Odd opponents

Today we are used to football taking a fairly formalised and organised form. Even small suburbs often have their own clubs which are part of leagues and rarely play outside of these. Generally, you'll only see informal matches organised independently between the two clubs in the form of pre-season practice matches.

However, this has not always been the case.

Before 1883, teams outside the city or big towns (like Dandenong) were informally put together from men within neighbouring areas. In 1891, Berwick Shire stretched from Berwick to Bunyip and had a population of only 3,920 people. It is therefore unsurprising that teams had to be pulled together from many areas to have enough players. For example, in 1879 Dandenong played a team made up of men from Berwick and Pakenham. Similarly, in 1880 the Dandenong junior side played a team made up from men from Berwick and Harkaway. Three years later in 1883, Dandenong played a team made up from Berwick and Cranbourne players, it was only later this year that Berwick is able to make up its own side.

Section from: McGauran, T. F. (1891). Census map of Victoria 1891

Even after having its own regular side, Berwick was not in a formal association until 1910 (see a previous blog about that year) and even then the club was not restricted to this association. Teams would organise matches against other sides themselves and even advertise in the district papers for oppositions for certain weekends.

Whilst Berwick would play other district clubs like Dandenong and Brunswick, it was not uncommon for teams to be made up from coworkers of a specific business, members of a community group, or members of a church parish. This leads to some odd opponents, interesting names, and a lot of sleuthing on my side to figure out where our opponents were from. Early 20th-century slang doesn't make it any easier, we never think to explain our slang for the sack of future historians!

I've made a list of some notable opponents that are not simply based on a district or suburbs, and found out what I can:

• Regraders in 1897: During this time here were men who were employed to regrade the train tracks between Berwick and Narre Warren stations, and Berwick thought they might like to play footy against them. Unfortunately the match ended up being cancelled as there wasn't enough regraders interested to make a full team.

  
  

• Turn Verein Club in 1900: This club was from a German gymnastics organisation that promoted both sport and german culture, and came down to Berwick from the city. Berwick won by a goal, and then entertained the visitors at the Border Hotel (the Berwick Inn).

  
  

• St. Mathias in 1900: The newspaper does not saw whether we travelled to this side or if they travelled out to Berwick, but one side must have caught the train as the only St. Marthias I can find is the Anglican church in Richmond. Berwick smashed the church team, 17.18 v 0.2.

  
  

• Clifton Wesleys in 1901: This side travelled and played at Berwick, beyond this I had to do quite a lot of digging to figure out who they were. Finally, I figure out that 'Wesleys' is slang for Methodists due to the Methodist's founder John Wesley, and Clifton was just short for Clifton Hill. So their official full name was the Clifton Hill Methodists Football team. They may have been members of a church on the corner of Hodgkinson and Wellington streets in Clifton Hill which was Methodist prior to the 1960s.

  
  

• Continuation School Night Students' Football Club in 1906: Continuation Schools were a opened around the turn of the century as a revamping of the "old-fashioned night school". Some Continuation Schools intended to cover primary education for those who had not completed it or who had struggled, whilst others served as secondary schools. I assume this team came from the Melbourne Continuation School, which was set up as Melbourne's first secondary school in 1905, that was designed to train the students to be primary teachers. This school would eventually become Melbourne High School.

  
  

• 'The Dingo Club' of Melbourne in 1910: I'll admit I have not had much luck figuring out who this side was. Berwick played the side in August after they had won the Association premiership (link to article), it is mentioned that it was difficult to get a full side as interest had subsided after the association matches were over. Despite this, Berwick won, 9.3 v 4.3. A month later I can find a mention of the club in an article saying that the Dingo Club was looking for opponents for a cricket match. The mystery as to why I cannot easily find any other traces of the club and who they were may be answered in an article from February the next year. The article reports that the Dingo Club did not turn up for their planned cricket match as they had disbanded. Whoever they were, they were seemingly short lived.

  
  

• Queensberry Ramblers club in 1910: Berwick had their first loss to this side in 1910, 9.6 v 3.0. Queensberry I assume referred to Queensberry St which runs through North Melbourne and Carlton, or perhaps even the Queensberry Hotel on that street. 'Ramblers' is a term similar to 'wanderers' which indicates that the team does not have a home ground. Considering all mentions of matches played by this club are played at the ground of their opposition, this name seems accurate.

  
  

• Bacon Factory in 1931: Referred to by a range of slightly different names such as Dandy Bacon Co., the Ham Factory, or the Bacon Factory, this side was made up by men who worked at the Dandenong factory owned by the Gippsland Co-operative Bacon Curing Company. The factory opened up in 1912 after a a group of Gippsland pig producers created the co-op and made Dandenong the base of their pork curing. This side was in the Dandenong District Association with the Berwick KSP team in 1931.

  
  

• Milita in 1931: The team generally referred to as Militia, that also played in the Dandenong District Association with the Berwick KSP team, is the football team of the 52nd Battalion. This part-time militia battalion, often called the Gippsland Regiment, had its headquarters in Dandenong. The battalion would go on to fight in the Asian theatre of WWII.

Who knew you could learn about so many different things by learning about football clubs? Have you heard about any of these teams before?

Resources:

McGauran, T. F. (1891). Census map of Victoria 1891 [cartographic material] : showing the population on the 5th April 1891 of each city, town, borough, riding of shire or part of such riding if divided by a county boundary ... / photo-lithographed at the Department of Lands and Survey, Melbourne, by T.F. McGauran. Melbourne: The Dept.

Berwick. (1897, June 16). South Bourke and Mornington Journal (Richmond, Vic. : 1877 - 1920; 1926 - 1927), p. 3 (WEEKLY.). Retrieved July 8, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article70018608

Berwick. (1900, May 30). South Bourke and Mornington Journal (Richmond, Vic. : 1877 - 1920; 1926 - 1927), p. 2 (WEEKLY.). Retrieved July 8, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article70045799

FOOTBALL. (1900, July 18). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), p. 5. Retrieved July 20, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article190061118

Melbourne Continuation School : a college for boys and girls, prospectus 1910. https://fusion.deakin.edu.au/files/original/a74a97aaf3f626af1f6526f934501c71.pdf

Davies, Joseph J. EVENING CONTINUATION SCHOOLS. Westminster review, London Vol. 144, (Jul 1895): 670-673. https://www.proquest.com/openview/009d4a7603e33074/1?cbl=2287&pq-origsite=gscholar

SCHOOL FOOTBALL. (1906, September 1). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 17. Retrieved July 12, 2020, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9641487

SPORTING (1911, February 25). The Sunbury News (Vic. : 1900 - 1927, p. 3. Retrieved April 21, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article269814090

Berwick Shire News. Wed 17 Aug 1910.

District Football (1931, August 13). The Dandenong Journal (Vic. : 1927 - 1954), p. 6. Retrieved December 31, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article201084792

BERWICK K.S.P. v. 52nd BATT. (1931, June 4). The Dandenong Journal (Vic. : 1927 - 1954), p. 6. Retrieved December 31, 2024, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article201083993

52nd Gippsland Regiment Story. https://www.rvr.asn.au/52nd-gippsland-regiment-storynew-page