Rythdale Officer Cardinia History: 1977-

 

The club was born as an amalgamation of the Officer and Rythdale-Cardinia Football Clubs in 1977.  The club’s first coach was ex Collingwood player Ian Montgomery and the club finished fourth that season in the South West Gippsland Football League.  The club then moved to the West Gippsland Football League, the newly formed club struggled in its senior ranks through most of the 1980’s with its next senior finals appearance in 1991.  ROC had plenty of success in the junior ranks winning several premierships during this time. 

Senior success came after appearances in the 1993 and 1994 Grand Finals with the club breaking through for its first flag in 1995.  “Back to Back” came in 1996 where ROC were able to defeat Garfield by 11 points.  There was another Grand Final appearance in 1997 which saw the club miss out narrowly to Tooradin.

The senior team returned to the big day in September in 2002 and collected the silverware against a strong Warragul outfit.  Clearly the club's golden era was the ten year period between 1993 and 2002 that delivered three senior premierships plus three runners up and finals appearences in every year. 

In 2016 the club elected to change its name to the Officer Senior Football Club.  The link to the Rythdale-Cardinia and Rythdale-Officer-Cardinia football clubs will never be lost.

 

Premierships

First Eighteen: 1995, 1996, 2002.

Second Eighteen: 1983, 1988, 1989, 1994, 1995, 1999, 2002, 2004.

Third Eighteen (U17): 1985, 1988, 2019 (as U19's).

Fourth Eighteen (U15): 1983, 1990 & 1991.

 

League Best & Fairest Winners

First Eighteen: Robert Young (1992), Peter Bastinac (1994), Mick Fogarty (1999) and Paul Corrigan (2002).

Second Eighteen: Bill Toner (1982), Brett McDonald (1988), John Van Zuylen (1989), Lou Folino (1998), Paul Winterton (1999), Shane White (2000).

Third Eighteen (U17): Robert Young (1981), Darren Andrews (1983).

Fourth Eighteen (U15): Greg Tivendale (1994).

 

Honour Board

Click to download the Paul "Stilts" Howard Memorial Honour Board

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Club Games List

Click to download game list.  Last updated 28/11/17 at the completion of the 2017 season.

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Top Five Total Club Games Played (Seniors & Reserves)

Ben Tivendale: 330 (as at 28/6/19)

Mick Moylan: 330*

Kable Dowsett: 323

Robert Young: 312

Steve Pursell: 258

Wayne Woods: 257

 

* Denotes still playing and as of the completion of the 2021 season

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Club Best & Fairest Winners (all grades 1977-2017)

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RYTHDALE OFFICER CARDINIA FC LIFE MEMBERS

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* Denotes deceased.

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VFL/AFL Club Players

Robert Porter (Officer FC) – Hawthorn VFL (1962-3). 6 games, 1 goal.

Paul Corrigan – Geelong AFL (1997 – 2000).  53 Games, 6 goals.

Greg Tivendale – Richmond AFL (1998 – 2008).  188 Games, 125 goals.

Callum Porter - Western Bulldogs (drafted 2017) - 1 Game (2020).

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Listed below is some of the Club's history in a little more detail:

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1976 Officer Football Club goes into recession. Some players crossed to Rythdale Cardinia Football Club.

 

1977 Rythdale Cardinia disbanded and joined with Officer to reform as “ROC” - Rythdale Officer Cardinia Football Club and continued its affiliation with the South West Gippsland Football League (SWGFL). In the first year as a combined club, under Coach Ian Montgomery (ex-Collingwood) we finished fourth.

 

1979 ROC transferred to the West Gippsland Football League (WGFL).

 

1983 First taste of Premiership success for the amalgamated club in the Under 15’s and Reserves.

 

1984 Club appoints Russell Bruerton as coach and finish seventh, eighth and are wooden spooners ('86).

 

1987 Former Tooradin premiership player Rick Vandersteen is appointed coach, the club makes immediate improvement on field finishing fifth, only just missing the finals by percentage.  In Vandersteen's second year (1988) the club slips slightly and finishes seventh.

 

1988 The Reserves under coach Peter "China"Holland and the Under 17's under Wayne Snooks both win their Grand Finals against arch rivals and neighbours Pakenham. 

 

1989 Rob Porter becomes senior coach and relies heavily on home grown talent, team drops a spot to eighth.  Reserves side goes back to back.

 

1990 The reliance on the local young players starts to show promise and the senior team moves up the ladder to finish fifth. 

 

1991 Further improvement (especially with home grown talent) sees the senior team reach the finals for the first time since 1977 under coach Robert Porter but failed in both the Semi Final and Preliminary Final.

 

1992 In Porter's last year as coach the team drops back to seventh position.  Rob Young wins Breheny Medal (WGFL B&F).

 

1993 Club appoints former Doveton on-baller Peter Bastinac as coach. The club has it’s best home and away season in its short 17 year history and reaches the finals for the second time.  Defeated in the Second Semi Final, yet rebounded strongly in the Preliminary Final against Drouin (first finals win) - ROC met Garfield in the club’s first Grand Final unfortunately going down to a strong Garfield outfit at Cora Lynn.

 

1994 ROC has another successful H&A season.  Wins the 2nd Semi Final and heads straight through into the Grand Final against Garfield. A similar result to the previous year, ROC goes down to Garfield. The Reserves win Grand Final defeating Beaconsfield.

 

1995 Ex Spingvale VFA player Mick Fogarty coaches the club and takes ROC to another Grand Final at the magnificent Cora Lynn reserve. Playing neighbour Beaconsfield, the club finally brings home “The Silverware” with an emphatic 51 point victory. The Reserves go back to back (winning by one point) and the ROC netballers successful in A & C grade ensuring celebrations continue for days.

 

1996 After a very successful H&A season, the senior team competes in another finals series and reaches the Grand Final.  The team goes back to back, this time over nemesis Garfield.  In one of the closest Grand Finals for many years, the Kangas overcame Garfield side by 11 points.

 

1997 The Club had another successful season and winning the 2nd Semi Final against Tooradin the Seniors made their fifth consecutive Grand Final and were looking to achieve a "Three Peat".  Not good enough on the day against Tooradin, the boys went down.  The reserves side who were undefeated lost to Beaconsfield.

 

1998 The next two years would see the club be very successful during the home and away games, only to bow out in finals.

 

1999 In another successful home and away season, the seniors finished on top only to be bundled out of the finals in straight sets.  The Reserves won the Grand Final under coach John Clydesdale.

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2000 With Mick Fogarty coaching for a club record 6th year, ROC made the finals but bowed out. The Reserves were runner up to Beaconsfield. 2001 Under new coach Steven Pursell, ROC failed to make the finals in the seniors. With a young list the club went on a rebuilding process. The Reserves were runners up for the second year in a row, this time to Pakenham.

 

2002 With the departure of Beaconsfield and Pakenham from WGFL, the remaining clubs merged with GLVFL to form a new league WGLFL with two divisions. ROC becomes part of the Western division. Steve Pursell was in his second year of coaching and Paul Corrigan returned to the club as Assistant Coach, after a stint in the AFL. The Senior and Reserve grades both finished the season undefeated, and went on to win both Grand Finals.

 

2003 After the departure of many players, Steve Pursell in his third season as coach had to again turn to youth. After a slow start we made another finals campaign. Both the Seniors and Reserves were knocked out of contention in the Preliminary final. The Under 18 team lost to Drouin by 6 points in the Grand Final.

 

2004 Steve Pursell into his fourth season as Senior Coach, enjoyed some success and made the finals for the third time during his coaching career. Unfortunately ROC bowed out in the Preliminary Final. The Reserves won the Grand Final in a very one sided affair.

 

2005 ROC joins the Mornington Peninsula Nepean (MPNFL) and a new localised competition called the Casey Cardinia Football Netball League. Newly appointed senior coach Hayden Stanton led the club and after a very competitive season was very unlucky to miss the finals.

 

2009 The club struggles in the Casey Cardinia Football League from 2006 with loss of several players. New co-coaches Kris Fletcher and Richard Brown are appointed for season 2009 and ex local Greg Tivendale returns from his successful AFL career at Richmond (188 Games) to help lift the club.

 

2011 Greg Tivendale steps in as senior coach. The club's win/loss ratio improves on previous years and continues to blood it's juniors that have come through the ranks, some commencing with the Officer Kangaroos Junior Football Club. At the conclusion of season 2011, Tivendale steps aside for family reasons.

 

2012 The club appoints recent Noble Park Assistant coach Steve Coats as Senior Coach. Coats also coached Garfield and Lyndale following a successful playing career at Noble Park. Senior Assistant Coach Brad Jones, a ROC junior returns after a successful stint as Senior Assistant and Reserves Coach at Nar Nar Goon.

 

2014 Brad Jones returns to the club as senior coach after a year coaching St Francis Xavier Old Collegians in the VAFA. The club finishes sixth with seven wins, including one over eventual grand finalist Cranbourne in Ben Tivendale's 250th game. At the conclusion of the 2014 season clubs in the Casey Cardinia FNL withdraw from the MPNFL and in conjunction AFL South East Vic commence playing in the newly formed South East Football Netball League from 2015.

 

2015: In August, the committee of the ROC FC called an EGM for 20 August to vote on a name change to the Officer Senior Football Club.  The vote was an affirmative and from the 2016 pre-season the club would be known as the "Officer Senior Football Club".

  

2015/16 The ROC football and netball clubs host the SEFNL Grand Final in 2015 and 2016 at the Officer Recreation Reserve.  Both years were considered successes with huge crowds attending and great weather.  

 

2017 After three years under Brad Jones (sixth, eighth & seventh), the club appoints Doug Koop as senior coach.  Koop is an experienced coach previously having success with Beaconsfield (mid 90's), Cranbourne and Dromana football clubs.

 

2018 Officer (ROC) make the finals for the first time since 2004 which is the final season of the SEFNL competition.  Officer lose to Beaconsfield in the Elimination Final played at Berwick.

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2019 Officer (along with Pakenham and Doveton) move to Division One in the newly formed AFL Outer East Competition.  They are joined by several AFL Yarra Ranges teams.  Other SEFNL teams in Berwick, Beaconsfield, Cranbourne and Narre Warren play in the Premier division of the same new league.   Officer seniors finish fifth, beating Mt Evelyn (first finals win since 2002 GF) but lost to Monbulk in atrocious conditions at Olinda.  The Reserves won two finals but lost their third final (the preliminary final).  The Under 18's coached by Past Player Glenn Robinson  had a terrific season, finishing second and the end of the H&A.  Eventually making the GF, the U18's were considered underdogs against Pakenham and came from behind to win a thrilling flag by three points.