About Melbourne Football Club

Among the oldest football clubs in the world, Melbourne F.C. was founded all the way back in 1858. Not only were they the first footy club in Australia, but Melbourne F.C. wrote the laws for Australian Football, giving birth to the unique sport that we love to watch in the AFL today. Despite having great periods of success, the Demons are now perennial cellar-dwellers, and have not won the flag since 1964.

Expectedly one of the forming members of both the Victorian Football Association (VFA), and the Victorian Football League (VFL), Melbourne is the club that can boast the richest history. After a relatively unsuccessful start to the competition that they helped to inaugurate, Melbourne would not be a dominant force on the park until the arrival of coach Frank Hughes in 1933. Hughes instilled discipline and a winning mentality, giving Melbourne their ‘Demons’ nickname, after reportedly encouraging his team to play like demons, not flowers.

Under Hughes, the Dees claimed triple-premiership glory from 1939-41. However, it was the combination of all-time behemoths of the game Norm Smith and Ron Barassi that delivered the Demons golden age. With Smith coaching and a young Barassi tearing it up on the park, Melbourne won 5 of the 6 flags from 1955-1960.

However, after their final premiership in 1964, everything has gone south for the competition’s most senior club. A 190-point defeat to Fitzroy in 1979 is perhaps the Demons’ nadir, in a period which has seen unremitting disappointment on the park, and inevitable financial difficulties off the park.

Having failed to make the finals since 2006, Demons fans will be desperate for the team to play in a manner that reflects their prestigious heritage. With a good crop of young players, Melbourne Football Club will be hoping to not only make the finals but break a substantial premiership drought in years to come.