1979
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Merrigum won its first Kyabram District Netball League grand final after goaler Judy Taylor produced a match-winning display of shooting to give the team a 21-18 victory.
Defenders Sue Higgins and Faye Gorman were able to limit the Avenel goalers, despite the fact Leanne Binion had a challenge at the other end for the Bulldogs – who led by one at half-time.
Kerry Dennis turned it on for Merrigum in the third term, while Jenny Pell and Debbie Zinni produced an outstanding second half in the midcourt.
Higgins was named the player of the match and Merrigum won the Rita Warren Shield for the victory.
· Mick Souter was awarded the Tongala senior football best-and-fairest award on a countback from rover Barry Nexhip, both players finishing on 38 votes at the end of the count as only eight votes separated the top seven players.
Paul Briggs was third (36), while Darryl Reid and coach Des Campbell tied on 35 votes apiece to finish equal fourth.
Greg Halls and Gus Wallis were the other players to feature in the blanket finish.
Kelly Hewitt won the reserves best-and-fairest from Peter Myers, while Steve Vick was a runaway winner in the thirds count.
At Stanhope the best-and-fairest player was Bill “Syd” James, winning from reserves coach Noel Langley and John Bourke.
Bill Smith won the reserves title ahead of Denis Houlihan, while in the thirds count John Stokes won from Tony Hitchcock.
1989
Rick Demarte was named Kyabram’s senior football best-and-fairest winner, finishing the count 21 votes in front of Jeff Berry with coach Lawrie Casey third.
Darryl Argus and Mark Schumann were next best in the count, while young ruckman Darryl Lucas won the reserves title ahead of Graham Fuller, Mal Cox and Alan James.
In the under-18 count Benny Gugliotti won by five votes from Stuart Clydesdale, with Justin Barnett not far behind in third place.
Andrea Salter won the A-grade netball best-and-fairest by six votes, ahead of Jayne Heiberg, with Karon Fanning and Karen Vick next best.
The B-grade title was won by Sharon Birmingham, who beat Julie Hooper and Janelle Fitzgerald.
· Neville Varcoe and two of his sons, Haig and John, were winners of the A-grade table tennis premiership, beating Peter Lawson, Phil Denham and David Lucas.
Winners of the B-grade title were Damien Tsang, Adam Rasmussen and Graeme Neely, while the C-grade title was won by David Hopkins, Paul Sorbian and Andrew Sorbian.
Merv Lancaster was the recipient of the A-grade best player award, ahead of Dale Denham and Phil Denham, while Murray Maxwell won the B-grade title.
· Girgarre won the reserve grade Kyabram District League grand final against Lancaster, Craig Newlan kicking three goals and best-and-fairest Mal Hedges a dominant player in the 11-point victory.
Grant Miller and Brian Cooke were other good players as the Kangaroos turned a three-quarter time deficit around to win a low scoring game with four final quarter goals.
For Lancaster Ron Warren, Damien Gawne and Kev Wheeler were the best players.
1999
Sixteen-year-old Kyabram field umpire Matt Leppard became the youngest to officiate in a Kyabram District League grand final when he umpired the Nagambie and Rushworth game.
It was a meteoric rise for the teenager, who had started as a boundary umpire only three years earlier.
He had umpired juniors with his father Wayne in the mornings before running the boundary while his father umpired in the afternoon.
A season earlier he had been appointed umpire of the KDL under-18 grand final and had strong ambitions to move into AFL ranks.
· Hannah Wills topped the voting in section one of the Kyabram Netball Association’s best-and-fairest awards, taking the title while playing with Exies High ahead of runner-up Janine Weeks from Girgarre.
St Andrew’s Blue player Katrina Johnson and St Augustine’s’ Rhonda Lowe were equal third, while Melinda Hunter finished fourth.
In section two Sarah Pettifer from Exies High Blue polled 26 votes to win the best-and-fairest from Breanna Thompson (17) and Denise Partridge.
In section three the winner was Belinda Trist, ahead of Laura Canning, Amy Hangan and Margaret Thompson.
· In a thrilling KDL A-grade netball grand final Stanhope beat Lancaster in extra time, making it a double after the Lions’ B-grade team had also claimed a win.
In the A-grade match defenders Hovey and Nurse had the initial advantage, but Lancaster’s Hayman responded and they were level at quarter-time.
Lancaster’s Lindy Hall was outstanding and worked with Drysdale, Rosendale and Cox to take control.
Stanhope coach Michelle Hanson responded by taking control of the game and guided her team to victory.
· Kyabram claimed its seventh flag in the under-18 competition’s 35-year history, coach Mick Ryan over the moon with the 39-point victory.
Ruckman Josh Dicketts, defender Craig Whyte, rover Ashley Jones and Nick Walsh, eventually named best-on-ground, were the stars for the Bombers.
Steve Cail kicked three goals, as did Jones and other good players included Sefton-Rowston, Harper and Jai Raphael
· Rushworth reserves continued its amazing comeback from extinction to claim a second successive premiership in the Kyabram District League.
The Tigers hadn’t been able to field a reserves side in the Heathcote league, only two years earlier, but had three teams in the grand finals in the new league for 1999.
Haydn Gleeson, who was captain of the team but was unable to play, shared in raising the cup with acting captain Wayne Martin and coach Rod Hoyling.
2009
Lancaster put the final touches on its 17-and-under season by completing back-to-back premierships with a win against Merrigum.
Merrigum’s Kate McWhinney played a great game in defence, as did Lancaster’s pair of Amanada Bennett and Amy O’Neill.
Merrigum goaler Cassie Worm was its best attacking player, while Lancaster’s goalers Kellie McAuliffe and Grace Quirk capitalised on every opportunity.
Other members of Lancaster’s winning team were Emma Pettifer, Julia Grills, Rachel Shaw, Georgia Bacon, Sharnese Goodwin-Wicks, Annie Warren and Lana Clark was coach.
Tongala’s A-grade netball team created history by winning its first Murray league premiership, coached to victory by Jacqui Elborough.
The team consisted of Kaitlyn Souter, Michelle Mulholland (assistant coach), Belinda Muir, Alicia White (captain), Tracey Reid (vice-captain), Serena Backman, Abby Pettifer, Ash Mangan, Shani Clarke and Lori Humphreys.
· Fourteen-year-old Alexandra Mulcahy and Holly Butler, 15, created their own bit of cricket history by being involved in a cricket camp at Strath Creek’s famous Hume and Hovell Cricket Ground.
They were joined by Girgarre Cooma junior teammates Tom Coyne, Matt Snell and Lachlan Rodrick for three days of intensive training.
Two other players, Tom Pyke and Wade Summers, were involved in another camp thanks to the sponsorship from Heinz Girgarre.
· Six footballers were lining up for their fourth straight grand final for Kyabram when they lined up in the under-18 GVL grand final.
Jack Young, Brodie Thomson, James Curnow, Andrew Ciavarella, Michael Dillon and Lucas Hanslow were involved in a pair of under-16 grand finals, then were part of the runner-up Kyabram under-18 team a year earlier.
In another highlight for ruckman Jake Reeves the 16-year-old was on track to play in two grand finals, the first with Victoria Country in the National Under-16 title game as a curtain-raiser to the AFL grand final and the second on Sunday with Kyabram’s under-18 team.
Kyabram Free Press and Campaspe Valley News editor