Almost 30 years ago, Cobram Netball Club president Jenny Parish watched on as premiership after premiership went her club’s way.
By the end of that fateful September day, every Cobram team in a grand final — including six netball sides and three football sides — had claimed its respective flag.
“It’s at least something that may never happen again,” Parish said.
“It was euphoric — the feeling in the room.”
On Friday and Saturday last week, the club celebrated the 30-year anniversary since that year, with past players and coaches reuniting as Cobram hosted Barooga in round nine of the Murray FNL.
“The celebrations went on for days and days, and then they moved to our house on Station St, and went on again,” Parish said.
“No-one wanted to let go of that feeling. It was just so incredible to think we’d achieved that that you wanted to hang on to that as long as you could.”
It was a remarkable achievement that defined a generation of athletes from the club’s ranks, many of whom still dedicate their time and effort to the club’s running today.
The only side that missed out on a flag that year was Cobram’s thirds football side, which didn’t come close to premiership contention.
“I think we were just a really good club; we were very family-oriented, and it was families that came in,” Parish said.
“It was a day out. It wasn’t just ‘drop your kid off to play netball’; the whole family came for the day, and that makes a big difference, I think, as to how clubs can run and be successful.
“And that’s why I think we were so successful: we were a family-oriented club, and a social club too.”
Past club president and current committee member Peter Beasley captained the senior football sides that claimed both the 1995 and 1998 flags.
“We had a bit of a hiccup about two weeks prior when Deni beat us,” Beasley told The Courier.
“We hadn’t lost a game for a year, then Deni beat us in the first final we played.
“So that pulled our pants down, and they played quite well, and it was probably just a nice wake-up call that if we weren’t on the job, we could get beaten.”
“As the day went on, we continued to rack up wins, and by the time the A-grade and the senior football were on, we’d won everything.
“So to finish that off with everyone winning, it became a real celebration of the club.
“A lot of us were locals — I think 95 per cent of us were local kids who had played junior football at Cobram.
“We had a couple of expats from Strathmerton and Waaia, and we had one guy, Chris Farrell, from Melbourne, but he was mates with a few of the local blokes.
“So it was quite a big local group that actually played in the first and the seconds. So that made it that bit sweeter, I think.”
Beasley said it was great to get back together with most of the playing group, including his former coach Trevor Mills, for the 30-year anniversary.
“We were really great mates off the ground, from a football and a social point of view, so that just made for a really great club,” he said.
“There are a couple of characters in the group who make us laugh, but we’ve really got a ripper group of people that were involved in that 1995 year.
“It’s great to see so many people back here to celebrate, and hopefully, we’ll roll back here in another 10 years.”