Mansfield Football Club

This article is about the Australian rules football club. For the association football club from England, see Mansfield F.C.

The Mansfield Football Netball Club, nicknamed the Eagles, is an Australian rules football and netball club based in Mansfield, Victoria.

Mansfield
Names
Full name	Mansfield Football Netball Club
Nickname(s)	Eagles
Club details
Founded	c. 1881–83 [note 1]
Colours
Competition	Goulburn Valley FL
Premierships	2 (2004, 2009)
Ground(s)	Mansfield Recreation Reserve
Uniforms
Home
Other information
Official website	mansfieldfnc.com.au

The Mansfield teams currently compete in the Goulburn Valley League. The Eagles home ground is the Mansfield Recreation Reserve.

History

The seed of the Mansfield FC was planted because of an advertisement in the Mansfield Guardian on 18 May 1878. The ad called for a meeting to be held at the Mansfield Hotel with the purpose of forming a football club.

Surviving records of those times describe a game between Mansfield and Jamieson in July 1883. Nevertheless, in 1886 the Mansfield Courier reported that Mansfield had fielded teams in 1881. ^[1]

Early games were played against neighbouring towns on a round robin basis with the teams playing for trophies donated by prominent businessmen. The original shirt worn by Mansfield was white with red stripes. In 1900 these local clubs formed an Association, adopted a constitution and began a formal competition for points culminating in a final series. Mansfield played many clubs in this era in various leagues and associations. Jamieson, Bonnie Doon, Merton, Maindample, Delatite, Mt Battery, Swanpool, Tolmie, Yarck, among others.

Between the wars the district became unable to maintain numerous clubs, so the various smaller ones morphed towards the larger Mansfield FC and Mount Battery FC. Eventually these two formed the "Mansfield Battery FC", adopting a navy blue guernsey with a white monogram.

Mansfield competed continuously in the various District Associations until after World War II when the club joined the Waranga North East FL. The netball section would be added later.

Trent Hotton, won the league best and fairest in 2007. The Eagles won their first GVFL premiership in 2004 since moving to the league in 1997. In 2009 the Eagles capped off a fantastic year with a win in the GVFL Grand Final over Kyabram, capturing their second GVFL flag in five years.

Leagues

Since its foundation, the club has participated in the following leagues:

Team of Mansfield FC in 1913

• 1925–33: Mansfield Line Association
• 1934–40: Mansfield-Alexandra FA
• 1945–46: Upper Goulburn FL
• 1946–76: Waranga North East Football Association
• 1977–95: Tungamah Football League
• 1996–97: Goulburn Valley FL (2nd Division)
• 1998–present: Goulburn Valley FL

Players

2010 Football Squad

1 Matt Storer (C) 2 Mitch Wareham 3 James Herridge 4 Ben Millot 5 Tim Demetriou 6 Sam Armstrong 7 Nick Gieschen 8 Simon Hart 9 Sean Purcell 10 Fraser Stevenson 11 Jim Hopgood 12 Phil Doeven 13 Warren Smith 14 Brett Mahoney 15 Adam Boshevski 16 Tim Van Der Klooster 17 Ross Brown 18 Dom Vincent

19 Travis Leitch 20 Brant Anselmi 21 Simon Dick 22 Sam Dolling 23 Scott Heveran 24 Casey Briggs 25 Stuart Quinn 26 Nathan Dundas 27 Guy Taylor (C) 28 Kane Blunt 29 Luke McMillian 30 Troy Mahoney 31 David Mensch 32 Simon Jones 33 Nick Gray 34 Jarrad Mahoney 35 James O'Grady 36 Mark Jones

37 Sam Christopher 38 Josh Briggs 39 Andrew Nunn 40 Rhys Steward 41 Anthony Burgess 43 Elliot Christopher 44 Adam Mahoney 45 Chris Laing 46 Stephen Collins 48 Liam Scales 50 Lawrence Apps 52 Tom Niewenhuizen 54 Ben Cios 55 Aaron Stephens 57 Ross Hopkins 58 Eddy Oliver 59 Ben Ryan 60 Alby Hill

Matt Storer and Guy Taylor are Eagles Co-Captains for the 2010 season. The Eagles Seniors are coached by ex-Collingwood player, Craig 'Ned' Kelly.

VFL / AFL Players

The following footballers played with Mansfield prior to playing senior VFL / AFL football. The year indicates their VFL / AFL debut.

• 1922 - Jim Fraser - Carlton
• 1950 - Bill Reardon - Footscray
• 1953 - Tom Tarrant - Collingwood
• 1955 - Alan Jewell - Hawthorn
• 1955 - Ray Yeoman - Hawthorn
• 1957 - Peter Barran - Geelong
• 1962 - Peter Dolling - South Melbourne
• 1962 - Bob Lockhart - Richmond
• 2000 - Josh Fraser - Collingwood & Gold Coast
• 2005 - Jarrod Kayler-Thomson - Hawthorn
• 2017 - James Cousins - Hawthorn

The following players/coaches came to Mansfield, with prior VFL / AFL senior football experience -

• 1942 - Ted Leehane - Essendon
• 1982 - Peter Tossol - Melbourne
• 1989 - Craig Kelly - ex-Collingwood and player manager.
• 1990 - Brendan Hehir - Draft Number 17, in AFL 1990 National Draft. Geelong, Australian Football League
• 1993 - Andrew Tranquilli - ex-Collingwood player in the Australian Football League
• 1992 - David Mensch - ex-Geelong player in the Australian Football League
• 1994 - Trent Hotton - ex-Carlton player in the Australian Football League
• 1997 - Darren Hulme - Carlton
• 1999 - David A. Clarke - Geelong & Carlton
• 2005 - Craig Flint - Number 17 in 2005 AFL Rookie Draft. Carlton

Premierships

• Mansfield Hotel / Bremner's Cup (1):
  • 1900^[2]
• Mansfield FA (3):
  • 1900, 1904, 1905^[3]
• Mansfield District FA (3):
  • 1911, 1912, 1913^[4]
• Mansfield Swanpool District FA (1):
  • 1927^[5]
• Mansfield Line FA (1):
  • 1929^[6]
• Waranga North East Football Association (4):
  • 1951,^[7] 1953,^[8] 1954,^[9] 1955
• Tungamah Football League (2):
  • 1987, 1989
• Goulburn Valley 2nd. Division (1):
  • 1996
• Goulburn Valley FL (2):
  • 2004, 2009

Grand Finals

2004 GVFL Grand Final	G	B	Total
Tatura	11	8	74
Mansfield	20	15	135
Venue: Deakin Reserve, Shepparton

2009 GVFL Grand Final	G	B	Total
Mansfield	16	12	108
Kyabram	13	9	87
Venue: Deakin Reserve, Shepparton

Football League Best & Fairest honors

Seniors

• Tungamah Football League
  • 1987 - Bruce McCormack
  • 1988 - Bruce McCormack

• Goulburn Valley Football League - Division 2
  • 1997 - Dennis Sheahan

• Goulburn Valley Football League
  • 2007 - Trent Hotton

Reserves

• Waranga North East Football Association
  • 1954 - K Doolan^[10]
  • 1966 - Bill Reardon^[11] Reardon also won this award in 1961, 1962 and 1963, playing with Bonnie Doon FC.

Notes

1. The date of establishment of the club is unclear. There are some records of a Mansfield FC game in July 1883. Nevertheless, in 1886 the Mansfield Courier reported that Mansfield had fielded teams in 1881.^[1]