It’s round 8 for most of our teams this weekend and despite the chill in the air, the competition is really heating up. Current ladders have many of our teams holding top 4 positions, with our U17 Girls and U13 Girls sitting top. GO GIRLS! Current ladder positions are below.
This weekend, our U14 Boys through to our A Grade Men are playing away at Lobethal on Saturday, and our U17 Girls and Senior Women are away at Uraidla and Macclesfield on Sunday.
Two of our SANFL Juniors teams – U11 Girls and U13 Girls – are playing at home on Sunday, so come and cheer them on, while our U15 Girls are also away. Our two U12 teams are playing away on Friday night.
Check out all the action in the fixtures below and on PlayHQ.
A great night at Arkaba Oval on Saturday night, with a top of the table clash for U12 mixed Mt Lofty White v Onka Valley. Whilst we didn’t come away with the win, it was a great game and a some good take aways.
Better still, a night with the seniors for dinner and presentations.
A high 5 on the way through and a photo with senior mens players Will Jordans and Sam McTaggart.
We were proud to be joined at Arkaba Oval this week, by Richard ‘Dicky’ Symons, to do us the honour of tossing the commemorative Life Member coin for our match against Mt Barker.
Richard Symons who is a Life Member of one our Heritage Club’s, Heathfield Aldgate United Football Club, known affectionately over the years as “Dicky” was is excited to by joined on the oval his grandsons from Mt Barker FC, Alex playing and Jordan as runner, with wife Betty watching from the stands.
Dicky played some footy at Plympton High School but until he met his now wife, Betty, at work in 1968, he had not considered playing until she told him of the Heathfield Aldgate United Football Club of which her late father Sid Magor also became a Life Member. Until then he had been happy to follow the Sturt Football Club which was in its run of 5 successive Premierships. What a resumption of a career it was, with Dicky playing on the wing in the first of 7 B Grade Premierships and in his very first year.
Not many people can claim to have played in so many Premierships, but his record is even more impressive with an eighth GF win and not one loss. This followed the rare feet of playing in two Premierships within one week where he played in a C Grade Premiership and then, the next Saturday, backed that up with another B Grade Premiership. Over the years Dicky both Captained and Coached the B Grade, winning the 1977 and 1978 Premierships as coach, the 1978 success being the last of HAU’s 30 Premierships.
An amazing career for sure, but Dicky jokingly refers to his record at A Grade level as well, where he has a 100% disposal record – one game, one kick and one goal on Coach Warren “Sherg” Foster putting him on the ground late in the match when there was no interchange.
Like quite a few of their close HAU friends, Dicky and Betty were very active Committee members and Dicky went on to become a key member of a four-person subcommittee which undertook the myriad of tasks required to set up the Mount Lofty club between 1978 and 1979. He relates the legendary story that the Devils would have been the Hawks, had it not been for the fact that the then SAFA competition which it joined, already had a club with the colours of brown and yellow.
Dicky and Betty’s work with Mt Lofty came to an end after Dicky’s career in finance took him to Darwin and later Mt Gambier, before eventually returning to the Adelaide Hills as a resident of Mt Barker. He is long retired, but is still a very active lawn bowler and volunteer and is a proud follower of his two Grandson’s, Jordan and Alex Houlahan, playing with Mt Barker. Alex will shortly take his position with Mt Barker in this important game, while Jordan, who was drafted by Essendon in 2017, is unfortunately recovering from shoulder surgery.
Thank you for everything Dicky, to our clubs, and in the community.
Richard ‘Dicky’ Symons tosses his new life member commemorative coinCaptain Alex wins the toss and elects to go down hill change rooms end v Mt BarkerRichard ‘Dicky’ Symons with Grandsons Alex Houlahan (left) and Jordan Houlahan (right)
