The Burra/Booborowie/Hallett Football Club completed their successful 2009 season with the “Premiership Dinner” in the Booborowie Hall last Saturday night.
Around 130 people converged on Booborowie to celebrate the BBH Rams winning of the North Eastern Football League 2009 A Grade Premiership with former Burra, Booborowie and Hallett players along with their wives in attendance to enjoy the night.
BBH president Shane Darwin welcomed everybody to the dinner including special guests NEFL president Graeme Wandel and his wife Denby, NEFL secretary for the past 18 years Marlene Kleinig and 91-year-old Harold Prior who played in the 1957 Hallett Premiership team.
Following an appetizing entrée of seafood cocktail or spring rolls, former Fremantle Docker, Adelaide Crow, BBH Colt and six-time Central District premiership player Danny Schell was introduced to the stage by President Darwin.
Danny said he was honoured to be invited to the dinner as guest speaker and made a terrific speech for about 20 minutes congratulating BBH on their success and about his time back at the club when he was a colt playing in the 1993 Junior Colts and the 1996 Senior Colts Premierships and in particular his career at Centrals.
The 150-game player at the Bulldogs made special mention of the culture at Centrals and why they’ve been so successful over the past ten years playing in every SANFL grand-final, winning eight of them including this year.
Danny stressed how important it was to have good people around the club including committee members, social club committee members, canteen workers, trainers and all the other volunteers that make a football club successful.
He said the Central District Football Club never went out searching for the best footballers when they were recruiting but the best blokes that could play footy that would fit into the club and build a culture where they could enjoy continued success.
Danny pointed out that the Bulldogs have built a culture over the years and they believe they can win any game they’re involved in no matter how far they’re behind at stages of the game and how BBH can achieve this successful culture if they continue down the path they’re heading.
It was then the players’ turn to be introduced to the crowd with President Darwin inviting 1976 Premiership vice-captain of Burra Richard Riggs, Hallett 1957 Premiership captain Alan Dawes and three-times Mail Medalist Kevin Cousins from the Booborowie Football Club to the stage.
BBHFC football operations manager Ian Dolphin introduced the players individually to the stage giving a brief description of their playing careers and the impact they had on the success of the A Grade particularly in the grand final.
The three former champions from the Burra, Hallett and Booborowie Football Clubs presented each player with a gift from the club including a DVD of the 2009 NEFL grand final, a bottle of Premiership wine, a Premiership Polo Shirt and a few other goodies.
The main course was then served in alternate serves of Angostura Chicken in a Light Cream Sauce or Fillet Mignon with Mushroom or Plain Gravy before the cash came out for the auction of memorabilia.
Former BBH player and coach Geoff Schell was introduced to the stage to auction five BBH framed guernseys that had been signed by every player in the premiership team plus the coach Peter Whittlesea.
Auctioneer Schell made a valid point that there will only ever be one first-time Premiership for the BBH A Grade and that it will be the only chance to snap up such a rare piece of merchandise.
It didn’t take long for the guernseys to be auctioned off with bidding coming from all parts of the Booborowie Hall. The five pieces of memorabilia ranged from $850 to $975 with the successful bidders being Andrew Phin, Margie Whittlesea, Trevor Wall, Stephen Tohl and Nicky Brooks.
NEFL president Graeme Wandel was introduced to the stage and he congratulated the BBH Football Club on their success and what it means to win premierships and how important it is to continue building towards further success.
President Wandel presented a magnificently framed collage of legendary moments in football titled The Game That Made Australia to be auctioned. Bidding was fierce starting at $800 with Adrian Hill eventually taking home the prized possession for $1525.
The “Premiership Dinner” was completed with pavlova or cheesecake for dessert before the crowd mingled over post dinner drinks reminiscing with former team-mates and opponents from the old days when Burra, Booborowie and Hallett played out many gripping games of football where there was no love lost.
The Booborowie community must be congratulated for the excellent food and beverages that were served and the presentation of the hall and to everybody that gave a hand to make the “Premiership Dinner” a successful evening.
Well done to everyone that was involved, they did a terrific job to organise such a huge occasion only five weeks after the event that created history and to Rob Purcell for transporting the Burra contingent out to Boob and back in his bus.
As Danny Schell said, if the BBH Football Club can continue down the path they’re travelling and build on that winning culture the success will grow and there’ll be more premierships in the future.
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