MURFC 1909-2008

Melbourne University Rugby Football Club

The beginnings

A rugby club was first formed by the students at Melbourne University in 1909.  In July, the club gained affiliation with the University, despite protestation from others in favour of the rights of Australian football.

 

A local competition also commenced in 1909, with the University team competing against teams from Melbourne, East Melbourne, South Melbourne and St Kilda for the Dewar Shield.

 

While University were runners-up in 1909, they went on to win the local premiership in 1910.  In the same year, a Melbourne University side also competed in an international universities rugby carnival in Sydney.  A story about this rugby tour in the Melbourne University Magazine, June 1910,  reported that  “from the beginning, great was the mirth and frolic”.

 Playing fields 

MURFC’s first ground was at Albert Park on the site of the current Albert Park lake, where turn of the century change facilities were rudimentary and shared with other users.  The club later used grounds at Elsternwick , before moving in 1957, to the Smith Oval in Royal Park; a move negotiated by club members with the City of Melbourne.

  

While Royal Park provided superior playing fields, the lack of a clubhouse was a feature of most of the club’s 100 years.  Off the field, the club made its own fun wherever it could.  In the early days, local pubs and players’ houses hosted many a club function:  after training, after matches: The Mayfair, The Gresham,The Carlton Inn (bar-diving), Naughtons.  The Carlton Bowling Club, demolished in the mid 1990s was MURFC’s home for much of the 1980s until the new pavilion was built.

 

Various publications have kept club members informed: The Fine Blue Line the longest running newsletter of the 1960-90s. And a short era of the Gutter Press.

  Games and players

MURFC has experienced two periods of dominance in the local rugby competition – the late 1920s/early1930s and the late 1950s/early 1960s.

 1920s/30s

In 1926 MURFC competed in its first intervarsity match against Sydney University. In the local competition, the club fielded two teams, which in 1927 finished runners-up in A grade and premiers in the B grade.  Other clubs at this time were Old Boys, St Kilda and Melbourne.  By 1931, MURFC had four teams in the local comp and an estimated 100 members.  The club won the inter-varsity competition against Sydney and Queensland universities in 1934, and went on to win the local premiership in the same year.

 

The first two club players to be selected in a representative side, Harry Yoffa and Gordon Sturtridge, played for Victoria against New South Wales in 1927.  Gordon Sturtridge became the first Victorian to be selected for Australia in 1929 and he went on to become “one of the most elusive backs” in world rugby at that time. Other MURFC players of this era to represent Victoria were N R Burns, George Pearson, D M Lombard, ‘Weary’ Dunlop and CHM Haydon: with Pearson and Dunlop also playing for Australia.

 1940s/50s/60s

Post-war, rugby union as an international sport gained momentum, fiercely upholding its amateur status. The Australian Rugby Union was formed in 1949, and was a founding representative on a new International Rugby Board.  Opportunities for travel and playing rugby internationally grew, with a growing band of imports visiting and playing with local clubs such as MURFC. 

 

A key club figure of this era was B K (Mike) Phelan, who played from 1926, coached from after the war and was president from 1958 to 1977.

 

Clearly the most successful period in the club’s history was the late 1950s and 1960s.  Premiers in 1959, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1964, and 1967, the club grew again and produced a number of state and national representatives. 

 

Most prominent of these players was Geoff Vaughan.  Originally from Sydney, Vaughan first played with some Sydney mates at Powerhouse – captaining them to a premiership in 1956.  However, when the opportunity arose for Vaughan to move clubs, as he couldn’t make training commitments at Powerhouse, a Uni player, Peter Hone invited Vaughan to play with MURFC.  Vaughan played for the University with distinction from 1957 to 1964, played intervarsity, captained Victoria, and played for Australia.

 

Other key club players of the 1960s included John Cocks (played for Victoria and Australia) and, Ken Alexander, R Cowper, C Foster, L Seaman, Bob Humphris, Paul Waylen, Phil Spence, Jock Langlands and Peter Hone who all represented Victoria, Peter Hone having been captain and coach of the state team.

 Re-building for the future  

The 1970-90s were more lean times for the club.  Struggling with the more transient University population, building team stability was a constant challenge year to year. 

 

In 1989, ex1960s player Peter Hone returned to the club as first grade coach, followed up by a sustained period as President (1993-2004), establishing a more stable club management.  In a partnership forged between Hone, club secretary Rick Boykett (1980/90s player and current President), the City of Melbourne and the University of  Melbourne  the Smith Oval pavilion was redeveloped and in 1996 provided the club with its first permanent home.

 

Success on the field has been more sporadic for the club in recent years– a welcome hat-trick of Third grade premierships (2004-2006), regular Colts finals appearances, and a women’s team premiership in 2005. 

 

In 2007, MURFC developed a regional “pillar team” to compete in the VRU’s new 6 team regional competition.  The Northwest University Lions provides MURFC players with the opportunity to participate in a specialist academy of training and development for talented players.

In addition to regular intervarsity competitions, the club competed in the inaugural three universities tournament (MURFC, Sydney and Queensland),  held in Brisbane in 2007.  This tournament commemorated the first intervarsity comp of the 1920s.

 The Centenary

A common thread of the 100 years of university rugby is the ‘frolic and mirth’, recorded from the earliest days of the club, and which continues in the spirit of rugby today.