Albert Park Football Club is an Australian rules football club located 3 km south of Melbourne in the suburb of Albert Park.
The Albert Park Football Club is affiliated with the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA), a competition that covers all of greater metropolitan Melbourne. The VAFA has over 70 senior clubs, and around 3,500 registered players. The club has its origins going back to the 1950s as the ANZ Bank Football Club and has evolved from an affiliation with the ANZ Staff Social Club of Victoria to its current suburban identity in the inner-suburban Albert Park area of Melbourne.
Known as the Falcons, the Club has relocated on a number of occasions, the most recent being the move from the former Clubrooms and playing area on Oval 15 when the Albert Park Australian F1 Grand Prix site was redeveloped in the 1990s. The Club is now situated at the Beaurepaire Pavilion on Oval 20.
Club song
Cheer, cheer the Red and the Blue
We'll keep on fighting all the game through
Soaring to Success we fly
Shake down the thunder from the sky
Whether the odds are great or be small
The Falcons from the Park will win overall
While our loyal Falcs are marching
Onwards to victory
History - Albert Park Football Club (1999 to present)
1999 - ANZ BANK FOOTBALL CLUB CHANGES ITS NAME TO ALBERT PARK FOOTBALL CLUB
Committee members from the Albert Park Football Club and the Middle Park Cricket Club meet to form the Albert Park & Middle Park Sports Club. This entity is used to negotiate a new lease with Parks Victoria.
The Club makes the F Section Grand Final, but are defeated by Eley Park 8.9 (57) to Albert Park 5.13 (43).
2002 - ALBERT PARK FOOTBALL CLUB WINS PREMIERSHIP
D4 Reserve (formerly F Reserve) Premiers - Albert Park 13.17 (95) defeated Werribee 8.10 (58) to win the Club’s first premiership since 1974.
2009 - ALBERT PARK FOOTBALL CLUB PROMOTED TO DIVISION 3
Senior team finishes the Division 4 home and away season on top of the Ladder with 17 wins and 1 loss, but are defeated by La Trobe University in the Grand Final - Albert Park 8.11 (59) defeated by La Trobe University 21.9 (135).
History - ANZ Bank Football Club (1954 to 1998)
1954 - ANZ BANK FOOTBALL CLUB (Zedders) ESTABLISHED
Sports minded officers at the ANZ Bank Head Office (394 Collins St) Branch of the ANZ Bank banded together to form a founding committee, who negotiated a place in the 10 team VAFA E Section competition for an ANZ Bank team. Many players were returned service-men from World War 2, with a fair sprinkling of enthusiastic youngsters. The home ground was at Yarra Bend, Fairfield (Olney Oval). Facilities were primitive, showers were cold and there was no power in the changing sheds. Training was conducted at (what was then) Wright Street Oval in Albert Park, which is now the Golf Driving Range.
It was a formidable challenge to form a football team from scratch, in days when bank staff worked Saturday mornings, few owned cars and player facilities such as hot water, trainers etc. were unavailable. Very few of these inaugural members could have foreseen a future spanning more than 50 years from such humble beginnings.
INAUGURAL ANZ BANK FOOTBALL CLUB TEAM/COMMITTEE
A BRANNAN (Coach), H BRAY, J CARRUTHERS, B CHRISTENSEN, G CROXFORD, N DIBBIN, W J DUNN (President), J ELLIS, J FRANCIS, W GARDINER, N HALLIDAY, V KENNEDY (Captain), M LINARD, T LIVINGSTONE, F LYONS, A McKAY, R J PRICE, G RIDGWAY, C SPENCER, R STONE, D STRAIN, M WILLMOTT (Secretary)
1956 - ANZ BANK FOOTBALL CLUB RELOCATES
Yarra Bend was seen as a most unsatisfactory home ground. The then Secretary of the ANZ Bank Staff Social Club, J M (Jack) Hodges, who was a trustee of Caulfield Park pulled a few strings to get the club a use of an oval there for home games. Training was at Princess Park, Carlton next to the Carlton FC.
1958 - ANZ BANK FOOTBALL CLUB PROMOTED TO D SECTION
The Club makes the E Section Grand Final, but are defeated by St Kilda C.B.O.C. - 12.14 (86) to ANZ Bank 10.13 (73).
1959 - ANZ BANK FOOTBALL CLUB RELOCATES TO ALBERT PARK
Home ground transferred to Oval 10, Albert Park adjacent to the then Middle Park railway station (where the tennis courts now stand).
1962 - ANZ BANK FOOTBALL CLUB RESERVES TEAM
Support for the Club was growing both on and off the field and it was decided to field a Reserves side. With players working at suburban branches, the Club sometimes struggled to get the minimum 16 players afield at noon. However it was deemed an essential part of the Club’s future.