David Landini, Warren ‘Benji’ Maher, Dick Burmeister and Stephen ‘Rowdy’ Arthur.
It was a footy crowd minus the meat pies, but yarns and beers flowed freely.
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“It was yeah unreal time” said Stephen ‘Rowdy’ Arthur describing his time at the Wakool Football Club.
“I came out here in '89 as assistant coach, and they hadn't won a game for 35 games.”
“We ended up winning two flags in a row. There were three families that made up like three quarters of the team with four brothers and five brothers, and it was unreal.”
Rowdy along with more than 200 former players, volunteer and dedicated parents swapped yarns and poured over memorabilia that had been painstakingly gathered for the occasion.
Three premiership players Andy Gleeson, Stewart Ellis and Jeffrey Hamilton.
Event organiser Anne Hamilton with the help of Christine Dartnell spent months collecting valuable history to be on display and to also fill the pages of a book to mark the occasion.
“It ran pretty smoothly, and everyone was happy with the displays, they loved the book!” said Hamilton.
“They were there all day after the barbecue on Saturday, people were coming and going before the dinner and then we had all the guest speakers.”
Stuart Ellis regaled the crowd of his time at the club and the highlights of playing in three grand finals, 1976, 1978 and 1981. Brad Walton who coached the 1980 team followed up, before Warren ‘Benji’ Maher, coach of the 1989 and 1990 winning sides.
“Trevor Green, who I missed dearly. Trevor was instrumental in getting me to the club.” Said Maher
“Prior to that, I'd actually been at Koondrook in 1988, and David Mooring got me a job at the Water Commission.”
“I was working with Trevor Green, and they floated it to me, “would you like to come and coach?” I went and sat in his lounge room, and he said this is a good opportunity, which it turned out it was.”
Maher remembered fondly the players passion and larikin spirit, “The Lowry boys number one supporter was Jack Lowry.”
“Warren Lowry, used to run down the wing, and you could just always hear Jack, “Look at him go! By geez he can run!” I love that, he was so proud of his boys.”
“My really good friend who I who I grew very fond of, and we had great times with Ginger Lowry. He taught me to drink Bundaberg Rum pots at the pub, which was great, that used to be really good for me.” Maher added with a hint of sarcasm.
“Rodney Landini, great player, great man. fit as a fiddle, and would just bounce up every time.” recalled Maher
Another Landini on hand at the event was David, who grew up through the club.
“I started at Wakool in the under 16’s, and we had a very good coach, Neville Douthat.” said Landini.
“He concentrated on teaching us boys skills, drop punt in particular, marking. He worked hard on getting all of us kicking very accurately. Neville was a standout coach.”
“The game of football and the clubs like Wakool are essential. Wakool always had very good volunteers, club staff, you know, it's all voluntary.”
From the pioneers who carved out the ground with a grader and the hands that built the club house block by block, to the thousands of people the club has influenced during their time of operation, the Wakool Football Club will live on in the hearts minds of those who called the club home.
• Lloyd Polkinghorne is the general manager, editor and photographer at The Koondrook-Barham Bridge Newspaper.
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