Club History

On the 24th of April, 1964, The Old Ivanhoe Grammarians Football Club took to the field for the first time in the VAFA. The team had been allowed to join the amateurs in the F Grade competition and did not have a reserves team until 1966.

In our first game we played St Patricks at the Herbert Onley Reserve at Yarra Bend. We started well. John Dawson kicked the first goal for the game and the club, however St Patricks took over after that. The final score was:

Old Ivanhoe 1.0.6 to St Patrick's 12.19.91

That first team consisted of the following 20 players:

Terry Brennan, Ross Christie, Geoff Cohen, John Dawson, Warwick Farnclough, Neville Frost, Ross Gillies, Peter Greve, Andy Harris (C), Geoff Jones, Michael Love, Reg Mort, Colin Perry, Steve Sayer, Jeff Stagg, Jack Stennett, Ken Strickland, Andy Turnbull, Graeme Ulrick, Ken Wright - Coach Andy Harris.

The team went on to win 5 games for the year and finished 6th out of 8 teams.

In 1965, the Club played off in its first Grand Final against Reservoir Old Boys, and although narrowly beaten, earned promotion to E Grade. The 1966 season ended with the Club reaching the Grand Final only to lose to AJAX.

With promotion to D grade in 1967 came tougher competition and relegation back to E grade. As a result of VAFA restructuring, the club was relegated to F grade for season 1971. At the same time Kevin McLean was appointed senior coach and with a strong batch of boys recruited from the school the Club looked to the future with optimism.

In 1971 we lost the grand final to Marcellin but gained promotion to E grade for the second time. In 1972 we were again defeated by Marcellin this time in the preliminary final. The reserves became the first team to win a VAFA premiership for the club.

1973 was a stellar year for the club with both the first and reserves winning the premiership. The seniors came from behind at the last change to beat Old Camberwell and take home the Club's first senior flag.

In 1974 we narrowly missed back to back premierships losing a tough and controversial Grand Final to Brunswick. Promoted to C grade for the first time in the Club's history we made the finals only to lose a tight preliminary final to St Kilda CBC.

In five short years under senior coach Kevin Mclean the club had moved from F grade in 1971 to the C grade Preliminary Final in 1975. During this period the reserves played in four consecutive grand finals, winning dual premierships in 1972 and 1973.

From 1973 to 1993 the Club remained in either C or D grade. In 1982 the Club surprisingly lost the preliminary final to St Pius. The highlight during this period was a magnificent Grand Final victory against St Kevins in 1987 to register the Club's second senior premiership.

In 1994 the Committee, players and members sat down and set a goal named "Destination A Grade". Within the space of five short years this goal had been achieved.

In 1994 and 1995 the Club won back to back premierships, again under Senior Coach Kevin Mclean. In 1994 we beat St Kevin's to win the D grade premiership and in 1995 we defeated Ivanhoe to win the C grade premiership.

The club was promoted to B grade for the first time in its history.

Although the Club was competitive in B grade it did not make it to the finals until 1998. Under senior coach Stuart Glascott, the Club finished the season in second place unfortunately losing the 2 nd semi final to arch rival Marcellin. In the preliminary final against Trinity, and with a place in A grade up for grabs, we seized the momentum in the second half of the game to run out winners.

After 34 years in the VAFA the club was in A grade for the first time in its history.

The 1999 season in A grade was a tale of two halves. At the mid point the club was facing relegation. However a fantastic second half including an away win against Xavier saw the club make the finals. Although we lost the 1 st Semi Final to St Kevins it had been a great year at the highest level.

Despite starting season 2000 with a one point win over Scotch we were relegated to B grade ending the season with a one point loss to Trinity.

Season 2001 was a completely different story. Gerard Sholly was appointed senior coach and the playing list strengthened. After holding top position for most of the year we were defeated in the 2 nd semi final against De La Salle. A wonderful Preliminary Final victory over Old Melbournians saw the club promoted to A grade for the second time. After a slow start, an eight goal third quarter saw the team record a strong win over De La Salle in the grand Final to record our 5 th Senior flag.

Season 2001 also saw our "Dad Army" win it's first Club XVIII flag and the Under 19's finished a creditable third.

On return to A grade in 2002 was similar to 1999, with a poor first half followed by a 7/9 ratio in the second half. The penultimate must win game against St Bernards at the "snake pit" saw us defeated by six points, with Old Scotch coming from behind to snatch defeat over Old Trinity to deny us a finals berth by two points. What might have been....

Despite being competitive for most of season 2003 the Club never achieved the heights of the previous year and were relegated to B grade.

If ever there was a season of highs and lows 2004 was it. Decimated by injuries for most of the year the players displayed enormous courage and determination to win "unwinable games". With the return of many senior players towards the end of the season we won seven games on the trot only to be cruelly denied promotion to A grade when we lost the preliminary Final in extra time to Collegians in arctic Conditions at Elsternwick Park.

Pre-season in 2005 started well when we recruited four senior players to the club. A few Old Boys returned and the players list was as strong as it had ever been. The year started well with three strong wins. We lost 2 of the next three games, but after regrouping, the team went undefeated in the last 12 games. The strong playing list and few injuries allowed us win some games quite well in the second half of the season.

Finals came about. We played DeLaSalle, who were the other standout team during the year, in the Second Semi. We jumped them early and led until the last quarter where they kept on running and won by 27 points. After beating them in close games during the year, this was not expected. We played Old Brighton in the Preliminary and had a few worries early, but a dominant second half saw us win by 43 points and into A Grade for the 3rd time. The weather on Grand Final day was terrible. The reserves were also playing DeLaSalle and in a low scoring affair went down narrowly. The Seniors faired better and played good wet/windy weather football. It was close all day but were never going to lose the game. We ran out victors by 17 points. Premiership six for the club.

It would be fair to say the playing group started a little later than usual for the 2006 year. We lost two Life Members of the Club over the pre-season with the retirements of George Haros and Scott Kent. The with average form in the practice matches and serious injuries in those matches we started the season underdone. We lost easily in the first game at St Bernards and got more injuries. Then the season turned around. A six goal comeback against Trinity in game two led to three straight wins. After 10 rounds we were 7 and 3. We were all over Trinity in game 11 but they turned it around and we went down by 24 points. In the next seven games we went 2 and 5 with four of the loss in a row by less than 3 goals. We finished 9 and 9 - a creditable 6th, but for all involved - a little disappointing.

2007. Pre season started in the drought. We lost 7, 100 game players due to various reasons but recruited Allister Keel from the Western Districts, Tim Hosking from Old Scotch and Hayden Heta from the Country. Peter Love assumed the presidency while Richard Dalpos was recruited from the Ivanhoe Junior Football Club for the Under 19's and Dirk Jones was back at the club coaching the reserves.

The season started badly with a loss at Brighton who would prove to be grand finalists, then a good win at home versus Collegians and away v Scotch. A close loss in Round 4 to St Bernards was to typify the year - close games. During the middle section of the year we won 4 games by less than a goal and set us up for finals footy. September came and the grounds dried up. We played Blues in the first semi and were outplayed all day. Finals footy in A Grade for the first time since 1999, but with few departures expected for 2008, we hope for greater things. The Under 19 side won the club's first Under 19 premiership in Section 3. Hayden Heta was awarded Woodrow Medal as the A-section best and fairest.

2008 saw a changing of the guard, Dan Winkel was appointed senior coach and Brad Thompson named captain. After a slow start to the season we finished as the inform side of the competition winning 8 of the last 10 games including defeating the eventual premiers, St. Bedes/Mentone away in the final round of the season. We narrowly missed the finals after winning 11 games and went into the 2009 season with great optimism. The U/19's were narrowly defeated in the grand final.

Despite a convincing win against Marcellin in round 1 we would lose the next 14 games due to injuries and indifferent form which was compounded by the retirement of two club legends in Sjouke Price and Marcus Toovey. Brad Thompson was appointed Captain/Coach with 5 rounds to play and a young side managed to win 2 out of the last 3 for the season although that was not enough to avoid relegation to B-section for the 2010 season. On a positive note 2009 saw the club XVIII mark their return to the competition with a grand final appearance.