Ocean Grove Football Club

The Ocean Grove Football Netball Club, nicknamed the Grubbers, is an Australian rules football and netball club that plays in the Bellarine Football League (BFL) and situated in the town of Ocean Grove, Victoria.

Ocean Grove
Names
Full nameOcean Grove Football Netball Club
Nickname(s)Grubbers
Club details
Founded1964 (1964)
Colours         
CompetitionBellarine Football League
Premierships8 (1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003)
Ground(s)Ray Menzies Memorial Reserve
Uniforms
Home
Other information
Official websiteoceangrovefnc.com.au

History

The club started off in the 1960s as a joint club between Barwon Heads and Ocean Grove. The Barwon Heads/Ocean Grove Football Club wore purple jumpers with gold trim and were, and still are known as the "Grubbers". Ray Menzies was a founding member of the club and also the Bellarine Football League; the nearby Ray Menzies Memorial Reserve was named in his honour.

Years later, the club broke into the Barwon Heads Football Club and the Ocean Grove Football and Netball Club. The newly established club wore white jumpers with a red V, similar to the old South Melbourne jumpers. The current strip is a red and white jumper with a white swan on the front, red shorts and socks, white shorts for away games. The origin of the nickname "Grubbers" is unknown, but may have come from a major road in the area (Grubb Road) or could also be reference to a swan.

The club has won eight premierships in the Bellarine Football League at senior level. This was achieved in two sequences of four-in-a-row, which in turn came from a sequence of twelve consecutive Grand Final appearances.

The Ocean Grove Football Club also fields a reserves team and under 19s team in the BFL, an under 17s in the Geelong Junior Football League. The club also have a junior "feeder" club, with the Ocean Grove/Collendina Cobras Football Club, fielding under 15s, under 13s and under 10s teams.

In October 2006 a number of players from the club assaulted a Jewish man while they were on a club trip.[1] In 2007 three players from the Ocean Grove Football Club, including the team captain were found guilty by the Melbourne Magistrates Court for their part in an anti-Semitic remark on a father who was with his two young children. Criminal convictions were recorded against two other men for their role in the incident, while the player who punched the father in the face was never identified.[2] In November 2007 Melbourne writer and social commentator Christopher Bantick in his column in the Herald Sun wrote that "the club is deserving of public shame".[3]

Premierships

Notable club members

The club's two premiership coaches, Brendan McCartney (who won the 1994–1997 flags) and Mark Neeld (who won the 2000–2003 flags), both went on to senior coaching jobs in the Australian Football League, with the Western Bulldogs and Melbourne respectively. Coincidentally, both men were appointed to their senior coaching jobs in the same week at the end of the 2011 AFL season.[4] Neeld coached Melbourne from 2012 until the middle of 2013, and McCartney coached the Bulldogs from 2012 until the end of 2014.[5][6]

AFL players

As of 2009, six players have made it from the Grubbers up to AFL level:[7][8][9]

Bibliography
  • Cat Country: History of Football in the Geelong Region by John Stoward – Aussie Footy Books, 2008 – ISBN 9780957751583
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References
  1. "Football club sorry for 'Nazi' attack". NEWS.com.au. 17 October 2006. Retrieved 5 August 2008.
  2. Mex Cooper (15 November 2007). "Ocean Grove footballers sentenced for 'racist' actions". Geelong Advertiser. Retrieved 5 August 2008.
  3. Christopher Bantick (22 November 2007). "Racist attack on Jews in our midst". Herald Sun. Retrieved 5 August 2008.
  4. Gullan, Scott (20 September 2011). "Grubbers' favourite sons bring sea change to the big league". Herald Sun. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
  5. Mark Neeld sacked by Melbourne Demons, Neil Craig to take over as interim coach, ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), 17 June 2013
  6. "Brendan McCartney finished as Western Bulldogs coach after crisis talks". Fox Sports Australia. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  7. "AFL Table - player profile - Clint Bartram". superstats.heraldsun.com.au. Retrieved 23 June 2008.
  8. "Footy Draft - Mock AFL Draft 2005 - Danny Stanley". www.footydraft.com. Retrieved 23 June 2008.
  9. "Young Bulldog waiting in Seagulls' wings - Leader News: Melbourne community news". www.leadernews.com.au. Retrieved 23 June 2008.
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