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Our Club : Tall Tales And
True From Our Past |
| A collection of the weird and wonderful
events over the 125 year life of the Preston Football Club
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Undated archives were loaded mid-June 2007 as part
of a major upgrade
to the sites. Archives created or substantially updated after
then
show the latest modification date.
1886
NAB Oval?
The Northern
Bullants scored a major coup in 2007 when we reached
an
agreement with the NAB for the bank to become our major sponsor over a
three year period. Although evidence strongly points to the Preston
Football Club being formed in 1882, there is no remaining direct
evidence of their activities until late in 1885 when there was a merger
with the Gowerville club. It took another 50 years
to come to light, but a small reunion during the City of Preston's
Golden Jubilee celebrations in August and September of 1935 revealed
that the football club and bank had crossed paths before ...
1886 Captain Felix
(added
November 2007)
The Preston Cricket
Club has never produced a Test cricketer for Australian and although 20
years older than our summer counterparts, it will come as a shock for
most to learn the Preston Football Club's first known captain also
captained the Australian Test team ...
1887
The
Battle For Preston Park
For
many years after the first Australian Rules games were played in 1858
and 1859, clubs were banned from using cricket grounds because of fears
of damage to the pitches. Preston's
problem came not with a cricket club, but a recalcitrant Shire Council
wanting to protect their trees and
flowers. After something of a battle, it
took a scathing observation from Councillor Bayliss to help swing the
tide in the football club's favour ...
Top
1892 Tragedy and
Survival
With matches between country
towns established as early as 1861, "inter-colonials" from 1877 and now
three or four interstate games each week, the Australian game has been
fortunate in largely avoiding any travel disasters, but there was one
exception, way back in 1892, which, by a strange twist of fate, helped
the young Preston club survive one of its darkest hours ....
Top
1894 It Could
Have Been Worse!
Or could it ?
Like most clubs, Preston have had a season or three
that they would like to forget, especially in their first stint in the
Victorian Junior Football Association. But it survived all the crises
by one means or another, but perhaps it was the leadership of a single
player that got them through the 1894 season ...
Top
1900
Our First
Premiership
After
a desperate few years of struggle for survival, the Preston Football
Club gathered strength in the late 1890s and in 1900 took out the first
of three consecutive Victorian Junior Football Association
premierships. Welcome news for the locals, but it took an
amazing set of circumstances to give Preston their first shot at the
title ...
Top
1902 The Strange Tale of the
1902 Premiership Cup
Preston's
third consecutive premiership in 1902 added another (or perhaps the
first) trophy to the cabinet. But the
rudimentary facilities at Preston Park didn't allow for much in the way
of secure storage. As a result, the
Premiership Cup had a colourful history ...
Top
1903 Ramming The
Shears
The Preston Football Club
has
always been proudly working class with many of the early players
working either on farms in the district or at on of the many tanneries
dotting the district. One player with
something of a wanderlust was Dick Knell, who led Preston's goalkicking
in their first V.F.A. season ...
Top
Although there have been
few incidents of great drama involving Preston players and the various
tribunals over the years, 1906 saw a unique and unusual case
of a senior umpire subsequently charged and convicted of striking a
spectator during a match at Preston Park. Spectators should
always remain wary of the vicious men in white ...
Top
1907 Cooking The Books
(added
November 2007)
Sporting clubs over the
decades have always relied on a handful of willing volunteers who
perform a range of services behind the scenes with a minimum of
fuss, Back in 1907, it seems some
"volunteers" may not have quite been what they seemed ... and perhaps
they continued for many years (auditors from
Darebin Council may like to turn off now) ...
Top
1907
Pre-Season
"Training"
(added
December 2007)
Pre-season
training has become more and more intensive as the physical demands of
our game place more demands on players. But back in
1907, a
player could sometimes get a game without a lot of pre-season work (or
even a train ticket) ....
Top
1914
The Great War
(added
January 2008) See also Preston's Great War Archives
“Preston
with 28 men in the Expeditionary Force
is another club with an extended Honour Roll ... in Mr. J. R. Mills,
president,
and Mr. E. J. Hannah, hon. secretary, the club possesses two
enthusiastic
workers who are not likely to let the district be unworthily
represented in the
playing field”. (The Herald, May 13
1916)
Top
1920 Onionweed and the Country Recruit (added February, 2008)
After
he resigned in 1933 to take up the same position with St. Kilda,
long-serving Preston secretary, Ernie Hannah was asked of unusual
happenings that had attracted his attention during his 20 years as a
player and official ...
Top
1923 "Bull" Adams : footballer, poet, entertainer and coach (added February, 2008)
Like
most football clubs, Preston has had its share of characters over the
years, but for sheer versatility, few could match William "Bull" Adams
...
Top
Membership tickets today
always carry a warning to check the media for late changes to game
fixtures. We doubt that they did back in 1925, when Preston's last home and away game
(and coincidentally, last game in junior ranks) was against arch-rival
Yarraville. But the "media" of then wasn't exactly
what we think of today to the detriment of an afternoon's entertainment
...
1927
The Dancefloor Debate
(added
November 2007)
The Preston Football Club's
efforts to raise funds have seen some very original ideas and more than
a few obstacles. Secretary Ern Hannah's regular
dances at the Town Hall after Preston rejoined the V.F.A. in 1927
certainly proved a classic case ...
Top
1927
Up There, Cazaly!
(added
November 2007)
Our
oval in Cramer Street
today stands in Cazaly Ward within the City of Darebin.
Memories of most footballers fade with time, but
the name of Roy Cazaly lives on, and part of the legend was created
during his year as captain coach of Preston in 1931 ...
Top
Football administrators
struggling
for money have tried many avenues to raise "a few bob" for their club
over the years. But we
suspect that one of the Preston Football Club's efforts in 1933 would
raise a few eyebrows today ...
Top
High hopes are held for
new recruits at the start of many seasons. Some make it, most don't. In
Preston's case, back in 1938 what looked like a boom recruit
in a certain Jack Foster perhaps never really
even existed ...
Top
1938 The Forgotten V.F.A.
Thirds (added
November 2007)
The Preston Football Club
prided itself on its Thirds teams for nearly three decades, the under
age team providing a highlight in many seasons when the senior teams
struggled. The few histories written on the V.F.A. suggest
the Thirds started in 1952 when it was won by Port Melbourne, but these
accounts ignore the existence of a previous competition that kicked off
in 1939 but was lost when the V.F.A. went into recess for World War Two
...
Top
1940 Our Wackiest
Scoreline (added
November 2007)
Many
Preston supporters will recall the furore when Dandenong were given a
goal start in the 1971 Grand Final thanks to a free kick before the
game had started, but that fades into insignificance compared to a
"grand final" in 1940 when Preston Thirds had to concede a far greater
start to win an odd little premiership ...
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