The Blighty Redeyes proudly celebrated 75 years of the club’s history last Saturday, with a reunion event.
It was hosted during and following the round four Picola League match up at the Blighty Recreation Reserve against Berrigan.
The more than 200 attendees included past and present members, supporters, and community partners.
Guests enjoyed a tour of past memorabilia and photos as well as awards, speeches and special presentations reflecting on the club’s rich history.
The night saw several guest speakers from across the past 75 years share their memories of their time at the club.
Key organiser of the 75th year reunion night, Gilbert Bain, said it was a great celebration.
“We had a very good night with 250 people in attendance.
“It was a fair mix of players from over the years.
“There were a lot of players from the 1960s and ‘70s, through to the 2000s and present day.”
The event started with some special formalities before the guest speakers had their turns, Bain said.
“There was Craig Gallpen and myself as MCs.
“Helen Wilson gifted a wooden handmade football to commemorate the club’s 75 years, that she had made herself, and she presented that to the present day president Rhys Tremble.
“We then went through a quick history of the club, celebrating each year there was a premiership.”
The crowd was then taken for a journey back through time by several revered guest speakers and club people.
“Our guest speakers started with Bruce Enbond who coached the 1965 grand final winning team in the Coreen League, who addressed the crowd as their coach.
“Then we had Brian Gibbs, coach of the 1969 premiership side in the Picola League. It was the club’s first year in the league, and the side won.
“Tom Carroll then reminisced on a few of the old stories back in the day. He was a past player in the early ‘70s to 1975 and was very entertaining.
“Tom Todd then spoke about his time as coach in the successful 1971 grand final. He played as well.”
“Max O’Connell then came up and spoke of his time at the club. He wrote our club song and also had a friend record that on cassette. He presented that to the football club, which was great.”
With that, the floodgates of stories opened up.
“Ross ‘Roadrunner’ Robbins also spoke about his time as coach of the 1975 premiership side, and 1985 thirds coach Keith Hay spoke about his family’s involvement with the club over many years.
“Andrew Rixon spoke of his time during the late ‘80s and ‘90s and Damian Sexton then spoke of the late ‘90s and early 2000s, and spoke of winning the 2000 premiership with that team.
“The club was very successful, not just in senior football, but also won several seconds, thirds and fourths premierships while finishing as runners-up many a time. We were also very successful in the netball.”
Bain said he has received a lot of positive feedback about the event, and the quality of the speakers.
“People normally get sick of hearing speeches, however, when the guest speakers spoke you could hear a pin drop.
“All of them were very well respected, and I’ve had that many phone calls and text messages saying thanks for the night, as everyone thoroughly enjoyed it.”
Current senior football playing coach Dane Leyden said he thought the event was great for players and club people to get a grasp of some of the successful history at the club.
“I didn’t get to see many past players play, but they were clearly pretty decent, and it was good to get a bit of a backstory.
“There are definitely some blokes who accomplished a lot.
“It was nice to talk to some blokes that have had some success at the club, and it shows it is possible as they did it, and it can be done.”
The reunion night on Saturday also saw Al Nicholls presented with a Blighty Football Netball Club Life Membership - the first since the amalgamation between the football and netball club last year.