Barooga Football Netball Club will celebrate its 125th anniversary on Saturday when the club takes on Murray Football League arch-rivals Cobram.
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The club is expecting a bumper crowd, which will include many former players and coaches at Barooga Recreation Reserve for the match, with the Hawks hosting a function at Barooga Sporties after the matches.
While Barooga is out of finals contention, coach James Hazelman, who has played 351 games for the club, believed Saturday would be a huge occasions for the club and felt his players were prepared to deliver a strong performance.
‘‘It’s going to be a massive day,’’ he said.
‘‘It is probably going to be the biggest home and away game I have ever been a part of.
‘‘A few of the names (of past players and coaches) that are going to be here over the weekend is fantastic, especially some of the players from the successful 90s sides, I think it will lift the boys.
‘‘I am building this up like it is a grand final — at the end of the day I want to walk away with the points, especially when we have so many people coming so we have got to make sure we put in a good performance and get the job done.’’
Hawks president Marcus Fry has Barooga in his blood and believed the club was the hub of the town.
He was excited to see its history being recognised on Saturday.
‘‘This club is one of the main parts of the town,’’ he said.
‘‘If it wasn’t for this football/netball club, the Barooga Sports Club wouldn’t exist, that is something which was needed by the community and it was something started by the club and without the footy club a lot of our youth would struggle to find something to do.
‘‘This weekend is about the tradition over the 125 years, but more importantly, over the last 25 years where our club has been very successful winning four premierships in the early part of that . . . just to lean on that history and acknowledge those guys who won those flags is pretty important.
‘‘We have just over 200 booked in for Saturday night at the moment, but we are expecting over 240 to attend. We will squeeze them and put them on the roof if we have to.
‘‘There will be a massive crowd here, we are expecting a really good group of ex-players coming here to support us and have a win hopefully.’’
Cobram has played a significant role in Barooga’s history with the sides going head-to-head on a number of high-profile occasions, including the 1992 grand final, and a historic regular season match at the MCG with the Hawks coming out victors on both occasions.Fry admitted the rivalry between the two clubs was fierce.
‘‘There are Cobram people and there are Barooga people,’’ he said.
The day will also see the under 17s football and netball teams competing for the Zaidee’s Cup.
The Zaidee’s Rainbow Foundation was established to make organ and tissue donation awareness more prevalent in the community.
All Barooga footballers, as well as junior netballers, will be wearing special socks for the occasion.
The senior football starts at 2 pm, while A-grade netball starts at 1.30 pm.
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