Page 25 - History of Parkside Football Club (1897-2017) Editied Version Completed_optimized

Parkside Football Club 1897/2017

• Footscray Scouts

• Yarraville CYMS

• Bayview Road Methodists

Footscray had a reputation as a pretty tough area. It was populated by a lot of Italian immigrants
and there was a fair amount of ethnic tension created after the Depression. The combination of the
unemployment levels and the use of ‘foreigners’ in a lot of the labour intensive work created an
interesting chemistry in the area.

The Footscray Football Club had entered the VFL in 1925, and one of the original objectives of the
newly formed Footscray District Junior Football League (FDJFL) was to provide a basis for recruitment
for the Bulldogs in the VFL. Many of us wish that were still the case today.

Parkside had two teams in the debut season of the competition because there were only seven
teams. Parkside had more than fifty registered players and with the scenario that only eighteen could
play, it opted to make up the second side to even out the competition.

The purists will love the fact that the Grand Final in the first year of the competition was between
Parkside and Braybrook; two clubs which have provided many league players, the two clubs whose
own history predates the competition. Parkside won by thirty-eight points. [Parkside 11.19.85 –
7.5.47 Braybrook]

The top four that year were: Parkside A, Braybrook, Parkside B, Footscray Scouts.”

Hillier, Kevin 2007, History of the WRFL/FDFL, Common Ground, Altona, Vic

Ethel Spowers (1890–1947)

Once a Parksider, Always a Parksider