Western Border Football League

[Grimmett]

A few questions if I may.
I realise that the Western Border Football League is actually considered a Victorian league as it comes under the auspices of the VCFL but it obviously has significant SA involvement. With Millicent and the four Mount Gambier sides in the competition it is unique in that it is equally divided across the border with five teams from each state participating. It is also the only major country league that has teams from two traditional footy states.
Is this a league that South Aussies see as one of their own or do they disregard it as being a Victorian league?
Does this league fall into the Glenelg zone for junior recruitment purposes?
If not, which team does 'control' the area?
Has the league traditionally provided many players to the SANFL?

I know that recently there have been a few ex-SANFL players making their way into the WBFL as coaches, even with the Vic sides as Brodie Atkinson has been in charge at Portland and has been replaced by another SANFL player whose name escapes me currently.
The WBFL has long been a strong VCFL major league but has recently slipped down to the lower half of the interleague structure. Has the league declined or is it unable to get a decent rep side on the park for some reason?

Sorry about all the questions but the league is of interest to a bloke growing up in the Wimmera region of Vic because they regularly belted us at interleague during the 70's and 80's.

Cheers, Grimmett.

[Grimmett]

No takers for this thread. Oh well.

[Wedgie]

has been replaced by another SANFL player whose name escapes me currently.

Mark Jeffries

PS Sorry, I know stuff all about footy down there but I know around the Mt Gambier region used to be a good recruiting area for the Bays although I know that the whole area used to follow the VFL a lot more strongly than the SANFL.

[ORDoubleBlues]

There are others here Grimmett who know a fair bit about the WBFL (I know you're watching Borat) but haven't posted or haven't seen this thread yet.
Spot on Wedgie and there have been some quality players from the South East in recent times including Nick Daffy, Matthew Clarke, Lucas Herbert (15 AFL games Wedgie) and Simon Feast amongst others.
Ryan Gamble (from Millicent I think) was just drafted into the AFL this year and Josh Krueger was on the Crows list for a couple of years.
Current Bays forward Duldig is from Millicent and several other Bay players have come from there over the years but due to reasons including what Wedgie stated in regards to their allegiance from the old VFL days, I think they are reluctant to come to the SANFL unless they think they are a chance of being drafted.

[Grimmett]

Thanks for the info guys. Interesting to hear that the region had a strong tradition of following the old VFL as the predominant Victorian view of South Australians is that they are so parochial they wouldn't follow anything except the SANFL and nowadays their preferred AFL team of either the Crows or Power. Makes sense however as I'm told by people involved with the WBFL that the relationships between the five teams based on each side of the border are strong and healthy.

[Wedgie]

There wouldn't be too many comps that could claim to having interstate games every week!

[Ian]

A major reason a lot of people from the lower South East followed the VFL was TV coverage, they had a lot better coverage of Vic footy down there than SA footy.

[am Bays]

Having helped our development officers conduct several clinics in the South east I can vouch that the SE is a fertile breeding ground for Glenelg Footballers. Our country zone used to do very well in ol Samboy cup each year, and as others have stated several current AFL and Glenelg Footballers have come from "the Mount"

In '94 for pre-season we played a WBFL team down in the Mount coached by Billy Picken. I'd be surprised if most of Glenelg's draftees haven't come from the KNT, MSE or WBF leagues.

Can vouch for the fact the Mount is Victorian centric as they get VIC WIN TV and most pubs promote VB over the Nectar of the Gods (WE Draught). As someone who lives in the Wimmera, Victorians are strange......

[Ian]

Can vouch for the fact the Mount is Victorian centric as they get VIC WIN TV Wimmera,

It's odd watching TV down the mount, some comes from SA, some from Vic, a couple of stations are even duplicated and you can choose to watch some show normal SA time, or 1/2 hour earlier on Mexican time.

[ORDoubleBlues]

Hey TASSIE MEDALIST, did you ever coach a guy in the Samboy Cup called Kelvin Dennert?
Apparently he was a decent player, but you should see him these days, you wouldn't believe it was the same person.

[am Bays]

I was only a trainer at the Bays, so used to help out with the U/15 Samboy Cup, 1990 to 1996, so Kelvin Dennert doesn't ring a bell. Not to say he wasn't involved in my time.

Simon Cox is the player with the highest profile in my time at the BAy through country Samboy Cup.

[boags]

Simon Cox is the player with the highest profile in my time at the BAy through country Samboy Cup.

Cox rucked against us in Samboy Cup in '92 and kicked about 2 goal 12 in a team score of 3 goal 15 to beat us (Eyre Peninsula) by 2 points. I think he stopped growing at that point.
Is South Gambiers domination of the competition likely to continue this year, or are blokes like Mullen, Capewell, Salmon getting past their used by date?

[am Bays]

Boags,

Was at that game one of the interesting sidelines to that game and only seen by a few Glenelg officials, was that one of the umpires in that games was one Justin Schmitt. Given the closeness of the game it was very willing and country boys being country boys were given it out to the opposition and to the umpires and the umpiring was mini-league standard not U/15 standard.

Schmitt walked out of the umpires hut at the back of Scumberton crying, 1980 thinks to himself, "well if kids are going to make you cry what chance have you got of making as a league umpire?"

not the first time or the last that I got that wrong......

[Grimmett]

Been interested to read all the comments guys. Thanks.

I know it has happened on my side of the border but it will be a talking point throughout the WBFL I'm sure. Jason Mifsud, former premiership coach with Koroit in the Hampden FL, was appointed today as an assistant coach at St Kilda along with Mick McGuane. Mifsud was a big coaching appointment for Hamilton in the WBFL at the end of the 2005 season and has not stayed at the helm long enough to run more than a handful of training sessions. As a strong club within the league Hamilton will now find themselves in the unaccustomed position of chasing the rest of the league at the moment.

[ORDoubleBlues]

Been interested to read all the comments guys. Thanks.

I know it has happened on my side of the border but it will be a talking point throughout the WBFL I'm sure. Jason Mifsud, former premiership coach with Koroit in the Hampden FL, was appointed today as an assistant coach at St Kilda along with Mick McGuane. Mifsud was a big coaching appointment for Hamilton in the WBFL at the end of the 2005 season and has not stayed at the helm long enough to run more than a handful of training sessions. As a strong club within the league Hamilton will now find themselves in the unaccustomed position of chasing the rest of the league at the moment.

Have some sympathy there for Hamilton Grimmett, as I'm sure Mifsud is a good coach but you wouldn't expect to lose someone in those circumstances at this stage. While I'm not a big fan of the Butterss/Thomas regime at St Kilda, at least they were willing to look outside the square for coaching appointments.

[Grimmett]

DOYLE’S A MAGPIE
Coaching role for former Saint leader

First published by:

Wimmera Mail-Times
Friday, January 27, 2006

By Megan Hustwaite

Former Wimmera Football League representative Glenn Doyle, 31, will continue his playing and coaching career outside the Wimmera.
Doyle told the Mail-Times this week he had signed as playing coach with Western Border League club Hamilton.
“I’m really excited about it,” he said. “It’s a fresh environment, fresh club and fresh people. They have no preconceptions about Glenn Doyle. “I’ll get my body right and start fresh.”
Doyle, former Horsham Saints coach, replaces Jason Mifsud who is now assistant coach at AFL club St Kilda.
“Hamilton understands that I’ve been injury prone in the past and is accepting of that,” Doyle said. “My work as territory manager with Nestle means I’m in that area a lot anyway, so I’ll spend 70 or 80 percent of my week in Hamilton. My wife has been very supportive about it. I wouldn’t do it unless she was 120 percent behind me. I think she’s more excited at the prospect of me being a playing coach than I am.”
Doyle said he had spoken to several Wimmera clubs but his goal was always to coach as well as play.
“I spoke to a few clubs but I wanted to coach a major league club and the majority of clubs already had coaches,” he said. “This position came up about 10 days ago and I believe it was too good to refuse. I need to be able to play, coach and test myself at the highest level.”
Hamilton won the league premiership in 2004 and finished second in 2005.
“It is a perennial finalist, its under 18 side has won the past few flags and it has a good junior structure,” Doyle said. “The off-field setup is really professional, one of the best I’ve seen in Victoria.”
The club started pre-season training this week and Doyle will take over in two weeks.
“I’ve got a good assistant coach in Steve Nicholl and a good support network,” he said. “From what they tell me the side lacked running in its game last season and a running game where players link up and run is something I developed at the Saints. I’m going to work extremely hard, I won’t leave any stone unturned.”

[Grimmett]

PIES COACH TAKE TWO

First published by:

Hamilton Spectator
Thursday, January 26, 2006

By Michael Howard

HAMILTON Football Club is ready to re-launch its 2006 pre-season, having announced Glenn Doyle as its senior coach.
After a testing few months, which brought the club under the national spotlight following the hiring and release of Jason Mifsud as senior coach, the Magpies are ready to dig their fingers into the new season.
The new face of the club has been unveiled, with former Port Melbourne footballer and more recently Horsham Saints coach, Doyle, handed the reins to the 2004 premier.
"He has the right credentials for what we want and with his wife, Rowena, and two kids he is looking forward to making the next step," Hamilton president, Ashley Crow, said. "Glenn is very much into strategic planning. He is very organised and along with Steve Nichol (assistant coach), Colin Riddle (thirds coach) and Scott Ogle (reserves coach) we have a very good coaching panel."
Doyle's signing comes just a fortnight after Mifsud dropped the bombshell that he had been appointed St Kilda Football Club assistant coach, a shock that Hamilton has responded to quickly and cleanly.
"We had some contacts throughout the district and around Australia. I did a bit of homework before it was 100 per cent that Jason would leave and put a few things into place to see what would happen if he did leave. Once he confirmed he was going to St Kilda, the main aim was to get things moving forward."
Doyle, 31, comes from good football stock, which has enjoyed a long association with VFL club, Port Melbourne, where for three seasons he took his own football to a higher level.
Having spent two years playing senior football with South Melbourne districts in Southern Football League, Doyle then aligned with Port Melbourne.
He played with the latter from 1994 to 1996, learning from the likes of club coaches David Cloke and Shane Molloy.
"It is a family tradition," he said. "My uncle, Frank Johnston, is regarded as one of the best VFA players of all time. He has an interstate medal named after him and was in Port Melbourne's Team of the Century. My three older brothers played with Port in the early 80s when it was a dominant side, Shane was a dual premiership player and my older brothers Craig and Brendan also played for Port."
However, after two years in the VFA and one in the VFL holding down a defensive post with the Boroughs, Doyle moved west.
"It was a change of lifestyle decision," he said. "I met a girl (Rowena) who is now my wife. She's a Horsham girl and we decided to try the country lifestyle and nine years later are married with two children (John, 5, and Thomas, 2). I was 23 when I left Port, so I really hadn't reached my potential, but it was more of a lifestyle decision than a football orientated one."
The tall and talented utility settled in the Wimmera, aligning with St Michael's which has since become Horsham Saints, and carving out a career with the major league club which would last for almost a decade.
"I spent nine years at Horsham Saints, the first four as an assistant coach, then as a player for another three. For the last two years I have been senior coach. During my time at Horsham Saints they have missed the finals only once and have played in four grand finals but managed to lose them all. We were beaten by four points by Ararat in 2001, that was the closest we have come, while in 1998 we lost to Murtoa by 24 points."
The latter are results that don't sit too well with Doyle.
"It nags away a little; parting ways with Horsham Saints and not having won a flag is a bit of a bugbear. We finished in the top two or three for four of my nine years and to not come up with a premiership was disappointing."
One of the finals campaigns includes Doyle's first year as coach, when he improved the Saints from fifth to second in 2004 and then finals again in 2005, when they finished fourth.
"There were some good juniors coming through when I first took over and we were expected to finish fourth or fifth, but made the grand final. From the feedback that I have been given, Hamilton's under-18s are very strong and will be coming through the ranks, so it seems like a similar challenge."
It appears the correlation between the two clubs is strong and, having parted ways with the Saints under indifferent circumstances, Doyle is keen to carve out a new chapter in his career.
"Basically, Horsham Saints wanted to sign a coach from outside the club; to lure a big name," he said. “They haven't been able to do that, but that was what they were looking for. I wanted to continue to coach in a major league, but there was initially not a position available. The unique situation then arose where a major league club had a well respected coach who gained a job in the AFL and subsequently a position came up."
As a territory manager for Nestles, the western district is on Doyle's radar and subsequently relocating an hour's south was an attractive option.
"It was an opportunity to still coach in a major league and to continue coaching and working with the young fellas was also attractive," he said. “The professionalism of the players and coaches is very high, additionally Hamilton Football Club has a set-up that is second to none that I have seen. Ashley (Crow) and Gordon (Uebergang) were very professional about the club and I see it as the right fit."
So now it is on to 2006.
"We will lose five or six players from last year and pick up four or five," Crow said. “We will be thereabouts. We will play a lot more kids; that is something that I'm desiring to see happen and so are Glenn Doyle and Steve Nichol. Perhaps we are looking at 2007 more than 2006 at this stage, but if we can put another good on-baller in the mix, we will not be looking too bad."
Notably, Doyle's inclusion is expected to help offset the loss of Gareth Abrahamson to Casterton, where he has taken on the role of senior coach.
Abrahamson, a strong marking and straight shooting key position player, held down full-forward while assistant coach of the Magpies for the past two seasons and its expected Doyle will be able to step into that role.
"I can pretty much play anywhere down the spine and will play in the position that most suits the team," he said. "It will be a see how it goes situation."
According to Crow, much of the Magpies' recruiting work had been done, but there remains one major objective before the first ball is bounced.
"The main aim of the football department is to now find a very good on-baller," he said. The positive that has come out of our association with Jason Mifsud is that we have made a lot more contacts. We are certainly better to have known Jason Mifsud than not, he has enhanced our club and enhanced our reputation both in the district and beyond that circle, that's something that certainly played a role in us picking up Glenn Doyle."
In the meantime, the Magpies are hoping to get improved numbers at training, launching into the pre-season with a Meet the Coach night on Monday at Alexandra House from 6pm.
"I encourage all players that might be sitting on the fence or unsure about which way they will go in 2006 to listen to what I have to say," Doyle said.
It was a message echoed by Crow.
"Now that everything is in place and we have good numbers on the books, particularly for under-18s and reserves, I'm asking everyone to get stuck in and build up to 2006."

[Grimmett]

WBFL enlists a CEO

February 1, 2006

THE Western Border Football League has appointed a full-time chief executive officer.

League president Craig Keating said yesterday Marc Turri had been employed to fill the new position.

Turri, formerly of Portland, was the sponsorship and events co-ordinator for the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

He previously was sponsorship and marketing manager with the Williamstown Football Club and administrative manager of the Williamstown and Western Jets football clubs.

Keating said he had been pleasantly surprised with the quality of the 11 applicants, including interested candidates from NSW and Queensland.


``It was a very difficult decision but we are confident that with the appointment of Marc we have secured an exceptional person,'' he said.

League secretary David Burge said appointing a chief executive officer was a big change.

He said the league had been planning for 12 months and the $50,000 appointment was a large commitment.

Turri will start work on March 1. He is moving to Portland and will work from an office at Hamilton.

The Western Border league is the 13th of the 16 major leagues in the VCFL to appoint a full-time CEO. The Hampden league still has a part-time general manager.


This story was found at: http://the.standard.net.au/articles/200 ... 34158.html

[Rushby Hinds]

Hey, just found this thread. I grew up in the Mount (cheers ORDB) and spent many a saturday watching South Gambier lose when i was a kid.

The SA teams only are aligned to the Glenelg FC. Used to be South ADelaide, Matt Clarke is the last recruit from the South east to head to South Adelaide.

the longest road trip for a team was from Millicent to Portland.

While the weekly interstate clashes were always interesting, the major rivalry was between the Mt Gambier clubs (4 of them, but particularly East v South) but more fierce was the 2 Hamilton teams when they played each other.


Hamilton people are either Hamilton OR Imperials. No middle ground.


One of the star players from one team crossed to the other as coach about 10 years ago, and 5 years later his wife told me that people from the old club still wouldn't talk to them if they crossed paths...


The GFC embraced the South East about 5(?) years ago, and has spent a lot of time and $$ nurturing the local area, and it is paying off in absolute spades.

[the observer]

Can anybody let me know about a lad who played at East Gambier by the name of Troy Edwards