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Coburg OFFICIAL EDFL PHYSIO Physiotherapy Centre Specialising in: • All Sports Photography (for all your team & portrait requirements) • Debutante Balls • Dance/Calisthenics Schools Address: P.O. Box 245, Wallan. Vic. 3756 Phone No: Office: 03 5783 4661 Glenn: 0419 509 256 Specialising in: • Sports & Spinal Injuries • Back & Neck Pain • Manipulative Therapy • Headaches • Rehabilitation • Open every weekday till 7pm Saturdays 9-12 ● Address: 173 Bell Street, Coburg 3058 ● Phone: 9354 9181 ● Fax: 9354 2018 ● Postal Address: PO Box 213, Coburg 3058 10 THE <strong>FOOTBALLER</strong> – The Essendon District Football League Record www.essendondfl.com.au
CONTINUED - John Larkins on EDFL Life Membership “We had a big day there for a Douttas game, which was very much a local derby and viewed with great interest by the memberships of both clubs. “Anyway… I was called into the League on the Tuesday night following that and fined $500 by Reg Rose. So it wasn’t much of a start.” For the best part of two decades Larkins has seen community footy grow from what he called a “cottage industry” and become what is best-described as semi-professional. “I always say to people … you need the passion for it but you also need to be pretty hard-headed about it, too,” he said. “There’s a role for passion but there’s also a role for objectivity, so that’s where I’d like to think we’ve gone from, as indeed the whole of the EDFL has. “To be strong on-field you need to be very strong off-field, and today as you deal with players who are coming out of a professional environment, the environment you’ve got to provide for them is totally different to what it was 12 or 15 years ago. “Even if you look at something as simple as trainers. When I started with senior footy we had one trainer, now we’ve got the whole back-up group, there’s a Monday night rehab session, there’s physios … it’s lightyears from what it was. “Not that I didn’t love it and I’m not disrespecting anything that was happening then, but for someone who’s played AFL footy, when they come into your environment, they may not expect the world. But it’s got to be something at least semi-professional for you to really get the best out of them.” For the past decade and a half, Larkins has observed with admiration the rise of Greenvale – who under the leadership of Bruce Kent has grown from a battler to a proven EDFL powerhouse. In the late 2000s and early 2010s, Larkins’ Aberfeldie was barely surviving relegation. In that time, he watched as Strathmore, Maribyrnong Park and Greenvale dominated the old A-Grade competition. “Everything has gone up, including your training costs,” Larkins explained. “For us, it has certainly been a response to the environment. We could have sat and, not so much given up, but just treated the whole thing as beyond us. “I’d been president then for seven or eight years and I thought we’d either drop off and stop doing this, or we actually have a dip, and that’s just a response to the environment. “We had to respond if we were going to become a club that was respected.” Three Grand Finals and one elusive trophy later, Aberfeldie finally sits atop the EDFL tree and now its long-suffering, yet profusely driven president is an EDFL Life Member. “I was very proud and very moved by it, it was a surprise that night,” he said of his induction. “I was really greatly humbled by it, because it’s in my DNA, community sport, particularly football. “I absolutely love it at this grassroots level because at the end of the day, any contribution you make at this level of footy really has the capacity to affect society and community in a way that perhaps the big end of town don’t really get. “You’re making a difference, potentially, to people’s lives.” THE <strong>FOOTBALLER</strong> – The Essendon District Football League Record www.essendondfl.com.au 11 11
Page 1: FOOTBALLER THE ROUND 1 April 9th, 2
Page 4 and 5: Strathmore Community Bank® Branch
Page 6 and 7: Tipsters Brett Scott Arthur Crofts
Page 8 and 9: Nominate a Junior or Rising Star No
Page 12 and 13: Fixture - Strathmore Community Bank
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