The Masala Dandenong Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers, is an Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Dandenong North. The club seeks to support and promote football in multicultural communities.
As of 2025, the club competes in the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) Thirds competition, fielding one team in Division 2 and another team in Division 5.
History Formation and early years Masala Football Club was formed in August 2012 as the brainchild of Ash Nugent, who had served as Team Manager of the Indian Tigers at the 2011 Australian Football International Cup. Nugent said that he and the club's other founders considered names including "Tendulkar Tigers" to "Brown Brothers Football Club", but "found the names to be either too exclusive (often India-centric), infringing on existing brands or simply impossible to work with".
Eventually, "Masala" (meaning a blend of spices) was chosen as the club's name. The club chose not to have a nickname, and instead created a logo based on a star anise, in which the seeds were replaced by footballs.
The Richmond Football Club, a supporter of the Indian Tigers, also chose to support Masala, providing the club's jumper and colours.
In October 2012, the VAFA admitted Masala into Club XVIII Section 3 for the 2013 season. Practice games were played in early 2013 against Team Africa, Dragons, Endeavour Hills and Dandenong, and Richmond players Matt White and Orren Stephenson presented Masala players with their guernseys on 5 April 2013.
The club played its first official VAFA game on 13 April 2013, a 131-point loss to Richmond Central, the eventual premiers of the section in 2013.
Masala's first victory came in round 8 against Dragons, another multiculturalism-based club, with a 12-point victory in wet conditions. The club had lost to the Dragons by 82 points in round 2, although that win was later awarded to Masala after it was found that the Dragons had fielded unregistered players.
Although they finished last in 2013, the club moved up to Club XVIII Section 1 for the 2014 season. They again finished last, with their only victory coming against Old Geelong in round 11.
VAFA seniors In 2015, Masala became a senior club, entering a senior and reserves side in Division 4. The club's first senior victory was a 26-point defeat of Chadstone in round 1.
For its initial seasons, Masala co-shared BJ Powell Reserve in Noble Park North with the Lyndale Football Club. They eventually moved to their own ground at WJ Powell Reserve, before relocating to Fotheringham Reserve in 2018. In 2020, the club again relocated to Lois Twohig Reserve in Dandenong North.
On 11 February 2019, the club was renamed to the Masala Dandenong Football Club in order to bring it closer to the Dandenong community.
In 2022, Masala Dandenong introduced a junior football program with the North Dandenong Masala Junior Football Club entering the South East Junior Football League (SEJFL). The new team revived the historical North Dandenong Junior Football Club, which dissolved in 2018.
Withdrawal from seniors At the end of the 2023 season, Division 4 was abolished by the VAFA and Masala Dandenong was moved to an expanded Division 3 for 2024.
Because of extremely low player numbers during pre-season training, on 12 January 2024, following a unanimous vote from the club's committee, club president William Bolch announced Masala Dandenong would withdraw from Division 3.
Following the announcement, the club chose to enter the VAFA Thirds competition, fielding one team in Division 2 North and another team in Division 3 South in the 2024 Season.
Honours Team of the Decade (2012−2022) A "Team of the Decade" was announced in 2022 on the 10-year anniversary of the club's formation. Back Stephen Daw Daniel Hoffman Ben Nugen (captain) Half-Back Matt Decarne Nicholas Cunningham Jaryd Coghill Centre Declan Lee Brandon Kelly Vishnu Rishie Half Forward Anthony Dorrington Sam Freeman (vice-captain) Anthony Morabito Forward Jana Kumaralingam Declan Fowler Jordan Toikalkin Followers Dale Lawrence Josh Kyle Tom Williamson Interchange Zac Kelly David Crkvenac Wayne McMahon Luke Decarne Coach Adam Lagerewskij President Ash Nugent
Club Presidents Below are a list of club presidents of the Masala Dandenong Football Club: +NamePresidential TenureAsh Nugent2013-2014Matthew Jacobs2015Tarak Shah2016-2018Wayne McMahon2019Lucy McMahon2020-2021Matthew Decarne2022-2023 (June)Cameron Young2023 (July) - 2023 (November)William Bolch2023 (December) - Present
Masala Award The Masala Award is presented to the Club Person Of The Year and is awarded at the end of season Presentation Night. Past Masala Award recipients include: +Masala Award WinnersYearNameYearName2013Learnmore Moyo2014Rian Prestwitch2015Cassie Jacobs20162017Wayne Chaplin2018Scott Becker2019Janahan Kumaralingam2020N/A2021Jan Williams2022William Bolch2023Hayley Lagerewskij2024Flynn Cassar2025Scott Grant
Seasons PremiersGrand FinalistMinor premiersFinals appearanceWooden spoon
Seniors YearDivisionCoachCaptainBest and fairestLeading goalkicker 2013 6th 2 13 0 Matt Peddlesden Ben Nugent Ben Nugent Prakash Kailasanathan 21 2014 6th 1 14 0 Vishnu Rishie Ben Nugent Sam Freeman Sam Freeman 20 2015 10th 2 14 0 Brett Robinson Ben Nugent Zachary Kelly 2016 Division 4 8th 3 13 0 Brett Robinson Ben Nugent Nicholas Cunningham 2017 Division 4 8th 2 13 1 Brett Robinson Sam Freeman; Brandon Kelly Brandon Kelly Sam Freeman 44 2018 Division 4 10th 2 16 0 Alan Sutherland Sam Freeman Dale Gibb Sam Freeman 2019 Division 4 7th 4 12 0 Alan Sutherland Sam Freeman Brandon Kelly Benjamin Abraham 24 2020 Division 4 (No season) (No season) 2021 Division 4 6th 4 7 0 Adam Lagerewskij Daniel Hoffman Brandon Kelly Declan Fowler 40 2022 Division 4 4th 7 9 0 Adam Lagerewskij Brandon Kelly Tom Williamson Declan Fowler 64 2023 Division 4 5th 7 11 0 Adam Lagerewskij Brandon Kelly Dave Velardo Brandon Kelly 30 2024 4th 8 8 0 Adam Lagerewskij Flynn Cassar; Jordan Gibbon Deakin Harris Zac Pahos 27 2025Thirds D2 10th4120Adam LagerewskijFlynn CassarJordan GibbonZac Pahos22
Reserves YearDivisionCoachCaptainBest and fairestLeading goalkicker 2015 11th 1 15 0 Prakash Kailasanathan 2016 Division 4 9th 0 16 0 Brent Shaw 2017 Division 4 9th 1 15 0 Nick Boyd Tarak Shah Adam Gleeson 7 2018 Division 4 10th 2 16 0 Enrico Misso Anthony Morabito Jaryd Coghill 14 2019 Division 4 9th 2 14 0 Adam Lagerewskij David Crkvenac Will Dimopoulos 11 2020 Division 4 (No season) (No season) 2021 Division 4 8th 0 10 1 Luke Johnson Sahil Grewal;Raam Gowriswaran Zac Pahos 7 2022 Division 4 3rd 9 7 0 Luke Johnson Jana Kumaralingam;Raam Gowriswaran Deakin Harris Tom Edwards 16 2023 Division 4 5th 4 12 0 Luke Johnson Jeremy Hallett Jeremy Hallett 16 2024 10th 0 16 0 Adam Lagerewskij Jason Dick Hayden Ellis Matthew Visintin 7 2025Thirds D510th3110Rodney EllisHayden Ellis, Nabil Hussain, Sam Kennedy, Jasper Roberts, Jason PietrosantoRicky TaweelJosh Ellis7
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