The Kew Football Club, nicknamed the Bears, is an Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Kew. As of 2025, the club's men's team competes in Division 1 of the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA), while the women's team is in the Premier Division of the VAFA Women's (VAFAW) competition.
History Early years Kew was founded in 1876 and won its first premiership in 1880 in the second-rate ranks of the Hawthorn District Zone competition. The club entered a first-rate league for the first time in 1889 when it joined the Victorian Junior Football Association (VJFA), finishing 20th with two wins and six draws.
The club withdrew during the 1891 season after failing to win a game, and dropped down to the 2nd rate and 3rd rate ranks of the VJFA. The club continued in the Association until 1896, when the VJFA mandated that all clubs must play on a fenced oval. As Victoria Park was unfenced, the club withdrew from the VJFA and "reluctantly" went into recess for two years.
In 1899, Kew returned and entered the Suburban Junior Football Association (SJFA). However, in May of that year, Metropolitan Junior Football Association (MJFA) club St Francis Xavier disbanded. Kew was chosen to fill the vacancy, and it played in the MJFA for the remainder of the 1899 season.
RDFA and VJFA return Following the 1900 season, Kew left the MJFA and joined another competition, also known as the MJFA. They joined the Reporter District Football Association (RDFA) in 1911, withdrawing mid-season in 1915 because of a loss of players due to World War I enlistments, but resumed when the RDFA returned after the war in 1919.
Kew returned to the VJFA in 1920. The club was winless in its return season, but eventually rose up the ladder and finished sixth with 10 wins in 1926. Kew also applied for admittance into the Victorian Football Association (VFA) when Brunswick was temporarily excluded, but although VFA officials were "greatly impressed" with the club's home ground and surroundings, its application was unsuccessful and Brunswick remained in the VFA for the 1927 season.
At the time, the VJFA was also transitioning to become a reserves competition for the VFA, and as Kew was not a VFA member, it left the VJFA.
VFL Sub-Districts For the 1927 season, Kew entered the Victorian Football League (VFL) Sub-Districts, and won the premiership in its first year in the competition. Further premierships came in 1929, 1931, 1932, and 1934, and the club ultimately made finals in all but five of its 18 seasons in the Sub-Districts. In 1935, Kew drew with Fairfield in the grand final. The replay was won by Fairfield, with the game resulting in four players being suspended for fighting.
Kew also had an autonomous reserves team, the Kew Junior Football Club, which was formed in 1922 and won a premiership in the Eastern Suburban Junior Football Association (ESJFA) in 1925. The juniors entered the Metropolitan Amateur Football Association (MAFA, formerly MJFA) in 1926 and was renamed to Kew District Football Club, before joining the VFL Sub-Districts in 1927 and winning premierships in 1928, 1929, and 1930. Kew District joined the Eastern Suburban Football League (ESFL) in 1934 but folded in 1938 after an unsuccessful finals campaign in 1937.
VAFA return In 1949, amid "unruly behaviour" from a majority of other Sub-Districts clubs, Kew left and returned to the MJFA/MAFA, which had been renamed to the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) in 1933.Amateur Association: Change of Name Adopted The Age 25 October 1932 page 10 The club was ranked very highly by the VAFA Executive, and was admitted into C Section instead of the lower D Section for its return season.
Kew won the 1949 minor premiership and was set to be automatically promoted to B Section, but after a round 18 victory over East Caulfield, an anonymous caller to VAFA headquarters stated Kew was fielding an ineligible player who had fought as a professional boxer during his army service in World War II. Kew was stripped of the eight games he played in, along with their place in the finals series, and remained in C Section for the 1950 season.
In 1950, Kew were undefeated and won the premiership, earning a promotion to B Section for 1951. The B Section grand final was won in 1953, and Kew entered A Section for the first time in 1954.
Further premierships followed in 1962, 1964 (C Section) and 1966 (B Section). However, with the exception of the 1979 (C Section), Kew was unable to find further premiership success. By the 1990s, the club had fallen to D Section for the first time in its history, and fell all the way down to Division 4 (F Section) in 2004.
21st century In 2007, the North Kew Football Club amalgamated with Kew. North Kew was formed in 1932 and had been competing in the Southern Football League (SFL) prior to the merger.
Former footballer Ian Aitken was appointed Kew senior coach in 2011. He led the club to a three-peat in 2013, 2014 and 2015, before leaving at the end of the 2016 season. Aitken returned in 2019 and remained in the role until the end of the 2023 season.
Kew entered two women's in the Victorian Women's Football League (VWFL) in 2014. Dwindling squad numbers meant one of the sides withdrew after round 7, while the other able to continue and ended up as runners-up in the grand final. 2015 saw another successful year on the field, with the Women’s team Runners-Up again in the VWFL. In 2016, the Kew Women went one better and won the club’s first women’s premiership in Division 1 of the VWFL. The women's sides entered the Northern Football League (NFL) in 2017, then the VAFA Women's (VAFAW) in 2018, where it continues to compete in the Premier Division.
Former Collingwood footballer and longtime local football coach Bryan 'Jack' Cole was appointed as Kew's men's senior coach for the 2024 season, and continues to serve in the role as of 2025.
Seasons Source: PremiersGrand FinalistMinor premiersFinals appearanceWooden spoonDivision leading goalkickerDivision best and fairest
Men's Seniors YearLeagueDivisionCoachCaptainTerry Hayes MedalLeading goalkicker 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 HDZ 2nd rate 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 VJFA 1st rate 20th 2 6 11 1890 VJFA 1st rate 23rd 3 12 4 1891 VJFA 1st rate 24th − − − 1892 VJFA 1893 VJFA 1894 VJFA 1895 VJFA 1896 VJFA 1897 N/A (In recess) 1898 N/A (In recess) 1899 MJFA 1900 MJFA 7th 2 14 0 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 RDFA 1912 RDFA A Section 2nd 8 2 0 1913 RDFA A Grade 4th 13 4 1 1914 RDFA A Grade 2nd 10 4 0 1915 RDFA A Grade 6th 6 5 0 1916 RDFA (No season due to World War I) 1917 RDFA (No season due to World War I) 1918 RDFA (No season due to World War I) 1919 RDFA A Grade 2nd 10 5 9 1920 VJFA 1921 VJFA 9th 3 13 1 1922 VJFA 8th 4 14 0 1923 VJFA 9th 6 13 0 1924 VJFA Division 1 5th 7 9 0 1925 VJFA 1926 VJFA 1927 VFLSD Division 1 1928 VFLSD Division 1 1929 VFLSD Division 1 1930 VFLSD Division 1 1931 VFLSD Division 1 1st 1932 VFLSD Division 1 1933 VFLSD Division 1 1934 VFLSD Division 1 1935 VFLSD Division 1 1936 VFLSD 1937 VFLSD 1938 VFLSD 1939 VFLSD 1940 VFLSD 1941 VFLSD 1942 VFLSD 1943 VFLSD 1944 VFLSD 1945 VFLSD 1946 VFLSD 1947 VFLSD 1948 VFLSD 1949 VAFA 1950 VAFA 1951 VAFA 1952 VAFA 1953 VAFA 1954 VAFA 1955 VAFA 1956 VAFA 1957 VAFA 1958 VAFA 1959 VAFA 1960 VAFA 1961 VAFA 1962 VAFA 1963 VAFA 1964 VAFA 1965 VAFA 1966 VAFA 1967 VAFA 1968 VAFA 1969 VAFA 1970 VAFA B Section 6th 1971 VAFA B Section 1972 VAFA B Section 6th 1973 VAFA B Section 1974 VAFA B Section 1975 VAFA B Section 10th 1976 VAFA C Section 8th 1977 VAFA C Section 7th 1978 VAFA C Section 8th 1979 VAFA C Section 1980 VAFA B Section 1981 VAFA B Section 1982 VAFA B Section 1983 VAFA B Section 3rd 1984 VAFA A Section 10th 1985 VAFA B Section 1986 VAFA C Section 6th 1987 VAFA 1st 17 1 0 Matthew Cavanagh 72 1988 VAFA B Section 1st 1989 VAFA A Section 10th 1990 VAFA B Section 1991 VAFA B Section 10th 1992 VAFA C Section 1993 VAFA C Section 1994 VAFA 1995 VAFA 1996 VAFA D Section 1997 VAFA E East 3rd 1998 VAFA E White 3rd 1999 VAFA 2000 VAFA Division 2 2001 VAFA Division 2 6th 2002 VAFA Division 2 10th 2003 VAFA Division 3 2004 VAFA Division 4 2nd 2005 VAFA Division 3 6th 2006 VAFA Division 3 7th 2007 VAFA Division 3 10th 2008 VAFA Division 4 2009 VAFA Division 4 2010 VAFA Division 3 2011 VAFA Division 3 8th Ian Aitken 2012 VAFA Division 3 Ian Aitken 2013 VAFA Division 3 1st Ian Aitken 2014 VAFA Division 2 1st Ian Aitken Andrew Brazzale 2015 VAFA Division 1 2nd Ian Aitken 2016 VAFA 5th 7 11 0 Ian Aitken 2017 VAFA 10th 3 15 0 Peter Callinan 2018 VAFA 8th 6 12 0 Michael Shmerling 2019 VAFA 3rd 12 5 1 Ian Aitken Jack Delbridge 2020 VAFA Division 1 (No season) Ian Aitken (No season) 2021 VAFA 3rd 9 2 0 Ian Aitken Max Waters 2022 VAFA 2nd Ian Aitken Max Waters 2023 VAFA 7th 8 10 0 Ian Aitken Max Waters Max Waters Lachlan James 21 2024 VAFA 6th 8 9 1 Jack Cole Max Waters Max Waters Ned Waters 42
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