BRENDAN LINES
THE Barmera-Monash Football Club is encouraging members past and present to take up a one-in-a-hundred-year chance to have their name permanently etched in its history.
This weekend the club celebrates its centenary across round seven of the RFL.
After Covid took its toll on centenary celebrations and finances in 2020, the club’s centenary wall initiative was created to commemorate its centenary and raise funds.
Individuals are being encouraged to buy a plaque baring their name and their contribution to the club, with applications open to any past or current players, coaches, officials, runners, or volunteers.
The plaques will be permanently fixed to the centenary wall.
Centenary wall co-ordinator, past player and life member Kym Manning said the initiative was “a different way to raise some money”.
“We did quite a lengthy renovation on the club for about $900,000 and we didn’t have income last year because there was no footy,” he said.
“It was no good doing a chook raffle where you’re going to pick up $1000 here and there. We needed to do something much more serious.
“We come across ideas of engraving the pavers out the front.
“I just happened to walk out the back door of the club with Des Drogemuller, who was a star back in the day and a reserves Magarey Medallist with Port Adelaide. We turned around and looked at the wall.
“But instead of buying a brick, I did some research and found the latest stuff in the US, which is a stainless-steel shim.
“We got on to a company in Sydney that imports it and got some samples sent over.
“I was really happy with it, because I had seen other stuff that was engraved which would tarnish and fade. I want this to stand for another hundred years.”
“We’re after the history,” Mr Manning said.
“We don’t just want somebody’s name, we want the plaque to tell us something about you.
“We want the wall to tell a story, so at half-time or the end of the game you can look back, or visitors might come to town, and say I remember playing with that bloke in the 1950s, 60s, 70s, and 80s, or whatever (period) it may be.”
So far, the club has sold approximately 100 plaques.
One of the stories told on the wall is that of past player Joe Hermanson’s father and uncle, both Rats of Tobruk.
“They grew up on the lake here, Dad was born in a tent on the lakeshore,” Mr Hermanson said.
“Uncle ‘Froggy’ was a great swimmer and he played in the 1937 grand final.”
“Dad was a little bit younger and started playing in 1938-39.
“They both went to war. Uncle ‘Froggy’ went to Gallipoli, then they were Rats of Tobruk.
“And when they came back, Dad came home to Barmera, and Uncle ‘Froggy’ stayed in Adelaide.”
The wall pays homage to the club’s connection with the Monash Football Club.
Club legend John Henwood, 87, said the clubs’ shared history goes back further than the 1957 merger.
“There were Monash players in the first premiership team in 1921,” he said.
“There was a bloke by the name of Mortimer, who rucked.”
The club will host a sportsman’s luncheon on July 17, while The Bonney Ball, a fixture of its social calendar, is on this Saturday night at the club.