1975 Articles

Tom Frossinakis was re-elected Club President.  Following the departure of Pat Veaney, the 1963 Premiership Coach, the Committee decided that the Club needed a Playing Coach with at least a two year appointment.

Bob Skinner from Athelstone was highly recommended and was duly appointed the A Grade Coach. Nick Lavrentiadis and Nick Mourcella were respectively appointed B Grade and C Grade Coaches.

Bob Skinner brought a lot of energy and the will to win to the Club.

The A’s started winning their fair share of games and were making strong inroads on the final four reaching 3rd position on the ladder.  The B Grade was just out of the four and the C’s were equal top when controversy struck the Club again.

The C Grade, in a game against Henley High Old Scholars, were put into a position of either forfeiting or included a player, on Club suspension, in the side to make the minimum of 14 players for the game to go ahead.  The latter option was taken. Just prior to the game starting another player appeared and thus the team started with 15 players.

During the game racial abuse was rife and was nothing less than disgusting. Fighting began all over the ground fueled by elderly residents, standing on ladders inside their properties who were constantly name calling and yelling racial slurs.

The Umpire had lost control and as a consequence of this the vile abuse against his players, Coach Nick Mourcella led the victimized player off in the last quarter to protect him.

The Field Umpire, it was alleged, was struck by a Greek player in the change room.  The whole C Team was reported and after a lengthy hearing at the SAAFL Tribunal, was suspended for the rest of 1975. The players however were allowed to play with the Clubs A and B Teams.

For the second time the Club had made unwanted headline news which cast a shadow over the very existence of the Club.

The Press got hold of the story and it became a headline on the front page of the Sunday Mail on the 25th May 1975.

An indication of the publicity that the incident created was evident when the A’s and B’s played the following week.  TV crews, Radio reporters, Amateur League Officials and the Police nearly outnumbered the spectators – What a Joke!!!  This type of gutter reporting over a minor incident in sport, would not be allowed to happen today.

The A team continued to play consistently well throughout the season and with 15 wins and 5 losses went on to meet Sacred Heart Old Scholars in the 1st Semi Final. Unfortunately they lost 13-9 (87) to 8-12 (60).

Goalkickers were T Evreniadis 3, B Rogers 2, R Bollard 2 and R Skinner 1.

The B Grade finished 7th.

Nick Condous won the A’s Best and Fairest and Peter Elia, in his first year with the Club, won the B Grade Best and Fairest.

A special mention must go to Terry Evreniadis who kicked a Club record of 98 goals for the season.

Life Membership Awards were given for the first time and the recipients were, Michael Cacas, Nicky Nicholas, Emanuel Bambacas, Tom Frossinakis and Tom Melios.

Footnote: C Grade Coach Nick Mourcella was fined $10 by the Club and given a 1 week Club suspension for selecting a suspended player!!