Berwick Miners veteran Dale Warren, pictured with daughter Jada (below), will retire at the end of the season after a career spanning over two decades; the News ran a story on Warren as a promising young quarterback in 1991 (left).By Stuart Teather
“I’M PRETTY much the backbone of the club.”
Dale Warren’s frank self-assessment accurately sums up his extraordinary gridiron career with the Berwick Miners.
41-year-old Warren, who will pull the curtains on his playing career at the end of the Gridiron Victoria finals, has played the sport for over two decades, starting with his first game way back in 1987 with the Frankston Razorbacks.
The next year he was a part of the group that set up the Berwick Miners, a club he has dedicated the last 20 years of his life to.
Warren said he originally played AFL, but was overlooked by scouts from the league sides, and decided to try his hand at something else.
“I was just looking for something different, that was the main thing in the end,” he said.
His career has been packed with highlights, none better than the 1994 grand final victory against the Waverley Sharks.
With the scores tied, Warren recovered a fumble in the Waverley end zone to set up an attack with the clock counting down towards overtime.
On the final play, Miners’ quarterback Troy Davis launched a pass to Warren, who took the catch against strong defence, and ran in a 60-yard touchdown to give his side the win and the championship.
“I even had the ref come up to me the other day — he’s been refereeing as long as I’ve been playing — he said he’d always remember the last second in the ’94 grand final,” Warren said.
If ’94 was his greatest highlight, leading the team out in his final home-and-away game, number 221, with his daughter, must have been a close second.
“It was quite good actually. All the team was working as one… We had a bit of fun.”
Warren’s coach and fellow club legend Darren Shaw had nothing but praise for Warren’s contribution to the club.
“He’s probably had more impact than anybody at our club.
“Off the field he’s been as important, if not more important, than on the field.” Warren and Shaw are the two remaining clubmen from the original group that started the Miners back in ’88.
“He never left — I’ve left the club for six or seven years. The club wouldn’t be there now if it wasn’t for him,” Shaw said.
Warren said he had seen many changes to the club and the sport during his career.
“We’ve probably seen about 300 players overall come through the club — because they want to try the sport.
“We’ve got a new ground being built at the Sydney Parkinson Reserve, so that’s the biggest change recently… It should be done by this time next year.
“Primarily it’s still the same — it’s still a little family club.”
He said numbers had dwindled in recent times, down from the glory years of the mid-90s when the roster swelled to over 50 players, far higher than the 25-odd at the moment.
A former head- and-offensive- coach, Warren said he would be working as an assistant coach next year at the club.
But his days as a wide receiver are not over just yet, with the Miners preparing to take on top side, the Monash University Warriors in a do-or-die semi final next weekend, with a bye round this week before the finals.
