Port Melbourne and South Melbourne Football Clubs, while by far the largest football clubs in the Ports area, were not the only clubs that represented the local community. In addition to these major league clubs, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many of the larger local industrial employers had their own football clubs. Some of these clubs were informal, while others played in the Victorian Junior Football Association league, and from 1927 some of these teams played in the formally organised Saturday Morning Industrial League which was strongly supported by the Port Melbourne community. One of the most noteworthy of these clubs was the Railway United football club, whose players worked on the Sandridge railway, whose station is preserved here. This club formed during the early 1900s and in 1910 won the premiership in the Victorian Junior Football Association’s first grade league. From this time they were often considered the “junior league” to the Port Melbourne Football Club, even though at times there were financial tensions between the two clubs regarding costs of using the local grounds. When the VFA cancelled the football season in 1916 due to the ongoing First World War, the Junior league did not cancel their games, and during this time the Railway United Club was especially strongly supported by locals as they represented Port Melbourne around Victoria. Elsewhere, the Railway Club Hotel at 107 Raglan St, built in 1876, was the second hotel of this name in Port Melbourne, and was named for its association with railway workers during this period.
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