Bardon Latrobe Football Club, based at Bardon in Brisbane, Queensland, is one of the larger soccer clubs in Brisbane, with over 800 registered players. This iteration of the club was formed with the merging in 1970 of the Latrobe Soccer Club and the Bardon Soccer Football Club, two of the oldest clubs in the Brisbane football competition (the two clubs had previously merged for the 1941 season, as 'Latrobe-Bardon Soccer Club').
Although the local records are incomplete, the merged club, through its antecedent Latrobe Football Club (formed in 1916) appears to have had the longest continuous participation of any extant club in the Brisbane football competition. Whilst the Bardon Latrobe club's main focus since the merger has been predominantly on junior boys and girls' football, the club now has senior men's and women's teams playing in the Brisbane competition.
The club, previously known as 'Bardon Latrobe Junior Soccer Club', was officially renamed 'Bardon Latrobe Football Club' in 2014.
Club history
1970 merger The contemporary club was originally formed as the 'Bardon Latrobe Soccer Football Club' for the 1970 season, with the merger of the Latrobe Soccer Club, then based at Gregory Park, Milton, and the Bardon Soccer Football Club, based at Bowman Park Bardon (see below). The merged club then played at Bowman Park, fielding both junior and senior teams, where it continues to play to this day. The reason for the merger is not recorded, but it is likely the two clubs did so to take advantage of their respective strengths in junior and senior football.
During the 1960s, the Bardon club had a reasonably large junior section, but its senior side was struggling and was relegated to the Third Division in 1969. Conversely, the Latrobe club had abandoned junior football in the mid-1960s and, despite winning three senior men's First Division premierships during the same period, had been relegated to the Second Division competition for season 1969. However, Latrobe won that Second Division premiership, providing the newly-merged club with promotion to the First Division for the 1970 season.
Senior football The newly merged club played its first season in the senior First Division (then the top tier in Brisbane football) in 1970, where it finished a creditable fourth out of ten teams. A highlight of the early 1970s was when first-team coach Jim Binnie arranged a friendly match against Rale Rasic's Socceroos as a warm-up before the 1974 World Cup. The game was played at Perry Park, with the Socceroos winning 7–0.
The club continued playing in the First Division, but by 1976 was struggling financially as well as competitively. The decision was made to transfer the senior and reserve teams to the Mitchelton Football Club, where it would play the 1977 season as Bardon Latrobe, before being absorbed into the Mitchelton club. The club then decided to focus exclusively on junior football and was renamed the 'Bardon Latrobe Junior Soccer Club'. Despite this, a number of players subsequently elected to return to the Bardon Latrobe club and re-entered the Brisbane senior competition in the late 1970s as 'Bardon Latrobe Juniors', in a low division. The team won a number of premierships and regular promotion, culminating in promotion to Division 1 (the second tier of the newly re-structured Brisbane competition) in 1983, where they finished eighth out of twelve teams.
There are few available records of the senior club after this time; however, the men's senior team played in the then Brisbane Division 2 from 1985 to 1988, reaching the finals in 1988 (coached by former NSL player Gary Bromfield). In 1989, the seniors merged with the Valley Soccer club to form the Latrobe Valley club, playing in Brisbane Division 2 in 1989 and then Division 3 from 1990 to 1994,Football Brisbane official website history page: QSF Divisional Points Tables 1992 , then reformed as Latrobe Athletic for the 1997 and 1998 seasons in 'Amateur' Division 1 of the Brisbane competition. After several seasons without a senior side, Bardon Latrobe re-entered the Brisbane senior competition in 2011, playing in the (amateur) Metropolitan League.
With the restructuring of the Football Brisbane competitions for season 2013, the club entered first and reserve grade teams in the newly formed men's Capital League 4 division (the fifth tier of the Brisbane competition). The club won the premiership in this division in 2015, earning promotion to Capital League 3 for season 2016. The club also entered a third men's team in the 'City League 5 Blue' competition in 2015.
Junior football Since 1971, the junior club has established a tradition of reciprocal tours with the Georges River Junior Soccer Club (Oyster Bay, New South Wales), where each year Under 12 and Under 13 teams from each club travel to compete socially against the other club.
In 2011, the club earned the 'Junior Club of the Year Award', presented by Football Brisbane and based on a range of criteria, including the performance of the teams and quality of club management.
Club colours As noted above, the club plays in a predominantly red strip, similar to the colour of the original Latrobe club's outfit. The reason this colour was selected by Latrobe is not recorded, but it may be a reference to the original name of their home ground, the 'Red Jacket Swamp' (see 'Gregory Park' below).
Original Bardon Soccer Football Club
The club The original Bardon club was formed in the late 1920s, fielding junior teams (at that time Under 21), with few senior teams until after World War II. The senior club played as an amateur club, and remained so during its separate existence, typically playing in the second and third tiers of the Brisbane competition. As well as this, the club continued to field junior boys’ teams, but no junior girls or women's teams.
Beginnings
The earliest known records of a football club at Bowman Park refer to the I.O.R. Bardon (Independent Order of Rechabites) team, which played fixtures in the Brisbane Third Grade in 1920 (the local I.O.R. 'tent' (branch) had been influential in the purchase by the government and dedication of Bowman Park as a public reserve in 1916). It is not known whether the I.O.R. team ultimately became the Bardon S.F.C., as there are few known records from that era.
Anecdotal evidence has it that the Bardon S.F.C. was formed in 1926 (the year after the area was officially renamed 'Bardon' from Upper Paddington), and playing at Bowman Park. The Brisbane Courier reported in early 1926 that the "Soccer Football Association ... leased the grounds in Bowman Park".NLA Trove website: Brisbane Courier 14 April 1926 The club was certainly in existence by 1928, as the Brisbane Courier reported in March that year that it had leased Bowman Park for winter sports for £5 [five pounds – approximately AUD350 in 2010RBA Inflation Calculator)].NLA Trove website: Brisbane Courier 22 March 1928 By the late 1920s, the club was well established, as evidenced by a newspaper report describing its end of season social at the Foresters' Hall, Paddington. The report listed the social committee as Mesdames Lansbury, Watson, Charrington, Thorpe, and Brewer and the secretary Mr M.Rowe.NLA Trove website: Brisbane Courier 11 October 1929
Bardon S.F.C. may have been almost exclusively a junior club during those early years: it does not appear often in newspaper reports from the 1920s and 30s, and those few reports typically refer only to junior teams (at the time, 'junior' included players up to 21 years of age). The first known report of a senior team was in 1936 (see below).
1930s By 1931, the club featured three junior teams: First Grade, Third Grade and Third Grade B Division. A newspaper report early that year noted that "Bardons [sic] have also been strengthened and should give a better account of themselves."NLA Trove website: Brisbane Courier 8 April 1931 In 1937, the Rovers fielded a team in each of the 'Junior' Second and Third Grades. Despite not being in the top grade, one of the Bardon players, Wally Cansick, was selected for the Queensland Junior team to play New South Wales in that year. Cansick was to later play for Grange Thistle Soccer Club and for Queensland at senior level.Grange Thistle Soccer Club official website: History Another player, Alf Jones, played in the Brisbane side against Ipswich in the same year. One of the State selectors at that match, William Harper, was to influence the fortunes of the Latrobe club in the 1960s (see below).NLA Trove website: Courier-Mail 27 August 1937
The earliest known report of a Bardon senior team was when Bardon Rovers nominated for the Third Grade in 1936 (whilst early reports referred to the club as 'Bardon', those in the mid-30s refer to the club as 'Bardon Rovers'). However, by season 1939, the club had reverted to fielding only junior teams.NLA Trove website: Courier-Mail 16 June 1939 Curiously, a newspaper report in 1939 refers to both 'Bardon' and 'Bardon Rovers' competing in the Stewart Shield (a junior competition) at the same time on the same dayNLA Trove website: Courier-Mail 31 May 1939 (it is possible the teams were the same club, but from different grades). As well as this, a newspaper report in 1941 refers to the club being founded in 1933 by Bill Trinder.NLA Trove website: Courier-Mail 24 April 1941 A newspaper advertisement in early 1939 also referred to the Bardon Rovers: "JUNIOR Soccer. Bardon Rovers require second grade players guernseys and socks free. Meetings Friday nights, Trinder's Boot Factory, Bardon. FO273. E. Jarvis, Secretary."NLA Trove website: Courier-Mail 5 May 1939
Club colours The club played in maroon and white colours (as noted in a newspaper report in 1929) and maintained those colours until the merger with Latrobe in 1970.
Original Latrobe Football Club
The club The original Latrobe Football Club was one of the most successful and influential clubs in the Brisbane and Ipswich football competitions, winning nine first grade premierships between 1929 and 1967, behind only Lions FC (14 premierships between the mid-1950s and 2017) and Dinmore Bush Rats (10 premierships between the 1890s and the 1960s). Latrobe also won numerous cup and shield competitions (see the article History of association football in Brisbane, Queensland). The club is most likely named for nearby Latrobe Terrace, or the Paddington real estate subdivision the 'Latrobe Estate', carried out in the late 1870s.NLA Trove website: Brisbane Courier – 11 April 1879 This subdivision occurred after the closure of the Paddington Cemetery (now the site of Suncorp Stadium) in 1875, and the creation of Given/Latrobe Terraces through that site. The street and the estate were, presumably, named for the former Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria Charles La Trobe, who died in 1875.
Beginnings Again, there are few known existing records for the original Latrobe club, but anecdotal evidence has it that it was formed in 1916. This is supported by a newspaper report from 1933, which refers to the then Latrobe captain, Edgar Rigby, as having been "connected [with the club] since 1916".NLA Trove website: Brisbane Courier 18 March 1933 However, the Latrobe club does not appear in newspaper reports until 1917,NLA Trove website: Brisbane Courier – 4 June 1917 playing in the Brisbane third grade competition with its home ground recorded as 'Milton' (the precise location of their field is not recorded, but was most likely at Gregory Park – see below). This is likely because the local competition organisers, the Queensland British Football Association, decided early in 1916 "That no competition be held in the Senior, First or Second Grade competitions and that no player of military age be allowed to take part in a lower competition ... [but] clubs ... should be allowed to play friendly matches."