Hazelwood Football Club was established in 1890, and an Under 20 team won the first Premiership of any kind in 1901. After participation in various local competitions, in 1908 the Club entered the Morwell & District League. In the early days, The Woodies played their home games on paddocks provided by local farmers along Church Road in Hazelwood North. The Club’s senior team reached its first Grand Final in 1911, led by Coach and Captain Arthur Neal, and losing the replay after a draw. After World War One, the Club joined the Mirboo, Morwell & District League. In these early years, the Club had many champions, including Frank Bolding, Norry Monteith, and Arthur Huguenin. And the first of 17 players who have reached AFL/VFL standard was Frank Silcock who joined the St Kilda Football Club in 1921. In the 1920s, although the Club continued to raise a Junior team, the senior team went into recession. The Club’s fortunes were not improved when, in 1994, a devastating bush fire destroyed its headquarters at the Hazelwood North Mechanics Institute in Church Road. After World War Two, the Club again raised a senior team through the efforts of Joe Bolding Junior, Eric Rowley and others. In 1946, the Club joined the Mid Gippsland Football League (“MGFL”), and initially home games were played on a paddock in Silcock’s Road. Then in 1947 the Club moved to the Hazelwood South Reserve in Tramway Road which would be its home ground until 1971. The Club was a member of the MGFL for 38 years. Under Coach Kevin Davis, it won its first senior Premiership in 1951 (with Kevin and the team repeating the feat in 1952 and 1953) and, in the next 30 years, it would go on to win a total of seven senior MGFL Premierships. In 1965 the State government changed the name of the town of Hazelwood to Churchill. Initially, this was a disputed decision and between 1970 and 1980 the Club played as Hazelwood-Churchill. When the new name of the town was eventually confirmed, in 1981 the Club changed its name to the Churchill Football Club. In the meantime, in 1971 the Club relocated from Tramway Road to its current home ground at Gaskin Park. With mounting success on the field, in the early 1980s the Club resolved to join the Latrobe Valley Football League (“LVFL”). In preparation for this change, in 1981 it changed its maroon and white colours which clashed with those of another LVFL team the Traralgon Football Club. The Club was rebadged as The Kangaroos playing in the blue and white stripes of North Melbourne. They were admitted to the LVFL in 1984. The Club was a member of the LVFL for eleven seasons when the team struggled against better resourced teams. Consequently, in 1995 it moved to the North Gippsland Football League (“NGFL”). Again because of a clash with an existing team (Heyfield), the Club changed its colours to the current blue and gold and adopted the nickname The Cougars. 

During its time in what is now the North Gippsland Football Netball League, the Club has appeared in nine senior Grand Finals and won five senior Premierships. But it has not been all plain sailing. In 1999 the Club rooms were destroyed by fire. The Club rose from the ashes, and in 2000 expanded to include the local netball club to form the Churchill Football Netball Club (“CFNC”). Netball soon became an integral part of the Club’s activities and the A Grade team won its first NGFNL Grand Final in 2004, with a second Premiership in 2012. Finally, over many years, the Club has benefitted from the success of the separate Churchill Junior Football Club, with a steady flow of players into the senior teams. In 2019, the Junior Club amalgamated with the CFNC. In the modern era, the Club has had many champions. The top scorer in senior games is Graham Cranwell who kicked 565 goals between 1960 and 1975. Alan Norman holds the record for most senior goals in a single game, with 20 goals against Erica in 1955. And, with 108 goals in 1998, Nathan Macdonald holds the record for kicking the most senior goals in a season.