Cheltenham was the only SFL club to get an U/18 team on the field this season to compete in MPNFL Colts competition
To finish on top of the ladder at end of Home & Away season is an outstanding achievement by the U/18's, and this result probably exceeds the expectations of most people around the Cheltenham footy club (except the coach Phil Sparrow and the players) at the start of the season. The general feeling around the club pre-season seemed to be one of delight to even get a team on the field this season, as a starting point to launch a future junior development program within the club. In retrospect, the club's Committee and coaching staff would now feel quite excited that this U/18 team has unearthed some very good young footballers this season and quite a few prospective long-term senior players. A great outcome for the club. It is thought that at least 6-8 of this year's team could well go on to play senior football for Cheltenham in the future.
As late as early March this year, the Rosellas still did not know if they would have a team. One of the very special things about this team is that it was very much created and built up by the boys themselves, with Coach Phil Sparrow in a co-ordinator type role. The boys pretty much recruited the team by networking with their mates, mainly at school. As such, they have a strong bond as they are all good mates, an outstanding team spirit and the great enthusiasm of this group was evident even in the early pre-season training sessions over Summer. "These attributes, together with the players' commitment, work ethic and positive attitude, has made coaching the team that much easier this season, not to mention extremely enjoyable and satisfying said Sparrow. "They are certainly a quality group of young men and a credit to the Cheltenham FC. They play the game in great spirit and, for a group of boys that have not played together before this season, their teamwork is excellent".
The Cheltenham FC Committee, senior coaches and playing group, support staff and volunteers around the club have given the U/18's wonderful support, but no-one more so than Club President, Ron Jenkins.
He has been simply outstanding in the support he has given the coaching staff and the boys. He was a driving force in getting the team off the ground this season and has made everyone connected with the team very welcome at the club.
He has attended all the games and is always forthcoming with encouragement and whatever assistance needed. Ron's enthusiasm, commitment and passion for the club is infectious and the boys have fed off that to some extent. They have also enjoyed feeding on the free Parmiagana meal provided by the club each Thursday night after training!
A number of people around the club, senior players in particular, have commented during the season on how good it is to have the young blokes around the club with their enthusiasm and energy. The team's performances and results have certainly created a lot of interest around Cheltenham FC.
The Cheltenham Football Club also acknowledges SFL Director, Steve Barnes who was instrumental in providing Cheltenham and other SFL clubs with the opportunity to enter an U/18 team in the MPNFL Colts competition this season. Steve has given Cheltenham FC great support with the club's initiative of introducing an U/18 team this season and he has been a wonderful supporter/advocate for the young Rosellas.
There are 24 players in the U/18 squad. Eight of them came from last year's Cheltenham JFC U/17 team. Two boys had not played any competition football before this season, one had never even touched a football before, one had not played since U/9s and quite a few of the boys had not played footy for 1 or more years before this season. So, to be on the top of the ladder at the end of the home and away season is a marvellous achievement by the players and everyone at Chaeltenham is very excited about the up-coming finals campaign.
One of our players, Zach Mousoulis (17y/o) played one game of senior footy for Cheltenham against Mordialloc earlier this season. This was a season highlight for Zach, the U/18 team and the whole Cheltenham FC who got right behind Zach, and made his senior debut a truly memorable day for him. He did very well, laid some great tackles and would have held his place in the seniors for the following game against ladder leader, St'Kilda City except for a shoulder injury that caused him to miss that game. Three of the players, Zach, Adam (Spaz) Sparrow and Sean (Landfill) Goodman have played a handful of games in the Reserves to help out with numbers during the season. Each of these boys shows great potential and it is expected all three, and quite a few others, to be playing for Cheltenham FC for many years to come.
Phil Sparrow's coaching philosophy or objective all season has been that the boys enjoy their footy and work towards achieving their potential as individuals and as a team. Most of the boys in this team are doing VCE Year 12 at school this year and Sparrow feels that by being able play in a team environment competitive football has provided the boys with a wonderful outlet to enjoy a break from their studies.
A couple of memorable highlight's of our season came in pre-season practice matches when the young Rosellas came from 4 goals down in the 2nd quarter to beat a Div.1 Eastern Football League U/18 team, then did exactly the same a couple of weeks later to comfortably beat an U/19 VAFA team. Other season highlights include their first competition match against Cranbourne which was won in fine style, only to struggle with the words of Cheltenham Football Club song which was sang twice for practice and learning purposes.
A number of injuries resulted from that match and in Round 2 came back to earth with a thud after a narrow loss Narre Warren with an injury depleted team. The only other loss was to Beaconsfield mid-season by about 4 goals on their home ground mud heap. Coach Sparrow said "The win over ladder leader, Beaconsfield at home recently by less than one kick in the return match was very satisfying, particularly with 3 of our best players unavailable due to serious injuries. With that win we claimed top spot on the ladder for the first time this season". It seems fitting that this weekend's 2nd Semi-final opponent will be Beaconsfield.
Another highlight was the final home & away match against Seaford last Friday night at Seaford Oval. It was a great game of footy with both teams hard at it with the Rosellas producing a fighting effort to get home by 6 points in their first ever game under lights. Another stand-out highlight was the first and only goal for the season kicked by our regular full-back, Justin D'Rozario. After numerous botched attempts from close in after having been moved forward from time to time during the season, Justin finally took a 'Wayne Carey like' mark floating in from the side of the pack about 2 metres out from goal with less than 30 seconds to go in a game a few weeks back. Even Justin could not miss from that distance and his resultant goal 'brought the house down' and delighted his team-mates.
The supporters of the young Rosellas however, hope that the major highlight(s) of the season are still to come in the upcoming Finals series. The boys are looking forward to it and ready to go!
The Southern Football League also supports and extends wishes the best to the Cheltenham U/18's in their endeavours to hold aloft a premiership cup.
Cheltenham v Beaconsfield U/18 Colts - 2ND SEMI FINAL
SATURDAY 25TH AUGUST at LLOYD PARK, LANGWARRIN (Melways 103, J 3)
11:45am start
Special thanks to Ian Bennett for providing this story to the SFL for publication on the SFL website.