Castlemaine Football Club is an Australian rules football

Australian rules football

Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

 club based in Castlemaine, Victoria

Castlemaine, Victoria

Castlemaine is a city in Victoria, Australia, in the Goldfields region of Victoria about 120 kilometres northwest by road from Melbourne, and about 40 kilometres from the major provincial centre of Bendigo. It is the administrative and economic centre of the Shire of Mount Alexander. The...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and is currently a member of the Bendigo Football League

Bendigo Football League

The Bendigo Football League is an Australian rules football competition based in the Bendigo region of Victoria, Australia.Formed in 1880, it is one of the oldest football leagues in Australia, and among its members are some of the oldest football clubs in Australia, including the Castlemaine...

.

The club is notable for several reasons. Formed in 1859, it is the second oldest documented football club in Australia after the Melbourne Football Club

Melbourne Football Club

The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria....

 and it has produced a large number of notable Australian rules footballers.

Like many country football clubs, Castlemaine operates as a football and netball

Netball

Netball is a ball sport played between two teams of seven players. Its development, derived from early versions of basketball, began in England in the 1890s. By 1960 international playing rules had been standardised for the game, and the International Federation of Netball and Women's Basketball ...

 club.

Players wear vertical black and white stripes and goes by the nickname "Magpies

Australian Magpie

The Australian Magpie is a medium-sized black and white passerine bird native to Australia and southern New Guinea. A member of the Artamidae, it is closely related to the butcherbirds...

".

History

The Castlemaine Football Club was formed on June 15, 1859 at the Supreme Court Hotel and chaired by T Butterworth. Castlemaine played its first match on June 22, 1859 on the Cricket Ground Barkers Creek.

The club was formed in an era before codified rules organised competition, but according to some sources, including Graeme Atkinson, "football" was popular in the goldfields region. Records for the foundation date was discovered in 2007 which rewrote history as many had previously believed the Geelong Football Club

Geelong Football Club

The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed The Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club, named after and based in the city of Geelong, playing in the Australian Football League . The club has been the VFL/AFL premiers nine times, with a record equalling 3 in the AFL era. Geelong has also...

 to be formed earlier.

Without a league to participate in, the club was an irregular competitor during its first decade.

The original uniform was a white cap with royal-blue Maltese cross

Maltese cross

The Maltese cross, also known as the Amalfi cross, is identified as the symbol of an order of Christian warriors known as the Knights Hospitaller or Knights of Malta and through them came to be identified with the Mediterranean island of Malta and is one of the National symbols of Malta...

.

In 1925, Castlemaine joined the Bendigo Football League.

Castlemaine Players in the VFL/AFL

Player	Years	VFL/AFL Clubs	VFL/AFL Career	Notes/References
Percy Bentley Percy Bentley Percy Bentley was an Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League.Bentley was a strong ruckman and great tactician who was a key player and coach for the Richmond Football Club during his era...		Richmond Richmond Football Club The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...	1925–40
Jack Showell		St Kilda	1936–38
Jack Titus Jack Titus Jack "Skinny" Titus was an Australian rules football player who played in the Victorian Football League between 1926 and 1943 for the Richmond Football Club. In the golden era of the 1930s, Titus was one of the great forwards who regularly thrilled the crowds with spectacular goalkicking feats...		Richmond	1926–43
Ron Barassi, Sr. Ron Barassi, Sr. Ronald James Barassi was an Australian rules footballer who played with Melbourne in the VFL. His grandfather came from Italy and Ron was the father of Hall of Famer Ron Barassi, Jr. who was signed to the club under the Father-Son rule.Originally from Castlemaine, Barassi was a rover and made his...		Melbourne Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria....	1936–1940
Graeme Miniham		St Kilda	1953–59
Bud Annand Bud Annand Baden-Powell "Bud" Annand is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the St Kilda Football Club in the Victorian Football League . Annand was a reliable follower who played for St Kilda from 1956 to 1962, amassing 106 games and 11 goals. Annand joined the Saints from Castlemaine and...		St Kilda	1956–62
Brian McMillan Brian McMillan Brian Mervin McMillan played 38 Tests and 78 One Day Internationals for South Africa from 1991 to 1998...		Richmond	1962–64
Kevin Delmenico Kevin Delmenico Kevin Delmenico is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Footscray in the Victorian Football League .Delmenico played his early football with Castlemaine before spending five seasons beside club great Ted Whitten at Footscray...		Footscray	1966–70
Robert Thompson Robert Thompson Robert or Bob Thompson may refer to:*Bob Thompson , American orchestra leader, arranger, composer*Bob Thompson , American figurative painter*Bob Thompson , British producer and writer...		Essendon Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...	1968–71
Peter Hall Peter Hall (politician) Peter Ronald Hall is an Australian politician. He has been a National member of the Victorian Legislative Council since 1988, representing Gippsland Province. He is the current leader of the National Party in the Legislative Council and the Shadow Minister for Skills and Workforce Participation...		Carlton	1971
Peter Fyffe		Carlton	1970–73
Mark Cross		Footscray	1974
Warren Jones		Carlton Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the Australian Football League, and was one of the eight founding members of that competition in 1897...  , St Kilda	1978–85
Lazar Vidovic Lazar Vidovic Lazar Vidovic is a former Australian rules footballer.He was recruited from Castlemaine, Victoria and debuted in 1989 with the St Kilda Football Club...		St Kilda	1989–97
Steven Oliver Steven Oliver (footballer) Steven Wayne Oliver is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Carlton in the Australian Football League during the early 1990s....		Carlton	1992–94
Paul Starbuck Paul Starbuck Paul Starbuck is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League ....		Sydney Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans Football Club is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The club, founded in 1874, was known as the South Melbourne Football Club until it relocated to Sydney in 1982 to become the Sydney... , Carlton	1990
Rod Keogh Rod Keogh Rod Keogh is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Melbourne and St Kilda in the Australian Football League....		Melbourne, St Kilda	1990–98
Tom Kavanagh		Melbourne, Fitzroy Fitzroy Football Club The Fitzroy Football Club, formerly nicknamed The Lions, is an Australian rules football club formed in 1883 to represent the inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, Victoria and was a foundation member club of the Victorian Football League on its inception in 1897...	1993–94
Heath Culpitt Heath Culpitt Heath Culpitt is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Carlton in the Australian Football League.-Sources:*Holmesby, Russell & Main, Jim . The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers. 8th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing....		Carlton Football Club Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the Australian Football League, and was one of the eight founding members of that competition in 1897...	1999–2001
Dustin Martin Dustin Martin Dustin Martin is a professional Australian rules football player currently signed with Richmond in the Australian Football League . In 2009 he played with the Bendigo Pioneers and the Victoria Country side in the under-18 national championships...		Richmond Football Club Richmond Football Club The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...	2010–