Sport
10 August, 2023
Dunolly celebrates 150th year with book of history
For the Dunolly Football and Netball Club, tomorrow night is more than just a celebration of their 150th year. Indeed, the night — and the year — is also a reflection of the past history that the club has finally reclaimed in 2023, thanks to the...
For the Dunolly Football and Netball Club, tomorrow night is more than just a celebration of their 150th year.
Indeed, the night — and the year — is also a reflection of the past history that the club has finally reclaimed in 2023, thanks to the tireless work of historian Stan McNamee, whose work has been published in a book about the club’s 150 years.
Dunolly’s history is a decorated one — having captured 18 football premierships, two A grade netball premierships, 10 best and fairest winners between both football and netball, including legends of the club, Ron Deledio, Arthur Lacey, Doug Beasy and Wayne Deledio, as well as modern day heroes such as Ash Lierich, and a variety of memorable experiences in multiple leagues, before its return to the Maryborough Castlemaine District Football Netball League in 2004.
McNamee says every big flashpoint of Dunolly’s history is captured in the book.
“I’m happy that the book’s finished. It did take a fair while. We’ve sold something like 65 copies already, which is good. It’s a greater success than what I thought it would be,” he said.
“The good thing is, in reality, I compiled the book, but the credit needs to go to the writers from 1873 through to 2023. The whole thing is reliant on what they believed the games were like. To see how the games were written in 2023 compared to 1880 or 1890 is different and how football, in particular, has changed.
“The really good thing is that in the end, you can talk about your own club, but they’ve had the Beasy family, the Deledio family, Edwards, Heenans, Lanfranchis, Pollinellis, Watts… they’re all great people, and you get to discover that they’re wonderful human beings.”
McNamee’s primary goal was to ensure the Eagles had maintained their history, and saw it as a bonus that they had been able to rediscover eight additional football premierships, as well as the greats of the club.
“The fact that we knew we had about 10 flags, then discovered we had 18 is surprising. It encouraged me to go back more into the past and look at different eras,” he said.
“When we did the 150th, we didn’t realise we were missing a lot of years, so I kept going back and unearthing players who were clearly great in their era. Those players should be spoken about, and that’s a problem, in that the past does get forgotten about. It can be a bad indictment that people don’t recognise the great players of the past.”
Champions such as the Deledio family and the Beasy family, who all had family members reach the VFL/AFL, are celebrated in the book, with McNamee drawing on his own family experience in particular to gain a rare insight into Carlton’s 1920s champion, Maurie Beasy.
“My mother, who is 102, saw Maurie Beasy play when she was four, in 1925. He was her favourite player, and she is probably the only person who saw him play and is still alive,” he said.
Those champions are now set to be celebrated tomorrow night at the Dunolly Town Hall, as the last of three clubs that have celebrated their 150th year celebrations this year, joining Avoca and Maldon.
Dunolly FNC president Ric Lang says it looks set to be a big night.
“We have a fair few tickets sold, and we’ll start it not long after our senior game,” he said.
“It will be good to have the champions back in the club. There’s a few that haven’t been around for a long time due to other commitments, but it will be good to see them be able to chat to everyone about the club.
“We’ll have a few people speaking, food and drinks and everyone can mingle in the town hall. There will be a lot of displays and old photos, and we’ll also have things set up in the clubrooms on the day as well. It will be good to get the older people and newer people at the club and show them how we are.”
Lang said McNamee’s work in bringing the book, and the club’s history, has been good for the club.
“There’s a lot of stuff that even I didn’t know and the committee didn’t know about the club that’s come out in the book from the early days until now, with all the premierships that we’ve won and the great players we have had. It’s fantastic, and the book will be on display on the night. Stan’s done a brilliant job with the book,” he said.
“To keep going for 150 years is an achievement in itself, especially with COVID and amalgamation talks going on around the place. The fact that we’re still going is really good.”
McNamee echoed Lang’s remarks about the celebration, and how important it will be for the club.
“The celebration is a good thing. They have some good numbers, and that’s what you want. You want people to have good memories of great times and appreciate what has come beforehand. It would be great how people see how great it has been in the past,” McNamee said.
“Avoca, Maldon and Dunolly celebrating their 150th year this year, Maryborough last year and Castlemaine recently, it’s fantastic and you get a chance to re-assess where they’re at going forward.”