Lexton Plains Football League

[Grimmett]

Ararat DFA
----------
Miners (Methodists) - lost into the Ararat United / Ararat Eagles quagmire
St Marys - lost into the Ararat United / Ararat Eagles quagmire
Prestige - lost into the Ararat United / Ararat Eagles quagmire
Trinity - lost into the Ararat United / Ararat Eagles quagmire
Caledonians - lost into the Ararat United / Ararat Eagles quagmire
Moyston - merged with Willaura, many bad years, now looking up though
Great Western - HDFL, competitive enough
Swifts - HDFL, competitive enough
Warriors - merged into (absorbed by) Stawell Redlegs (Wimmera FL)

Little bit of help for you with this one Mobs.

The old ADFA consisted of Trinity, Miners (originally Methodists), Caledonians (who I think can trace roots back to being St Andrews?), St Marys, Moyston, Prestige, Great Western, Swifts and Warriors.
Prestige and Trinity were the first to merge becoming the Ararat Dragons followed a while later by Miners and Caleys joining as Ararat United and the comp continued on until the end of 1999 when all hell broke loose and teams went in every direction.
Moyston merged with Willaura and joined Ararat United in the MDFL.
Warriors 'merged' with Stawell to become Stawell Warriors in the WFL.
Great Western and Stawell Swifts headed to the HDFL.
The final piece of the fractured puzzle was when St Marys joined with the Ararat Dragons to become the Ararat Eagles. They applied unsuccessfully to join the LPFL and were sent by the VCFL to the HDFL for a season. They then transferred to the LPFL. Fair to say that there are still elements both inside and outside the club that would prefer that the three former ADFA clubs hadn't merged into one entity. Hasn't been the happiest of marriages at times. Subsequent attempts to shift across to the MDFL have caused much angst and been unsuccessful to this point.
Ararat United has since ceased operations despite being fairly financial. Player shortages could not be overcome. Tentative discussions about merging with Moyston/Willaura or even the Eagles amounted to nothing.
I was never involved in the ADFA but it is sad to think that 15 years ago the Ararat/Stawell area supported two WFL teams, nine ADFA teams plus had players heading to Navarre, Marnoo, Tatyoon, Wickliffe/Lake Bolac and Willaura amongst others and now struggles to field less than half that number of teams.
Occasionally suggestions arise about re-creating a league such as the ADFA but I think old enmities and current involvements will prevent it ever happening. Very sad for all of the people who cherished the old ADFA and are now at a loss for their local football fix.
I guess the old supporters of the Lexton and Western Plains leagues may feel very much the same about their old competitions.

 

[ohwhenthesaints]

My tips for this weekend.

Illabarook v CL - Carngham by 8 or 9 goals
Ararat Eagles v Skipton - Skipton by daylight
Rokewood v Lexton - Rokewood by 12 goals (RW too good in the midfield)
Natte v Navarre - Great game on the cards and could go either way!

Natte- to beat Navarre as Navarre coach Zane Bigmore is unlikely to play.
CL- starting to get it together
Skipton- easy
Rokewood- midfield to 100 posesions between them.

 

[RetiredYoung]

Little bit of help for you with this one Mobs.

<snip>
Prestige and Trinity were the first to merge becoming the Ararat Dragons <snip>
The final piece of the fractured puzzle was when St Marys joined with the Ararat Dragons to become the Ararat Eagles. They applied unsuccessfully to join the LPFL and were sent by the VCFL to the HDFL for a season. They then transferred to the LPFL. Fair to say that there are still elements both inside and outside the club that would prefer that the three former ADFA clubs hadn't merged into one entity.
<snip>
I was never involved in the ADFA but it is sad to think that 15 years ago the Ararat/Stawell area supported two WFL teams, nine ADFA teams plus had players heading to Navarre, Marnoo, Tatyoon, Wickliffe/Lake Bolac and Willaura amongst others and now struggles to field less than half that number of teams.
Occasionally suggestions arise about re-creating a league such as the ADFA but I think old enmities and current involvements will prevent it ever happening. Very sad for all of the people who cherished the old ADFA and are now at a loss for their local football fix.
I guess the old supporters of the Lexton and Western Plains leagues may feel very much the same about their old competitions.

Thanks for the summary, I could never quite get my head around how the Eagles came about even when the clubs president explained it to the juniors while I played there. 3 clubs combining into one isnt going to work very well most times. I was always more confused because my grand father is a life member at prestige and he always talked about the old league. And at the old Tech school the St. Mary's memrobelia is still up and has a lot of nice records and pictures. Good that the eagles "always fight for victory like the Saints and Dragons of old" in the club song.

I doubt a league like the ADFA could reform mainly because the VCFL would need to restructure the local region and it would probably mean the end of 2 or 3 leagues. However if it were to go ahead I would imagine it like this:

Ararat clubs - 2 or 3 clubs? playing out of Alexandra oval, Tech school (if redeveloped a bit and the surface improved)
Great Western
Tatty
Moyston
Stawell - 2 clubs?
Navarre?

that would be 8 or 9 clubs all within half an hour of Ararat and there would be some good rivalries in there.

Sad to think it all went so bad for Ararat footy so quickly

EDIT - Grimmett Do you think United can get back to competing because they havent officially folded have they? They are in recess.

 

[Dalks]

EDIT - Grimmett Do you think United can get back to competing because they havent officially folded have they? They are in recess.

United was in recess a year, then folded.

An interesting side note: I'm led to believe the Eagles unnofficially approached the Mininera league as their first preference to play after the demise of the ADFA.
The MDFL told them with Moyston/Willaura coming in that they would only accept one Ararat club (Eagles or United) that year.
As it turns out United got their application in first, so the door was shut on the Eagles.
It seems some Eagles people took this as a blunt snub from the MDFL and vowed never to forgive them for not taking on the Eagles at the end of 1999, so when the MDFL said they wanted the Eagles last year, those few angry people did what they could to block the move.

 

[wiz33]

Natte- to beat Navarre as Navarre coach Zane Bigmore is unlikely to play.
CL- starting to get it together
Skipton- easy
Rokewood- midfield to 100 posesions between them.

My Tips for this huge round

Natte Def Navarre by 35 points
C/Linton Def Illabrook by 23 points
Skipton Def Ararat by 78 points
Rokewood Def Lexton by 50 points

Good Luck to all

 

[wiz33]

Don't doubt he will be handy, just no star. But blokes his size are hard to find so good luck to Lexton and him.

Yea agree he may not be superstar but from what i hear Lexton are struggling especially in teh big man department. Is named in the ruck. Saw him play at Full Back once last year so if ball is pumped in there quick like it has been, will find him in defence pretty quick

 

[Mobbs]

Thanks Grimmett, correct re St Andrews.

Caledonians and Miners merged after 1996.
Prestige and Trinity also merged after 1996.
St Marys continued as was.
From 1998, which is where I always get confused, eventually we ended up with Ararat United and Ararat Eagles.

Where did Ararat Dragons come into it? I'm lost on that bit.

 

[bigun]

Thanks Grimmett, correct re St Andrews.

Caledonians and Miners merged after 1996.
Prestige and Trinity also merged after 1996.
St Marys continued as was.
From 1998, which is where I always get confused, eventually we ended up with Ararat United and Ararat Eagles.

Where did Ararat Dragons come into it? I'm lost on that bit.

There was no Ararat Dragons. Dragons was the nickname of Prestige / Trinity.

 

[bigun]

United was in recess a year, then folded.

An interesting side note: I'm led to believe the Eagles unnofficially approached the Mininera league as their first preference to play after the demise of the ADFA.
The MDFL told them with Moyston/Willaura coming in that they would only accept one Ararat club (Eagles or United) that year.
As it turns out United got their application in first, so the door was shut on the Eagles.
It seems some Eagles people took this as a blunt snub from the MDFL and vowed never to forgive them for not taking on the Eagles at the end of 1999, so when the MDFL said they wanted the Eagles last year, those few angry people did what they could to block the move.

Not quite true Dalks, St Marys had enquired about joining the MDFL prior to the Nov 1999 meeting when the VCFL carved up the ADFA, Both Prestige / Trinity and St Marys were sent to the HDFL(they had no choice). At that famous meeting the VCFL stated to the HDFL ( who had not even considered taking either team) not to worry because they thought both teams might fold, After this the exec of both clubs got together and decidided to merge and become the Ararat Eagles.

Last years events were handled badly in regards to the Eagles joining the MDFL, It came out in the paper on a Friday that the club would be having a meeting 2 days later to decide on going to the MDFL, no notice was given to the LIfe Members of the club and apparently some committee didnt know that the MDFL had been contacted. 3 weeks later a meeting was held in which the club required a 75% majority to affirm the motion to join the MDFL, they did not get the 75% and the motion was defeated. Then for whatever reasons some officials tried to explore legal avenues to overturn this decision, and they found out that the 1st vote was indeed valid , they then decided to have another vote, 2 weeks later another vote was held and the motion was affirmed, the only problem with that was that the Eagles had asked the MDFL exec and they said "Yes we will take you", but nobody asked the teams of the MDFL and when it came time for them to vote on the Eagles joining MDFL 3 clubs said "no" which meant the Eagles had to stay in the LPFL.
Yes it was poorly managed and it split the club right down the middle, but the Eagles didnt give up and they appointed a new President and committee, they got rid of some deadwood and have put their faith in a young group that should pay dividends for them in the future, whether that be in the LPFL , MDFL or wherever. Keep up the good work Henry.

 

[FREDDIE13]

Not quite true Dalks, St Marys had enquired about joining the MDFL prior to the Nov 1999 meeting when the VCFL carved up the ADFA, Both Prestige / Trinity and St Marys were sent to the HDFL(they had no choice). At that famous meeting the VCFL stated to the HDFL ( who had not even considered taking either team) not to worry because they thought both teams might fold, After this the exec of both clubs got together and decidided to merge and become the Ararat Eagles.

Last years events were handled badly in regards to the Eagles joining the MDFL, It came out in the paper on a Friday that the club would be having a meeting 2 days later to decide on going to the MDFL, no notice was given to the LIfe Members of the club and apparently some committee didnt know that the MDFL had been contacted. 3 weeks later a meeting was held in which the club required a 75% majority to affirm the motion to join the MDFL, they did not get the 75% and the motion was defeated. Then for whatever reasons some officials tried to explore legal avenues to overturn this decision, and they found out that the 1st vote was indeed valid , they then decided to have another vote, 2 weeks later another vote was held and the motion was affirmed, the only problem with that was that the Eagles had asked the MDFL exec and they said "Yes we will take you", but nobody asked the teams of the MDFL and when it came time for them to vote on the Eagles joining MDFL 3 clubs said "no" which meant the Eagles had to stay in the LPFL.
Yes it was poorly managed and it split the club right down the middle, but the Eagles didnt give up and they appointed a new President and committee, they got rid of some deadwood and have put their faith in a young group that should pay dividends for them in the future, whether that be in the LPFL , MDFL or wherever. Keep up the good work Henry.

The club was split down the middle well before then big gun... The eagles don't belong in the LPFL, the truth is that no one in town gives a rats arse about the lexton plains.. Its good to see them having a crack now but i think they've been fortunate having the first 6 games at home.. It will be intersting to see how many of these " young group" turn up when they're playing in rokewood or skipton on a cold wet saturday...

 

[Dalks]

ah that makes a lot of sense now that you mention it Bigun, as it is ex-St Marys people who seemed to offer the most resistance to moving south last year.
I wont speculate too much on why particular clubs voted against accepting the Eagles, I dont really want to point fingers too directly at anybody.

I totally agree that the Eagles have a new outlook, I think Bill Bell has had an enormous impact on the players and I'm glad to see some smiling faces around the place.

I fear that the second half of the year will take its toll on the club. If I was an Eagles official I would have made sure a few of these transferred games to Alexandra Oval of late were infact opposition home games to ensure the Eagles have some home games later in the year.
If the two's are getting pounded each week are they all going to show up at Natte Yallock after travelling for miles the previous two weeks?
And what about social functions? The new rooms will be built with no home games to take advantage of them.

Freddie I agree that Ararat football followers generally dont follow the Lexton Plains league and its no secret that I think they would be much better off in the MDFL.
Where does that leave the LPFL? Its hard to say.
Its very clear to me the VCFL is sitting back scared to lead the way in reshaping football in the region, I believe they are simply waiting for the LPFL to fall over so the clubs can find new homes on their own.
As a few have pointed out - A league based around the Ararat/Stawell area makes a lot of sense, and I think it would be a great starting point for the VCFL to work from. But leagues from Ballarat to the border would have to be open to change for it to work.

I've done stories about restructuring before and I know VCFL officials have read them...Its frustrating that no matter how many clubs around the traps agree something has to change before we lose more clubs, the VCFL remains virtually silent.

 

[Grimmett]

There was no Ararat Dragons. Dragons was the nickname of Prestige / Trinity.

True enough. As I stated earlier, it was never my league and I was going from memory. I felt Ararat Dragons sounded wrong but couldn't quite remember the proper moniker.

 

[FREDDIE13]

DAlks, I;ll think you'd find that it was the ex dragons supporters who were strongly apposed to the move to the MDFL and not the St Mary contingent...

 

[Dalks]

DAlks, I;ll think you'd find that it was the ex dragons supporters who were strongly apposed to the move to the MDFL and not the St Mary contingent...

I havent heard about ex Dragons people resorting to bagging out the Eagles to MDFL club officials to hinder their effort to move to the Mininera.

But I didn't jump on here to talk about the Eagles to crap on about their own club politics, I really only wanted to make a point about the LPFL's lack of support for them.
I think everyone in the Ararat region would like to see them succeed, I don't really care where they play but I know I'd be more likely to go watch them if they were in the MDFL.

 

[Snail]

Got to the Natte/Navarre game on w'end and was no great spectacle. Natte are doing enough at the moment and i sense they could really pick up the tempo any time now and will be a worry for others come finals. Other games went the way i thought they would, C/Linton just getting up, does that mean they aren't up to the standard of the top couple or does it show they can win scrappy ones?. Skipton for the flag but will be so interesting to see who they play against

 

[Thoroughbred]

Got to the Natte/Navarre game on w'end and was no great spectacle. Natte are doing enough at the moment and i sense they could really pick up the tempo any time now and will be a worry for others come finals. Other games went the way i thought they would, C/Linton just getting up, does that mean they aren't up to the standard of the top couple or does it show they can win scrappy ones?. Skipton for the flag but will be so interesting to see who they play against

Natte v Navarre was always going to be Natte's. I think Natte could be a concern for the Ballarat teams in finals as they are yet to field a full strength unit. The question is whether Jonesy and co will be right by finals.

Judging from some of the talk, Bigmore might be an off field coach for the rest of the year too which is a terrible loss for Navarre and the league.

 

[Crafty 4 PM]

Did anyone get to see the Illabarook - C/L game on the weekend? From what was said in the paper Mark Verdoorn absolutely dominated the second half winning the match off his own boot. Wanted to know if there was much in the incident where he was reported? Is well known for his firey temper and lethal fighting skillls, feel sorry for the poor bloke who was on the receiving end if Verdoorn let loose

 

[Whacker]

Did anyone get to see the Illabarook - C/L game on the weekend? From what was said in the paper Mark Verdoorn absolutely dominated the second half winning the match off his own boot. Wanted to know if there was much in the incident where he was reported? Is well known for his firey temper and lethal fighting skillls, feel sorry for the poor bloke who was on the receiving end if Verdoorn let loose

From what i heard the poor bloke was rolling around in pain. wouldnt be surprised if there were some internal injuries caused

 

[watthe]

From what i heard the poor bloke was rolling around in pain. wouldnt be surprised if there were some internal injuries caused

yes i was out at illabrook on saturday and firstly the game was a cracker, skills from both teams wernt the best but the game was tight all day going goal for goal which was good, secondly whacker u couldnt be more wrong verdoom was report after he gave a little cheapy(which wouldnt have hurt a fly) but none the less was reported, as a neutel bystander if he gets weeks its a disgrace

 

[Madroota69]

Did anyone get to see the Illabarook - C/L game on the weekend? From what was said in the paper Mark Verdoorn absolutely dominated the second half winning the match off his own boot. Wanted to know if there was much in the incident where he was reported? Is well known for his firey temper and lethal fighting skillls, feel sorry for the poor bloke who was on the receiving end if Verdoorn let loose

I didn't happen to see the incident but from all reports there was nothing in it. The only time I've seen Verdoorn even go red in the face was when he went a bit nuts with the tomato sauce on a meat pie and got it all over his face. He wouldn't hurt a fly, matter of fact the only thing he would let loose on is the button on his jeans and buckle on his belt after a big feed.

 

[Madroota69]

yes i was out at illabrook on saturday and firstly the game was a cracker, skills from both teams wernt the best but the game was tight all day going goal for goal which was good, secondly whacker u couldnt be more wrong verdoom was report after he gave a little cheapy(which wouldnt have hurt a fly) but none the less was reported, as a neutel bystander if he gets weeks its a disgrace

I kind of got your jist buddy
You can download a spell check tool from http://www.iespell.com

 

[mudflapper]

Sounds like it has only taken verdoorn a couple of weeks to slip back in to his old ways............ winning a game by awesome solo efforts then letting his temper undo all of his hard work.......as predicted on this site a month ago i said he could turn around carngham's season only if he kepted his cool........I know he likes to consider himself as a "HARD MAN" of the league, but footy comes first!

 

[Mobbs]

Hey Madroota that's an amusing reason for your post edit

 

[Old School Biff]

So which one of you guys is Verdoorn?

 

[Old School Biff]

BUT tells me that in the next 5 weeks 4 BIG name players will line up in the saints seniors. He won't give me an inch with names but was very exited, my question is will 5 weeks time be too late??

I take it that Chipper Harris was one of these. I see Carisbrook has already got him signed and the clearance is in.

Head will be back very soon, my sources tell me.