Sandown
Full name	Sandown Football Club
Emblem	The Cobras
Colours	Red, White & Blue
Founded	1961
League	Southern Football League Southern Football League (Victoria) The Southern Football League is an Australian rules football league, based in the south and south eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, for both seniors and juniors....
Ground	Edinburgh Reserve
Coach	Mick Rossborough
Captain	Michael Robinson & Jason Toan
Official website	http://www.sandowncobrasfc.com.au/

The Sandown Football Club is 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 from Melbourne, that was founded in 1961 and currently plays in Division 3 of the Southern Football League

Southern Football League (Victoria)

The Southern Football League is an Australian rules football league, based in the south and south eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, for both seniors and juniors....

.

The Sandown FC was formed in 1961 when local identities had a meeting at 44 Grace St, North Springvale at the home of Alby Schmidt. They decided that a local team was needed by the youth of the area and made an application to the Caulfield, Oakleigh Football League for the admission of a team for 1962.

1962
The First President of the Sandown FC was Fred Esdaile, Secretary was Alby Schmidt, who died in 2001, Treasurer was Charlie Coats and general members Ron Currie, Alan Stevens, David Leatham, Laurie Mathieson, Jack Milnes and Alex Felton. The club fielded just the one team in its debut season, a 2nd 18. The first coach was Bill Ianson, who also died in 2001. The team made the Grand Final, which was played at the Oakleigh Football Ground, but went down by just 7 points. The photograph of the side hands with pride in the clubrooms to this day.

1963
The Caulfield and Oakleigh Football League changed its name to the South East Surburban Football League and Sandown FC fielded its first senior side as well as Reserves and Under 17's. The 1962 Coach Bill Ianson asked for a clearance to Carrum because his cousin, former StKilda legend Eric Guy was appointed the new coach there. The new coach appointed was Jack Lidgerwood on a fee of 8 pounds a week. Several of the 1962 side moved away from the area or retired, so it was bring on the youngsters time as can be seen by the photo in the clubrooms of both Seniors and Reserves. All sides in 1963 only managed to win a handful of games. The Committee remained the same as in 1962. The coach of the Reserves was Roy Parker. Best and Fairest Winner was John Penry.

1964
A new President Ernie Southall was installed for the 1964 Season, with the club still maintaining Seniors, Reserves, Under 18's and 17's. Best and Fairest winner was David Knight after a disputed vote count where it was alleged that votes awarded to the Runner Up Brendan Milne had not been produced at the vote count. However the available votes prevailed. By the end of the season the Under 17's had won about as many games as they had lost and finished just outside the four. The first 18 made it to the Grand Final which was played at the Oakleigh Football Ground against East Brighton. In a hard fought contest, East Brighton won by 7 points. Best and Fairest for the club was Jeff Esdaile.

1965
A change of President for the 1965 Season with Archibald Soutter taking over the role. A new coach was installed Bob Baldry who came across from Carnegie Football Club. The first 18 were defeated in the Preliminary Final by East Hawthorn by 13 points. Plenty of good young players started to emerge through the ranks including Robin Crewther, Ron Sheedy, Wal Foley, Cliff Atkinson, Grant McCandlish, Les Sullivan and John Cramp.

1967
Club won its first Senior premiership
1972

The year that the club won its 2nd Senior Premiership, coached by Alan Roberts.

1973
A year of turmoil, coming off the back of a Premiership the club was due to be promoted into 1st Division of the newly formed South Eastern Football League.

The club knew that most of the policemen who were recruited to play in 1972 would not be available owing to police duties, promotions and transfers. In a very fiery Annual General Meeting in October 1972 on the casting vote of the President Jack Lidgerwood it was decided not to take the promotion. Coach Alan Roberts immediately resigned as did a couple of Senior Players.

By this time the club no longer had any junior teams to recruit future players. It was the beginning of many lean years for the club.

1984
The Sandown Football Club was in trouble. With very few juniors, the players of the passed years had either ceased footy or were on their last legs. A junior club from Mulgrave had an abundance of players who had no senior clubs to go to once they completed their junior days. The two committees met and decided to amalgamate the club under the banner of South Waverley - Sandown Football club. The junior club continued its success having two sides for each age group including under 9's. The seniors side during 84-85 was struggling to be competitive. However, good news was just around the corner.

1986
A new broom swept through the committee under the stewardship of Phil Akers. The committee was made up of Sandown people with the assistance of junior parents. Many changes were made and former BF winner Roger Andrew was appointed senior coach. Roger was able to introduce discipline to the senior club. He encouraged younger group of players to mix with other players and the side became successful. This resulted in the seniors in the 1st semi final. A highlight of the season was the winner of our BF Tom Fowler who also won the leagues 4th Div BF.

1987
With the hard work done by Roger, the club decided to obtain the service of Peter Bryan as playing coach. The side started well but had some had consistency concerns during mid season. Peter was able to blend the previous playing group with a crop of previous under 18 players such as Boonkamp, Ridder and Lewis. The side went on to win the premiership from third position whilst the reserves finished runners up to produce the club's best performance in many a year.

1988
In third division, the side maintained a very good level but did not make the finals. With the demise of Peter Bryan's ability to maintain his hard work and the loss of some players, the side fell down the ladder and finished back in 4th Div for season 89.

1990
Whist the juniors continued to provide very good sides and players went on to play senior footy, the club had a somewhat rocky road during the early 90's. The committee obtained the services of a group of people from the Norwood Footy club and was coached by Peter Sheehan. The side lifted and played in the preliminary final. The season saw Greg Dooley win his 2nd BF trophy.

1991
A change of tact by the members saw a new committee come in. We saw the demise of a very good side, as boardroom troubles flowed onto the playing arena. The side lost many of their second round games to finish second last.

1992 - 93
Were building years for the club under coaches B Skilton (92) and John Adams (93, 94 and 95).

1994
The club had picked up handy footballers with many players who had completed their junior days. It was written proof that the early amalgamation was successful. However, signs started to appear that the junior players were beginning to diminish in North Springvale and Mulgrave areas. The senior side played in the 94 GF and the 95 preliminary final. Many believed that a fight that caused the club some real concerns had an impact on the players' performance leading into the 95 finals. Adams decided to retire in 96 and the club under new coach "nifty" had high expectations.

1996
The Southern Cobras, The Club started well but fell in a hole towards the end of the season and finished in 6th position. Many players took the opportunity to play in the reserves that year and played in the 1st semi final. In late 96, the club decided to bring the members of all committees and supporters together and under the banner of a think tank, and made a decision that would have a major impact on the club for the next few years. It was felt that due to the fight that had occurred in 95, the club needed a new imagine and decided to change the name to Sth Waverley - Sandown Southern Cobras FC, playing as Southern Cobras.
They also went on a drive to obtain a coach who had a profile and was successful in his playing days. Good work by the then President Stephen Rowney, who was able to obtain the service of former junior star and Dandenong premiership player Ian Atkinson. Ian was able to bring selective players and regroup our former junior players such as McDermott, Scholes Bros, Ioannidis, Mark Binns, David Duffield, Hunt, Brien Todd, Leigh Bowler, Elliott Esmonde and J Adams (former coach). The side won 13 games straight before its first loss and went on to win the grand final against Waverley. Many highlights occurred that season such as Ian Atkinson winning club's and league's BF and Don Elliott kicked over 100 goals during the season.

1998
With additional players, the side gave what was the best account of themselves by going up a division and finished 4th to win two final games and play off in the GF, but were beaten by 4 goals. It was truly a great effort. Again, Ian Atkinson won both club's and league's BF.

1999
Was a disappointing year for the club both off and on field. Expectations fell apart. Ian Atkinson decided at the end of the year to retire and the playing group was for some reason not confident that the club could attract another high profile coach. The committee tried in vain but with the vibes already out, the club entered its darkest days and was not able to field a senior side in 2000.

2001
The Club was able to restart in 2001 in the EFL. Under the coaching of Pat Henwood, we fielded two senior sides but were unable to win a game of footy. The club made a decision to change league to the SFL in order to give our players some chance to compete.

2002
We won eight games and finished 5th. Coach Pat Henwood decided to retire at the conclusion of that season.

2003
The club appointed Brian Todd in 2003. The side improved with former juniors such as Ash Scholes, Arron McDermott and others making comebacks. We finished on top of the ladder after the home and away, but failed to win a finals game.
2004
With almost the same side, we made the finals again but ran out of legs in the 1st semi final. Brian retired at season's end, and along with other retirements, the path was going to be rocky for the following seasons.

2005
The club secured the signature of Stephen Jasiak as senior coach along with Robbie Kreskas as assist coach and Mick Rossborough as reserves coach all from Tooronga Malvern FC. Stephen's job was made almost impossible from the start with a new playing list, injuries to key players such as the previous year's BF (Daniel Brown) and many others, retirements and just no luck at all. The club won 6 games and finished in 7th position, while the reserves had an up & down season but showed improvement with a few close defeats that proved the difference between top & bottom 4.
At the AGM of 2005, a motion was put forward to change the name to Sth Waverley-Sandown Cobras FC playing under Sandown Cobras. The motion was carried.

2006
The club was able to maintain the services of the 2005 coaching staff and with a number of key signatures for the 2006 season, the Cobras were up & running again.

2008
The Cobras had a bunch of new faces across the club, and was able to field a seniors & reserves team all year, which initially was thought to be a hard task. Whilst on field success was minimal, Sandown was building a structure which would provide improvement within the club throughout the year

Premierships

Seniors

• South East Suburban Football League
  • 1967, 1972, 1987, 1997

Reserves

• Southern Football League
  Southern Football League (Victoria)
  The Southern Football League is an Australian rules football league, based in the south and south eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, for both seniors and juniors....
  
  
  • 2006

Best and Fairests

Year	Seniors	Reserves	Thirds	Fourths
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010