The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed The Hawks, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League.

Their name refers to their home and training ground at Glenferrie Oval in Hawthorn, an inner-eastern suburb of Melbourne.

Entering the VFL in 1925, the Mayblooms (The club's nickname changed from the Mayblooms or Mayflowers to Hawks in 1950) became the perennial whipping boys of the competition. Hawthorn broke through to their first finals appearance in 1957, and in 1961 the they went one better by winning their first premiership, defeating Footscray in the Grand Final by 94 points to 51.

Their greatest era was undoubtedly the 1980s, where the team won four premierships and played in the grand final seven years in succession. From 1983 they were in the finals for 13 years in a row. Their fast-paced style of play was copied by West Coast who became the next powerful club. Other clubs have had success since but none have matched the dominance of the Hawks in this period.

However, falling on-field and off-field fortune saw the club almost merge with Melbourne (to form a team known as the "Melbourne Hawks", though unkindly dubbed by many as "The Dawks" - a fusion with the Melbourne nickname of "Demons"), which was aborted only when Members from the Hawthorn club voted against the merger proposal.

Under new off-field leadership, their traditional fan base of the rather well-heeled residents of this leafy suburb has been expanded with a concerted push into the outer south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, one of Melbourne's fastest growing areas - though this push was hindered with the closure of Waverley Park.

Premierships: 1961, 1971, 1976, 1978, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991

Brownlow Medal winners: Col Austen 1949, Robert DiPierdomenico 1986, John Platten 1987, Shane Crawford 1999

External Link

Official Website of the Hawthorn Football Club