Brighton Football Club was an Australian rules football

Australian rules football

Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

 club which played in the VFA. The club was based in the Melbourne suburb of Brighton

Brighton, Victoria

Brighton is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 11 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Bayside. At the 2006 Census, Brighton had a population of 20,651...

 and were nicknamed the Penguins. They wore maroon and gold guernseys before the club moved to Caulfield and later became the Caulfield Bears in the early to mid-1960s, previously wearing red and white.

History

The club is believed to have been formed in 1885 and seven years later became a foundation member of the Metropolitan Junior Football Association. They won a premiership in 1903 during their sixteen years in the league and in 1908 joined the VFA as one of the teams to replace Richmond

Richmond Football Club

The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...

, who had shifted to the VFL, and West Melbourne

West Melbourne Football Club

West Melbourne Football Club was an Australian rules football club which played in the Victorian Football Association . They were based at the North Melbourne Cricket Ground and had a red and white striped guernsey.-History:...

, who had merged with North Melbourne

North Melbourne Football Club

The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Kangaroos, is the fourth oldest Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League and is one of the oldest sporting clubs in Australia and the world...

 in a failed attempt to do the same.

Brighton first played finals football in 1926 with help from former Fitzroy player Gordon Rattray

Gordon Rattray

Gordon Kitchener Rattray was an Australian rules footballer who played with and coached Fitzroy in the VFL.The son of Bruce Rattray , Gordon Kitchener Rattray was born on born 19 October 1898 at Shepparton...

 who coached the club. They made it all the way to the grand final before losing to Coburg, the club that would beat them again in the grand final the following season. They were runner-up in 1938 but went on to claim the premiership in 1948.

In 1948, under the coaching of Col Williamson

Col Williamson

Colin 'Col' Williamson was an Australian rules footballer who played with and coached St Kilda in the Victorian Football League ....

, they had finished the home and away season in third place and after defeating Brunswick

Brunswick Football Club

Brunswick Football Club was an Australian rules football club which played in the VFA from 1897 until 1990. They were originally nicknamed the Pottery Workers before being renamed the Magpies and were based in Brunswick, Victoria. The club wore black and white guernseys...

 in the preliminary final they qualified for the decider against Williamstown, whom they downed by nine points.

The club struggled throughout the 1950s and lost occupancy of their home ground at Elsternwick Park just before the 1962 season was to begin. As a result they were forced to relocate to Caulfield and merged with a local club called South Caulfield. They competed under the name of Brighton-Caulfield from 1962. In 1965 the word 'Brighton' was removed from the club's name after pressure from the Caulfield Council and replaced their Penguin emblem with that of a Bear.

Notable players

• Carlton – Norm Clark
  Norm Clark
  Norman "Hackenschmidt" Clark was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Carlton Football Club in the Victorian Football League between 1905 and 1912....
  
   and Harry Vallence
  Harry Vallence
  Harry "Soapy" Vallence was a champion Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League and the Victorian Football Association...
  
  
• Collingwood – John Harris
  John Harris (Australian footballer)
  John 'Jiggy' Harris was an Australian rules footballer who played with Collingwood and Hawthorn in the VFL.Recruited from Brighton, Harris started his career at Collingwood where he played as both a wingman and half forward flanker. He was a member of Collingwood premiership sides in 1927 and 1928...
  
  
• Fitzroy – Barclay Bailes
  Barclay Bailes
  Barclay 'Titch' Bailes was an Australian rules footballer who played with Fitzroy in the VFL during the early 1900s.A wingman, Bailes transferred to Fitzroy from Perth Football Club and made his debut for the Maroons in the 1905 season...
  
   and Gordon Rattray
  Gordon Rattray
  Gordon Kitchener Rattray was an Australian rules footballer who played with and coached Fitzroy in the VFL.The son of Bruce Rattray , Gordon Kitchener Rattray was born on born 19 October 1898 at Shepparton...
  
  
• Sth Melbourne – Bruce Sloss
  Bruce Sloss
  Bruce Moses Farquhar Sloss was an Australian rules footballer who played as a follower with Essendon and South Melbourne in the Victorian Football League , and with Brighton in the Victorian Football Association ....
  
  
• St Kilda – Gordon Dangerfield
  Gordon Dangerfield
  Gordon Dangerfield was an Australian rules footballer who played for St Kilda in the Victorian Football League ....
  
   and Keith Miller
  Keith Miller
  Keith Ross Miller MBE was an Australian Test cricketer and a Royal Australian Air Force pilot during World War II. Miller is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever all-rounder. Because of his ability, irreverent manner and good looks he was a crowd favourite...