St Paul's Bentleigh Football Club was founded in 1948 under the name of Bentleigh CYMS (Catholic Young Men's Society). St Paul's played in a competition inviting teams from Catholic Parishes in the metropolitan area to join them.
The home ground of the local boys was McKinnon Reserve No. 2 Oval, where they had a little tin shed as their club room.
The inaugural Coach and Captain of the club was Mick Abowizk who, with his brother Henry, played in the Club's first Premiership in 1953.
Henry Abowizk is the father of Philip, a recently retired St Paul’s player and remaining staunch supporter of the Club.
The first guernsey worn by the club was navy blue with a gold stripe. The original guernseys were donated to the Club by Billy Springfield.
The boys paid 6c a week to play and as cars were not as plentiful in those days; the Bentleigh Bus Company supplied a free bus to take the players to the games. John Suher was one of the players from the early days and his family owned the bus company. The Club often ran Square Dances at St Paul's Church Hall to raise money.
The Club changed guernseys to the red white and blue in the mid 70's when CYMS suggested that Clubs begin wearing a VFL look alike as they were cheaper to buy. The name of the Club was also changed to St Paul's Bentleigh when the YCW competition folded in 1979 and St Pauls was accepted in the ESCFA (Eastern Suburbs Churches Football Association) Competition for season 1980, in 'E' Division.
St Paul's successfully applied for the Bentleigh Recreation Reserve at this time and were runners up to Black Rock in this first year with ESCFA. The ESCFA had a policy of promoting both Premiers and Runners Up and so St Pauls moved to D Division and what a year 1981 turned out to be.
Both teams made the finals, Kevin Cochrane kicked 100 goals, Stephen Doherty won the League's Best and Fairest and the ultimate ... the Seniors defeated Balwyn Combined by 4 goals in the Grand Final. Once more St Pauls went up a rung to play in 'C' Division in 1982, which brought no great success over the next two seasons.
In fact 1983 was a very disruptive time for the club off the field due to the fact that Moorabbin was being reaccepted into the VFA competition and Moorabbin Council decided to upgrade Bentleigh Recreation Reserve with new Clubrooms and the resurfacing of the ground.
This left St Paul's in limbo as far as a home ground for 1984. Old Haileyburnians had been made co-tenants with Moorabbin at McKinnon from season 1983. After much discussion and many meetings it was agreed that St Paul's would move back to McKinnon and share the facilities with Old Haileyburnians who play in the Amateurs Association.
These arrangements remain in place today.
The move proved very successful for St Paul's on the field in 1984. An influx of new players and a new player / coach Geoff McKie bought both the St Pauls teams to the Grand Final. Both teams were runner up and they were again promoted this time to B Division for season 1985.
The performance of 1984 was repeated in the 1985 season and the club had made it to 'A' Division in record time.
The standard of competition in A grade made the going tough and more money was needed to keep the Club afloat, so there were difficult times ahead. Lack of success finishing 1986 in 7th position, dwindling player numbers, mounting debt, the lack of helpers around the club and sometimes fielding reserves teams with only fourteen or fifteen players, spelt doom.
So it was that at the end of season 1987 a decision had to be made ... was the club to fold or seek an amalgamation with a neighboring club and start fresh.
The club was in debt and a past player who had the clubs best interest at heart, Les 'Legend' Bruton, came to the party, offering to help financial with an interest free loan. Needless to say, the generous offer was accepted and after several meetings Peter Casano took on the position of president and the club was up and running once again.
The next two seasons became a rebuilding time both on and off the field.
Past players were encouraged to become a part of the club, more sponsors were approached to help financially, social functions were upgraded, and endeavors to make the St Pauls “Doggies” a club where people wanted to be, proved successful.