Walkerville Football Club to wear 1909 heritage guernsey as part of 120 years celebration
One of Adelaide’s most historic clubs will mark a major milestone this Saturday with a throwback to the past as it looks forward to an “exciting” future.
Local Sport
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It is one of Adelaide’s most historic football clubs but Walkerville could be about to move into its most exciting stages of life yet, according to president Ryan Curry.
The club will celebrate 120 years of history this Saturday with the Cats trading their trademark hoops for stripes.
Walkerville will wear special red and white heritage guernseys in its Adelaide Footy League clash – a throwback to the original jumpers worn when the Cats were established in 1901.
Although its history is rich, Curry said the future of the Smith Street club was more exciting.
In December, Walkerville Council announced a $8 million upgrade to the club’s home had been given the green light.
It followed a division four premiership in September – the Cats’ first A grade flag since 2009.
“It’s pretty exciting at the moment with the talk of the redevelopment that’s going to happen,” Curry said.
“We’re really looking forward to that and due for some upgrades to the facilities.
“The club’s in a really good spot at the moment.
“We were lucky enough to win the flag in division four, which was great, we would have loved to have been promoted and gone up to div three had promotion not been paused for the season.”
The Cats, who usually play in blue and white hoops, will have a different look when they run out in colours more often associated to their close neighbour North Adelaide.
Curry said it wasn’t so easy to piece together the club’s first playing attire.
“The guernsey is a design based on what we could gather from old photos and bits and pieces of what the original guernsey was back in 1901,” he said.
“It took a little bit of guess work, the photos were not very clear at all, but there’s some old records that talked about red and white vertical stripes, so we’ve based it on that.”
And while the Cats have entrenched themselves as a longstanding member of Adelaide football, the president said there was still work to be done.
Walkerville, which he described as “a country club in the city”, has a strong connection with regional clubs and Curry said 95 per cent of its playing group hailed from the country.
It also boasts one of the state’s most prolific junior programs with the club helping to produce 34 juniors who have gone onto AFL lists.
Curry said successfully funnelling more of those juniors into the senior sides remained a challenge, but one which would propel the club to new heights.
“We’ve absolutely got a plan and a desire to start climbing back up the divisions,” he said.
The Cats will host Gepps Cross at Walkerville Recreation Ground this Saturday.
Heritage guernseys will be auctioned off on the day.
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