Our U17 Girls will play a prelim final on Sunday in Mt Barker after a MASSIVE win last Sunday in the elimination final via a goal after the siren.
Meanwhile our Senior Men’s match on Saturday will be live streamed from Arkaba Oval at 2.30pm by Filming Footy and Call of the Wild. It’s a big day at Arkaba Oval on Saturday with many of our HFL juniors and seniors playing at home, featuring the Chairman’s Lunch during the day with Guest Speaker Dizzy Gillespie!
It’s the final minor round for our SANFL Juniors teams on Sunday, with our U15 Girls guaranteed a top of the ladder finish and our U13 Girls currently sitting 2nd.
In our Mt Lofty TEAMS competition for the Toyota Good 4 Footy Raffle, the U13 Girls are still leading with $685 worth of ticket sales so far, but the U16 Boys team is making a late charge with $310 worth of ticket sales.
Can the U16 Boys beat the U13 Girls? Can the U15 Girls make a comeback (still sitting on $190 in sales)? Can another team challenge for the prize?
The team that raises the most money in the Good 4 Footy Raffle using their unique link (see below), will win a $200 voucher to spend at the Aldgate Pump Hotel.
In addition, all money raised goes towards our new digital scoreboard AND you could win a car!
In the very early years of the 1900s there was two football clubs in the Stirling area. They were Mount Lofty Parks (formed in May 1895) and Stirling United (formed in May 1901).
It seems that Mount Lofty Parks never played in a football association but played what was called ‘challenge matches’. In 1904 Stirling United joined the Hills Football Association. The home ground of both clubs was Mount Lofty Recreation Ground colloquially known as the Old Rec ground at what is now Heathfield. This ground was located approximately where the lower high school oval is now.
With the outbreak of World War I – no football was played for nearly 4 years. In 1919 Association football resumed. There was a Stirling Club but it appears Mount Lofty Parks did not reform. The assumption has been that Stirling United became Stirling. But did it? or was a new club named Stirling Football Club formed? Soldiers came home from war and perhaps decided to form a team. At the date of writing confirmation of this supposition has not been confirmed.
Prior to the War Stirling United wore red and white jumpers and Mount Lofty Parks wore a tri-coloured jumper.
Stirling United Football Team c. 1901 with red and white striped jumpers.Mount Lofty Parks Football team c. 1913
What is puzzling is that the Stirling team post World War I wore tri-coloured jumpers which looked very much like those worn by Mount Lofty Parks pre war. For example:-
Pre-war Stirling United experienced limited success – never won a premiership and at times had to forfeit matches. However post war amazing success of the Stirling team flowed – perhaps there was no link between Stirling United and the Stirling Club. The 1919 Grand Final was lost to Strathalbyn 5-7 to 3-10 but in 1921, 1922, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929 and 1934 the team won the premiership. In 1923 and 1930 Uraidla defeated Stirling in the Grand Final.
One way of determining whether Stirling United reformed as Stirling would be to compare the names of players and officials from teams pre war with those of 1919 and further on. Unfortunately such records have not been able to be sourced. However with the effluxion of time maybe such records will emerge and help clarify the supposition.
Although it is 8 years between 1911 and 1919 the lists below show the some of the personnel involved in the clubs. There are no common names in each of the Stirling teams, but Bas Scott’s name appears in the Mount Lofty Parks and Stirling team.
1913 Players and officials:— T. Barker, G. Gates, B. Halliday, Wm. Halliday, Percy Hart, B. Holmes, L. Kelly, S. Leach, Paech, Basil Scott, E. Wakefield, Charles Williams.
Stirling
1919 Players and officials:— L. Carroll; A. Caust; H. Caust; G. Chaplin; K. Emery; J. Farrent, G. Fulgrabe, F. Hart; Hart; W. Hender; A. Jones; H. Keen; S Leach; S. Leatch, W. McFarlane; B. Percival; G. Read; R. Rossini; Bas Scott; Wack. Scott, C. Snoswell; O. Snoswell; G. Whitbread, C. Williams; W. Woodgate; C. Zachariah.
It’s a HUGE weekend for the Devils, with our Senior Women playing a semi final, our U17 Girls playing an elimination final and our Moddies teams playing their last round of the season.
Meanwhile, it’s round 16 for our Mens and HFL Juniors teams who are away at Echunga on Saturday.
There is some action at Arkaba Oval on Friday night, with our U11 Whites playing at 6pm, our U11 Reds playing at 7pm, and our U15 Girls playing at 8pm.
