NORTH RINGWOOD FC
Club History
North Ringwood Football Club began its existence in 1962 when a group of ex Aquinas College students were looking for somewhere to play footy after their school years, and in February 1962 they formed the Ringwood Catholic Rovers Football Club. Home ground was North Ringwood Reserve corner of Wonga and Oban Roads.
Club colours of red, black and white, with the Saint being the mascot were selected by inaugural team player Brian Morgan who became president in 1966.
The Club joined the then Croydon and Ferntree Gully Football League. Later in 1962 the League name changed to Eastern District Football League. At the Club Annual General Meeting in December 1964 a motion to change the name to Ringwood Rovers Football Club was carried unanimously.
Then, at a Special General Meeting in September 1966, the Club name was again changed; this time to North Ringwood Football Club. Fortunately this name continues today.
In 1967 Captain/Coach Les Lloyd won EDFL Division 3 Best & Fairest award.
“Twinkle Toes” John North won EDFL 3rd Division Reserves Best & Fairest award in 1968.
North Ringwood Football Club spent the early years in Division 3 until promoted to Division 2 in 1971.
Ruckman Ian Clark won EDFL Best & Fairest awards in 3rd Division 1970 and 2nd Division in 1972.
In 1973 our Under 17s, our upper age junior team, under Coach Ron Cunningham and Captain Phil Melville (Life Member), won the Club’s first premiership.
The Club was a strong competitor in Division 2 and tasted success in 1978 winning the Premiership under Playing Coach, former Richmond great Eric Moore. The competitive nature remained strong and NRFC supporters enjoyed some great football over the next 6 years in Division 1 until 1985 when we returned to Division 2.
Building on a base of very talented local footballers, our stay in Second Division was brief, and North Ringwood returned to First Division after winning the 1989 Premiership under Coach Peter Laurie.
One of North Ringwood Football Club’s most memorable moments of the era was defeating Division 1 Champions Vermont on their home ground in 1991 by an impressive 39 points, breaking their record winning streak of 61 matches.
Ben Farrugia won EFL Division 1 Under 18 Best & Fairest in 1994.
Following promises of better playing and social room conditions from the local council we relocated to Quambee Reserve, further down Wonga Road in 1995.
North Ringwood remained in Division 1 until 1995 when it slipped back down to Division 2. On the brighter side Simon Buckley won EFL Under 18 Best & Fairest award.
In 1998 Joey Pignataro won EFL Division 2 Under 18 Best & Fairest.
John Delany made it two in a row by taking out Under 18 Best & Fairest in 1999.
With an abundance of young local talent the Club grew again under Coach, former Richmond legend Steve Parsons, and tasted success with the 1999 Premiership.
North started 2000 back in First Division and all looked good until the end of Season 2001 when the Club was embroiled in a major internal power struggle that resulted in the exodus of some 38 players along with a number of officials which threatened the very essence of the Club.
In true North Ringwood spirit the old adage of “the Club is bigger than the individual” was epitomised and the Club remained afloat, but with numbers vastly depleted we were unable to stave off relegation at the end of 2002.
Paul Cooper was rewarded for his great football efforts with EFL Division 2 Best & Fairest award in 2003.
Many difficulties faced the Club over the ensuing years but the Club remained strong and enthusiastically commenced season 2009 in Division 3, the first time since 1970.
In 2009 Anthony (Razor) Sharp won the EFL Young Gun Award, a great effort and a sign of good things to come.
In 2010 North Ringwood Football Club welcomed ex St Kilda player, more recently Balwyn Captain Brett Moyle as playing Coach. Brett brought a fantastic attitude to the Club which became infectious and was a great boost for North. His skill, experience, and knowledge of the game has benefited everyone involved with the Club immensely.
2010 saw the commencement of a brilliant senior footy career for Jack Whelan who took out EFL Under 18s Best & Fairest award.
The Club, along with Brett, had great success in 2012 winning the Division 3 Premiership by a League record-breaking margin of 137 points. Our Reserves team were runners-up, and our Under 19s also made the finals.
Whilst football is a team game and it takes a great team to win a Premiership, a Premiership team has to contain great footballers.
North Ringwood Football Club is proud of its players making a clean-sweep of Eastern Football League Division 3 individual awards in 2012:
* Sam Whelan won Under 18 Best and Fairest award,
* Daniel John won Reserves Best and Fairest award for the second year in a row,
* Jack Whelan won EFL Senior Best and Fairest and EFL “Young Gun” awards, and
* Brett Moyle was announced as Coach Of The Year.
In season 2013 we returned to the excitement of competitive Division 2 football hungry for more success. With the addition of quality recruits from AFL, EFL, QFL and Amateurs to our talented local youth we aspired to play finals footy once again which we did. Not a bad effort, first year back in Divvy 2.
Season 2014 once again treated us to some fantastic team football by our beloved Saints, culminating in a mammoth 12 goal (seniors) Grand Final victory over Croydon. Pretty good seeing scores were level at half time. A great effort enabled by the good form of our “home-grown” youngsters, and some very talented imports.
To cap off the season, Jack Whelan again won League Best & Fairest, doubling the 2nd place getter votes.
Then, the “cream on the top”, our amazing Senior Coach, Brett Moyle not only won the Eastern Region Coaches award prior to the Grand Final, but was voted Coach Of The Year by the Australian Football Coaches Association (Victoria), eclipsing coaches from 18 other Victorian Metro & Country Leagues. Well done Brett, a true acknowledgement of your coaching prowess.
2015 saw us back in First Division where we showed the true spirit of “The Saints” by finishing in 8th position with 6 wins whilst suffering an injury riddled season.
Our Vets team had experienced some tough years since commencing in 2000, but under the guidance of Vets coach (Jamie) JR Redfern we took out the Premiership, not just in 2015, but made it a threepeat with the Premiership in 2016 and 2017 as well.
What a supreme effort.
In 2019 North Ringwood Football Club made history by fielding a Senior Women’s team for the first time.
And what a year the ladies had by winning the Premiership in theur inaugural season.
2019 also saw our Under 18 girls win the Premiership.
Peter Banfield rejoined the Saints as Senior Coach in 2016 and continued in 2017.
Peter came up through our Junior ranks, then played 17 Senior games in 1982 prior to joining Essendon in 1983, then becoming an inaugural member of the Brisbane Bears Football Club. where he played 45 Senior matches between 1987 and 1990. After Brisbane, Peter played a further four years with West Adelaide in the SANFL from 1990 to 1993, winning the Club’s Best & Fairest in 1991.
Brett Moyle returned in 2018 to once again Coach the Saints after winning Premierships in 2012 and 2014. With addition of some quality recruits, we aspired to play Division 1 Finals Footy, but unfortunately that didn’t happen.
In 2019 the EFL restructured the competition with First Division becoming “Premier Division” which enhanced the quality of that level.
EFL Coaching veteran Paris Harvie (two-time South Croydon Premiership coach) joined us with his wealth of knowledge and aspirations. Although we had a horrific run of injuries we remained in the new Premier Division.
AFL/VFL dynamo Robin “Robbie” Nahas (ex Richmond and North Melbourne) joined us as playing coach for season 2020. His elusive speed and extensive skills are great to watch and an inspiration to our young (mainly local) team.
Unfortunately covid lingered through 2021, and the season was reduced by half.
With the influx of a multitude of players up from the Colts, we had high hopes for the 2022 Senior Men’s side but several long-term injuries put paid to our aspirations, and we were relegated to Division 1 at season’s end.
On the brighter side, our Under 18 girls were once again Premiers in 2022.
We are looking forward to a successful Men’s 2023 with the return of several players and the injection of more talent coming up from the Colts.
Our Senior Women are also hoping for a bright season with the addition a many of the 2022 Under 18’s Premiers.
Known locally as a family Club, North Ringwood Football Club strongly encourages all residents from the local and surrounding areas to become involved with our great club, whether it be as a social member to enjoy the exciting atmosphere of local footy on a Saturday afternoon, as a player amongst the action out on the ground, or a volunteer performing one of the many tasks necessary to keep a local Football Club alive.
North Ringwood Football Club has been privileged to play a role in nurturing many great young players over the years who have gone on to enjoy success at VFL/AFL levels.
Young men like Terry Cahill, Kevin Walsh, Dean Bailey, Peter Banfield, Gary O’Donnell (all Essendon), Paul Salmon, (Essendon & Hawthorn), Tim Livingstone (Richmond), Matthew Allen (Carlton), Nick Malceski (Sydney Swans and Gold Coast Suns), and David Wirrpunda (West Coast Eagles), Aiden Begg (Collingwood, our most recent) all played at and called North Ringwood home.
Who’s next.
