Dockerty Cup

The Dockerty Cup is an annual association football knock-out competition open to all Victorian clubs across the Victorian football league system. The tournament is named after the former president of Football Federation Victoria Harry Dockerty,[1] and since 2014 is also a qualifying competition for the FFA Cup.

Dockerty Cup
Organising bodyFootball Victoria
Founded1909 (1909)
Region Victoria
Number of teams223 (in 2020)
Qualifier forFFA Cup,
FV Community Shield
Current champions2019: Hume City
(1st title)
Most successful club(s)Melbourne Knights
(9 titles)
Television broadcastersFacebook Live
WebsiteFootball Victoria
2020 FFA Cup preliminary rounds
2020 Dockerty Cup

History

The competition was established in 1909 and held every season with the exception of 3 years during World War I (1916, 1917, 1918). Following the 1996 season the Dockerty Cup was in recess before returning in 2004 as the "Crazy John's Cup", it would be run for three seasons before re-entering recess following the 2006 season. A Victorian cup competition was reintroduced in 2011, known as the "Mirabella Cup" due to naming rights sponsorship, with a new trophy. That arrangement lasted only one season, with the competition being named the "FFV State Knockout Cup" in 2012 and 2013. However, in both years, the winner was awarded with the Dockerty Cup trophy.[2][3] From the 2014 season onwards, it is once again known as the Dockerty Cup.

Format

Eligibility

Participation in the Dockerty Cup is mandatory for the senior men's team from every Victorian club within the National Premier Leagues and the State Leagues, and optional for teams from the Regional Leagues. Because the competition serves as the Preliminary Rounds for the FFA Cup competition, only one team per Club is eligible. This means that the National Premier League Victoria 2 sides of Melbourne Victory Youth and Melbourne City Youth are excluded from the competition, as their parent A-League sides automatically qualify for the FFA Cup at the Round of 32.

Additionally if a Victorian club wins the NPL Championship – as occurred with Heidelberg United in the 2018 Dockerty Cup – they are excluded from the preliminary rounds as they have also qualified for the FFA Cup at the Round of 32. Instead they join the Dockerty Cup competition in a special playoff round match held the week prior to the semi-finals.[4]

Competition format

The competition acts a classic single-elimination knock-out tournament, with one team progressing from each tie to the next round. Fixtures for each round are determined by a random draw, with teams entering the tournament on a staggered basis, depending on their respective positions in the league hierarchy. The team drawn first hosts the match, with the final being held at a neutral venue. No replays are currently utilised in the Dockerty Cup, with a drawn match going to 30 minutes of extra time and eventually a penalty shoot-out if necessary.

FFA Cup

Since 2014, the Dockerty Cup has also served as preliminary competition for the FFA Cup, from the First Qualifying Round to the Seventh Round. The four semi-finalists of the Dockerty Cup qualify as Victoria's representatives, at the Round of 32. In 2020, the FFA Cup competition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.[5]

FederationCompetitionTotal FFA Cup Victorian Entrants
2014201520162017201820192020
NationalA-League222222–
NPL Champions––––1––
Football VictoriaDockerty Cup190 → 4191 → 4202 → 4217 → 4217 → 4214 → 4–
Total Victorian
Round of 32 Qualifiers		666676–

FV Community Shield

Since 2014 the Dockerty Cup winners also qualify for the following season's single-match FV Community Shield, a new season opener played against the previous season's NPL Victoria champions. From 2014, the tournament has also served as a qualifier for the FFA Cup round of 32, with the four semi-finalists serving as Victoria's representatives in the national competition.

Prize fund

The prize fund for the 2018 Dockerty Cup is detailed below.[6]

RoundNo. of Clubs
receive fund		Prize fund
Play-off Loser1$2,500
Semi-finalists2$2,500
Runner-up1$5,000
Champion1$10,000
Total5$22,500

Media coverage

In 2019 it was announced that Football Victoria had signed a three-year broadcast arrangement with YouTube and Facebook that will see the Dockerty Cup's semi-finals and final broadcast live.[7]

Additionally each draw of the Dockerty Cup round's are broadcast live on Football Victoria's Facebook page, while a number of clubs will provide live score updates during each match either via the clubs official website, Facebook, or Twitter.

Records and honours

Dockerty Cup finals (current format since 2014)
Year Winner (Titles) Score Runner-up Total
clubs		 FFA Cup Qualifiers
[note 1]
2014 Melbourne Knights (9) 1–0 (aet) South Springvale 190 Bentleigh Greens Melbourne Knights South Springvale St Albans Saints N/A
2015 South Melbourne (8) 3–0 Oakleigh Cannons 191 Heidelberg United Hume City Oakleigh Cannons South Melbourne N/A
2016 Bentleigh Greens (1) 1–0 (aet) Green Gully 202 Bentleigh Greens Green Gully Hume City Melbourne Knights N/A
2017 Heidelberg United (1) 1–1 (aet)
5–4 (pens)		 Bentleigh Greens 217 Bentleigh Greens Heidelberg United Hume City South Melbourne N/A
2018 Bentleigh Greens (2) 2–0 Heidelberg United 217 Avondale Bentleigh Greens Northcote City Port Melbourne Heidelberg United
[note 2]
2019 Hume City (1) 1–0 Melbourne Knights 214 Bulleen Lions Hume City Melbourne Knights Moreland Zebras N/A
2020 Dockerty Cup and 2020 FFA Cup cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.[5]

List of Dockerty Cup winners (1909–2013)
1 Finalists : game abandoned
2 won on replay, after original match was drawn.
3 Awarded upon successful protest, after Melbourne Croatia had won the match 4–3, but had fielded an ineligible player.[8][9][10]

Overall Honours
ClubWinnersRunners-UpWinning Years
Melbourne Knights
(Croatia, Essendon Croatia, Melbourne Croatia)		971968, 1969, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1985, 1990, 1996, 2014
Melbourne Hakoah
(Moreland-Hakoah, Melbourne St. Kilda)		871935, 1945, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1966, 1973
South Melbourne
(South Melbourne Hellas)		841974, 1975, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995, 2015
Brunswick Juventus
(Juventus, Brunswick United Juventus)		671960, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1977, 1987
Footscray Thistle521919, 1927, 1929, 1930, 1932
Brighton531933, 1937, 1943, 1944, 1952
Green Gully Cavaliers
(Green Gully Ajax)		511981, 1982, 1986, 2004, 2013

Notes
  1. Four clubs qualify as semi-finalists, plus a fifth qualifier if the NPL Champions are a Victorian club.
  2. Heidelberg United qualified as the 2017 National Premier Leagues Champions and entered the Dockerty Cup in a special playoff round match held the week prior to the semi-finals.

References
  1. Syson, Ian (2012-05-15). "Neos Osmos: Henry John Dockerty, 1882–1965". Neososmos.blogspot.com.au. Retrieved 2016-10-31.
  2. "Match Report Dandenong Thunder Win First State Knockout Cup Via Penalty Shootout". www.goalweekly.com. Archived from the original on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2016-10-31
  3. "Fleming, Symons claim first Silverware as coaches". www.greengully.com. Archived from the original on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2016-10-31
  4. "Dockerty Cup 2018 Competition Regulations" (PDF). Football Federation Victoria. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 May 2018. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  5. "Coronavirus forces FFA Cup to be cancelled". The World Game. SBS. 7 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  6. "Dockerty Cup 2018 Competition Regulations" (PDF). Football Federation Victoria. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 May 2018. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  7. "Football Victoria Announces Game-Changing Broadcast Deal For NPL Victoria in 2019". Football Victoria. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  8. http://www.ozfootball.net/ark/States/VIC/1988DockertyCup.html
  9. "Dockerty Cup". Ozfootball.net. Retrieved 2016-10-31.
  10. Dockerty Cup
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