Nathalia Football Club

Nathalia
Names
Full name	Nathalia Football Netball Club
Nickname(s)	Purples, Purps
Club song	'Grand Old Flag'
Club details
Founded	1887; 138 years ago (1887)
Colours
Competition	Murray Football League
President	Dean Limbrick[1]
Coach	Malcolm Barnes[2]
Captain(s)	Tom Nihill
Premierships	14
Ground(s)	Nathalia Recreation Reserve
Uniforms
Home

The Nathalia Football Netball Club, nicknamed the Purples, is an Australian rules football and netball club based in the town of Nathalia located in north east Victoria. The club currently compete in the Murray League, which Nathalia joined in 1931.

Club history

The club was established in 1888 and played in a number of different football associations in its early years, winning a number of premierships along the way.

The club managed to win five Goulburn Valley Football Association premierships between 1896 and 1930.

At a Murray Football League (MFL) club's delegates meeting in June, 1940, MFL club's decided to abandoned the season and a motion was carried to conclude the season at the end of the first round.[3] Nathalia Football Club were undefeated when the season was officially abandoned in 1940[4] "and will retain the pennant until the end of next season's play".

Between 1941 and 1945 the MFL went into recess for World War II.

Former Essendon and Glenelg ruckman, Norm Betson was appointed as captain / coach in 1950.[5]

Nathalia won four in a row from 2005 to 2008 and five in a row from 2015 to 2019. Nathalia now boast the equal most (14) premierships in the Murray Football league alongside the Deniliquin Rams with 10 premierships coming from the last 15 seasons.

Football Competitions Timeline

Goulburn Valley Football Association

• 1888 & 1889

Nathalia Football Club

• 1890 & 1891 – Unsure, in recess ?

Goulburn Valley Football Association

• 1892 to 1897

Nathalia & District Football Association

• 1898 & 1899

Goulburn Valley Football Association

• 1900

Barmah & Lower Moria Football Association[6]

• 1901 to 1903

Nathalia & District Football Association[7]

• 1904

Picola & District Football Association[8]

• 1905

Goulburn Valley Football Association[9]

• 1906

Picola & District Football Association[10]

• 1907

Western & Moria Ridings Football Association[11]

• 1908 to 1915

Nathalia Football Club

• 1916 to 1918 – Club in recess due to World War I.

Western & Moria Ridings Football Association

• 1919 to 1920

Goulburn Valley Football Association

• 1921[12] to 1930

Western & Moria Ridings Football Association

• 1931 to 1932

Murray Football League

• 1933 to 1940

Nathalia Football Club

• 1941 to 1945 – Club in recess due to World War II.

Murray Football League

• 1946 to present day

Football Premierships

Seniors

• Goulburn Valley Football Association (5):
  • 1896, 1897,[13] 1923,[14] 1927,[15] 1930[16]
• Barmah Central Football Association (1):
  • 1901
• Nathalia District Football Association (1):
  • 1904
• Western & Moira Ridings Football Association (1):
  • 1932[17]
• Picola & District Football League
  • 1947 (NFC 2nds) [18]
• Murray Football League (14):
  • 1939, 1949, 1963, 1978, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019

Reserves

• Murray Football League
  • 1997, 2000

O'Dwyer Medallists (League Best & Fairest)

• 1976 – P. Pettigrew (15 votes)
• 1983 – Wayne Deledio (28 votes)
• 1985 – B. Morrison (26 votes)
• 2004 – Ashley Gemmill (25 votes)
• 2005 – Nathan Gemmill (19 votes) Joint winner

Les Mogg Perpetual Trophy Winners (Murray FL – Leading Goalkicker)

• 1950 – Denis Bourke (70 goals)
• 1962 – M. McKay (64 goals)
• 1987 – Michael Souter (125 goals)
• 1988 – Michael Souter (117 goals)
• 2000 – Adam Rudd (78 goals)
• 2004 – Brendon Parker (92 goals)
• 2005 – Brendon Parker (120 goals)
• 2006 – Brendon Parker (108 goals)
• 2007 – Brendon Parker (106 goals)
• 2012 – Jason Limbrick (76 goals)
• 2018 – Brodie Ross (59 goals)

Rising Star Award Winners

• 2004 – Drew Barnes
• 2014 – Tom Nihill
• 2017 – Bailey Bell
• 2018 – Adam Jorgensen

Nathalia FC / VFL / AFL senior football players

The year indicates their VFL / AFL debut match.

Victorian Football League

• 1912 – Keith Doig – University
• 1921 – George Robinson – Richmond
• 1925 – John Sutherland – Footscray
• 1930 – Hope Collins – Richmond
• 1932 – Matt Carland – Essendon & Footscray
• 1936 – Alan Crawford – North Melbourne
• 1941 – Jimmy Bates – Essendon
• 1943 – Frank Bourke (1943, 1946–1947) Richmond – 16 games
• 1965 – Wes Smith – Hawthorn
• 1967 – Francis Bourke (1967–1981) Richmond – 300 games played & 46 games as coach of Richmond.

Australian Football League – National Draft

• 1989 – Brett Hawkey (1989 VFL Draft – # 20) North Melbourne – 0 games
• 1991 – Brendon Parker (1991 AFL Mid-Season Draft – #7) Carlton – 5 games

References

1. O'Rourke, Geir (30 April 2016). "Nathalia Football Club players save ute driver from 2m". Herald Sun. Melbourne. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
2. 2016 Coaches Nathalia Football Club, Fox Sports Pulse. Accessed 5 October 2016
3. "1940 - Murray Football League - Delegate's Meeting". Numurkah Leader. 25 June 1940. p. 3. Retrieved 27 April 2020 – via Trove Newspapers.
4. "1940 - Murray FL - match results". Numurkah Leader. 25 June 1940. p. 3. Retrieved 27 April 2020 – via Trove Newspapers.
5. "1950 - Betson gets permit to coach Nathalia". The Sporting Globe. 17 May 1950. p. 13. Retrieved 10 June 2020 – via Trove Newspapers.
6. "1901 - Nathalia FC - AGM". Numurkah Leader. 26 April 1926. p. 4. Retrieved 29 April 2020 – via Trove Newspapers.
7. "1904 - Nathalia & District FA - Formation". The Riverine Herald. 18 June 1904. p. 2. Retrieved 29 April 2020 – via Trove Newspapers.
8. "Picola & DFA – Formation". Numurkah Leader. 26 May 1905. p. 4. Retrieved 29 April 2020 – via Trove Newspapers.
9. "1906 - Goulburn Valley FA - Final Ladders". Numurkah Leader. 7 September 1906. p. 3. Retrieved 29 April 2020 – via Trove Newspapers.
10. "1907 - Picola DFA - Delegates Meeting". Numurkah Leader. 7 June 1907. p. 2. Retrieved 29 April 2020 – via Trove Newspapers.
11. "1908 - Western & Moira Ridings FA - Delegate's Meeting". Numurkah Leader. 29 May 1908. p. 5. Retrieved 29 April 2020 – via Trove Newspapers.
12. "1921 - Benbartha v Nathalia - New club jumpers". Shepparton Advertiser. 25 July 1921. p. 3. Retrieved 31 July 2020 – via Trove Newspapers.
13. "1897 - Goulburn Valley FA - Grand Final match review". Numurkah Leader. 30 September 1897. p. 5. Retrieved 20 April 2020 – via Trove Newspapers.
14. "1923 - Goulburn Valley FA - Grand Final match review". Numurkah Leader. 26 September 1923. p. 3. Retrieved 30 April 2020 – via Trove Newspapers.
15. "1927 - Goulburn Valley FA - Grand Final match review". Numurkah Leader. 14 September 1927. p. 6. Retrieved 30 April 2020 – via Trove Newspapers.
16. "1930 - Goulburn Valley FA - Grand Final match review". Shepparton Advertiser. 29 September 1930. p. 3. Retrieved 30 April 2020 – via Trove Newspapers.
17. "1932 - Western & Moira Ridings FA - Grand Final match review". Numurkah Leader. 23 August 1932. p. 2. Retrieved 30 April 2020 – via Trove Newspapers.
18. "1947 - Picola & DFA - Premiers". Picola and District Football Association. Archived from the original on 9 March 2009. Retrieved 1 May 2020.

External links

• Nathalia FNC on Facebook
• Gameday website