IN THE early days of Woori Yallock Football Club’s history, it was a long time between drinks from a premiership cup.
Woori had played competitive football since 1904, winning the first premiership in the Upper Yarra Football Association in 1907 against Warburton, but it was 40 years before they won another, in 1947.
Some of the 1947 premiership team will return to Tigerland to relive the euphoria of that day when the club celebrates its centenary on the weekend of 13 and 14 August. There will be many more players who will recall with pride premiership flags won over the past three decades which are lining the walls of the Woori clubrooms in anticipation of the celebrations. As a player and administrator with the club since 1948, Ivan Ferguson has experienced the highs and lows for more than 50 years. Ivan played 13 seasons with the club during another extended grand final drought.
“It was disappointing, I suppose every player would like to play in a premiership team, but in those days, we just weren’t good enough,” he says. But he has had his fair share of glory, just the same. After he finished on the field, Ivan became president in 1970 the start of what was Woori’s glory days.
“We won four premierships in the next five years and played in finals for 15 years. At one stage, we played in about 15 grand finals in 20 years winning seven or eight and coming runnersup six or seven times.
“I played in a struggling club and when I became president we established a strong team and a successful club on and off the field. The highlight of my football career I would say was being president of a successful club.”
Asked who was the best footballer he played against, there’s no hesitation “Jimmy Wandin. He was a star in this association and is the one who really sticks in my mind. Alan Storey at Warburton was another dominant player,” he says.
Best player for Woori?
“Joe Leonard was an outstanding player when I first started playing; Peter Daniels who went on to play for 10 years with Essendon, Russell Rowe, Stan Haag and, in more recent times, a young fellow who played junior football here and came back after playing 200 games with Collingwood Damian Monkhorst.”
For the past 10 years Ivan has continued to contribute to the club as timekeeper and, with a keen interest in local history, as the club’s unofficial historian.
The centenary celebrations will include the game against Warburton, afternoon tea and a display of memorabilia on the Saturday, with a centenary dinner on the Saturday night followed by an afternoon of recovering (from the night before) reminiscing and lunch at the clubrooms on the Sunday.