Elmore's special weekend ahead as club celebrates 150th anniversary

Formed in 1874, Elmore FNC will this weekend celebrate its 150^th anniversary.

Trewick says it's an achievement all who have been involved with the club on and off the field from day one should be proud of, while he marvels at the fact the club has played under the banner solely as "Elmore" throughout its existence.

"It's huge for the club and how it has been able to be constantly done all throughout the 150 years is phenomenal... we have been Elmore since day one in 1874," Trewick said this week.

"There would be other clubs around who are just as old us, but have morphed into other clubs, so to keep its own identify throughout these 150 years is just unbelievable.

"The local community has obviously really embraced the club over its 150 years and continues to do so really strongly.

"No matter where we are on the ladder, whether it's on the top or the bottom, we've always had strong support and been able to draw really good crowds.

"No matter who you are talking to in the town during the week, the talk will be around how the footy went on the Saturday... the club is a really strong part of the community.

"Dad (Ron) played football here for a long time, so I've been going to football at Elmore for as long as I can remember.

"I played 200-odd games here (including the 1991 reserves flag) and have had a couple of stints as president, so the club really has been a big part of my life since day dot and is something I'm very passionate about.

"I think it's just a really good family-based club that invites everyone in. It doesn't matter who you are or where you're from, you're always invited in and made to feel welcome at Elmore and I think that's a real feather in the cap for the club."

The Bloods will commemorate their 150^th this Saturday with a past players day during the afternoon when Elmore hosts Heathcote.

That will be followed by a 150^th function at the Elmore Memorial Hall on Saturday night that will feature a memorabilia display and interviews with key figures in the club's history including Dale Alford (1985 premiership coach) representing the 1980s, Ian Carmichael the 1990s and Tony Southcombe (2007 premiership coach) the 2000s.

"We've got nearly 300 coming along on Saturday, so it should be an awesome night," Trewick said.

Among the stalwarts of the Bloods who has been heavily involved in helping with the collation of memorabilia for this weekend's celebrations is Trewick's mother, Lorraine, whose involvement with the club dates back to 1965.

"I've got a lot of great memories with the club," Lorraine said this week.

"I remember when I first came working in the canteen here. It was in a little hut and I remember we used to have to get the possums out of the chimney to be able to light the fire for the stove, which was already interesting.

"Every home match I remember I used to make four dozen sausage rolls to sell, as did a number of other women.

"One of the footballers grew tomatoes and from those tomatoes I'd make the sauce that would be used for the season.

"We used to heat the hot dogs up in an old boiler on the stove and the sausage rolls in the oven.

"My four children have all played here at Elmore and 11 of my 12 grandchildren have all played here, so there is a very strong family connection and it's a wonderful club."

According to the Australian Football history website, Elmore has been affiliated with competitions including the Campaspe Valley Football Association, Elmore Cohuna Football League, Bendigo Football League and Echuca Football League.

However, the club's long-term affiliation is with the Heathcote District Football Netball League.

The club first played in the HDFNL in 1938-39 before football competitions went into recess during World War 2.

The Bloods re-emerged in 1946 in the Bendigo Football League alongside Eaglehawk, Sandhurst, Golden Square, Rochester and South Bendigo, and despite not winning a game, coach Bob Dawson won the league medal that year.

Then known as the Arthur Cook Medal prior to becoming the Michelsen Medal in 1952, Dawson was a runaway winner, polling 30 votes - nine three-vote games, one two-vote game and one one-vote game. He only failed to poll votes in one game.

After enduring a winless 1946 in what was a season where Eaglehawk won the flag, Elmore spent the next two years in the Echuca Football League before rejoining the Heathcote District league in 1949 where the Bloods have remained since.

Throughout their tenure in the HDFNL the Bloods have won five senior premierships - 1954 (defeated Tooboorac), 1960 (defeated Mount Pleasant), 1963 (defeated Tooboorac), 1985 (defeated Heathcote) and 2007 (defeated Colbinabbin).

That 2007 premiership win over Colbinabbin coached by Southcombe and captained by Andy Grant was one of the most dominant in HDFNL grand final history as the Bloods crushed Colbinabbin by 99 points at Toolleen.

17 years on the memories of that grand final win still inspire current day Elmore vice captain and gun forward James Harney.

A born and bred Elmore footballer who is closing in on 200 club games with the Bloods, Harney was one of the water boys on grand final day 2007.

"As a young bloke I just absolutely loved being around that group of players," Harney said this week.

"I was only 14 or 15 at the time and I could barely kick the ball 25m, but I'd get out on the track and try to train with those guys every chance I got.

"I was fortunate to be running water in the game that season when Ryan Hayes kicked 26 goals and then on grand final day and that was just unreal to have that success after we lost the year before (to Mount Pleasant).

"The celebrations afterwards with all the older people from around the community were just unbelievable. The town really came alive over those next few days and that was a really special time as a young fella and one I'd hope can still happen for myself as a player, but we've got to get moving."

That 2007 premiership season coincided with Bloods' full-forward Ryan Hayes equaling the HDFNL goalkicking record alongside Stanhope's Graham Waight when he booted 26 goals against Huntly in round 13 that game - a game the Bloods won by 208 points.

As well as the five senior premierships won in the HDFNL, the Bloods have also produced 10 winners of the Cheatley Medal: Billy Cunneen (1952), Daryl Dobell (1963), Brian Sutton (1966), Ken Ingram (1969), Steven Brown (1977), Dale Alford (1982), Steven Weir (1988), Rob Lecek (1977), David Fevaleaki (2006) and Andy Grant (2007).

The club shares a pair of strong rivalries with fellow farming community clubs Colbinabbin and Mount Pleasant, both of which also have long ties to the HDFNL.

"The club is huge for the community," said Harney, who after playing the previous two seasons with Echuca United returned to Elmore this year for the club's 150^th anniversary.

"Like all smaller country towns, it's the club that brings everyone together.

"Wherever you are in the community, whether it's on a farm or in the town, Saturdays at the footy and netball and Thursday nights at training are the time during the week where you all come together.

"Win, lose or draw you are together and enjoying everyone's company on a Saturday and relaxing from your day to day lives and you gradually just start to grow into the walls of the place.

"I know when I was a young kid I just loved having any involvement I could, whether that was running water or doing the boundary and just having any chance I could to be around those senior guys... you just wanted to be like they were and then you heard the stories from the older people at the club about what it meant to play for Elmore.

"We're not very far from Colbinabbin and Mount Pleasant, so you have the rivalry that comes with that and we all do the same thing farming-wise.

"While there's that camaraderie and respect among those clubs that comes with being in farming communities, as soon as the footy comes you're protecting your home turf."

And the Bloods will be out to protect their home turf against Heathcote on Saturday as they hunt their first senior win of the season on the club's milestone day.

"The biggest thing this weekend is showing fight and spirit after what has been a disappointing first three games to start the season," Harney said.

"We've played patches of good football, but need to put together four quarters and that will be our focus this week against one of the competition's top sides.

"It's a big day for the club and if we can put that four quarter effort together you never know what could happen."

As it currently stands, Tony Southcombe - one of the legendary central Victorian football coaches and former Carlton ruckman - holds the mantle as the last senior premiership coach of the Bloods.

He coached Elmore in 2006 and 2007 for a grand final loss to Mount Pleasant in his first season before breaking a 22-year premiership drought the following season with the 99-point demolition of Colbinabbin.

Southcombe later had another one-year stint coaching the Bloods in 2013 to help out after the club had endured an exodus players.

"I made a lot of friends at Elmore; it was a very easy club to deal with," Southcombe said this week.

"I thought my coaching days were finished, but Doug Cail and a few of the Elmore locals talked me into going up there and they were craving for success.

"I said I'd give them one year in 2006, but I ended up giving them two after losing the grand final that first year.

"We put a group of probably 30 to 35 players together who were all working for the one goal of winning a premiership for Elmore.

"In that side that won the premiership was probably 10 to a dozen players who had played with Elmore when they hadn't had a lot of success; they were just a very coachable group."

This year's 150th since the formation of the club also marks 60 years since Elmore's introduction of netball in 1964.

While it has been a struggle on the football field for over a decade now for the Bloods, who last won a senior final in 2011, the club's netball program is in a strong position.

The Bloods' won the HDFNL A grade netball premiership in 2022, while they were the back-to-back A reserve premiers in 2022 and 2023 and also won the B grade flag last year.

Elmore's 150^th celebration at the Elmore Memorial Hall on Saturday night begins at 6.30pm.