Sport
21 August, 2023
Emotional final day for Royal Park and Rovers
There may have been tears, but there were many more cheers as the history and the heritage of Royal Park and Maryborough Rovers were celebrated right throughout Saturday. There was plenty of emotion at both Hedges Oval and Jubilee Oval as both...
There may have been tears, but there were many more cheers as the history and the heritage of Royal Park and Maryborough Rovers were celebrated right throughout Saturday.
There was plenty of emotion at both Hedges Oval and Jubilee Oval as both teams, who have been an integral part of the Maryborough community for the past 60 years consecutively since Royal Park’s re-admission in 1961 and Rovers’ admission in 1966, said farewell for the last time in a home and away game ahead of their amalgamation next year.
However, the story isn’t quite over yet, with Maryborough Rovers securing an emotional A grade finals berth after a stirring five-goal win over Maldon, as well as a C grade finals appearance.
Royal Park will also be represented in the finals, with their B grade team, C grade team, under 13s, under 15s and table-topping under 17s also making netball finals, while the under 17.5 football team are in, and their under 11.5 football team pinched their spot in the finals at the last gasp from Campbells Creek.
For the senior footballers, the path has come to an end, with both teams eventually falling to Maldon and Talbot respectively.
Rovers were 38 points behind at the opening change at Jubilee Oval, but were able to fight incredibly hard to kick six of the next nine goals of the contest to reduce the margin to 28 points by three-quarter-time, before a nine-goal barrage in the last term from the Dons ensured they would win by 69 points.
Royal Park’s game at Hedges Oval was much tighter, and it was only a goal in the last few minutes from the Hawks which decided the contest.
The Tigers were able to surprise the Hawks by moving 19 points clear at the opening change, but the Hawks gradually chipped their way back into the contest and eventually took a six-point win.
On the netball court, both teams were able to record stirring wins, with the aforementioned victory from Maryborough Rovers locking in an elimination final date with Dunolly on Sunday.
In the meantime, Royal Park were able to finish off with a strong win, taking a 28-goal victory over Talbot.
With the last round hurdle out of the way, both clubs and the new Maryborough Giants working party can now largely focus on the 2024 season, a point not lost on both club presidents, Royal Park’s Kate Balzan and Maryborough Rovers’ Daniel Wiseman.
Balzan said she was happy with how Bushy’s final day turned out.
“We’re really happy with the day overall. It was just special to be involved in,” she said.
“I don’t think we realised how emotional it would be until we hit the court and ground. Knowing that people came to watch others and family members as well, there was such a community feel, but the emotion was higher than I anticipated as well.”
A large crowd gathered to watch both football and netball, with the club song sung with gusto after the netballers’ win.
“It was really special, and it was so nice to see everyone join together and sing the song for the A graders after the game,” Balzan said.
Post-game, there was a poignant moment in the rooms when Mick Caruso was awarded a retrospective best and fairest medallion for the 1979 season, while Rhys Egan was also honoured in his 100th game for the club.
“Rhys Egan played his 100th game, and the medallion that was awarded to Mick Caruso for the 1979 game, as they didn’t accept joint winners back then, it was a nice touch throughout the day,” Balzan said.
Balzan revealed that coaching appointments won’t be too far away, which would be the next step for the working party.
“We can focus now, and the working party can focus on what needs to be done during the off-season, including locking in the coaches for next season, which is very exciting,” she said.
For Wiseman, much of what Balzan experienced at Royal Park was the same for him at Maryborough Rovers.
“It was a massive day. A large crowd was in, which was expected, and a lot of emotion throughout the day. Some were happy, some were sad, but to see the clubrooms packed on Saturday night made it look like a finals atmosphere. I’ve never seen so many people in there. To see the players and ex-players get together and sing the club song one last time was special,” he said.
“We had a lot of people who were at both games who played at both clubs and wanted to be part of the celebration, which makes it a bit easier going forward.”
Wiseman pointed out that Rovers and Royal Park were able to say goodbye to their supporters — something that not many clubs over the years have been able to achieve.
“There’s a lot of clubs that haven’t had the opportunity to say goodbye and bow out,” he said.
“We are saying goodbye, but at the end of the day, we’ll still be there, just under a new name and a joint force with Royal Park. For us, it gave everyone the opportunity to celebrate and say farewell.
“To actually photograph each of the final teams, we’ll be able to put them on display now. We also got the players to sign the final match ball.”
Wiseman said he was thankful that with A grade participating in finals, it wasn’t quite the end of the Maryborough Rovers story yet.
“We’ll have A grade and C grade netballers playing finals, we’ll get behind them and hopefully they go a long way into finals,” he said.
However, he also acknowledged that the work started now for the 2024 season for the Maryborough Giants.
“We still have plenty to focus on for next season on what we can bring forward to the Maryborough Giants,” he said.