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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-09-14 Daily Xml
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Glenunga Football Club

Mr BATTY (Bragg) (15:12): With another football season drawing to a close, I want to take this opportunity to shine a light on a hugely successful local footy club in my own electorate, the Glenunga Rams Football Club, who this weekend booked a spot in the division 1 grand final that will be held in about a week at Coopers Stadium. They will have the support of our whole local community behind them, and I will be there cheering them on. We wish them all the very best of luck.

But it is not just the A-grade team playing in division 1 that is the success story of the Glenunga Rams. It has really been a story of depth over the past several years, with the club now growing into one of the largest community sporting clubs in the entire state, with over 850 players across both its junior and senior football programs.

In recent years, one of the great sources of pride for this club has been its girls footy program, starting in 2017 with a pretty good number—80 girls. The program has grown today to over 250 registered girls, forming an impressive 11 junior teams in 2023 and making the Glenunga Rams the largest football club for girls in all of South Australia. I think the girls junior program has now even surpassed the boys' junior program, in a tremendous success story.

Last Sunday, the club held their junior presentation to celebrate yet another very successful season right across the board for the Glenunga Football Club. For those junior premiership teams, it was an amazing effort, with seven out of seven of the girls teams making the finals, and six of them playing in the grand final. The boys did pretty well as well: five out of seven junior teams making the finals, with two going on to make the grand final.

I want to mark my particular congratulations to the under 13 girls division 1 team and the under 14 boys division 1 team, both of which won their grand finals in what were nailbiting matches—just like the nailbiting matches that I went to on the weekend where both the A and B-grade teams were playing at Webb Oval. As I mentioned, there was a fantastic win from the A-grade team, the minor premiers, over Prince Alfred College Old Collegians. They will now go on to play the grand final in about a week.

Again highlighting the story of depth, the B-grade played before them in the division 2 final and they kept their season alive there with a win over Sacred Heart Old Collegians, so a tremendous success story from those senior players as well. Another notable achievement for the club is A-grade player Abe Davis winning the Adelaide Football League's division 1 Keith Sims medal. I understand he is the first division 1 medallist in the club's history, so a big congratulations to Abe as well.

Like all amateur sporting clubs right across the state, the Glenunga Rams Football Club's success is a testament to the players but also to a whole lot of other people who ensure the club can function on a day-to-day basis. Literally hundreds of parents and volunteers get involved behind the scenes, filling various roles, from coaches to team managers to runners. They really add to the success of the footy team on the field, but I think the other thing they do is add to such a sense of community at that football club.

Anyone who has gone along to the Glenunga Hub when the Rams have been playing can see that it is palpable, with the junior players getting around the senior players and some very loud support from the sidelines. I want to acknowledge everyone who donates their time to ensure that the club is very successful, both on and off the field.

In what little time I have left, I want to acknowledge in particular the executive of the club this year, some of whom are retiring after many years of involvement. In particular, I want to acknowledge the chair, Con Tragakis; Ben Stapleton, the president; Tom Edwards, the secretary; Don Munro, the treasurer; Chris Aston, the senior football director; and Graham Jaeschke, the junior football director. I wish the A and B-grade teams every success in the rest of their finals campaign. Go Rams!

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