From “Zedders” to “Falcons” – 70 years of the ANZ football club

Albert Park Falcons life member Paul Shoppee recalls his first week working at ANZ in February 1985 when he turned up to work at the Brandon Park branch as a fresh faced 19-year-old.

“The area manager came down to me on the first or second day I was at the bank, and introduced himself,” Paul says. “He was a lovely man and he joked ‘to go far in this business, son, you need to play for the footy club’.”

The club his manager was referring to was the ANZ Bank Football Club – also known as the “Zedders” - which started in 1954 when a team made up of bank employees was founded.

It was an era of workplace football teams in which a predominantly male workforce from the office or factory floor bonded over a game of footy on the weekend.

Paul says the club, which was rechristened the Falcons in 1999 (a change from its other nickname the “Rats”), has adapted to the changing times. But, he says its course was set as a community club under ANZ.

The club is celebrating its 70th anniversary this month with a dinner and commemorative jumpers. The jumpers are sponsored by ANZ and honour its origins with the bank.

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A club with meaning

President Johannah Griffin is the current women’s team player-coach and a best and fairest winner. 

“There is just a lot of pride, in once being a “Zedder”. Or “Rat” and or a “Falcon” or all three,” she says.

“The best thing about the club, I think, is it’s truly is a community club. And I think that stems from coming from a club that was built around professionals or a profession.”

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“I grew up in country Victoria, so sport and sporting clubs were very much community based. And I think that's why I've loved the Albert Park Falcons so much, because I feel like I found that in the inner city.”

Back in the 1950s it was banker Jim Dunn who helped drive the creation of the club and serve as first president. Bank employee Val Kennedy was captain.

Former Hawthorn and Richmond player Andy Brannan – now working at the bank - was appointed coach as the team began in “E Grade” of the Victorian Amateur Football League (VAFA).

The first home ground was Olney Oval at Yarra Bend in Fairfield and they trained at Wright Oval in Albert Park. In 1978 – after several previous moves - they ended up at Oval 20, Beaurepaire Pavilion in Albert Park. It remains their home today.

“A couple of times we were very close to shutting the doors and we had to put our own money in to pay the bills or pay for this or that to keep the club going. Somehow we survived and now the club is quite financially sound,” Paul says.

Welcoming

Paul says from the moment he arrived he felt welcomed. And while success was limited over the first couple of seasons, he loved the camaraderie and enjoyment of playing footy with his mates.

“The after games were also always lots of fun,” he says. He fondly recalls his first senior game – and his first kick.

“My very first kick was a goal. They put me in the forward pocket in my first game, the ball spilled out to me from a contest near the boundary,” Paul says. “I picked it up, turned around and snapped it on my right foot and it's gone through. I wish I could say it was all skill, but it was probably more fluke than anything else.”

The club is celebrating its inclusivity and how it has evolved over the last 70 years – including the recent additions of netball teams and the women’s football team.   

Joh says the women’s teams have created a new life at the club.

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“For me, obviously a really big part of that is the fact we're now a platform for women in sport. I’m a big advocate for girls and women continuing and playing sport,” Joh says. “The amount of women playing a sport they've never played before, wearing the Albert Park Falcon’s colours, is really, really special to me.”

Joh says the community culture at Albert Park helped develop the women’s team – despite the team only winning one game during their first year in 2019.

“At the end of that game, we all slid through the mud. There's an amazing photo of us and we just look so happy, even though we lost that game and we covered head to toe in mud. I can still remember that feeling and it's been amazing to see other women start to play.”

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Club members say it is the kind of place you make connections for life.

“I spent 33 years, so more than half my life being involved with the club. And 90 per cent of the friends I've got in this world are from my association with the footy club. So, that's why it's so important to me,” Paul says.

After playing Paul coached both the reserves and senior sides. His highlight is coaching the 2002 reserves grand final winning team – the clubs first piece of silverware since the 1974 reserves premiership.

“My three kids grew up at the footy club. My son (Clain), played in 2018 when I was coaching. And now my Dad (Peter) is the club's goal umpire and he's 86 years old. He is there rain, hail or shine every week to wave the flags.”

“Some weeks he does three games, some weeks he does two, some weeks he just does one. Since Mum passed away in 2022, the club has become like his second family & he looks forward to getting there to wave the flags every week.”

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Full circle

Current day banker within ANZ Institutional, David Buegge takes the story full circle.

“When I moved to Melbourne in 2018 from Western Australia, I only knew two people. One of them happened to be my old mate from boarding school Tyson Cattle.”

“Tyson was the president at the time, and literally the day I arrived in Melbourne, he messaged me saying, ‘I heard you moved to Melbourne. Come down to the Falcons’.”

The club gave David a new community.

“The great thing about the club is there are a lot of people in my position. You might be from WA, from Queensland or from Tassie, we even get a lot of Irish people,” David says.

David is a defender in the current squad which made it to last year’s grand final, which they lost to North Brunswick.

“I didn't know about the connection to ANZ but when I went into the club rooms for the first time, you can see the honour board and it says ANZ Bank Footy Club until 1999.”

“When you look in the trophy cabinet and you can see all the old ANZ jumpers and memorabilia in there, it reminds you of where the club came from and how it has grown.” 

Jeff Whalley is a journalist with bluenotes