Kew Football Club

Kew

Website

Joined VAFA: 1949

Coaches: Jack Cole (M), Mannie Di Parsia (W)

Nickname: Bears

Ground: J.J. Higgins Reserve, Victoria Park, High Street Kew. 9817 1118.

Under 19/Thirds: As above

Colours: Brown with gold sash – gold number; shorts – brown; socks – brown & gold hoops.

Secretary: Gemma Smith E: [email protected] M: 0412 587 007

President: David Henderson E: [email protected] M: 0419 358 400

Kew Football Club first entered the VAFA (then the MJFA) as a formal member in 1899. The previous year, Kew had been invited by the Association to fill the void left by St Francis Xavier who had fallen over during the year. Their two seasons in 1899 and 1900 bore little fruit and Kew went on to the greener pastures. By 1949, Kew was ready to be reintroduced to the VAFA and they joined the competition in C Section. They took a season to learn the ropes before taking all before them and not dropping a game on the way to the 1950 C Section premiership, becoming a champion team in the process. Kew’s upward trend continued with the B Section premiership in 1953. Three more flags followed in the 1960’s, C Section (1962 & 1964) and B Section (1966). For the next 30 years Kew oscillated between A, B and C Seciton, with only the 1979 C Section premiership to celebrate amongst that movement. By the 1990s, Kew had dropped to D Section for the first time and they would plummet all the way to Division 4 by 2004. The Bears would only spend one season in Division 4, but again their promotion was via a runner up finish. The drought breaker came in 2013, when former Carlton premiership player Ian Aitken led the Bears to a famous Division 3 flag, breaking a 34-year premiership drought (they also won the reserves and U18 flags in the same day, Aitken coached both the U18s and seniors). Kew promptly followed up in 2014 with back-to-back premierships in Division 2, before doing the three-peat for the first time in the Club’s history and taking out the Division 1 flag in 2015. After two years away from the club, three-time senior premiership coach Ian Aitken returned to the club as seniors and U19’s coach in 2019. In 2018, Kew’s women’s teams came from the NFNL and joined their brother side under the VAFA umbrella, finishing third in William Buck Premier.

Premierships

Seniors	Reserves	U19s	U18s	Club XVIII
9	8	1	1	3
Premier B / B Section: 1953, 1966		Division 3: 2019	2013
Premier C / C Section: 1950, 1962, 1964, 1979
Division 1 / D Section: 2015	Division 1: 2019
Division 2 / E Section: 2014
Division 3 / F Section: 2013

Competition Best and Fairest Winners – Senior

A Section / Premier – JN Woodrow – 1

B Section / Premier B – GT Moore Medal – 5

C Section / Premier C – LS Zachariah Medal – 4

Year	Name	Section	Votes
2016	Liam Kinsella	Premier C	21
1993	Garry W. White	C Section
1988	B.C. Burden	B Section
1986	Joey M Busuttil	C Section
1983	W.K. Blay	B Section
1969	D.J. Mullin	B Section
1967	John A. Fisher	A Section	23
1966	V.R. Crowe	B Section	28
1957	Noel F. Stokes	B Section
1950	A.N. Castle	C Section