Hurstbridge Football Club
Encyclopedia
| Full name | Hurstbridge Football Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname | The Bridgers |
| Strip | Navy Blue with gold vertical stripe |
| Founded | 1914 |
| League | Northern Football League |
| Ground | Ben Frilay Oval, Hurstbridge |
| Senior Premierships | 9 |
| Premierships Years | 1935, 1948, 1952, 1962, 1965, 1968, 1970, 2003, 2010 |
Hurstbridge Football Club is an Australian rules football club located 34 km north east of Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
in the township of Hurstbridge
Hurstbridge, Victoria
Hurstbridge is a semi-rural town in Victoria, Australia, 26 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district, at the junction of Diamond Creek and Arthur's Creek. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Nillumbik. At the 2006 Census, Hurstbridge had a population of 3448.- History...
. The club is affiliated with the Northern Football League.
From 1890s, social football was played at Lew Curtis's Flat, Hurstbridge. In 1914, the Hurstbridge Football Club was founded and matches were played in the Bourke Evelyn Football League. Hurstbridge transferred to the Heidelberg District Football Association for just the one season in 1921 before returniing to the Bourke-Evelyn Football League. The Club moved activities to the newly developed Memorial Park (now known as the Ben Frilay Oval) in 1922.
In 1923, the Club joined the Diamond Valley Football League
Diamond Valley Football League
The Northern Football League is an Australian rules football competition based in the Diamond Valley region of suburban Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The league changed its name on 1 May 2007. The league was founded in 1922, originally having seven clubs, four of whom are still participating...
for the first time and their initial match was hosting Eltham Football Club
Eltham Football Club
Eltham Football Club is an Australian rules football club in Eltham, Victoria, currently competing in the Northern Football League.-History:A football team from Eltham began playing social matches at nearby Kangaroo Ground from 1900....
.
In 1924 the team purchased new jerseys and socks at the League's insistence that clubs wear uniform colours. In the early days Hurstbridge wore a Black guernsey with a yellow sash. Later, the club wore navy guernseys with a white HFC monogram.
The club went into recess between 1925 and 1928, before rejoining the Diamond Valley Football League
Diamond Valley Football League
The Northern Football League is an Australian rules football competition based in the Diamond Valley region of suburban Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The league changed its name on 1 May 2007. The league was founded in 1922, originally having seven clubs, four of whom are still participating...
for the 1929 season. Hurstbridge joined the newly formed Panton Hill Football League in 1932. When this league went into recess in 1937 & 1938, Hurstbridge returned to the DVFL,only to return to the PHFL in 1939 where it remained until the league's demise at the end of the 1987 Season. Hurstbridge enjoyed considerable success in the PHFL winning seven premierships.
In 1988 with the club rejoining the D.V.F.L changed its strip to its current blue and yellow guernseys to avoid clashes with existing clubs. In 2003 Hurstbridge broke a long drought winning the Second Division premiership defeating Lalor. Promotion to the highly competitive First Division in 2004 saw the Club failing to win a match and was relegated back to the Second Division for the 2005 Season where it has remained.
After Thirteen Rounds of the 2009 Season, Division Two was split with the ninth to fourteenth clubs relegated to a new Third Division.
Hurstbridge having finished tenth was placed into this new Grade and after five Rounds of Division Three finished Second and contested Finals and eventually played off in the inaugural 2009 Division Three Grand Final which Hurstbridge lost to Parkside 8.17.65 to 12.9.81
The 2010 Division Three Grand Final played on September 4 at Epping Oval against Parkside resulted in Hurstbridge's ninth premiership defeating Parkside 7.10.52 to 2.7.19 and promotion to Northern Football League Division Two in 2011.