T
he game of Australian Rules has been played in New Zealand since the 1890's when many Australians moved to New Zealand to work in various industries. By 1901 there were over 100 teams throughout the country and in 1908 a New Zealand team (wearing a gold fern on a black jersey) competed in Jubilee Australasian Football Carnival at the MCG with the Kiwis victorious over both NSW and Queensland. However the combination of World War I and the Depression saw Rugby emerge as the dominant code.
In 1974 the Cantebury Australian Football Association was formed and it existed with varying levels of sucess until 1998 when the Canterbury Australian Football League was formed and this body remains to this day.
The Mid-Canterbury Eagles in their current incarnation were brought together in Ashburton by current club president Kevin Monson and the local Whitehead family and have been a part of the CAFL premiership since 2002. After struggling to field a team in the CAFL premiership in the first 3 years of competing the Eagles began to pick up significant numbers of University students to bolster their numbers in 2006. Currently, though remaining an Ashburton team by name, most of the player base is located in Christchurch at the University. 2007 was the first year that the team really made any great impact with a historic 135-15 win over the former premiers the University Cougars in the middle of the season. A solid finish to the season saw them come in at a comfortable 3rd place.
Eagles Club Report 2009
The 2009 Straco premiership saw the Eagles win back to back wooden
spoons which was hugely disappointing for the team. Although the season wasn’t
all bad for the Eagles as they soared to a historic victory over the Eastern Blues
winning 12:9 to 10:7 – the highlight of the season for most. The progress made
was down to a number of factors, not least of which was the amount of work that
was done at trainings throughout the year when people decided to actually turn
up! It was only early April when the first of our infamous fundraising events
(piss up) was held to gauge the interest amongst the previous year’s players
and the new Eaglets, the enthusiasm shown at this early stage only grew
throughout the year and special mention should go to James Whitehead for the
countless hours he put into the club helping it get to where it is like his
brother before him.
2009 saw an increased number of Eagles pushing for higher honours
indicating our increased presence in the league. With a large amount of players
representing Canterbury
at both Senior and Junior level players include: Simon Carden, George
Whitehead, Chris Moral, Andrew Howison, Stan Chung, James Gibb, James
Whitehead, Rick van Olphen, James Carden and Adrian Young. Adrian was also heavily involved in the
umpiring efforts at the tournaments and has provided a solid umpiring base in
the CAFL competition to date – an effort that often goes unmentioned. Two
Eagles, Andrew Howison and Chris Moral are currently in the extended NZ Hawks
junior training squad, so we wish them well in their efforts to make the cut
and putting the Eagles on the map.
On top of the increased representative activity from the Eagles squad
this year some players deserve special mention after a season in which a lot of
hard work resulted in some very impressive improvements. Simon Carden, Stan Chung and Andrew Howison
had excellent seasons dominating the middle. While stalwarts George and James
Whitehead along with newcomer Chris Moral showed themselves invaluable and all
contributed to a feeling of family that has allowed us to work together and
enjoy the 2009 season. The season was a successful one and we thank everyone
who helped to get the competition up and running – the CAFL committee, the umpires,
our die hard supporters and most of the players
The Eagles are now lucky to have a solid base of players, as we did in
2009. We hope to improve in 2010 and to introduce some new players into our
wonderful and exciting sport. We are also looking forward to a cracking season
ahead and knocking over a few of the bigger boys more often.
EAGLES AFC 2010
2007 Club Report
The 2007 CAFL premiership saw the Mid Canterbury Eagles advance from their previous year's wooden spoon effort to a respectable third after a strong display against the Bulldogs in our final. Though still unable to crack the Blues in 2007, the Eagles soared to historic victory over the University Cougars - winning 135-15 - the highlight of the season for most. The progress made was down to a number of factors, not least of which was the amount of work that was done at trainings throughout the year. It was only early March when the first of our infamous fundraising events was held to gauge the interest amongst the previous year's players and the new Eagles, and the enthusiasm and comradery shown at this early stage only grew throughout the year.
2007 saw a plethora of Eagles admitted to the Canterbury Cobras training squad, indicating our increased presence in the league, however only 3 advanced to the NPC tournament in Wellington. We therefore congratulate Stan Chung, Sam Whitehead and Adrian Young on this achievement. Adrian was also heavily involved in the umpiring efforts at the tournament, and has provided a solid umpiring base in the Canterbury competition to date - an effort that often goes unmentioned. One Eagle, Sam Whitehead, is currently in the extended NZ Falcons training squad, so we wish him well in his efforts to make the final cut.
On top of the increased representative activity from the Eagles squad this year some players deserve special mention after a season in which a lot of hard work resulted in some very impressive improvements. James Kelly and Stan Chung had excellent seasons, showing that being of extraordinary height (like a lot of the squad) is by no means a prerequisite to a top performance. Stalwarts Matthew Batty and George Whitehead along with newcomer David Scrimgeour showed themselves to be invaluable in the contest amongst the talls. That said, every single player in the Eagles squad has improved immensely and all contributed to a feeling of family that has allowed us to work together and enjoy the 2007 season. The season was a successful one and we thank everyone who helped to get the competition up and running - the CAFL committee, the unpires, our die hard supporters and most of all the players. We also acknowledge Robbies Ashburton for the feed they put on when we travelled to play at our home venue.
The Eagles are now lucky to have a solid base of players and, as we did in 2007, we hope to improve in 2008 and to introduce some new players into the sport of Aussie Rules. We look forward to pushing the more established teams and have great hopes for an enjoyable season ahead.
Yours,
Kevin Monson