Big first day for YVMDFL

By Stephen Walter
THE Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League’s 2009 season will kick off this Saturday with the Kinglake-Emerald match drawing world media attention after the bushfires.
Although Compass Division 1 does not start until April 18, the High Mountain Spring Water Cup for Division 2 kicks off on April 4 with record attendances expected.
Matches are: Belgrave v Yea at Belgrave football ground, Kinglake v Emerald at Kinglake, Olinda Ferny Creek v Seville at Olinda Ferny Creek, Powelltown v Yarra Junction at Powelltown and Thornton Eildon v Yarra Glen at Thornton Eildon.
Powelltown will celebrate round one with the opening of its new netball court, the result of much hard work by the Powelltown committee.
Yarra Junction has had a great off season and will be keen to play well after a disappointing 2008.
Both the football and netball will be close contests in what will be a cracker of a day at Powelltown.
Kinglake and Emerald will play for the CFA Cup as Emerald was also badly affected by bushfires on Ash Wednesday.
Kinglake has established an under-18 team for the first time, a credit to its hard-working committee.
The YVMDFL, with support from the VCFL and AFL, has appointed former Triple M, Vega and Sport 927 journalist Rick Wall as general manager of the Kinglake Football Netball Club for nine months.
YVMDFL chief executive Stephen Walter said Mr Wall was ideally suited to the role and would add considerable value to what is a challenging task.
He is well known in local sport: he is a life member of the Olinda Ferny Creek Football Club, Olinda Cricket Club and the Ranges Basketball Club.
“Rick’s primary role will be to get Kinglake up and running and competing in 2009,” Mr Walter said.
He also would play a key part in shielding the Kinglake committee and members from the significant workload associated with managing the affairs of the football and netball club so that they could dedicate their scarce time to rebuild their homes, families and businesses.
Olinda Ferny Creek v Seville also should attract a huge crowd with both clubs eager to perform well in round 1. Seville, for the first time, has netball, two teams in fact, and the netball court at Olinda will be ready for the big day.
Olinda will welcome the return of more than 10 senior players to top up its youthful side of last year and help earn back its Division 1 spot.
Belgrave and Yea should be evenly matched. Yea has had a stop-start preseason, given the enormous traffic of tents and trucks on its ground during the bushfires.
But it’s ready to face Belgrave, which has had a quiet start to the year and is keeping its cards close to its chest.
Belgrave only just missed out on last year’s finals and is expected to go close again. It has now established a netball presence with a team competing this year for the first time.
Thornton Eildon and Yarra Glen have had some great battles over recent years and round one should be close.
The YVMDFL’s new president, Graeme Tuplin, is keen to progress the league to even greater heights. He replaces Tony Mitchell who was been a director for 10 years, eight of those as president.
Three new directors have joined the board: Jason Leeds, Mick Hill and Jodi Chandler.
For details visit www.yvmdfl.com.au