The Penrith Australian Football Club is an Australian rules football club based in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith, which plays its home games at Greygums Oval, Cranebrook. It competes in the Sydney AFL competition, running in season 2024 Senior and Reserve grade open-age grade men's sides (in Division Two and Division Five respectively), as well as a women's AFL team (the Ramettes) competing in the Women's Division 2 competition.
History Source:
1981–1986: Formation & Early Years 1981 The Penrith club was formed in 1981 at short notice from an idea principally from Keith Claxton, a prominent footballer then residing in the Penrith area. The Geelong guernsey was chosen as the club's strip and the "Rams" nickname adopted, in reference to the area's contribution to the early development of the wool industry in Australia. Former Western Suburbs player Frank Taylor was appointed inaugural coach of the club.
In its first two years the Rams fielded a Reserve Grade side in the Sydney District Football Association, playing before Hawkesbury's First Grade matches and using that club's home grounds at firstly Deerubbun Park, Windsor and then Colbee Park, McGrath's Hill.
The club played its first match on 11 April 1981 against Manly-Warringah at Weldon Oval, which it won. It also won its second game against Macquarie Uni, also away. These two games were treated as forfeits due to the club having insufficient registered players. Despite this rocky start, the Rams finished 3rd on the ladder in their initial season, but bowed out in the Preliminary Final, losing to Bankstown Sports.
Individual honours went to Keith Claxton, who won the Association's McFarlane Medal with 20 votes (winning by 4 votes), with Peter Traeger finishing 5th on 11 votes. Peter Traeger also won the SDFA goalkicking award with 50 goals. Peter kicked the Reserve Grade record of 11 goals in the Round 10 game against Manly-Warringah, which stood until broken by Jason Ware in 2006.
1982 Next season, 1982, saw Glenn Petersen (ex-Balmain) appointed coach. With a better preparation to the season, the Rams won the Minor Premiership, losing only two games for the Home & Away season. Getting through to the Grand Final, the Rams lost to Sydney Uni by 18 points.
The match on 1 May, against Macquarie Uni at Colbee Park, saw the Rams kick 35.30 (240), which still stands to this day as a record Reserve Grade score.
Again Keith Claxton won the McFarlane Medal - with 18 votes - this time by a single vote. Full-forward Tom Hall finished fourth on 12 votes. Tom also won the SDFA Reserve Grade goalkicking with 119 goals, the first time that a Rams player had kicked 100 goals in a season. His final tally for the season, including finals, was 126 goals.
David McConnell was selected for the SDFA representative side, but was unable to play.
1982 also saw the first Rams age-based senior side fielded, the Under 20's, which finished fourth on the ladder, but lost the First Semi-Final.
1983 In 1983, the Rams moved forward in two major areas. Firstly, it expanded to fielding First and Reserve Grade sides in the SDFA. Allan Iles took over the reins as Head Coach, but the club suffered a couple of major playing losses - dual McFarlane Medallist Keith Claxton departed to take over as coach of Camden, while 1982 century goalkicker Tom Hall left for the newly formed Mount Druitt.
The Rams found, however, that fielding two quality sides was difficult and this reflected on the field - Senior Grade finished 10th and Reserve Grade finished 11th, on the bottom of the ladder. One highlight for Senior grade, however, was its win against later 1990s/2000s Sydney FA rivals Sydney University.
The Rams nominated an Under 20s side for 1983, but it was withdrawn after Round 1 due to lack of numbers. The Rams did not participate in an age-based side again until 1989.
The other major move for the club in 1983 was getting its own home ground at Sales Park, Luddenham, where the Rams stayed until 1987. Whilst it had several drawbacks - inadequate facilities, the ground size and layout being not really suited for Australian Football and lack of ground lighting (meaning the club could not train there) - it did mean the club finally had its first home.
1984 John Terry was appointed Head Coach in 1984. The season saw both grades continue to struggle, with each down one place on the ladder from the previous year - Senior Grade finishing 11th and Reserve Grade 12th. Senior Grade did have one notable win however, defeating future long-term rivals Macquarie Uni for the first time in Round 16.
Individually, David McConnell did well in the Snow Medal (the SDFA Senior Grade's Best & Fairest), finishing in fifth place on 14 votes.
1985 John Terry was reappointed Head Coach in 1985, but David McConnell took over the role before the start of the season. Under David's guidance, First Grade managed an improved 9th position in 1985, but still only won the three games. Reserve Grade struggled again, finishing in 11th spot, winning only the one game on-field for the season.
One highlight of the season was Senior Grade kicking its record score (to that time) of 34.14 (228) in the Round 10 match against Mount Druitt, with Chris Farrell booting 10 goals.
A further highlight came in Round 17 at Sales Park against Liverpool, when the club won both games on the same day (disregarding those previously won by forfeit) for the first time, Senior Grade by 17 points and Reserve Grade by 30 points.
In the Snow Medal, Barry McLaughlin (11 votes - equal 7th) and Craig Przibilla (10 votes - 9th), both polled well, given the side's on-field struggles.
1986 David Harrison, posted locally with the RAAF, was appointed Head Coach - a position he would hold for two seasons.
The club had its best year whilst fielding two senior sides in 1986, which would prove to be its last year at Sales Park. Senior Grade rose to 6th place, with 7 wins - two wins and percentage out of a final four spot. Having said that, the side was still a class below the top sides.
Senior Grade kicked 62.22 (394) against Camden at Sales Park on 19 July, a new club record score and one which still stands to this day. Clinton Ware kicked 18 goals, a new club record for the time, and John Carroll 9 goals.
Reserve Grade went through the first half of the season winless, but won four games (plus one by forfeit) in the second half. The side still finished 10th, but won more games on the field than its previous three seasons combined - a much improved effort.
1987–1993: Move to Lower Division Brings Success 1987 1987 saw a couple of major changes in the fortunes of the Rams. Firstly, they moved to their own home ground, Greygums Oval, in (then) Mount Pleasant and now Cranebrook. Their previous home ground, Sales Park, had been at Luddenham, around 20 km out of Penrith, so the move to a Penrith-based ground was highly beneficial.
The other major change was a restructure of the Sydney District FA - it was renamed the Sydney Football League (SFL) and split into two divisions, with Penrith playing in the second division. This move was taken to try to address the imbalance in the competition and also to make the Second Division somewhat geographically based - the other Senior Grade teams being Hawkesbury, Liverpool, Blacktown and Baulkham Hills. A five team competition did, however, mean just a two-week finals series, with a Preliminary and then Grand Final.
The change of division revitalised the club's fortunes, with First Grade finishing second and being one of the two standout sides of the season (with Liverpool). Despite having beaten Liverpool during the season, the Rams were no match for them in the Grand Final.
Reserve Grade finished third on the ladder, but were defeated by Liverpool by 23 points in the Preliminary Final.
Graeme Tuckwell came second in the SFL Div 2 Reserve Grade Best and Fairest (Armstrong Medal), while Stephen Cox established the club goalkicking record for an individual game, booting 20 goals against Blacktown in Round 18 at Whalan Reserve. Steve's 82 goals for the season were also a Senior Grade record, until beaten by Mitch Stevens in 2017.
1988 In 1988, the SFL Division 2 Senior Grade expanded to 6 teams, while Reserve Grade stayed at five. A final four finals series was adopted for both grades.
The Rams appointed Michael Campbell as their new Senior Grade coach.
The Rams were clearly the second best team in the Senior Grade competition. The best team, however, was light years ahead of them. Liverpool, following on from their 1987 flag, went through 1988 unbeaten with a percentage of over 500. This resulted in the Rams being comprehensively beaten by Liverpool in their three meetings during the season, and also subsequently in both the Second-Semi and Grand Finals.
Reserve Grade finished fourth and pushed Heathcote (who had beaten them easily in their final three Home and Away meetings) in the First Semi-Final to lose by just the straight kick.
Individually, Penrith had its first ever representative players, when Alf Bradley, Michael Walker (Vice-Captain), Clinton Ware, Mike Mathews, Michael Campbell and Paul James played for the SFL Division 2 side against the Central Coast League.
At the League Best & Fairest awards, Penrith's best performers were Tony Missen (equal 9th in the Apted Medal - Senior Grade) with 8 votes and Graeme Tuckwell (equal 7th in the Armstrong Medal - Reserve Grade) with 7 votes.
1989 The Sydney Football League Div 2 Reserve Grade competition went into recess in 1989, and would not resume until 1992, leaving an expanded 7 team Senior Grade competition. In addition to fielding a Senior Grade side, the Rams (in conjunction with Blacktown) fielded an under age side for the first time since 1982 - the Nepean Colts Under 20s.
Former coach Glenn Petersen was appointed club coach, although Michael Walker saw the latter part of the season out as coach when Glenn stood down.
Season 1989 saw the "great wet" - Senior Grade had played only 3 Home & Away games, and the Under 20s 5 games, by the end of June due to wet weather. By the end of the season, Seniors had finished 3rd on the ladder and the Under 20s missed the finals by finishing 5th.
Winning through to the Grand Final from the First Semi (in which Michael Campbell set the then club finals goalkicking record with 9 goals), the Rams came up against Auburn at Wagener Oval as rank underdogs (Auburn had beaten the Rams by 158 points in the opening game of the season). However, that counted for nothing as the Rams easily won their first premiership by 51 points.
During the season, Geoff Eldering (Captain), John Oxley, Michael Walker, Michael Campbell and Robert Jeffery played for SFL 2 representative side in the round robin series at Wagga Wagga.
To cap off a great year, Geoff Eldering won the Apted Medal for League Best & Fairest with 11 votes. Alf Bradley, Barry McLaughlin and Michael Campbell also finished in the top 10 with 5 votes each.
The Under 20's featured the competition's leading goalkicker in Phil Lane (38 goals), while Troy Balzan and Gavin Dimery (8 votes) and Travis Hopper (6 votes) all finished in the top 10 in the Armstrong Medal.
At the club's end of season presentation night, Geoff Eldering was awarded the first Rams Life Membership.
1990 Michael Walker took the reins as permanent Senior Coach, however after the triumph of 1989, this was a year of disappointment. Senior Grade finished second on the ladder, but bowed out of the finals in straight sets - losing firstly to top placed Hawkesbury and then to Bargo, where inaccurate goalkicking ultimately cost them the game.