One hundred years of football will be celebrated in the Great Flinders league this weekend as their Centenary celebrations kick off with the association match against their nemesis Port Lincoln.
The home team will run out under the tutelage of first time Great Flinders coach Craig 'Ferret' Curtis, who has proudly played for the side over many years.Captain is George Pedler, who takes on the role 54 years after his grandfather Vin Pedler led Great Flinders.
George says it's a proud time for the club.
"Oh there's a huge amount of pride I mean the guernsey has been worn by a lot of great players and a lot of those will be present so there's yeah a real honour and it's great to be a part of it," he says.
The Great Flinders captain says that the side trained very well with all players keen to line up and represent their team.
Vice captain is Daniel Wedd who will be part of the difficult to penetrate Great Flinders backline, joined by Tysan 'Rooster' Mickan, James 'Flog' Pedler and past Eyre Peninsula representative Mark Habner.
Some tough courageous footballers will be lining up in the middle with George, Scott 'Jock' Blacker (who also just celebrated a birthday - happy days), possibly Jimmy Chard as well as the very good, fast, electrifying footballer with a proud Port Lincoln history - Joseph Burgoyne.
In the Great Flinders forward line we'll see the strong hands of Jim Holman who's been playing in the maroon since high school and has been performing well up forward for Ramblers this season, as well as dual Mail Medallist Hayden Parker.
But while the passion and will to win is strong in the Great Flinders camp, a whisper has come in that the Port Lincoln team selection and guernsey 'presentation' night was flat, so the question remains - can they lift up in order to take it to their rivals?
Port Lincoln sporting correspondent Bluey Dunn thinks they can.
Bluey was a representative of the Port Lincoln side in 1950 and says that he'll never forget playing against Great Flinders , despite being severely concussed in the match.
"Any person picked for Port Lincoln should be proud of that position to play, should defend it to death and get stick into it... so you Port Lincoln boys, we're expecting a lot out of you, no shirking it, get into it, get stuck into it and win this game," he says.
Port Lincoln will line up with two captains, Andrew 'the wall' Jericho at centre half back and co-captain the 'gladiator' Matthew Goodwin (also known as the Scarlett Pimpernel by Bluey) with vice captain Craig Reincke in full back.
Bluey says the Port Lincoln side will line up with five Mail Medallists on the ground.
"They can all be used as on-ballers, mid-fielders or they can push forward or go back and that starts with Wes Bilney, then Harry Miller (from Hawthorn), Matthew Keatley, Matthew Godwin, Murray Kelsh who can play in the upper half forward even be put back in the pocket or around the centre bounce, and of course you'll have the rucks being led by Jesse Kemp who's in remarkable form," Bluey says.
In late news, Yoey Wagner is believed to have sustained a injury to his rear end in a staple gun incident on Friday afternoon. Whether or not that will keep him out of the side, we'll have to wait and see.
The games kick off at Cummins oval at 9.30am with the Under 13s playing four 12 minute quarters. Trophy presentation will be held after the game next to the change rooms.
The Under 15s will play 2 x 15 minute halves and begins at 10.30 with Great Flinders Vs Lincoln Districts, at 11.10 it's Lincoln Districts Vs Lincoln City, then at 11.50 it's Lincoln City Vs Great Flinders.
The Under 15s trophy presentation will take place next to the change rooms after the games.
The Under 17s begins at 12.30pm, again playing 2 x 15 minute halves with Great Flinders Vs Lincoln Districts, at 1.10 Lincoln Districts Vs Lincoln City and then at 1.50pm Great Flinders Vs Lincoln City. Again the trophy presentation will be held after the games at the change rooms.
The League match will kick off at 2.30 when the teams line up for the Australian National Anthem, the coin toss and a short speech to mark the occasion.
At around 2.45pm the A Grade game will begin, playing four 20 minute quarters plus time on. At the end of the match the trophy presentation will take place on the oval.
A display will also be open for viewing in the Cummins Bowling Club during the day, with memorabillia and photographs of Great Flinders history.
Check out what's happening in the Great Flinders Vs Port Lincoln netball games in the report by Brooke Neindorf.
After the games are played, there is an evening event at the Cummins town hall with the auction of the heritage guernsey's, guest speaker former Adelaide Crow Shaun Rehn and more.
To check out what the weather will be doing, take a look at the four day forecast on our website. At this stage looks like wet and windy.
Wudinna will be hosting a round robin interleague game between them, Eastern Eyre and Far West this weekend.
In a Mortlock Shield type of day, the gates will open at 8.30am with a bacon and egg breakfast available.
Their matches begin with the Under 15s at 9.30 with Mid West taking on Eastern Eyre, followed by Eastern Eyre Vs Far West at 10.20 and Far West Vs Mid West at 11.10.
The Under 13s will play at the Wudinna Area School Oval beginning at 10am with Mid West Vs Eastern Eyre, 11am is Eastern Eyre Vs Far West and 12 noon is Far West Vs Mid West.
The Under 17s will be on the main football oval again from 12 noon with Mid West Vs Eastern Eyre, 1pm for Eastern Eyre Vs Far West at 2.35pm for Far West Vs Mid West with medal presentations for the junior teams at 2.35pm.
The League begins at 2.40pm with Mid West Vs Eastern Eyre, at 3.40 it's Eastern Eyre Vs Far West, followed by Far West Vs Mid West at 4.40pm with Medal Presentations at 5.30pm.
Best of luck to all teams competing.
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