Next Game
Round 20
 
Casey
vs
Collingwood
Saturday 30th August
Seniors: 2:00pm
MC Labour Park
Last Home and Away game! Make sure you get there to help the Scorpions Gain 4th Spot!
Membership Check
HEART AND PRIDE 329
FEEL THE STING!
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HOME OF THE MIGHTY CASEY SCORPIONS!
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`He was almost in the crowd as he took his kick!' |
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Fowler's fighters By: Paul Amy
IT was the goal that sealed an historic premiership. It was the goal that made an enduring hero of rover Jimmy Fotiniotis. And it's the goal, that 25 years later, Springvale football people still talk about with relish.
Fotiniotis is often reminded of his kick from the boundary line in the final quarter of the 1983 VFA second division grand final against Brunswick. He enjoys it very much.
``Yes, I must admit I do,'' he chuckled last week. ``Hells-bells, they're bloody good memories.''
Fotiniotis's goal guaranteed the Vales an upset victory.
Nobody holds up the '83 team as the best in the history of the club. But Fotiniotis and his teammates are affectionately remembered for presenting Springvale with its first VFA premiership and giving it a passage to first division football, there to take on traditional powers like Port Melbourne and Preston.
It was head-spinning stuff for a club in only its second season in the association.
A quarter of a century later the players will gather for a reunion, at the club's new home at Casey Fields in Cranbourne on June 29.
It's fair to say a few of them can handle a drink and they will mix ales with tales of the day they knocked over the Wicks at Toorak Park.
Although the Laurie Fowler-coached Springvale had beaten Brunswick in a home-and-away game, the Magpies were favourites.
``Actually, they were hot, hot, hot favourites,'' Brian Woodman, a star of the Springvale side and later to be its long-serving GM, remembered.
``They were so confident it was ridiculous.
``Make no mistake, they'd already put the cup on the shelf. They were already planning for 1984 and first division, who was going to coach them, who was going to play for them. They had every bit of it lined up.
``They went into the second semi against Mordialloc and beat them by 20 goals, absolutely thrashed them. That got them even more confident.''
Springvale was taking nothing for granted, for it had just scraped into the finals by beating Oakleigh.
But the Vales had a few things going for them.
Former Richmond and Melbourne back pocket Fowler was a fearless, inspirational leader. Fotiniotis put it this way: ``He told you what to do and showed you how to do it.''
Ex-South Melbourne pair Woodman and Graeme Dempster supplied big-league class; spearhead Teddy Carroll was the Fred Cook of second division football, blessed with sure hands and the truest of boots; and most of the players were locals, making for a tight group. And they could run games out, thanks to Bob Crombie's fitness regime.
Springvale and Oakleigh met in the first semi and the Vales won again.
Led by Woodman's 40 disposals and a 11-goal haul from Carroll, they then crushed Mordialloc in the preliminary final, earning a pop at Brunswick in the decider.
``We edged our way forward. We kicked the first couple of goals, got away from them a bit and held our lead,'' Woodman said of the first half of the grand final.
``By the start of the third quarter Brunswick were starting to panic. They just couldn't break us down.''
The Magpies became frustrated and, according to Steve Mottram's account in the Standard Times, sought to intimidate the Vales. Three Brunswick players were sent off in a wild third term. But despite having only 13 men on the ground the Magpies stayed in touch.
In the final quarter, as players tired in the heavy conditions, Brunswick had a lot of play, squandered opportunities but reduced the Vales' lead to 10 points.
Twenty-three minutes in, Fotiniotis led and Dempster honoured him by hitting him on the chest, ``as you would expect from Graeme Dempster'', he said.
``I took it on the boundary line and I thought, `Mmm, this is going to be tight','' he said.
``I had a quick glance across to the middle. Everyone was pretty static, so I had to give it a go.
``I was about 30m out. I could see a bit of daylight and the wind was blowing directly down the ground. I thought I'd need to allow a bit for the wind so I sort of lined up the right goal post.''
Springvale life member Colin Brown recalled: ``He was almost in the crowd as he took his kick!''
Not quite, said Fotiniotis, who took comfort from the fact that that he could see a gap between the uprights.
``As soon as it left the boot I knew it was going through,'' he said.
``It was a big adrenalin rush to sink it, I gotta tell ya.''
He said he had imperishable memories of the match and the celebrations with teammates and supporters at the Newcomen Rd clubrooms.
Springvale life member Neil Brown said it was a stunning achievement for the club.
``We were only two years out of the Federal league!'' he said.
``It was a hell of a performance. Nobody thought we'd be able to box on with the top sides in second division. But we virtually had a look around in the first year, saw what we were up against, and then won the thing.''
Brown said a committed effort from president Frank Hall and his committee matched the deeds of the team.
Seven of the premiership men earned life membership of the club: Fotiniotis, Woodman, Dempster, Allan Brand, Terry ``Tex'' Freeman, Geoff Anderson and Daryl Skews.
All are sure things to attend the reunion but Fowler will be unable to owing to work. It's a pity: people connected with the premiership say his contribution was immense.
He won three best and fairests at Melbourne and had represented Victorian in 1980 and '81 before quitting over a contract dispute.
The Vales snared him from Waverley and he had an aura about him that came from his famous hit on towering Blue John Nicholls in the 1973 VFL grand final.
``You could go at him with a baseball bat in each hand and you couldn't hurt him,'' Colin Brown asserted.
Contacted last Tuesday, Fowler said he had charge of an ``honest squad, easy to train, guys who never took a backward step''.
``The thing about those blokes was that they gave you what they had,'' he said.
``I couldn't have asked for anything more from them.'' |
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JOB OPPORTUNITY
The Casey Scorpions are seeking a Chef/Cook to fill a casual position for the club. Details can be found here! Ring the club on 5996 1111 if you are interested!!
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