Lindsay Hall (second row, centre) and his 1984 premiership team. The team included three players who also played in the 1994 grand final winning team — Bill Hannam (fourth from left, standing second row), Darren Brock (two players to his right) and Darren Meek (seated, second from right).
Avenel’s fast start to the 2024 Kyabram district league season will be a major talking point among some of the club’s greatest ever players when premiership teams of 30 and 40 years ago gather for the Red and White Royalty reunion on June 21 and 22.
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A 30-year premiership drought will be set to one side when 1984 and 1994 premiership players from football and netball competitions descend on the club for the two-day event.
Avenel sits third on the ladder at the moment, beaten just once this season, but has not won a senior football title since 1994.
That is the second-longest drought in the competition — Girgarre’s last success having been 33 years ago (1991).
Originally designed to celebrate the 1984 and 1994 senior football victories, the event will also include a salute to the A-grade netball (1994), under-18 football (1984 and 1994) and under-16 netball (1984) titles of both those years.
Club president Joe Pollock said the club regularly welcomed back its past players and this year the event would take the form of a Friday evening function and the regular Saturday game-day celebration.
“We are inviting all former players, supporters and officials to be involved in a Friday night event and then come along to the football on Saturday.
“Traditionally, we have run these reunion events as only game-day celebrations, but this year we will be offering people a chance to catch-up without the potential distraction of on-field and on-court action,” he said.
Lindsay Hall (1984-85) and Darren Meek (1994) were the coaches of those teams, the latter having been a teenage member of Hall’s champion mid-80s teams.
Darren Brock, Bill Hannam and Wes Shelton also have connections to both the 1984 and 1994 teams. Brock and Hannam played in both senior titles, while Shelton was a member of the underage success of 40 years ago and a senior premiership player 10 years later.
This year’s reunion has been expanded to include all six of the club’s senior football successes (the others being 1978-79, 1985 and 1989), along with the various other successful teams whose photographs adorn the walls of the clubrooms.
Avenel is the third most successful club in the Kyabram District Football Netball League, since joining the league in 1976, only Lancaster and Nagambie (eight apiece) having more senior premierships in that time.
Between 1976, when the club moved from the Waranga North East league into the KDL, and in 1994 the Swans also finished runner-up on another six occasions.
A teenage Barry Hall in 1994 when he won the Kyabram district league best-and-fairest in the under-18 competition in an unbeaten Avenel premiership side.
Avenel won the under-18 title in 1994 when teenager Barry Hall won the league medal in a dominant season and Daniel Cleary (nephew of former VFA star Phil), kicked 100 goals.
A special booklet will be available at the event on Friday evening and the club is also planning to provide game day entertainment for those who would prefer a Saturday afternoon experience.
“We will have some of our club’s most well-known names participating in panels on both Friday night and Saturday. It will allow our current players the chance to hear about a golden era of the club,” Pollock said.
For more information about the event, phone Joe Pollock on 0400 486173, Martin White on 0417 101 802 or Rohan Aldous on 0415 892 415.
“There will also be plenty of information available on our Avenel Swan Facebook page,“ Pollock said.
