On the night of Saturday 30 June, Karoonda Oval hosted the second annual Booragoon Junior FC Dads (The ‘Bulldads’) versus Brentwood Booragoon FC Veterans footy match.
In an effort to raise funds and forge even stronger relationships between the two club, we play an annual football match between the Dads of the junior football club and the Veterans of the senior football club.
The game was played under lights in front of a crowd of hundreds of parents and children from both clubs. The evening was a great social event with a sausage sizzle, a bar, a raffle and a wine tasting. The children were also treated with the presence of a face painter for the evening. We did have to stress to a few players that the face painting was strictly for the children.
It was beautiful sunny day and both teams were looking forward to serving up the free flowing football that both clubs are renowned for. Unfortunately, the game was played at night and the dew on the grass only ensured the kit washer was going to be busy the following week.
The Bulldads had prepared for the game by invading the Vets’ usual Thursday training session for the previous four weeks. The Vets had welcomed the presence of their opposition by including us in all drills in the hope that a few of us would pull a muscle or two. The Bulldads duly obliged, sustaining an array of injuries such as pulled hamstrings, calf strains, and rheumatoid arthritis.
Forget the fact that most of us hung up our footy boots years ago. We have all spent years attending our children’s Auskick sessions. This was now our chance to show the kids that kicking the ball straight results in three things: Goals, Uncontested Marks and Grade 3 Hamstring Tears.
As for the match itself, it was a thriller. The Bulldads Coach, Booragoon JFC President Scott Lieschke, gave his pre-match team talk in the style of John Kennedy Snr as his booming voice reverberated around Karoonda, letting anyone within a 3km radius know exactly what his tactics were. The ‘Bulldads’ ran onto the ground wearing garish lime green jumpers, carefully selected by the Brentwood Booragoon Club President Tom Atkinson. Thankfully for the ‘Bulldads’, Tom couldn’t locate any hot pink jumpers.
The first siren sounded and battle commenced. Although fiercely contested, the game was played in great spirit. Neither group of players wanted to lose in front of their families and it showed as tackles flew in from the start. Despite the intensity, it was a one sided first quarter on the scoreboard as the Vets kicked three goals to nothing. However, in the second quarter the ‘Bulldads’ fought back valiantly with a few goals of their own.
At half time there was only a goal or two in it as Scott again rallied the troops. The third quarter saw the Vets kick away again to give themselves some breathing room at three quarter time. But, just as they did in the first half, the ‘Bulldads’ fought back once more in the final term and finished the game on the attack.
However, even though the ‘Bulldads’ began with 24 enthusiastic players, the number of enthusiastic replacements on the bench dwindled after half time as fatigue, injuries and the short walk to the bar took their toll. The Vets’ kicking accuracy proved to be the difference as they ran out winners with a final score of Vets 8.2.50 to the ‘Bulldads’ 4.6.30.
The ‘Dads v Vets Trophy’ was presented at the end of the game to Brentwood Booragoon for the second straight year. Prizes were also awarded to those players voted Best on Ground for each team. Tim Gibbons was voted Best on Ground for the Bulldads with Dave Glass and Tony Grosse making up the Bulldads’ top three.
Once again, the night was a massive success both on and off the field. Both sets of players enjoyed the game, the spectators were treated to an entertaining match, both clubs raised plenty of funds, the children all went home with butterflies and spider webs painted on their faces and, most importantly, no one got food poisoning from the sausage sizzle.
We are already in discussions with Brentwood Booragoon FC to arrange next season’s game which may be played as early as April as a season opener for both clubs. That should give the ‘Bulldads’ just enough time to recover from general soreness.
Both clubs would like to thank all of those people who gave up their time to make the night such a success!