By JARROD POTTER
UNITING south eastern and peninsula junior footballers for a pre-season showdown, Beaconsfield and Mt Eliza squared off on Sunday for the inaugural Garrleigh Shield.
With nearly 1200 players between the two clubs, the Eagles and Redlegs joined forces to create one powerful final hit-out before the season starts, with graded players from under-13s, under-14s, under-15s, under-17s and Youth Girls battling over the weekend at Holm Park Reserve.
Beaconsfield Junior Football Club president Troy Robinson said the idea grew from a schoolboy rivalry and blossomed into the 11-game Garrleigh Shield in no time.
“It started with two kids at school – both went to Haileybury and both are involved in the Stingrays program and said they should have a game against each other,” Robinson said.
“He talked to his dad and because our under-15s squad played against Mt Eliza last year, we thought it would be a great idea to do it again.
“We already had one Beacy versus Mt Eliza match last year – in which both sides were absolutely professional towards each other and it grew from there.
“Then we thought why not open it up to all the graded teams and make a massive event out of it. “
In the 11-game battle at Holm Park Reserve, Mt Eliza emerged victorious winning seven while Beaconsfield picked up four across the afternoon, but everyone agreed it was a showcase day for south east Victorian junior football no matter the result.
“It was really good actually – 11 games and was a bit of a blast, went really well,” Robinson said.
“Good for all our graded teams to play together and was a good opportunity for them to get a run-around before the season against really good opposition.
“Two of the biggest clubs within Victoria as there are 750 at Mt Eliza and 540 kids with us – so it was a really good opportunity to get two significant clubs together and work together.”
The clubs also set up a coaches networking event, held at Frankston Park last Wednesday, to encourage greater communication between the sides.
While the Shield has migrated down the coast for 2016, Robinson pulled no punches about wanting it back at Holm Park as soon as possible.
Fraser was crowing and all excited when they pinched the first two games from us,” Robinson said. “Then we dragged two back and he went into hiding.
“I’m confident we’ll get it next year and we’ve already got ‘Beaconsfield 2017’ ready to be etched onto the shield.”
Robinson wanted to highlight the efforts of Shane Boland for organising the event and ensuring everything ran smoothly and Ross from Garrleigh Trophies for sponsoring the event and providing the shield.
