The Formation of Douttas – 1946
In 1945 there was a team of junior players associated with the North Essendon Presbyterian Church in nearby Keilor Road. They played in a Northern Junior League. It was a rule of the Church elders that in order to be selected in the team the players had to attend church services each week. It seems that this rule was a deal breaker as most of the players in this team ended up being key players at Doutta Stars over the next two or three years.
At the same time as these juniors were playing for the Church team there were other young men returning from military duties at the end of the second world war. They were keen to take up their sporting interests again. Several of the fathers of these young men organised a meeting at the Doutta Galla Hall in Royal Avenue North Essendon to consider the formation of a football team. This meeting was the beginning of what we know as the Doutta Stars Football Club.
At the time in the Essendon District Football League there were many teams that used the word “Stars” in their name, like Lincoln Stars, Riverside Stars, Coburg Stars, Strathmore Stars and Essendon Stars. So it is understandable that Douttas followed the practice. The Douttas part coming from the general location (parish name Doutta Galla) where the meeting was held and also the name used for a local primary school, health services, and a province of the Upper House of the Victorian Parliament.
So the players of the Doutta Stars Football Club in 1946 consisted of young men returning from the war and other young men not so interested in attending the nearby Presbyterian church services.
In 1946 the team entered in the Essendon District Football League senior grade and were immediately successful as they made the grand final in their first year. Their opponents were Ascot United who defeated them in the match played at Essendon Football Ground on Saturday 7th September. The curtain raiser of the day was a baseball game played between Essendon and Collingwood. The entry fee for this day of entertainment was 9 pence for adults and 3 pence for children.
Doutta Stars Join the VFL
A little known piece of history is that in 1947 and 1948 Collingwood was unable to field a side in the Under 19 competition of the VFL (or League thirds as it was known). In order to avoid having a bye, a team from Doutta Stars was invited to compete in this illustrious competition. The side was known as North Essendon, but wore the Douttas jumpers with the star and played games at Buckley Park. However, the home games were moved elsewhere when the VFL deemed Buckley Park to be unsafe due to the poor surface.
Essendon Doutta Stars Football Club is a proud community football club serving Essendon, Niddrie and sounding areas. Our successes include 18 A Grade Premierships (1948-49-50-51-53-54-57-59-61-62-63-64-69-72-80-90-91-99), 2 B Grade Premierships (1998-2015) and Senior Women’s Div 1 Premiership (2019).
We’d love to see you at the Club as a Player, Parent, Friend or Sponsor.
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