1911 - THE FIRST GAME

It is June 24th 1911 when Chelsea first sets foot on the ground as a football team playing under its own name. The opposition is Carrum and the match is played for a dinner that would later be served in fine style at the Carrum Hotel. Read the Full Story.

The colour of the Chelsea jumpers has been predominately blue and white hoops over the years, but during the first three years while playing as Carrum-Chelsea the colours were white, red and blue.

The match is described thus in the Moorabbin News:
MARRIED MEN PLAY FOOTBALL
 
A football match which created some excitement, and much fun, was played last Monday. The married men of Carrum played the married men of Chelsea; and a royal display it was. The game was strenuous in the extreme, in fact, some of the players took the matter so seriously that they had to be driven home , and haven’t yet recovered sufficiently to satisfactorily carry out their daily avocations. Mr A. J. Rigby was the most brilliant player for Carrum benedicts; he seemed to be almost a fixture at his opponents’ goal post, in fact, he did actually score one goal, and he hasn’t been forgiven yet. Mr S. Black exhibited some fast work.
For Chelsea, Mr F. Thompson, the genial secretary of the Progress Association, showed up remarkably well in progressive football. Great difficulty was experienced by the umpire at times to decide whether this player was playing soccer or rugby football, German, English, American or Victorian style but it’s a certainty the umpire will report him to the VFA, as until he (Thompson) lost his breath, the pace was altogether too warm and the game too furious.
Percy Evans, generally energetic in all things, was simply effervescent on that day bubbling over with eagerness to display his ability on the football field, eventually aviating at a remarkable height a long distance across the ground, and landing he didn’t know where, and wasn’t particularly anxious; whilst on solid earth he did good work, but while in the air the umpire should have given “time off,” but he evidently didn’t understand what rules they were playing under.
Moxom looked after the goals well, in fact watched them that closely that he stood there while the ball dribbled through the posts scoring a goal against his side.
The return match is anxiously watched for, limbs and grounds are undergoing special treatment, the former under the guidance of a well known veterinary surgeon. The final scores were: Carrum 5.6, Chelsea 1.2.
At the dinner given afterwards by the Chelsea players, W. Aitken was presented with a handsomely inscribed medal for his brilliant play. 

Ref: “Moorabbin News”

AUTHOR’S NOTE
IT WOULD SEEM THAT THE PLAYERS REPRESENTING CHELSEA IN THIS MATCH MUST HAVE PERFORMED QUITE ADMIRABLY AS CARRUM CHANGED ITS NAME TO THE CARRUM AND CHELSEA FOOTBALL CLUB ONE WEEK LATER. THE CLUB COMPLETED ITS FIRST SEASON OF COMPETITIVE FOOTBALL IN THE FEDERAL FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION ALONG WITH CHELTENHAM, VIC BREWERY AND MOORABBIN. THEY PLAYED IN RED, WHITE AND BLUE COLOURS AND PERFORMED REASONABLY WELL IN THEIR FIRST SEASON OF COMPETITIVE FOOTBALL WITH FOUR WINS AND FIVE LOSSES.

<< Back