THROUGHOUT its time in the Emu Valley Cricket Association, United is a club steeped in success.

A tally of 29 EVCA premierships – including 16 in division one – in just over 30 seasons in the competition is testament to that.

But one Tigers’ season in particular stands out and is commemorated in the club’s Ewing Park changerooms under the banner of “The Invincibles.”

It’s the 2002-03 season when the Tigers won all three EVCA premierships – division one captained by Keiran Nihill, division two by Brendan Hartney and division three by Ben Dyett.

“That was really special because it’s something that hadn’t been done before in the Emu Valley,” Tigers stalwart Shane Hartney said this week.

“It’s difficult to do because not all clubs had teams in every grade, so in some cases like against Lockwood you were basically playing their A grade team in B grade.

“I remember that year it was a massive upset that our B grade team beat Lockwood in the grand final because they had a star-studded side, but I’m fairly sure the other two teams had gone in as favourites.”

United beat Marong in the division one grand final, but made hard work of its chase of the Panthers’ 131 in losing eight wickets before reaching its target.

The Tigers’ premiership win featured a superb bowling performance on day one from Rob Walsh, who took 6-36 off 17 overs, while their opening batting combination was the father-son duo of Dennis and Sam O’Connor.

As Hartney alluded to, the Tigers’ division two win over reigning premier Lockwood by five wickets was a massive boilover that was reflected at the toss of the coin.

“Brendan won the toss and put Lockwood in because he didn’t want us to be outrighted or beaten on the first day had we batted first,” Hartney said.

“We just wanted to extend the game as long as we could, but we bowled well and were able to chase the runs down.”

The Tigers’ division three grand final win over Emu Creek by 30 runs was highlighted by 117 from Peter Alexander that helped rescue United from a precarious 3-18 early.

Memories of “The Invincibles” will be among those shared this weekend when the Tigers hold their 50^th anniversary celebrations.

United is a club that has a history tied to two Bendigo cricket competitions.

Firstly, the Bendigo Matting Association after the club was formed in 1968 out of an amalgamation between two church cricket teams – Quarry Hill United and Golden Square Methodist.

Initially known as the Quarry Square United Cricket Club, as predicted by inaugural captain Allan Brown, “the new team will probably be very quickly become known as only United.”

The new club under the leadership of Brown took to the field for the first time on October 19, 1968, against Ironbark, in what was a defeat at what is now known as Ken Wust Oval in Quarry Hill.

Joining Brown in the first United team were Ian Colt, Bill Brown, Cliff Ellis, Murray Oakes, Trevor Whitfield, Tony Stevens, Wayne Slattery and Leigh Arnold.

While United is a club that has become renowned for premiership success, that wasn’t always the way.

The club took more than a decade before winning its first premiership in 1981 in a gritty grand final fightback with the ball against the BMA’s top team, College.

Defending 108 the Tigers looked like a first flag would elude them for another year when College was well-placed at 1-70 and United bowlers Peter Smart and Bill Grant were both off the field injured.

Yet in a stunning collapse in which it at one stage lost 7-2, College was bowled out for 93 and United had captured the first of what has now grown to a tally of 31 overall premierships.

The Tigers – whose club record score of 242 was set by Huw Derwent-Smith in 1982-83 – also won the Bendigo Matting Association flag in 1984-85, with their other 29 premierships coming in various divisions of the EVCA, which the club joined in 1985-86.

As well as the triple premiership season of 2002-03, Hartney also looks back with tremendous pride on the Tigers winning division one premierships in their first two years in the EVCA – the second of which was undefeated.

The first six of the Tigers’ division one premierships were all captained by Hartney, who joined the club back in the late ’70s, is still playing in the division three and now serving as United president for a 19^th season.

“We’re a club that has always had a really good committee, and that’s the basis for any sporting club,” Hartney said.

“We’ve always had a lot of people willing to work and been able to get good teams on the park, but we’ve also had some luck along the way, which you need in winning premierships.

“We’ve only missed finals three times since 1980 and I can’t recall any division one players leaving the club and playing against us.

“There would be some in the lower grades, but you just don’t see United division one players leave and play against us, which is testament to that when players come here they enjoy it.

“We don’t have many falling outs. You see clubs at times have a split and players head out to other clubs, but we’ve always been able to keep it fairly stable here.”

As well as the on-field success the club has enjoyed, the Tigers have also had six VFL/AFL players don the whites at Ewing Park – Mick Leneghan (Geelong), Frank Coghlan (St Kilda), Brendan Hartney (Carlton), Andrew Collins (Carlton and Richmond), Tony Barnes (Melbourne) and Fergus Greene (Western Bulldogs).

Leneghan, Coghlan, Hartney, Collins and Barnes are all premiership players with United, with Hartney – also a great of the Bendigo Football League – having played in eight division one flags.

The Tigers’ 50-year reunion function will be held on Saturday night at Ewing Park from 7pm.

As part of the club’s 50th anniversary, the Tigers have developed a DVD celebrating their decorated history.

DIVISION 1 (16) – 1981, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2014, 2016.

DIVISION 2 (9) – 1987, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1998, 2003, 2008, 2013.

DIVISION 3 (4) – 1997, 2003, 2008, 2009.

DIVISION 4 (2)  – 2012, 2014.

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