Melbourne Football Club

The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons since 1933, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League, based in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1858, it is the oldest football club in Australia and is one of the oldest in the world. It is also distinguished by the fact that it was members of the club who wrote the rules of their game. Melbourne plays in red and dark blue colours, and its club song is It's a Grand Old Flag. The club was known in its early days as the Fuchsias and later as the Redlegs.

Decades of disappointment

Through the 1970s Melbourne, under coaches John Beckwith, Bob Skilton, Tiger Ridley, Denis Jones and Carl Ditterich, Melbourne languished at the bottom of the League ladder. In 1980 the MFC finally legally separated from the MCC, becoming a public company, in an effort to attract more members and improve the club's finances.

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In 1981, under the chairmanship of Sir Billy Snedden, Ron Barassi returned to Melbourne as coach. But although Brian Wilson won the Brownlow in 1982, and Peter Moore in 1984, Barassi was unable to get the club back into premiership contention. In 1986 he was replaced by John Northey.

Related Topics:
1981 - Billy Snedden - 1982 - 1984 - 1986

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Under Northey Melbourne made the finals in 1987, for the first time since 1964, losing the Preliminary Final to Hawthorn on the last kick of the game after the final siren, when future Brownlow Medalist Jim Stynes walked over the mark after Rod Grinter was penalised, allowing Garry Buckenara a reletively simple opportunity. The following year the Demons did even better, reaching the Grand Final, only to be defeated, again, by Hawthorn.

Related Topics:
1987 - Hawthorn

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Thereafter things went downhill for Northey, although Jim Stynes won the Brownlow in 1991. In 1992 the club finished 11th, and Northey was replaced by Neil Balme as coach. Balme got Melbourne into the finals in 1994, but by 1997 Melbourne was at the bottom of the ladder. In 1998 they bounced back and reached the Preliminary Final. But the following year they finished 14th.

Related Topics:
Jim Stynes - 1991 - 1992 - 1994 - 1997 - 1998

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By 1996 the club was also in dire financial straits. The board decided on the desperate step of a merger with Hawthorn, but the Hawthorn members rejected the idea. This was the final straw for many of the MFC members, after years of continual failure. In the aftermath of the 1996 merger vote, an unlikely rebel leader, Orthodox rabbi and mining tycoon Joseph Gutnick, became president. He put $3 million of his own money into the club, and sacked Balme as coach midway through the 1997 season.

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In 2000 the new coach, Neal Daniher, took Melbourne to the Grand Final, where the Demons were soundly beaten by Essendon, but the members expected a new era of success. But in 2001 it was same old story: Melbourne finished 12th. In 2002, although Melbourne again made the finals, Gutnick's autocratic ways provoked another revolt, and he was voted out by the members.

Related Topics:
2000 - 2001 - 2002

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In 2003 Melbourne plunged into a new crisis, winning only five games for the year and posting a $1 million loss. President Gabriel Szondy resigned and it seemed that Daniher's tenure as coach was under threat.

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But, continuting the recent trend, in 2004, Melbourne climbed the ladder again, winning 14 games and leading the competition, albeit for one round only, in Round 18. And although the team lost their remaining four games, they still made the finals, only to lose that match also, by five points to Essendon. On a bright note, young-gun Jared Rivers was the winner of the National Rising Star Award.

Related Topics:
2004 - Essendon - Jared Rivers - National Rising Star Award

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Melbourne started 2005 strongly, finding themselves in second place after Round 12 with 9 wins. However a horror streak of seven consecutive losses placed the club's finals hopes in doubt, until the Demons finished the year with 3 nail-biting victories to salvage an Elimination Final appearance. Melbourne was eliminated from the premiership race in the opening week of the finals by Geelong.

Related Topics:
2005 - Geelong

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