Vicki Cleary Day is an annual Australian rules football match in the Victorian Football League (VFL) hosted by the Coburg Football Club. The game is held in honour of Vicki Cleary, the sister of former Coburg captain and coach Phil Cleary, who was murdered by her former partner in 1987. [1] [2]
The first match was held in 2017, and it has been held every year since (excluding 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic) with Coburg competing against various other clubs. [3] [4]
On 26 August 1987, Vicki Cleary was attacked and repeatedly stabbed at a kindergarten by Peter Keogh, her former partner. She was 25 when she was killed. [5] [6]
Keogh was acquitted of murder and convicted of manslaughter by a jury, spending less than four years in jail. He committed in suicide in 2001. [6]
At the time his sister was killed, Phil Cleary was the captain-coach of Coburg in the Victorian Football Association (now Victorian Football League). He retired at the end of the 1987 season after playing 205 games. [7] Cleary currently campaigns to stop male violence against women. [8]
Year | Date | Rd | Home team | Score | Away team | Score | Ground | Winner | Margin |
2017 | 30/4 | 3 | Coburg | 11.13 (79) | Northern Blues | 21.15 (141) | Coburg City Oval | Northern Blues | 62 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2018 | 19/5 | 7 | Coburg | 7.5 (47) | Collingwood | 10.12 (72) | Coburg City Oval | Collingwood | 25 |
2019 | 21/7 | 16 | Coburg | 15.12 (102) | North Melbourne | 16.9 (105) | Preston City Oval | North Melbourne | 3 |
2022 | 19/6 | 13 | Coburg | 7.10 (52) | Richmond | 15.14 (104) | Piranha Park | Richmond | 52 |
2023 | 13/5 | 8 | Coburg | 12.8 (80) | Northern Bullants | 12.15 (87) | Piranha Park | Northern Bullants | 7 |
The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Kangaroos, is a professional Australian rules football club. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Kangaroos also field a reserves men's team in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and women's team in the VFLW.
Philip Ronald Cleary is an Australian commentator on politics and sport, particularly Australian rules football, and a former independent politician elected at the 1992 Wills by-election.
The Coburg Football Club, nicknamed the Lions, is an Australian rules football club based in Coburg, a northern suburb of Melbourne, and currently playing in the Victorian Football League (VFL). It is based at Coburg City Oval since 1915, which was partly redeveloped in 2020. Coburg has historically been a proud club and has won 6 VFA/VFL premierships with the most recent premiership in 1989. From 2001 to 2013 the club was aligned with the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL), acting as its reserves team. Since 2014, Coburg has operated as a stand-alone club in the VFL.
The Port Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Borough, is an Australian rules football club based in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Port Melbourne. The club was founded in 1874 and has been competing in the Victorian Football Association/League (VFL) since 1886 and the VFLW since 2021.
Keith MacKenzie Forbes was a former Australian rules footballer who played for Coburg in the Victorian Football Association (VFA), and for Essendon, North Melbourne, and Fitzroy in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
Daisy Pearce is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Melbourne Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW) and is the current AFLW senior coach of the West Coast Eagles.
Brad Nimmo is a former Australian rules footballer who played for North Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the early 1980s.
Harold Martin is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Fitzroy in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and coached in the Victorian Football Association.
Brianna Iris Davey is an Australian footballer in both the Association football (soccer) and Australian rules football codes. In soccer, she was a goalkeeper for the national women's team the Matildas and played in the W-League for Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City. In 2016, she transitioned from soccer to Australian rules football, and was one of two initial marquee recruits for the Carlton Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW). She won the inaugural Carlton best and fairest award and was named in the 2017 AFL Women's All-Australian team. Davey served as Carlton captain from 2018 to 2019 before being traded to the Collingwood Football Club. She was appointed Collingwood co-captain alongside Steph Chiocci in 2021, and won the league best and fairest award for the 2021 season.
Mark Weideman is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Collingwood in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
The 1986 Victorian Football Association season was the 105th season of the top division of the Australian rules football competition, and the 26th season of second division competition. The Division 1 premiership was won by the Williamstown Football Club, after it defeated Coburg in the Grand Final on 21 September by 13 points; it was Williamstown's eleventh Division 1 premiership, and its first since 1959. The Division 2 premiership was won by Box Hill; it was the club's second Division 2 premiership in three years, having competed in and been relegated from Division 1 in the intervening year.
Athol Raymond Hodgetts is a former Australian rules football player and administrator, who played for North Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL), and served as the executive director of the Victorian Football Association.
Alan Mannix is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Footscray in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
The 1990 Victorian Football Association season was the 109th season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won by the Williamstown Football Club, after it defeated Springvale in the grand final on 30 September by two points; it was Williamstown's twelfth top-division premiership.
Robert Evans was an Australian rules footballer who played with Coburg in the Victorian Football Association. He also played a single game for Footscray in the Victorian Football League.
Lauren Arnell is a retired Australian rules footballer and senior coach of the Port Adelaide Football Club in the AFL Women's competition, having previously played for Carlton and the Brisbane Lions. She served as Carlton's inaugural AFLW team captain in the 2017 season and won the 2021 premiership with the Brisbane Lions, before becoming Port Adelaide's inaugural coach in 2022.
Emma Michelle Kearney is an Australian rules footballer and former cricketer. A decorated midfielder in the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, Kearney won the league's best and fairest award while playing for the Western Bulldogs in 2018 and has captained North Melbourne since 2019. She previously played cricket for the Melbourne Stars in the Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) and for Victoria in the Women's National Cricket League (WNCL).
Kirsty Maree Lamb is an Australian rules footballer playing for Port Adelaide in the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition. She has previously played for the Western Bulldogs Lamb previously played cricket for Victoria in the Women's National Cricket League (WNCL) and for the Melbourne Renegades in the Women's Big Bash League (WBBL).
Jordyn Allen is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Collingwood Football Club in the AFL Women's competition (AFLW).
Tarni Brown is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for Carlton in the AFL Women's (AFLW). Daughter of 1994–1998 former Collingwood captain, Gavin Brown, she played for the Eastern Ranges in the NAB League Girls before she was drafted to Collingwood in 2020 under the father–daughter rule. During the trade period ahead of the 2024 season, she joined Carlton.