University
Melbourne University was first involved in Australian Rules Football from the earliest days of the game. In 1868 University was regarded in the top 7 teams in the Metropolitan.
A team from University first appeared in 1860. Two years later they played in the Challenge Cup. When University played Melbourne in the competition, the Melbourne captain called for a count. It was found that University had five too many players on the field.
By 1875, University wasn’t travailing smoothly. Late in June University merged with St Kilda and the new team didn’t win a game for the rest of the season. The new team was called St Kilda-cum-University. Observes were unimpressed and one wrote that the merger had made little difference to the teams performance. At the start of the 1876 season went their separate ways.
University seemed to slip into the background of the football world. It wasn’t until 1905 when University played football in the senior ranks, in the Metropolitan Football League. The next year they lost one game, to Hawthorn, on the way to the flag. The next year University also won the 1907 premiership before the Premier, Thomas Bent.
It is part of University folklore that Professor Baldwin Spencer persuaded players not to go back to the VFL because the commitment for football was to great. The students were to take their studies first, and football second.
University was admitted to the VFL on October 7 1907. A fortnight later the League met to decide who would play in the final place, either North Melbourne or Richmond.
University began its career in the VFL by unfurling the 1907 flag, won in the Metropolitan Football League. Expectations were high for the new club, The Australian newspaper predicted that the superior intelligence of the players would tell in time. All University players needed to have a Matriculation certificate or higher degree to play in the team.
University players were affectionately known as the ‘Students’ or the ‘Professors’. University supporters were renowned for their studious barracking at the clubs home ground, East Melbourne Cricket Ground.
In Brief
Joined League: 1906
Premierships: 0
Brownlow Medalists: None
Merged: Common belief is that University merged, or was taken over by, Melbourne at the end of the 1914 season
