St Kevin’s OB Football Club

St Kevin’s Old Boys commenced in the VAFA after World War II and were entered into the VAFA’s C Section. It was an inauspicious start for SKOB who were relegated in their first season back to D Section. The club took five years to return to C and they did so with their first senior premiership, the 1952 D Section flag. Whilst SKOB were unable to hang on in C for long, two runners up finishes at the end of the decade had catapulted them up to B Section by 1962.

Despite this promise, the club continued to oscillate between the sections and eventually tumbled down to E Section by 1976. Runners-up in E in 1976 and in D Section in 1978 had St Kevin’s back in C Section. However, the club couldn’t break through for a senior flag.

The senior premiership drought would last until 1996 – 44 years – when the club broke through for the C Section flag, after having been runner-up on seven occasions before that breakthrough win. Another runner-up finish immediately followed.

With finals appearances in three of the next four years, things were looking good, but a poor season in 2003 had SKOB back in B Section. St Kevin’s bounced straight back with the 2004 B Section premiership, but this promotion proved more difficult as they struggled throughout the 2005 season and were again relegated to B Section, where they stayed for 10 years prior to their thrilling seven-goal come-from-behind grand final victory against Old Melburnians and subsequent promotion to William Buck Premier section in 2016.

2017 provided the club with its first-ever VAFA Premier Men’s flag when they held on to defeat Collegians by three points. It was one of the most dominant seasons in recent memory as Shannon Grant coached them to just two losses and an average winning margin of 55 points. It was also the same year their two women’s teams, SKOB Saints, entered the VAFA’s women’s competition following the disbandment of the VWFL. They took home the Club Championship as well as the Men’s (Lachlan Sullivan) and Women’s (Sarah Cameron) Rising Star Awards.

It would signal the start of SKOB’s ‘Golden Era’ that saw them play in 5 consecutive Premier Men’s Grand Finals from 2017-23, winning 3 of them (2017-18-22), and qualify for 7 consecutive Premier Men’s finals series – an ongoing streak they carry into 2026.

In 2018, they defeated Collegians in a second straight Grand Final Day thriller by just 5 points, after their 3-point win a season earlier. Billy Kanakis was BOG, while Mitch Brown was Coaches’ MVP with a record 80 votes.

2019 saw the Senior Men’s team fall to Uni Blues by 40 points on Grand Final Day, but their Senior Women’s team won the club’s first women’s flag as they defeated West Brunswick in the decider. Their senior women’s team would quickly become the VAFA Women’s competition’s first powerhouse, winning three straight flags in 2019-22-23, before falling to Old Scotch in their fourth straight Grand Final in 2024.

Another Senior Men’s premiership followed in 2022 – Anthony Lynch’s first as coach – as they defeated Old Brighton by 22 points.

But they ran into a white-hot Collegians in 2023 – the Lions powering their way to an 85-point Grand Final win, denying SKOB back-to-back Senior Men’s flags for the second time.

Premierships

Competition Best and Fairest Winners – Senior

Premier Women’s – Shona MacInnes Medal – 1

B Section / Premier B – GT Moore Medal – 1

C Section / Premier C – LS Zachariah Medal – 3

D Section / Division 1 – LS Pepper Medal – 3

Competition Best and Fairest Winners – Junior

U19 Premier: C.R. Newbury Medal – 3

U19 Premier Reserve – 2