Geelong West Football Club
| Names | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Geelong West Football Club |
| Nickname(s) | Roosters |
| Club details | |
| Founded | 1878 |
| Colours | White and Red |
| Competition | Victorian Football Association |
The Geelong West Football Club is an Australian rules football club which played in the Victorian Football Association (VFA) from 1963 until 1988. Geelong West, nicknamed the 'Roosters', wore white and red during their time in the association. Following a merger in 1989, the club has competed as Geelong West St Peters in the Geelong Football League, fielding teams in all age groups from under-9s to seniors.
History
Formed in 1878, Geelong West began in the Geelong & District Football Association. The club with their red jumper and white GWFC was not to be confused with the Geelong West Cricket & Football Club who wore a blue and white jumper. The Roosters and were a consistently strong club winning 25 premierships before joining the Ballarat Football League in 1946. Premiership success followed in the BFL, with the club winning four premierships in a row from 1956 to 1959.
The Ballarat-based clubs in the BFL grew to dislike Geelong West's presence in their league, as it meant long travelling distances for away games, and weaker crowds for home games; and after 1962, the BFL was keen for Geelong West to leave. At the same time the Victorian Football Association was looking to expand, so the two agreed for Geelong West to join the VFA second division in 1963.[1] The club had to change its jumper as it clashed with the Preston Bullants, so reversed its colours to a white jumper with a red GWFC monogram. In their inaugural season they only missed out on the wooden spoon by percentage but took out the premiership the following year, thus earning promotion to the first division.
Geelong West only spent one season at the top league before being demoted again but in 1968, after losing the previous two Grand Finals, they won their second division two premiership.
Once again, the club weren't good enough to last in the first division but things changed in the 1970s, beginning with their third premiership in 1972. On this occasion they deserved to be competing amongst the best teams and in 1975, under the coaching of Bill Goggin, Geelong West claimed a surprise first division premiership by defeating Dandenong in the VFA Grand Final.
By the time the 1980s came around the football club had run up a large financial debt that it struggled to manage. There was a significant reduction in support from the local community, in large part because there was strong growth of the Geelong Football League throughout the mid-1980s, which pushed player salaries up and attracted local sponsorship away from the club. There became a shortage of quality players willing to travel to Melbourne every second week, particularly at the Under-19s level, which led to the club's onfield position deteriorating through the 1980s. Faced with these problems, the club withdrew from the VFA after the 1988 season.[2]
The club merged with the neighbouring St Peters Football Club to form Geelong West St Peters, and has competed in the GFL since 1989.
Honours
VFA 1st Division Premierships (1)
- 1975
VFA 2nd Division Premierships (3)
- 1964, 1968, 1972
BFL Premierships (4)
- 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959
GDFA Premierships (25)
