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In October 2008 the most comprehensive history of Australian Rules Football in the Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat regions, Werribee, Sunbury, Melton, Essendon, Footscray, Craigieburn and the Western District of Victoria will be published.
Each weekend in Victoria’s West and South West . . . - There are 50,000 registered Australian Rules footballers competing;
- There are 250,000 spectators at these games.
Victoria’s West and South West – from Melbourne’s outer north western suburbs, Bendigo, Ballarat, through Geelong and Western District to Hamilton, Warrnambool and Mount Gambier, has a combined population of 1,500,000 people.
The most popular sport in this region is Australian Rules Football, and the Aussie Footy Books series of five district histories, is the first book to ever cover the history of the 20 Victorian metropolitan and regional West and South West football competitions and over 350 clubs. Each title covers multiple competitions in a region with comprehensive league details and separate club profiles on the football clubs. The information on each of the clubs averages up to 5000 words and lists the following information:
Brief history on the club, club colours and ground details, competitions participated in, premiership wins with scores, best players and goalkickers in recent victories in senior and junior ranks. Many clubs have provided “Teams of the Century”. Other details include: Best & fairest winners, leading goalkickers, office bearers, coaches, highest scores, most goals kicked in a game, players who have gone on to play football at the highest levels and the words to club theme songs.
Some of the other features in the book are comprehensive lists of the most goals kicked in local matches over the past 60 years; an umpires section; a huge list of former football clubs with individual pen pictures, Previously unpublished records of local competitions that have folded since WWII.
There are also a number of grass roots articles digging into the culture inside country and metropolitan footy clubs. The author has built on the successful format of “History of Australian Rules Football in Tasmania” first published in 2000 and then went into five reprints.
The books carry no photographs but are chock full of football details. Junior football is covered in depth. There is no coverage of netball. For the student of the game, for the footballer out chasing a kick on a Saturday afternoon, for the tireless volunteers . . . the Footy History Series on local footy is for you. It would also make an ideal Christmas present for that special someone “who loves the local game”.
The five editions are:
- History of Football in the Western District . . . covering the Hampden Football Netball League, the Western Border Football League; the Mininera & District Football League, the South West Football Netball League and the Warrnambool & District Football Netball League.
Each edition is priced at $49
Copies of all editions are available at Melbourne Sports Books 80 Flinders St., Melbourne or
Order online . . . Visa and Mastercard Trade enquires welcome - please see Contact Details.
A number of separate club histories by the same author are in the pipeline for 2009.
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