Full name | Kenmore Australian Football Club |
---|---|
Nickname | Bears |
Sport | Australian rules football |
Founded | 1997 |
League | QFA South |
Home ground | Main Oval, Chelmer |
Anthem | "Join in the Chorus" |
President | Terry Mumford |
Head coach | Anthony Corrie |
Strip | |
Green guernsey with gold v, green shorts, green and gold hooped socks |
The Kenmore Australian Football Club, also known as the Kenmore Bears is an Australian rules football club formed as an offshoot of an older junior club which is notable as having produced Australian Football League players Mal Michael and Courtenay Dempsey. Other Australian rules football players Max Hudghton, Jackson Allen, Peter Yagmoor and Rex Liddy spent a significant amount of their junior careers at Kenmore's junior club. Currently, their best player is Dean Wayne. Dean is renowned for his rendition of 'The Dougie' after kicking a goal.
The Kenmore Bears was formed in the 1997 season. The Club was originally formed to give players from the Kenmore Juniors AFC an opportunity to play senior football close to home. At that stage, the closest senior club, West Brisbane Australian Football Club, had folded after winning the 1996 Queensland Australia Football League (QAFL) Premiership.
In its first season, Kenmore fielded one side in the Division 3 competition in what was then the Brisbane Australian Football League (BAFL). They originally played out of the home of the Kenmore Juniors, at Akuna Oval in Kenmore. In their first season, Kenmore tasted success, winning the Premiership. This was followed quickly by another Premiership in 1998.
In 1999, Kenmore were promoted to the 2nd Division of the BAFL. Playing in this Division required the formation of two sides. It was Kenmore's hardest season since their formation, with both sides winning only a handful of games and finishing towards the bottom of the table.
In 2000, the BAFL merged with its Gold Coast equivalent to form the Australian Football League South Queensland (AFLSQ). Kenmore played in two losing Division 3 Grand Finals of the new competition in 2000 and 2001, before winning the premiership again in 2002. In 2001, the club changed home grounds to that of the Jindalee Jags which is in Wongaburra Street, Jindalee. After captaining Kenmore to consecutive losing Grand Finals, Jeff Williams handed over his captaincy to Anthony Randell. Williams remained with a club as a playing Assistant Coach in 2002, returning to coach the Seniors in 2005.