The Leopold Football Club was an Australian rules football club based in the suburb of South Melbourne.
The club is best known for acting as the reserves team for the South Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Junior Football League (VJFL, later AFL reserves) from 1919 until 1924.
History Leopold first appeared in historical records in 1890 playing a programme of social games each season. In 1895 they were influential in the formation of the newly formed 'fourth rate' competition; the South Suburban Junior Football Association where they were runners up in 1895 to the Marlton Club and premiers in 1896 and 1897. In 1898 they joined the Metropolitan Junior Football Association (MJFA). The club won its first MJFA premiership in 1900, going back-to-back with another victory in 1901. At the time, the club played its home games at Warehousemen's Cricket Ground.
The club originally played home fixtures on a ground near the Middle Park railway station. From 1898 to 1900 they played at the North Port Oval, 1901 to 1904 on the Warehouseman’s ground, and from 1905 to 1924 on the Lakeside Oval.
The club’s was believed to be formed by members of the Rechabites and chose the name Leopold as a tribute to Queen Victoria’s youngest son Prince Leopold who was a prominent proponent of teetotalism.
Their uniform was a red jumper with blue shorts and red hose. Their all red hose led to their nickname being the Redlegs. In 1922 they changed to a white jumper with a red sash which they wore until 1924.
At some point around 1904, Leopold had a relationship with the Melbourne Football Club. Possibly due to its use of the Warehousemans Ground (Albert Ground) in this era. However, its later use of the South Melbourne Cricket Ground (Lake Oval) forged its connexion with the South Melbourne Football Club.
The club won two premierships in a row again in 1910 and 1911. In 1912, like other MJFA clubs developing formal affiliations, Leopold developed an association with the South Melbourne Football Club, which competed in the Victorian Football League (VFL). As South Melbourne was a senior side, Leopold operated as its junior team.Football: Metropolitan Amateur Association, The Argus, (Saturday, 8 May 1915), p.17. South Melbourne’s 1909 VFL premiership team contained six players (Dave Barry, George Bower, Bob Deas, Horrie Drane, Alf Gough, and Alan Pentland) recruited from the Leopold Club and indicated the standard of the Leopolds.
A fifth premiership was won in 1913, before the impacts of World War I in Australia affected football competitions. The MJFA went into recess in 1916 and Leopold similarly went into recess from 1916 to 1918. The VFL had chosen to form a feeder competition for its clubs prior to the outbreak of the war but held off until 1919 to institute it. As the MJFA was yet to reform, Leopold chose to accept South Melbourne FC’s offer to be its representative in the VJFL.
The club’s influence on the football world in the first half of the twentieth century was profound. Former players were Like McBrien who was VFL Secretary 1929 to 1956; George Cathie who was founding editor of the Football Record; Jack McGuinness Secretary of the Geelong Football Club; and Squire Reid VFA President 1947-48. It was often described in the press as the best junior club in Melbourne and given its record against clubs like Brighton, Coburg and Hawthorn who went on to play in the VFA and VFL, it was surprising it was not offered a place in a higher competition but the lack of its own home ground and failure to be a district named club clearly worked against them being promoted to the VFL or VFA. The MJFA often played its finals matches as curtain raisers to VFL finals games and so the Leopolds were well known to the broader football community. VJFL The VFL introduced a reserves competition in 1919, known as the Victorian Junior Football League (VJFL), and Leopold contested as South Melbourne's affiliate until the end of the 1924 season. Other VFL clubs had affiliate clubs represent them such as Collingwood District FC, Carlton Juniors FC but the terms Districts and Juniors were later discarded.
In 1925, the competition was renamed as the VFL seconds and the League decided that all senior clubs must have a representative side. Leopold had two choices; rename itself as the South Melbourne second eighteen or continue in its own name in another competition. It chose the former option and on the eve of the 1925 season at its AGM, the Club renamed itself. It operated as a separately run committee as the South Melbourne Second Eighteen until 1933 when the VFL directed all Clubs to bring their Reserves teams under the direct control of their senior committees.
In 1936 there was an effort to revive the Club and a Leopold team was entered in the A Grade of the Melbourne Boys League. The organisation of the team was rushed and struggled to recruit players. It finished the season bottom of the eight teams with no wins, twelve losses, and one no match. It did not reappear again in 1937 and the Leopold name disappeared forever.
Seasons PremiersGrand FinalistMinor premiersFinals appearanceWooden spoonLeague leading goalkickerLeague best and fairest YearLeagueCaptainPresidentSecretaryTreasurer 1895 SSJFA2nd 14 2 0 1896 SSJFA 1st J. Deas R. J. Cathie S. Cathie 1897 SSJFA 1st J. Deas R. J. Cathie L. W. Bennett 1898 MJFA 3rd 9 5 2 L. W. Bennett 1899 MJFA 2nd 10 4 3 G. Cathie 1900 MJFA 1st 15 1 0 T. Williams J. Noy J. O'Donnell J. Lillie 1901 MJFA 1st 14 14 0 T. Williams J. Noy E. Hocking J. Lillie 1902 MJFA 5th 9 7 0 T. Williams R. J. Cathie S. J. Cathie J. Lillie 1903 MJFA 2nd 14 1 1 T. Williams R. J. Cathie J. Remington J. Lillie 1904 MJFA 3rd 12 6 0 T. Williams R. J. Cathie J. Lillie 1905 MJFA 3rd 11 6 1 T. Williams R. J. Cathie R. Howie J. Lillie 1906 MJFA 4th 12 6 0 J. C. H. Richardson 1907 MJFA 5th 9 9 0 -. Curnow E. D. M. Thomson J. R. Briggs R. Howie 1908 MJFA 2nd 16 2 0 E. D. M. Thomson J. R. Briggs R. Howie 1909 MJFA 3rd 15 3 0 T. Drewitt E. D. M. Thomson J. R. Briggs T. Drewitt 1910 MJFA 2nd 14 4 0 J. Bray E. D. M. Thomson D. M. McIntosh L. H. McBrien 1911 MJFA 1st 17 1 0 E. D. M. Thomson D. M. McIntosh L. H. McBrien 1912 MAFA 4th 12 6 0 T. Hughes E. D. M. Thomson E. N. Glass L. H. McBrien 1913 MAFA 2nd 14 3 1 T. Hughes E. D. M. Thomson E. N. Glass L. H. McBrien 1914 MAFA 3rd 12 6 0 T. Hughes L. Tate E. N. Glass E. S. Evans 1915 MAFA 2nd 12 1 1 T. Hughes L. Tate E. N. Glass E. S. Evans 1919 VJFL 3rd 3rd 10 6 W. Hennington L. Tate E. N. Glass 1920 VJFL 7th 6 10 0 P. Skehan & C. Glass T. J. Sealy H. Jarman E. N. Glass 1921 VJFL 9th 1 15 0 M. Ryan & L. Turner T. J. Sealy H. Jarman E. N. Glass 1922 VJFL 9th 4 12 0 T. Hughes T. J. Sealy H. M. Stanley E. N. Glass 1923 VJFL 5th 9 9 0 M. Ryan T. J. Sealy H. M. Sealy J. McGuinness Jnr 1924 VJFL 5th 10 8 0 E. Marsh T. J. Sealy H. M. Sealy J. N. A. Meehan 1936 MBL A 8th 0 12 *
VFL (AFL) players
Jim Addison (Collingwood) Harold F Alexander () George Anderson (South Melbourne & University) Sydney B Anderson (Melbourne) Bert Avery (South Melbourne & Melbourne) Harry Barnes () Dave Barry () Fred Birnstihl (Footscray) Percy Blencowe ) Harry Boully (Melbourne) George Bower () Alf Boyce (South Melbourne & Fitzroy) Harry Bromley () Marshall Caffyn () George J Cathie (Melbourne) Ernest Cazaly (St Kilda) Les Charge () Tom Clancy () Bill Condon () Fred Condon () Vin Coutie (Melbourne) Bobby Craig (Melbourne) Jack Deas (South Melbourne, Fitzroy & Essendon) Horrie Drane (Melbourne & South Melbourne) Don Fraser (Collingwood) Bobby Gibb () Charlie Goding (Melbourne & South Melbourne) Alf L Gough () Alec Gray () Frank Harley (Richmond) Bill Hennington () Ern Hocking {Melbourne) Len Hogg () Sid Hogg () Alex Holland (Collingwood & Melbourne) Tommy Hughes (Carlton) Alby Jacobsen (South Melbourne & Essendon) Ted E Johnson () Ted Keggin (Richmond) Jim Makin (South Melbourne & Melbourne) Fred Mann (Essendon) Edwin Marsh () Charles McDonald () Angus McDonald (St Kilda) Tom Moloughney (Fitzroy & St Kilda) Herbert Moore () Dick Mullaly () Alan O'Donoghue (Richmond & South Melbourne) Ted O'Meara () George Peacock (Melbourne) Bill Hennington () Alan Pentland () Fred Pitt (South Melbourne & Carlton) Gladstone Power () Arthur Rademacher () Alf Richardson (St Kilda) Jack E Richardson () Charles Rowe (St Kilda) Les Rusich () Bert Russell () Joe Scanlan () Paddy Scanlan (South Melbourne & Footscray) Phil Skehan () Wal Smallhorn () Percy Smith (Richmond) Jim Sutherland () Herbert Sutton (South Melbourne & Hawthorn) Jack H Todd (Carlton & South Melbourne) Hedley Tomkins (Fitzroy & Melbourne) Stan Wootton (South Melbourne & Richmond)
References