Northcote Football Club

The Northcote Football Club (/ˈnoːθ.kət/), nicknamed the Dragons, was an Australian rules football club which played in the VFA from 1908 until 1987. The club's colours for most of its time in the VFA were green and yellow, and it was based in the Melbourne suburb of Northcote. History The earliest mentions of a Northcote Football Club appear in mid 1869. The club was established as a junior club, and it initially contested the Victorian Junior Football Association. The club played its games at Croxton Park until 1903, before moving to Northcote Park in 1904. The club was successful at junior level during the 1900s, winning premierships in 1904 and 1906. The club then joined senior football in the Victorian Football Association from the VJFA in 1908, and moved its home ground back to Croxton Park in 1909. Prior to the 1912 season, Northcote and neighbouring northern suburban club Preston, who were both struggling on-field, amalgamated; the merged club was known as the 'Northcote and Preston Football Club' in official records until 1918, but always played under the Northcote name and retained Northcote's home ground and colours. The club's committee underwent a split in 1914, between one faction which wanted to return to Northcote Park and another which wanted to stay at Croxton Park. The VFA sided with the Northcote Park faction, in part because Croxton Park – a private ground adjoining the Croxton Park Hotel – had been notorious for more than a decade for the unruly conduct of its patrons; a new committee, which included members of the Northcote Cricket Club committee, was appointed and recognised by the VFA, and the club moved to Northcote Park, where it stayed for the remainder of its time in the VFA. The Croxton Park faction established a rival club called the City of Northcote Football Club, which played at Croxton Park in the VJFA until the venue's closure at the end of 1918.