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1884 It Could Have Been Worse! |
When Preston first entered the First Division of the Victorian Junior Football Association in 1890, the first two seasons provided some encouraging results.
The team finished seventh in its first season - not great at first glance, but highly respectable when one considers that 24 teams played in the First Division. The following season saw the club slip to 12th of 23 teams, and for unknown reasons, Preston did not field a side in the V.J.F.A. in 1892, although it played in a few local games. The club resumed in 1893, but by now, a severe economic depression had hit Australia and Melbourne in particular.
Prior to the 1894 season, it looked for some time as if the V.J.F.A. would fold, as all the organization's funds were held in a bank that had collapsed during Australia's first economic depression. Eventually the Victorian Football Association bailed out its junior counterpart and the season went on as planned.
Preston's Twelfth Annual Meeting was held in "Mr. Hurlestone's old shop in Plenty Road, South Preston" (thought to be part of the building now occupied by Jensen's Funeral Parlour just north of David Street) and bravely concluded : "Financially the Club will start with a clean sheet and as several first rate juniors have promised to throw in their lot with them the Club's prospects for the season are Good".
This proved to be wishful thinking in the extreme as Preston failed to win a game in possibly their worst season ever recorded.
Despite being free of debt, the club like many others faced a desperate struggle to survive the economic depression. The first game of the season on May 5 saw Preston lose with a score of one goal to Hawthorn's 14 and the situation did not improve much.
By round 5, Preston had lost all five games and had the mammoth total of 62 goals kicked against them. Preston in return had managed just two goals! Fortunately percentages didn't count in those days; Preston after round eight boasted a lamentable 3.2%.
The major problem was apparent from the report in The Sporting Judge on the May 19 game against North Melbourne who beat Preston eight goals to nil. The Judge midway through the previous year had suggested that Preston "should give it away", but by the end of the season noted that despite heavy defeats, the team turned up each week and took their medicine, unlike a couple of other clubs that either disbanded or simply forfeited games when up against the stronger teams.
The fifth round on June 9 saw Fitzroy Juniors, the Seconds side of the powerful V.F.A. club, kick a new competition record of 24 goals to Preston's nil (this was in fact the third time in two seasons a club had established a record score against Preston). Given the scoring patterns of the era, this probably would equate to a total of 60 or 70 goals today.
Fitzroy's major goal kicker (with 8 goals) was up-and-coming champion, Mick Grace. Grace moved into the Fitzroy senior side and played in their 1895 V.F.A. premiership at the start of a career that saw him play 167 games with Fitzroy and Carlton. Ironically, the other heavy scorer was Eric Staniland, who had played with Preston earlier in the season before trying his luck with the Fitzroy senior team. Staniland later returned to Preston (although how willingly is not known!) before becoming a regular player with Fitzroy, again being a member of their 1895 premiership side.
Despite the thrashing and earlier comments that perhaps Preston should call it a day, The Judge heaped some begrudging praise on the struggling side under a sub-heading "Preston deserve great credit":
"Preston is the gamest team playing football bar none - and this last exhibition of theirs proves such is the case. They deserve great credit for turning up (all 15 of them) to meet the formidable 20 from Fitzroy. Some wanted to knock off at half time, but skipper Paterson said, "no, stick to it, boys!" He does much to keep the team together and his cheery "buck in, Preston" when fighting such a forlorn hope livens his boys considerably".
Robert Paterson, one of five brothers that played with the club, was a son of James Paterson, a prominent local councillor and businessman of the district. Robert and his brother Tom, both played in Collingwood's first ever League side when the breakaway competition started in 1897.
Teams of the time consisted of 20 players, but a full complement was an unlikely luxury for Preston. Things could not get any worse, and there were competitive efforts against Brunswick (lost 6 to 9), Richmond (lost 6 to 8) and Carlton Juniors, who won 6 to 5. The "Judge" found Preston's small revival remarkable :"why, Preston played with four extra men on Saturday, 17 in all! (remembering that teams comprised 20 players at the time) "
Most of the players were out of work and couldn't pay their weekly subscriptions to help cover the costs of footballs and umpires. For those fortunate enough to be in employment or perhaps working on the family farm, the standard working week probably included Saturday mornings. Games started at 3.00 to allow players time to knock off work, change and get to the ground either by horse drawn vehicles or via the rudimentary public transport of the day, but players not arriving at away games was a constant problem.
Perhaps it was the final insult when late in July, one of the horse-drawn 'drags' carrying players to Royal Park for a game against North Melbourne broke down in Sydney Road. The Preston Leader noted that the game was delayed as "eight players had an invigorating 40 minute walk to reach their opponent's ground".
The travel problems with new suburban clubs weren't unique to the V.J.F.A. Nunawading had joined the Metropolitan Junior Football Association (the forerunner of today's Amateur competition), but was forced to play at Surrey Hills when the Association insisted outer clubs needed to be located near a railway station so players could reach the ground after working on Saturday mornings. Brighton at one point could not field a team against Nunawading, the reason being 'that too few players could reach Surrey Hills in time', the M.J.F.A. subsequently ruling that no action would be taken against the club because of the circumstances beyond its control.
Preston was to have played a challenge match against the local church team All Saints, based at the church on the corner of High Street and Murray Road at the end of the season. Following the demise of anothe local side, Preston Star, a year or two earlier, All Saints was the only other club in the area and thus effectively a seconds side. To the disappointment of All Saints, Preston were forced to cancel the appopintment when they could not muster enough players for the game.
Weather conditions also affected some players' interest in a Saturday afternoon on the park. .The following year, Hawthorn playing at home beat Preston 12.11 to 2.3 and The Boroondara Standard reported :
"it was wet again the following weekend when 13 of Hawthorn players tackled just eight of the Preston. The sheer weight of numbers allowed Hawthorn to be more successful in piloting 'the lump of mud' between the sticks".
Despite the battles around this time, the remote Preston club proved the great survivors of the decade.
Of the 28 clubs that started off the V.J.F.A. 1890 season, Preston was the only one to survive until 1890. Approximately 48 clubs played in the First-Rate section during the decade and Preston, despite sharing with Brighton the "honour" of being the most distant from Melbourne, was one of only ten to play in 1900.