Top-placed Brighton Football Club led by MFS firefighters
When they’re not leading an Adelaide Footy League club, these teammates form part of SA’s brave MFS crew. Check out their story.
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There’s a special bond at Brighton Football Club holding players together — and not just because they are teammates with the same desire to win a flag.
Six of the starting line-up, as well as the senior and assistant coaches at the division one club, all work with the SA Metropolitan Fire Service.
It is believed the top-placed Adelaide Footy league club has the most amount of players to have worked at the MFS at the same time.
Players Brad King and Scott Nerlich were the first to join the MFS before others followed.
Senior coach Joel Tucker, meanwhile, recruited Patrick Gabb and ex-West Adelaide SANFL player Nigel Osborn — who were already firefighters — to the footy club.
Tucker, who has coached Brighton for the past three years, is a fourth-class firefighter in his first year with the MFS.
Although he is used to being the boss at the Bombers, he is “down the bottom of the chain” at work.
“I’m one of the juniors when we are on shift,” Tucker said.
“It’s a bit of a different dynamic because when I’m coaching I'm the boss then when working with them at the MFS they are a couple of levels above me which is good.
“But I love it.”
Tucker said there were plenty of traits that were interchangeable.
“The loyalty and teamwork and those types of things are really important between the job and footy.
“I think also just being involved in the community — we are an amateur football club and a lot of it is time donated for nothing and involved with our junior teams.
“I think that sort of reflects the values of the MFS as well, supporting the community and being there when they need us.”
Bryce Williams joined the Bombers in 2017 when the club switched from the Southern Football League to the amateurs.
Williams joined the MFS in January 2018 and had juggled footy training and games with shift work within the fire brigade ever since.
“The MFS is very welcoming of anyone that is into team sport and community activities,” Williams said.
“So they are really supportive of us playing footy.
“We were all quite good mates before joining the fire service then when Scott and Brad were the first to join almost six years ago, in some way that planted the seed and it’s grown from there.”
Brighton has a bye this weekend with split round seven before ending the minor round with matches against Port District at Largs Reserve and then Rostrevor Old Collegians at home.
The Bombers are set to feature in their first top tier finals series but have St Peter’s Old Collegians nipping at their heels in second spot.