Liam Durkin
FOOTBALL
By LIAM DURKIN
HEYFIELD once had two football clubs.
There was Heyfield Football Club and Heyfield Timber Workers Football Club.
The timber workers played between 1951 and 1955, competing in the Cowwarr District Football League.
A local derby decided the 1951 and 1952 premierships, both won by Heyfield.
Much as the Kangaroos are famous for winning four North Gippsland flags in a row (1997-2000), Heyfield actually won six consecutive Cowwarr District premiership from 1947 to 1952.
The timber workers won the 1953 decider, defeating Gormandale 14.18 (102) to 10.7 (67).
Heyfield was back as one club a couple of years later, when the main body absorbed the timber team in 1955.
By then, the Cowwarr league had merged with Sale District to form the Sale Cowwarr Football League.
Heyfield did not compete in this league, instead playing in the Gippsland Football League.
The ‘old’ Gippsland Football League was essentially an East Gippsland competition, and comprised Heyfield, Bairnsdale, Bruthen, Lakes Entrance, Lindenow, Maffra, Orbost and Stratford.
This league is not to be confused with the current Gippsland League, which was formed in 1954 and called Latrobe Valley Football League.
Heyfield joined the LVFL in 1960, playing until 1974 when it moved to North Gippsland.
The Kangaroos have been in North Gippsland ever since, and been one of the competition’s most successful clubs.
Senior premierships have come every decade: 1976, 1988, 1997-2000, 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2012.
