a season finish of no better than 5th place, which came in the 1933 season.[3]

Sandringham recorded its inaugural premiership in the 1946 season, coming from behind late in the final quarter to record a 7-point win over Camberwell in front of 30,000 spectators.[4] Though the club struggled throughout the 1950s, it has since gone on to record 10 premierships in total, being one of the most consistent teams in the VFL, their most successful period coming in the 2000s, with 4 premierships in 10 years cementing the club as one of the premier teams in the league.[5]

Club information

The Zebras have an alignment agreement with Australian Football League (AFL) club St Kilda which has been in place since 2009. The alignment agreement means that St Kilda listed players who are able to play but not selected for the Saints in the AFL are available to be selected for the Zebras in the VFL. The clubs extended their agreement at the end of 2016.[6]

Previously, Sandringham had an alignment with Melbourne.[7] Sandringham and Melbourne were the first two clubs to form an alignment. This was announced in 1999 and began in the 2000 season. The alignment had an immediate effect with Sandringham winning the premiership in 2000, and a further three premierships (2004, 2005 and 2006) were won during the affiliation.[8]

The Zebras' home ground is and almost always has been the Beach Oval, which was renamed the Trevor Barker Beach Oval in the 1990s after the death of Trevor Barker, who had coached Sandringham to the 1992 and 1994 premierships. Only in 1966 did the club change home grounds, spending a year at the Junction Oval in St Kilda before moving back to Beach Oval ahead of the 1967 season.[9] From the 2018 season, the club will play three of its home games each year at Moorabbin Oval, and will wear St Kilda's black, red and white guernsey in these games.[6]

The oval has a single grandstand (the Neil Bencraft Grandstand), a south end named after Nick Sautner (the Sautner Goal), and an administration centre (the John Mennie Administration Centre)[10] – a social club and a capacity of 10,000. A record crowd of 18,000 attended the venue's first Sunday VFA premiership game, held between Sandringham and Port Melbourne Football Club in April 1964.[11] A Rec Footy competition is also played at the ground.

The Sandringham Dragons play in the TAC Cup and are due to become part of the Sandringham club in the near future.

Recent VFL Seasons

SeasonWin–lossFinishing positionFinals
20097-1110thDNQ
20107-119thDNQ
20116-1210thDNQ
201210-86thElimination Final
20136-11-111thDNQ
20149-8-18thSemi Final
201514-42ndPreliminary Final
201610-87thSemi Final
20178-1011thDNQ
20185-12-113thDNQ
20196-1212thDNQ

Notable former players

Honours

Club

Premierships
Competition Level Wins Years Won
Victorian Football LeagueSeniors101946, 1962, 1985, 1992, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2006
VFA/VFL ReservesDivision 191960, 1961, 1969, 1977, 1979, 1982, 1993, 1994, 2000
VFA/VFL ThirdsDivision 1101966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1973, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1994
Other titles and honours
Lightning PremiershipSeniors11979
Finishing positions
Victorian Football LeagueMinor premiership61960, 1985, 1992, 1994, 2000, 2007
Grand Finalists51947, 1960, 1963, 1977, 1995
Wooden spoons51929, 1930, 1940, 1941, 1954

VFA/VFL Grand Finals

Year Opponent Score Venue
1946Camberwell14.15 (99) - 13.14 (92)Junction Oval
1947Port Melbourne11.8 (74) - 15.13 (103)Junction Oval
1960Oakleigh8.14 (62) - 18.14 (122)Junction Oval
1962Moorabbin14.10 (94) - 13.15 (93)Junction Oval
1963Moorabbin9.12 (66) - 19.16 (130)North Port Oval
1977Port Melbourne7.15 (57) - 23.19 (157)Junction Oval
1985Williamstown14.16 (100) - 13.16 (94)Junction Oval
1992Williamstown19.16 (130) - 13.8 (86)Princes Park
1994Box Hill11.12 (78) - 10.9 (69)Victoria Park
1995Springvale6.15 (51) - 14.10 (94)Victoria Park
1997Frankston10.13 (73) - 5.14 (44)North Port Oval
2000North Ballarat15.18 (108) - 11.11 (77)Waverley Park
2004Port Melbourne9.13 (67) - 9.9 (63)Princes Park
2005Werribee11.17 (83) - 11.8 (74)Princes Park
2006Geelong13.13 (91) - 11.7 (73)Princes Park

VFA/VFL Club Records

Highest Score 44.20 (284) v Dandenong, Round 5, 1984, Beach Road Oval
Lowest Score 0.9 (9) v Williamstown, Round 11, 2018, Williamstown Cricket Ground
Greatest Winning Margin 206 points v Camberwell, Round 18, 1990, Beach Road Oval
Greatest Losing Margin 236 points v Port Melbourne, Round 19, 1941, North Port Oval
Lowest Winning Score 5.9 (39) v Frankston 5.8 (38), Round 20, 2003, Frankston Park
Highest Losing Score 26.12 (168) v Preston 28.7 (175), Preliminary Final, 1981, Junction Oval

Individual

JJ Liston Trophy Winners (8)
1929 – Edward Bourke
1947 – Stan Tomlins
1962 – Keith Burns
1985 – Neil McLeod
1992 – Joe Rugolo
1997 – Justin Crough
2003 – David Robbins
2005 – Paul Johnson

References

  1. "VFL Media Day 2021". AFL Photos. 12 April 2021.
  2. "Sandringham Captain 2022". AFL.
  3. "Zebras History 1920-1940". Sandringham Football Club. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  4. "Sandringham's first VFA premiership (archived at Trove.nla.gov.au)". Argus Newspaper. 7 October 1946. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  5. "Club Bio - Sandringham". Australianfootball.com.au. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  6. Caroline Wilson (25 August 2016). "St Kilda and Sandringham to join forces in VFL". The Age. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  7. Saints, Demons in VFL affiliate swap (AFL.com.au)
  8. 2000 VFL Grand Final - details
  9. Jim Blake (27 April 1966). "Coburg show hot form". The Sporting Globe. Melbourne, VIC. p. 6.
  10. "Round 13 Preview and Teams – Sandringham V Casey". Sandringham Football Club. 21 June 2012. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
  11. Scot Palmer (20 April 1964). "VFA got off to a great start". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne, VIC. p. 44.
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