Marion Rams and O’Sullivan Beach/Lonsdale clash in fairytale Adelaide Footy League grand final
THEY have been two of SA footy’s biggest battlers for the past decade. Now, the Marion Rams and O’Sullivan Beach/Lonsdale Lions will face-off in a fairytale grand final on Saturday.
THEY have been two of SA footy’s biggest battlers for the past decade.
Now, the Marion Rams and O’Sullivan Beach/Lonsdale Lions are set to face-off in a fairytale grand final.
The clubs will meet in the Adelaide Footy League’s division seven decider at St Marys Park this Saturday – 12 months on from them leaving the Southern Football League after getting tired of suffering thrashings.
From 2010-17, Marion boasted a 18-124 win/loss record, while O’Sullivan Beach/Lonsdale prevailed in just 25 of its 142 games.
The Rams were winless from 34 matches in their final two SFL seasons in 2016-17, losing nine games by more than 200 points and 20 by at least 17 goals during that period.
The Lions only had two victories last year – both against Marion – and had a winless season in 2014 when their average losing margin was 117.94 points.
Marion president Jack McCallum says although the clubs are rivals they have tremendous respect for each other, having endured similar journeys.
He says now that both teams are competitive and a win away from a premiership is special.
“It’s a little bit of a fairytale,” says McCallum, a former Rams player whose sons Max, 31, and Joe, 28, are now in the club’s A grade.
“Compared to the previous two years, there’s a fair bit more smiling around the club.
“Good on all the supporters, coaching staff and trainers that have stuck around – they’re getting some reward for that.”
O’Sullivan Beach/Lonsdale reached the grand final after finishing the minor round top with a 17-1 record then beating Marion by 12 points in the second semi-final on August 25.
The Rams, who entered the season without a win since August 2015, posted a 31-point victory over St Paul’s Old Scholars in the preliminary final to book their spot.
Both clubs’ most recent flags were at the start of the 21st century – Marion’s in 2000 and Lonsdale’s in 2001, the same year it merged with O’Sullivan Beach.
In the past 12 months, the battlers have gone from having between a dozen and 20 players attend weekly trainings to getting up to 60 on the track this season.
Strong recruiting, improved standards and hard work have helped spark the turnarounds, as well as starting afresh in a new competition.
O’Sullivan Beach/Lonsdale president Heidi Condon said her club probably would have folded if it did not change leagues.
“Losing all the time was heartbreaking,” Condon said.
“We still busted our guts week in, week out because we love the place.”
The Lions have risen from the ashes this season after losing trophies, honour boards and training equipment in an unsolved arson attack on a club shed in October last year.
“The goal for the year was finals, get numbers up, get morale up around the club,” Condon said.
“We couldn’t have asked for a bigger turnaround and the start of the rebuild of the club.”
For both clubs to get to this point already feels like a massive victory, so what will a drought-breaking flag do?
“It’d be huge – absolutely huge,” McCallum says.
Condon adds: “I think I’d probably shed a few tears. It’d be the cherry on top.”
BATTLE OF THE BATTLERS
■ Nicknames: Rams (Marion), Lions (OSB/Lonsdale)
■ Last premierships: 2000 (Marion), 2001 (Lonsdale, before merger)
■ 2017 records: 0-16 (Marion), 2-14 (OSB/Lonsdale)
■ 2017 average losses: 172 points (Marion), 138 points (OSB/Lonsdale)
* Marion plays O’Sullivan Beach/Lonsdale in the Adelaide Footy League’s division seven grand final at St Mary’s Park this Saturday at 2.15pm