Club History

As Victorian football continued to expand in the immediate post-World War II years, the Moorabbin City Soccer Club was founded in 1949. 

While the number of senior teams competing had diminished during the War, junior numbers remained strong. Brighton were on their way to to winning the First Division Championship for the first time, making it a double by capturing the Dockerty Cup (which they had previously won in 1933, 1937 and 1943). With the club becoming a powerhouse, Jack Rickerby, the manager of their Under 19's team, realised it would be difficult to to keep his charges together going into senior football with the team being so strong and both the Under 19's and Under 17's having young talent coming through.

He called for interested parties to attend a meeting at the Daly household at 10 Glenmer Street, Moorabbin on October 19. Commencing at 8.15 p.m. the meeting was attended by Jack Rickerby, A Farrow, George Ellis, Jim Daly, Pat Daly, Ken Farrow, Doug Weir and Jim Dixon with his young son Ron. Jim Dixon represented the Victorian Amateur Soccer Football Association (V.A.S.F.A) and was editor of the Soccer News publication. 

The meeting was productive, The name Moorabbin City Soccer Club was settled on, and the kit of black and white quarters with collars and long sleeves, black shorts and black socks with white tops chosen. Donations saw the club begin with seven pounds and ten shillings in it's coffers. It was hoped to secure a ground at the South Road Reserve in the vicinity of the Horscroft Factory. Rickerby was elected President, with the other office bearers being Pat Daly as Secretary and Jim Daly as Treasurer. The meeting concluded at 11 p.m.

The club joined the V.A.S.F.A. and was admitted to the Metropolitan League Third Division South for 1950. Three more meeting were held before the end of the year, as well as a fund raising cricket match against South Melbourne United soccer club at Middle Park on December 5.

The first Annual General Meeting was held at the Moorabbin Town Hall on March 16, 1950. Since training had begun on February 5 enough players had joined to be able to field two teams in a time when reserves teams were not compulsory.  

A 6-0 triumph over Park Rangers B marked the club's first league game, away at Middle Park. The first home game was played at Patterson Road, Bentleigh, ending in a 2-1 defeat by Victoria Police. The Patterson Road ground would be re-named Victory Park a few years later, and was to become the club's home until the mid-1980's.

The Third Division South comprised of nine clubs, three of them "B" (thirds) teams of clubs from higher leagues. It was won by future Victorian champions J.U.S.T. who went unbeaten and dropped points in only two games, one of them being a 1-1 draw at Moorabbin City. Moorabbin would finish in third place. The Dockerty Cup campaign ended in the Third Round when beaten 7-1 by First Division side Box Hill.

In 1951 the club played out of Moor Reserve, the ground originally sought at the inaugural meeting. It was in between South Road and the Moorabbin football ground that would later be the home of VFL/AFL club St Kilda. The regional Third Divisions had been split into Third and Fourth Divisions, and Moorabbin's third place in 1950 saw it play in the Third Division, where it again would finish in third place at the end of the season. 

As the owner of a furniture moving business, Jack Rickerby often transported players to away games in his truck. He had spells coaching the team and was first choice to referee a match should the scheduled appointed official fail to appear. He was joined in running the club by Victorian soccer icon Frank McIver, who took over when F Rosenfield had to step down as Secretary. McIver was one of the greatest goalscorers seen in local top flight football. He had been running the Latrobe Valley Association, and had been the junior coach of many of the Yallourn players who would take out the Metropolitan League First Division championship that year. As well as filing the club's items for Soccer News, he would also still turn out for the reserves when they were short of numbers.

1952 saw the club back at Patterson Road, and finishing fourth in the Third Division. The league was won by Polonia, who won all eighteen of their games. The Third Round of the Dockerty Cup was reached once again, this time ending in an extra-time defeat to Sunshine United. The club had established some junior teams, which were showing promise.

The next two seasons saw 6th placed finishes in Division Three as clubs like George Cross, Slavia and Hellenic continued their climbs through the leagues. 1953 saw future club legend Frank Schutze join the club after arriving as an immigrant from Germany. He would win the Best and Fairest Award for the Under 14's in 1954. In 1955 Alec Gardner became President. The club finished in tenth and last place on the table, which saw Wilhelmina win all it's games in becoming champions. Frank Schutze made his senior debut as a fifteen year old.

Moorabbin City kept it's place in an expanded Third Division, but continued to struggle, finishing tenth in 1956 and eleventh the following year. The establishment of the Victorian State League (V.S.L.) in 1958 saw a league re-structure which placed Moorabbin City in Metropolitan League Division Two South. With George Ellis now President, Moorabbin City finished in mid-table in this league until another re-structure in 1964. There were 6th, 8th, 6th and 5th placings in the ten-team Division Two South, before 8th and 5th finishes in expanded twelve-team Division Two South in 1962 and 1963.

In 1959 the reserve team, which had toiled without success for much of it's history, failed to gain a place in the V.A.S.F.A. leagues. Undeterred, the club persisted in trying to provide opportunities and grow the game, and ended up finding a place for the team in the Lilydale and District Association League. It would return to V.A.S.F.A competitions the following year.

The club made headlines in 1960 when thirteen year old Joan Middleton was used by her father Tom to fill in when the junior team he was coaching was short of numbers. Playing alongside her brother John, there was much disappointment when the V.A.S.F.A. banned girls from playing in boys junior teams later in the year, especially as there was no organised women's football taking place at the time. 

Moorabbin City consolidated it's place in the Third Division with 6th, 5th and 9th placings in the mid-1960's before an 11th place in 1967 saw it relegated. After a 7th place in 1968, the club continued to struggle. 10th, 11th and 11th finishes followed, the club fortunate that there was no automatic promotion or relegation between the Metropolitan League and the District and Provisional Leagues. As such it was targeted for mergers and takeovers by clubs seeking it's place in the league, but resisted all offers and approaches.

From the 1970's several families would be prominent within the club. Les Watling would be President in four separate stints at the club, with his sons Mark and Keith both being players as well as having spells on the committee. Similarly Ron Crawford had three periods as President, while his sons Peter and Alan were players. Peter would later also join the committee. 

By now the club was wearing black and white striped shirts, with the black and white quarter's of the 1950's making way for black and white halves in the 1960's. The final change on the kit front would come in the early 1990's when the stripes were replaced by predominately white shirts with black trim.

The team improved to rise to 4th place in 1972, before sliding down to 10th the following year an 7th the year after that. For 1975 the club had to play out of Brighton High School while Victory Park was worked on. It would prove to be the club's most successful season ever, as it finished runner's-up to Doncaster Rovers to gain promotion back to Metropolitan League Division Three. 

5-1 wins over Rosebud and Corio in May had Moorabbin up with the pacesetters early on in the season. Recovering from a mid-season stumble to go unbeaten through July, a famous 4-3 win at local rivals Sandringham City saw the club remain in contention. It took a 1-1 draw away to Doncaster Rovers on the final day of the season to gain the point that secured promotion ahead of Broadmeadows City. Coached by Don Cameron, the heroes of the side included leading scorer Dave Owen, Steve Gregory, Tony Morgan, Ciro Rosa and the evergreen Frank Schutze. Schutze captured his tenth senior team Best and Fairest Award, and won the league Best and Fairest Award for the division, the first time a Moorabbin player had won such an honour.

Further history was made in 1975 as the third team bought a first league championship to the club, as it won the Thirds League Central Division by two points from Ringwood United.

Moorabbin City was able to maintain it's Third Division status for three seasons, before 8th and 7th finishes were followed by a last place in 1978 which brought about relegation. Consolidation followed as mid-table in the Fourth Division was the order of the day for much of the early 1980's.

1980 saw the Victorian Soccer Federation (V.S.F.) cease running it's thirds leagues. The club was disappointed in the decision and after an appeal saw the V.S.F. refuse to change it's mind, Tony Morgan and Peter Crawford led the club in establishing it's own competition, the M.C.S.C. Sunday League. Moorabbin City were runner's-up to Richmond Old Boys in the inaugural competition. They finished second behind Keysborough the following year, and in the same place behind North Dandenong in 1984 before finally capturing the championship in 1985. A one day knockout competition for the thirds league team was also created, and named the Frank Schutze Shield in honour of the club great.

In the 1980's the Laverty family became heavily involved in the running of the club, commencing with Sam and John joining as players. Sam would later become President and Secretary, with John also serving on the committee whilst their parents Hector and Annie and sister Julie all assisted around the club.

Steve Gregory became the second Moorabbin player to take out a league Best and Fairest Award, when he won the Metropolitan League Division Four honour in 1983. Trevor Bishop had finished equal in the voting in 1982 (with winner Darren Tuck of Geelong, as well as with Zeljko Dula of North Geelong) but lost out on a countback in the days when the V.S.F. did not allow for such awards to be shared.

League expansion and re-organisation by the V.S.F. in 1985 saw Moorabbin City return to the Third Division, where it would hold it's own for almost a decade. In 1987 the club made the move to Bailey Reserve in East Bentleigh. Though not fully enclosed, it had better fencing than the open Victory Park. The other factor in the move was bringing it closer to the East Bentleigh juniors, with whom it had become affiliated following the decline in numbers of it's original junior teams. In 1987 the reserve team won a championship for the first time, the Paul Tierney coached side finishing a point ahead of West Brunswick to clinch the Victorian League Division Three Reserves crown.

The reserves repeated their championship success in 1988, finishing six points clear of Clarinda. They would finish runner's-up in 1989, fourth in 1990 and runner's-up in both 1991 and 1992 in the team's strongest ever era. 

There was a strong Cup run in 1989, as Moorabbin City reached the semi-finals of the Victorian League club, before going down 0-1 to Western Suburbs. It was an exciting run that saw the emergence of Justin Scrobogna straight out of the juniors. It was a veteran who stole the show in 1990 though, with Tommy Fox winning the Best and Fairest Award for Victorian League Division Three.

The extension of the football calendar saw the club have to play early season home game's away from Bailey Reserve in the early 1990's as the venue's summer tenant was the cricket club. The club continued to pressure the council for an adequate venue, and was joined by Bentleigh Greens, who had moved in to Victory Park after Moorabbin City had vacated it. The wheels had been set in motion for what would eventually become the Kingston Heath Soccer Complex in Cheltenham.

An eighth placing in 1991 was followed by two successive sixth placings. Moorabbin City was now actively chasing promotion, hoping improving it's league status would further increase the pressure on the council to provide a better venue. In 1994 it opted to hire the fully enclosed ground at Gaelic Park in Keysborough for what would prove to be it's second ever promotion winning season, as it finished runner's-up to Altona East in the race for the Victorian State League Division Three championship.

After taking over from Billy Whiteside as caretaker coach, Dave Christians steered the side to promotion in the most dramatic of last day of the season wins. Despite taking the lead, a missed penalty was compounded by South Werribee fighting back to go 2-1 up before a barnstorming second half brought about a 5-2 win to make sure Moorabbin would be going up. The reserve team, now coached by Sven Helbig, also won their championship.

One promotion was now followed by another as Moorabbin again finished runner's-up, this time to Springvale White Eagles, to gain promotion to the First Division. It was achieved with of the signing of former National Soccer League championship winners Bruce Maclaren and Steve Blair, as well as former V.S.L. Gold Medal winner Jim MacLean amongst others.

The club was now playing at Kingston Heath, where four pitches had been laid and portable cabins were being used as changing and club rooms prior to further building. This time promotion was achieved with a game to spare, following a 1-0 win over Springvale White Eagles at Kingston Heath in the replay of a game that had originally been abandoned at 1-1 because of a torrential storm. The reserve team captured a second successive championship, whilst the third team finished runner's-up in theirs.

Division One status was held with an eighth placed finish in 1996. Looking to keep up with Bentleigh Greens to avoid becoming a minor/secondary tenant at Kingston Heath, another promotion push was launched. A youth Centre of Excellence was also established, with a view to securing assistance from Aston Villa through the connections of their former coach Roy Maclaren.

The club finished runner's-up to South Dandenong in State League Division One in 1997 to earn promotion to the top flight of Victorian football, the Victorian Premier League (V.P.L). The late season collapse of the sponsorship deal which was to have funded the promotion tilt, plus the inability to secure a deal with Aston Villa now saw the club placed in a precarious position. 

Vastly under-resourced compared to the rest of the league, the team made a valiant effort to maintain it's Premier League status in 1998. In the end it would finish 13th of 14 teams. It was four points clear of former N.S.L. outfit Heidelberg United, but crucially two points behind twelfth-placed South Dandenong to doom it to relegation. 

The final game of the season, a 1-1 draw with Sunshine Georgies at Kingston Heath on July 26 would prove to be the club's last. The club had battled to clear debts from the previous season and to put out a competitive V.P.L. side, but was now looking at having to take out a $100,000 loan to put towards their share to fund the building of permanent facilities at Kingston Heath. It would prove to be the straw that broke the camel's back. The Moorabbin City story had come to an end.