Bendigo Gold Football Club

Bendigo Gold
Bendigo Gold
Names
Full name	Bendigo Diggers Football Club Ltd
Nickname(s)	Gold
Former nickname(s)	Diggers, Bombers
Club details
Founded	1998
Dissolved	2014
Colours	Blue Gold
Competition	Victorian Football League
Ground(s)	Queen Elizabeth Oval (18,000) ; View Street, Bendigo
Uniforms
Home	Historical

Bendigo Gold was an Australian rules football club based in Bendigo, Victoria. The club debuted in the Victorian Football League (VFL) in 1998 as the Bendigo Diggers Football Club, which remained its legal name for the duration of the club's existence despite subsequent nickname changes to the Bombers and then Gold in proceeding seasons. The club disbanded at the conclusion of the 2014 VFL season.^[2]

History

The club entered the VFL in 1998 as the Bendigo Diggers. It struggled for on-field success, winning only seven games in its first three seasons, and enduring successive winless seasons in 2001 and 2002.^[3]

Starting from 2003 the club formed an affiliation with the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League, under which Essendon could field its reserves players in the Bendigo team. The Diggers mascot was changed to the Bendigo Bombers and the guernsey changed to black with a red sash, to match those of the Essendon AFL club. Over the following ten years of the clubs' affiliation, the club played finals five times, with its best finish and sole finals victory coming in 2005, when the club finished fourth. The club also endured another winless season during the affiliation, in 2009.^[3]

After the completion of the 2011 season, Essendon announced that the 2012 season would be the last season of affiliation with Bendigo; Essendon fielded a stand-alone reserves team in the VFL from 2013, and Bendigo returned to fielding a stand-alone senior team. To reflect the impending change, the team changed its name to the Bendigo Gold, starting in 2012 (the final season of the clubs' affiliation).^[4]

Without access to the professional players or financial support offered by its affiliation with Essendon, Bendigo quickly struggled to remain competitive as a stand-alone club. Bendigo was winless in both 2013 and 2014 – which, when added to the 2001 and 2002 seasons, represented four consecutive winless seasons as a stand-alone club. In June 2014, the club concluded that it was not financially viable in the long term; it consequently disbanded and left the VFL following the 2014 season.^[2]

Honour board

Year	Finishing position	Coach	Captain/s	Best and Fairest	Leading Goalkicker
1998	10th	Ross Smith	Ross Smith	Dave Lancaster
1999	11th (Last)	Nathan Bower	Nathan Bower	David Lancaster
2000	18th (Last)	Nathan Bower	Darren Walsh	Nick Carter
2001	16th (Last)	Neville Massina	Darren Walsh	Damien Lock
2002	16th (Last)	Damian Drum	Nick Carter	Nick Carter
2003	10th	Peter Banfield	Nick Carter	Nick Carter
2004	8th	Peter Banfield	Nick Carter	Jordan Doering
2005	4th	Matthew Knights	Nick Carter	Jordan Doering
2006	12th	Matthew Knights	Nick Carter	Ben Jolley
2007	8th	Matthew Knights	Simon Rosa	Kepler Bradley
2008	10th	Adrian Hickmott	James Flaherty	Hayden Skipworth
2009	13th (Last)	Adrian Hickmott	James Flaherty	Paul Scanlon	Darcy Daniher (14)
2010	8th	Shannon Grant	James Flaherty	Michael Quinn
2011	7th	Shannon Grant	Ben Duscher / Trent Shinners	Ben Duscher
2012	8th	Hayden Skipworth	Ben Duscher / Trent Shinners	Brendan Lee	Matthew Little (52)
2013	14th (Last)	Austinn Jones	Steven Stroobants	Alik Magin	Alik Magin (17)
2014	16th (Last)	Austinn Jones	Steven Stroobants	Daniel Toman^[5]	Tyrone Downie (31)

References

^ "ABN Lookup". abr.business.gov.au. 1 November 2014. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
^ ^a ^b Brent Diamond (25 June 2014). "VFL club Bendigo Gold to fold". The Age. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
^ ^a ^b Luke West (14 September 2012). "So long Dons". Bendigo Advertiser. Bendigo, VIC. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
^ Landsberger, Sam (27 March 2012). "Bendigo Gold unveiled for final year with Bombers before Dons go solo in VFL". Herald Sun. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
^ Toman wins 2014 Gold best and fairest