Vicki Cleary Day is an annual Australian rules football match in the Victorian Football League (VFL) hosted by the Coburg Football Club. The game is held in honour of Vicki Cleary, the sister of former Coburg captain and coach Phil Cleary, who was killed by her former partner in 1987.[1] [2]
The first match was held in 2017, and it has been held every year since (excluding 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic) with Coburg competing against various other clubs.[3] [4]
On 26 August 1987, Vicki Cleary was attacked and repeatedly stabbed at a kindergarten by Peter Keogh, her former partner. She was 25 when she was killed.[5] [6]
Keogh was acquitted of murder and convicted of manslaughter by a jury, spending less than four years in jail. He committed in suicide in 2001.[6]
At the time his sister was killed, Phil Cleary was the captain-coach of Coburg in the Victorian Football Association (now Victorian Football League). He retired at the end of the 1987 season after playing 205 games.[7] Cleary currently campaigns to stop male violence against women.[8]
| Year | Date | Home team | Away team | Ground | Winner | Margin | ||||
| 2017 | 30/4 | 3 | 11.13 (79) | Northern Blues | 21.15 (141) | Coburg City Oval | Northern Blues | 62 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 19/5 | 7 | 7.5 (47) | 10.12 (72) | Coburg City Oval | Collingwood | 25 | |||
| 2019 | 21/7 | 16 | 15.12 (102) | 16.9 (105) | Preston City Oval | North Melbourne | 3 | |||
| 2022 | 19/6 | 13 | 7.10 (52) | 15.14 (104) | Piranha Park | Richmond | 52 | |||
| 2023 | 13/5 | 8 | 12.8 (80) | 12.15 (87) | Piranha Park | Northern Bullants | 7 | |||
| 2024 | 21/7 | 17 | 11.9 (75) | 10.10 (70) | Piranha Park | Coburg | 5 |