Kapunda Football Club to celebrate 150 years
KAPUNDA Football Club is about to celebrate a historic milestone but it could not have been achieved without community support, as we found out.
Adelaide FL
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TERRY Ryan was 40 when he played the last of his 317 games for Kapunda.
“Yeah, filled in for the Bs,” the Bombers legend says. “I wasn’t going to play but first game of the year they were short, so I went on. Hadn’t trained or anything,” he said.
“Next thing, busted my leg. tibia, fibula, dislocated the ankle. Completely stuffed it.
“People said ‘Ah, you silly bastard’. And, yeah, that’s probably likely.
“But if you had the choice to swap it and not play one more game of footy because of something like that, I still would’ve done it.”
And, of course, that’s not even what makes this yarn.
Because every bush footy club has its own “Rexy” Ryan. A bloke like this retired bus driver who played across four different decades, spanning the 1960s, ’70s, ’80s and ’90s.
A fella whose bloodline with sons Matt — now club president — and 2004-05 premiership captain Sam, has contributed 950 senior games at the Bombers.
Add in the other branches of a family tree that includes generations of brothers, nephews and cousins and it stretches into the thousands of games.
Even wife Sue is a life member, adding to a family legacy that is as much a part of Dutton Park’s heritage as its century-old pavilion.
Yet it’s a similar story for the Mickans, the Leslies, the Johnsons, the Haywards and the Higgins — surnames that repeat on life member honour rolls, committee lists and in premiership photos holding pride of place above the clubroom bar.
Then there’s Jack McGuire, the butcher who set a club record 30 goals in a game during the 1935 season. McGuire, so the story goes, would slaughter a bullock, two pigs and four sheep on a Saturday morning before hurdling paddock fences on his dash to home games.
Or Jack Dermody, regarded the club’s greatest player, who captained Port Adelaide to SANFL premierships in 1936 and 1937. In more modern times, there have been Jason “Buckets” Mackenzie and Jonathan Giles, who won premierships with Central District.
Those names, and the countless others that have contributed to the club’s history, will be recognised next Saturday when the Bombers celebrate their 150th birthday.
About 400 guests will gather for a gala dinner at Dutton Park following the Bombers’ home clash with Freeling, in appreciation of the second-oldest country football club in South Australia, behind only Penola, in the South-East.
Next weekend’s festivities include the release of a book detailing the rich story of a club born during the boom times for this Barossa copper town, written by 1974 premiership player Paul McCarthy.
McCarthy, whose son Michael won the league best and fairest in 2004 when Kapunda ended a 30-year premiership drought and is the A Grade coach, said becoming just the second club to reach 150 years was a proud milestone.
“Towns in South Australia are often measured by your football team,” McCarthy said. “It’s part of your identity.
“It almost says if you have a football team, you have a town.
“So what’s good about Kapunda is we’re still in existence after 150 years. We still have a team when a lot of others have gone under.
“It’s the whole heritage argument; what are the things you want to keep? It’s the bank building, the town hall and the footy club.”
Today, the “Welcome to Kapunda” sign is splashed in the black and red of the Bombers, and, following the 2005 premiership, the town’s 7m-tall Map the Miner statue was draped in an oversized guernsey carrying the same colours.
Terry Ryan said the club’s 150-year milestone spoke to football’s enduring importance to the community.
“Oh, shit yeah,” he said. “On a Saturday, everyone went to the footy. People would be looking for the teams in the window at Rawady’s Deli on a Thursday night.
“Everyone just played. I remember years ago we only had 16 lads aged between 15 and 17 in the Kapunda area yet we could still field a football team.”
Newspaper reports show Kapunda Football Club was founded at a meeting of 10 people at the North Kapunda Hotel in April, 1866.
Besides picnic games, there is no evidence of an official match until three years later, in 1869, against Gawler. Organised games for the next 40 years were sporadic, riding on fluctuating interest levels and availability of rail transport. Contests came against neighbouring settlements as well as Adelaide league teams, South Adelaide and Woodville.
Despite its long history, Kapunda holds no claim to being a powerhouse club. In the 108 years since the Barossa and Light association began, just 15 premierships have come the Bombers’ way.
“We went 30 years between 1974 and 2004, and some of those years we didn’t even win a game,” McCarthy said.
“You see in other clubs’ history books, ‘no premiership, no story’, but that’s not true.
“Just as long as you’re competitive on the field and have somewhere for juniors to play, and maintain a social atmosphere. That’s what a country footy club is, and that’s all we’re trying to do.”
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