SOCCER
More than 200 past and present members of the Traralgon City Soccer Club took a trip down memory lane at the weekend when the club celebrated its 50th anniversary.
“We had 217 people and we couldn’t fit them in here at the club so we had to go to the Italian Australian Club,” former president Frank Alway said.
“There was a lot of reminiscing. We also did the team of the half century and a lot of guys that have been here for a long time got up and spoke that came back for the night.
“It was just fantastic. We’ve had a lot of fun over the years.”
Melbourne Victory Women’s coach Jeff Hopkins was a special guest on the night and spoke about his journey in the sport.
An impressive slew of silverware adorned the Italian Australian Club with the Battle of Britain Cup front and centre.
The senior men’s side has claimed eight Battle of Britain Cups over the years and the women’s side has also enjoyed great success with the Browne/Huizer Cup in 2016, league cups in 2016 and 2017 and the series final cup last year.
Alway said the highlights were too many to recount but recalled a visit from Manchester’s George Best in the early ’70s as a standout.
“He came and took the juniors for the morning and when you get a guy that’s playing with Manchester United … it was pretty special,” he said.
President Steve Andersen, who has been at the helm of Traralgon City for eight years, said the club had harvested a culture of inclusion.
“Our culture is that we want everyone to play soccer,” he said.
“We want everyone. It doesn’t matter if they’re the best or what their skills level is – we want them to play,” he said.
In addition to the celebrations on Friday night, it was standing room only back at Traralgon City club headquarters on Saturday with more than 1000 people packed in to the Davidson Street complex to watch a game.
“It was fantastic to get five generations of people coming through and all coming back,” Andersen said.
“They came from all over Australia just for the weekend. You can’t buy that.”
