Discussion Sunday Amateur Leagues

[Aut Vincere Aut Mori]

My father in law grew up in Port Melbourne and talks about playing in the Sunday Amateur League. There was also
another rival competition called the SAFA. There were up to twenty or more teams in each competition and drew enormous crowds. Ive looked in the newspapers on Trove and see it existed in 1947 and 1964. Some clubs seemed to be work based but there were others like Movie Stars, Happy Valley and Olympic that weren’t. South Colts, South Juniors, Carlton Royals, et al were suburb based. Teams seemed social in nature and came and went from year to year. VFA’s move to Sunday games in 1960 may have caused their demise. Any further information on these competitions appreciated.


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[Todman]

IIRC the last of the Sunday leagues folded in 1968. In 1969 several players from the Sunday leaue found themselves playing for Longwarry in the West Gippsland League. Longwarry were unbeaten all year when the league delegates ruled the players were ineligible because they didn't have a formal clearances. Longwarry were threatened that if they selected these players then they would lose the grand final. Longwarry called the leagues bluff and selected the players but the team lost to Koo Wee Rup.

A legal spat ensued with the VCFL ruling in favour of Longwarry because the Sunday league was defunct and there was no-one to do the paperwork.

 

[Aut Vincere Aut Mori]

IIRC the last of the Sunday leagues folded in 1968. In 1969 several players from the Sunday leaue found themselves playing for Longwarry in the West Gippsland League. Longwarry were unbeaten all year when the league delegates ruled the players were ineligible because they didn't have a formal clearances. Longwarry were threatened that if they selected these players then they would lose the grand final. Longwarry called the leagues bluff and selected the players but the team lost to Koo Wee Rup.

A legal spat ensued with the VCFL ruling in favour of Longwarry because the Sunday league was defunct and there was no-one to do the paperwork.

Thanks for that information about the likely end date of the Sunday competitions. There were games with about 10,000 spectators at the Northport Oval so, they were significant competitons that have not received a lot of attention. They were significant donors to charity also.


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[Bulldogsroar]

I remember watching Balaclava playing at the peanut farm , and i think they wore a Big V jumper

 

[Aut Vincere Aut Mori]

I remember watching Balaclava playing at the peanut farm , and i think they wore a Big V jumper

Thanks for that.

 

[MortlockWatcher]

It wasn't rare for men in suits with guns in their pockets to be in attendance.
A bit of money wagered on those matches.

 

[Aut Vincere Aut Mori]

It wasn't rare for men in suits with guns in their pockets to be in attendance.
A bit of money wagered on those matches.

My recently deceased father-in-law played for Graham and related a story where he was running for a ball near the boundary line and a well known Port identity was directly in front of him in the crowd. As he neared the boundary and the ball, the identity opened his overcoat to reveal a gun in his belt. The implication was that he shouldn't go too hard after the ball nor should Graham win. He said he lost a lot of interest in that particular game after that.

He said that betting and drinking were an important part of these games. There wasn't much to do on a Melbourne Sunday in the 40's, 50's and 60's so that's why the 'Amateur' Sunday competitions were so popular. The competitions donated large sums of money to charity to ensure they were able to keep going despite opposition from some church groups. This also paved the way for the VFA to play on Sundays.

 

[Todman]

MASFA 1964

W

B

L

D

FOR

AGAINST

%

PTS

Elimination Final

Ivanhoe Imperials

15​

2​

1543​

728​

212.0%​

60​

0​

Happy Valley

15​

2​

1580​

732​

215.8%​

60​

0​

Southern Stars

13​

4​

1369​

822​

166.5%​

52​

Qualifing Final

Balaclava

13​

4​

1368​

730​

187.4%​

52​

0​

South Richmond

11​

6​

1200​

844​

142.2%​

44​

0​

Port Colts

11​

6​

1158​

932​

124.2%​

44​

Semi Final

South Colts

7​

10​

1053​

1079​

97.6%​

28​

Southern Stars

13​

19​

97​

Carlton Brewery

6​

11​

965​

1277​

75.6%​

24​

Balaclava

7​

12​

54​

Royal Exchange

6​

11​

768​

1143​

67.2%​

24​

Semi Final

Brunswick United

3​

14​

696​

1432​

48.6%​

12​

Happy Valley

0​

Abbotsford Brewery

2​

15​

861​

1400​

61.5%​

8​

Ivanhoe Imperials

0​

Postal

0​

17​

576​

2018​

28.5%​

0​

Preliminary Final

Southern Stars

14​

13​

97​

Ivanhoe Imperials

6​

12​

48​

102​

0​

102​

0​

13137​

13137​

Grand Final

Leading Goalkickers

Happy Valley

16​

14​

110​

Southern Stars

6​

12​

48​

 

[Aut Vincere Aut Mori]

MASFA 1964

W

B

L

D

FOR

AGAINST

%

PTS

Elimination Final

Ivanhoe Imperials

15​

2​

1543​

728​

212.0%​

60​

0​

Happy Valley

15​

2​

1580​

732​

215.8%​

60​

0​

Southern Stars

13​

4​

1369​

822​

166.5%​

52​

Qualifing Final

Balaclava

13​

4​

1368​

730​

187.4%​

52​

0​

South Richmond

11​

6​

1200​

844​

142.2%​

44​

0​

Port Colts

11​

6​

1158​

932​

124.2%​

44​

Semi Final

South Colts

7​

10​

1053​

1079​

97.6%​

28​

Southern Stars

13​

19​

97​

Carlton Brewery

6​

11​

965​

1277​

75.6%​

24​

Balaclava

7​

12​

54​

Royal Exchange

6​

11​

768​

1143​

67.2%​

24​

Semi Final

Brunswick United

3​

14​

696​

1432​

48.6%​

12​

Happy Valley

0​

Abbotsford Brewery

2​

15​

861​

1400​

61.5%​

8​

Ivanhoe Imperials

0​

Postal

0​

17​

576​

2018​

28.5%​

0​

Preliminary Final

Southern Stars

14​

13​

97​

Ivanhoe Imperials

6​

12​

48​

102​

0​

102​

0​

13137​

13137​

Grand Final

Leading Goalkickers

Happy Valley

16​

14​

110​

Southern Stars

6​

12​

48​

Thanks for that information. Apologies for the tardy reply. This must have been one of the last seasons for the competition. My father-in-law died last year so I can't plug him for any more information. I vaguely remember him mentioning Happy Valley but can not recall where they were located. Possibly in Royal Park.

 

[Todman]

Thanks for that information. Apologies for the tardy reply. This must have been one of the last seasons for the competition. My father-in-law died last year so I can't plug him for any more information. I vaguely remember him mentioning Happy Valley but can not recall where they were located. Possibly in Royal Park.

I think Happy Valley played at Debneys Park, Flemington. It is just a hunch.

 

[35Daicos]

I think Happy Valley played at Debneys Park, Flemington. It is just a hunch.

This is from a few years earlier:




I've no idea where they were playing by 1964. The competition was still going in 1966:

 

[Aut Vincere Aut Mori]

I think Happy Valley played at Debneys Park, Flemington. It is just a hunch.

Happy Valley was a part of North Melbourne. It was notionally the area bounded by Curzon, Haines, Macaullay, and Arden Streets.

 

[Aut Vincere Aut Mori]

Happy Valley was a part of North Melbourne. It was notionally the area bounded by Curzon, Haines, Macaullay, and Arden Streets.

There was a team called Motive Stars. I think I may have previously referred to them as Movie Stars. My error. Can't blame the autocorrect.

There were two Sunday groups.
Sunday Amateur Football League (SAFL) ran 1947 to 1964
Melbourne Amateur Sunday Football Association (MASFA) ran 1950 to 1968. also known as Sunday Suburban Football League.

Foundation teams in the 1947 SAFL were :-
East Section : Fitzroy AYC, South Melb Colts, Olympic, Larundel, Motive Stars, Woodlands, Carlton RSL, South Surfers, Telegraph, Collingwood Suburban.
West : Social Services, Naval Dockyards, Albert Park Surfers, Victorian Socials, Brandon Rovers, Garden City, North United, Richmond Wanderers, Burnley Socials, Davies, Kimptons, Errol Rovers.

Foundation teams in the 1950 MASFA were :-
A Grade : Westgarth Socials, Richmond, South Colts, North United, Middle Footscray, West Melbourne, Sandridge Stars, Garden City, Albert Park, Kensington.
B Grade : Erroll Rovers, Motive Stars, St Kilda Amateurs, Brunswick, Rootes Motors, Union, Clifton Stars, Palmer Stars, Courtney Stars, Eagley Mills.

 

[Aut Vincere Aut Mori]

This is from a few years earlier:
View attachment 1937905
View attachment 1937911
View attachment 1937921
View attachment 1937920
I've no idea where they were playing by 1964. The competition was still going in

 

[Aut Vincere Aut Mori]

Thank you for those newspaper cuttings.