**If the car’s rocking, don’t bother knocking! One had to wonder what was going on at the SEVILLE footy ground on Saturday when a RENAULT one-tonne van was seen stationary, but rocking rather solidly, just prior to half time in the senior game between SEVILLE and EMERALD. The rocking went on for more than five minutes before the back door opened and a male supporter emerged with a rather large smile on his face. The reason for the smile…he had just caught a spider that he had been trying to capture for the best part of two weeks. We told you Tim…no names would be mentioned here!
**We would never have a crack at volunteers here at FOOTY SHORTS, but one thing that is getting increasingly frustrating is the lack of detail being posted onto the new scoring portal…PlayHQ. Names are missing, scores are being added incorrectly, and some goal kickers have just not been added at all which makes it bloody difficult when you’re trying to fill a 16-page Footy Liftout each week. And the reason for bringing this up? We were bailed up by a club president on Saturday who had a crack at the lack of detail being included in one particular scoreboard. It turns out his own club hasn’t put goal-kickers down for the last two round’s they’ve played in.
**”They pop up like sprinklers, don’t they”…that was one humorous comment that was made last week about how sporting clubs become so popular with politicians at this stage of an election campaign. Visits to sporting clubs are all over the social media pages of politicians at the moment…making promises of this and that. But those that have been around a while won’t be fooled. Back in May 2019 similar promises were made by a sitting member of parliament and that funding is still nowhere to be seen. Let’s how important we remain when polling booth’s close on Saturday 21 May!
**BERWICK Football Club has celebrated the 150th game of…in our opinion…one of the unsung heroes of local football with Co-captain Tom Brennan reaching the significant career milestone. Beginning his career in 2011, Brennan becomes just the 11th player in the club’s storied history to reach 150 senior games, and he’s done it with style. The 2015, ’17 and ’18 premiership player has always had the capability of breaking teams down with his electric speed, and played a key role in Berwick’s electrifying brand of footy during those premiership years. Well done Tom on a fantastic career!
**While on milestones, congratulations go out to CRANBOURNE netballers Tara Cecil and Bec Sparks who have both celebrated their 200th games with the club. Sparks has been a fantastic player for the Eagles, while Cecil is a multiple-time league best and fairest winning defender who has dominated her end of the court for many years. And both are as loyal as they come…both Cranbourne Eagles for life.
**It’s been sad to see some great events cancelled over the last two years, but now equally as exciting to see them back on the agenda. TOORADIN-DALMORE recently held a function celebrating its best 25 players from the last 25 years, and now CORA LYNN is up to something similar. The Cobras Team of the Double Decade, originally scheduled for last year, will now be held at the Cranbourne Turf Club on Saturday 25 June. See the Cobras’ Facebook page for more details.
*There are some great events taking place this Saturday with PAKENHAM going way back and celebrating a reunion of its 1961, ’62 and ’72 senior premierships at Toomuc Reserve, while the CATANI army will be celebrated with the Blues hosting a past players, administrators and supporters day at Taplins Road. We’ve heard of some of the names on the invite list…both clubs are in for a big day!
**One of the great things about community football is the quality of fires that you see around the grounds, especially up in the hills where the temperature can sometimes drop to such lows that snow has fallen on the ground. But one hills club was almost the scene of a nasty accident on Saturday when a jacket caught fire after a patron got a little closer than required. The patron went from the warmest to coldest member of the crowd in an instant, after his jacket was removed and last seen burning on the ground. There were plenty of laughs as well…but it could have been much worse.
**Congratulations to PHILLIP ISLAND’s Max Walton and NAR NAR GOON’s Paddy Cross for being selected in the Colgate Young Guns team that took on Vic Metro Under-18’s at Werribee on Saturday. The special exhibition match gave players from the Young Guns – made entirely of draft-eligible players – the chance to put their names forward ahead of the AFL Mid-Season Draft. 18-year-old Walton and 19-year-old Cross were part of the winning team with the Young Guns defeating Vic Metro by 58 points.
**NAR NAR GOON claimed the Cunningham Cup with its big win over CORA LYNN on Saturday. John ‘Jumbo’ Cunningham was on hand to present the cup which is named in honour a family that has been heavily invested in both clubs for more than a century. Goon star Trent Armour was named best ground and received the Bill ‘Doc’ Doherty Medal for his performance.
