Football was first played on the Central Coast in 1971 when a club at Gosford competed in the Newcastle League.
Five years later the Central Coast Football League was formed comprising five clubs; only one of those in the Wyong Shire. It wasn’t until 1978 that sufficient interest was garnered to establish another, Killarney Vale, wearing a three coloured panel jumper of red, black and yellow. They were initially known as the Bunyips, the same motif of the CBA Bank who sponsored the jumpers.
They started with one open age team and half way through the year, like other clubs, an under 17 side. In 1979 they also filled a reserve grade plus an under 15 team. The club played their home games at Don Small Oval.
1980 was the club’s first senior grand final which they lost but were successful in the following two seasons winning back to back flags in 1981-82. It was in 1982 that the club changed its colours to red and black, discarding their inane logo in favour of the Bombers.
By this stage the club had ensconced themselves at Adelaide Street, constructing clubrooms, realigning the ground and funding the construction of a scoreboard and effective field lighting.
They missed the flag by a small margin in 1983 but the club had grown to one of the strongest on the north coast of NSW fielding sides in all grades and conducting a four team under 9 competition at Adelaide Street of a Saturday Morning.
The league was struggling so it was decided that three of the clubs which were fielding first and reserve, enter one open-age side only and a further open-age team under another name. Killarney Vale chose Bateau Bay for the second side.
After finishing runner up in 1985, the first grade won two further flags in 1986-87, the former undefeated premiers where they also produced the league medal winner and leading goalkicker, Mick Smith, who booted a phenomenal 232 goals
An additional two storey clubroom incorporating a canteen was constructed in 1986.
The club’s on-field success diminished towards the end of the eighties and was not revived until the mid-nineties. By then the club had comprehensively extended their first floor clubrooms.
They won successive flags in 1996-7 and in the latter season a perimeter fence was erected with a result that the Sydney Swans played practice game on the ground. Several of the club’s players participated in the match.
The club embraced the merger of the Central Coast and Newcastle Leagues into the Black Diamond League with enthusiasm, playing off in several finals until they won the flag in 2007. A further $50,000 extension to the clubrooms provided area for timekeepers, coaches, kitchen, boardroom and extensive junior club facilities. A state or the art gymnasium was added in 2009.
Since 1978 the club’s record for senior games to date are:
Won Lost Drawn Total
343 260 3 606
Recently the club constructed an electronic scoreboard at the ground and built a magnificent under-cover area over the front of the change rooms/toilets.
Almost 2,000 players have worn the club’s colours since its inception and it is credit to those involved over the years that they have developed the organisation into what it is today, in doing so, spawning two AFL greats, brothers, Mark and Jarred McVeigh.
Last Modified on 19/03/2015 16:37