Celebration of Seagulls’ success

• 2013: Front: President at the time Jamie McDougall, from Bridport, with Adam Howlett of Bridport, Drew Bardenhagen of Lilydale, Zac McDougall of Bridport, Sam Gerke of Bridport and Phil Forsyth of Launceston. Back: Darren Martello of Bridport, trainer Athol Johnston of Scottsdale, Shaun Moore from Noosa, Troy Milne, Brad Butler and runner Chris Lovegrove, all of Bridport, with bench coach Bruce Glover.

July 26, 2023

By Rachel Williams 

A triple Premiership reunion became an even greater celebration on Saturday, with the Bridport Football Club honouring historic success while witnessing a new generation rebuild with a solid win at home.

Dozens of club faithful joined together to reminisce about the 1973, 1993 and 2013 NEFU Grand Final victories.

Club President Steven McKillop said it was a wonderful occasion made even better by the current senior side romping home with a convincing win over St Helens in their NTFA clash.

“It has been a big year to get the club back off the ground after a year in recess and it was a really proud moment to see the club come together and celebrate three Premiership sides from over the past 50 years,” Mr McKillop said.

“For our 2023 senior side to play the way they did with real effort right from the start and record our biggest win since we re-joined the NTFA was fitting.”

The club has come a long way since it was first started on the Village Green
in 1967.

“We trained under the street lights and we didn’t have much of a facility,” 1973 Premiership player Trevor Jessup recalled.

“We had two bits of a shed with slats on the floor to let the draught come up and most of the time the water was cold. We had to light a chip heater to get the water warm and by the time the seniors played the water would be cold.”

Steve Krushka added: “By god we got some hidings for the first few years when we set up the club because a lot of the players had only ever played junior footy so they weren’t really experienced. It was not unusual to get done by 30 goals!”

Mr Jessup and Mr Krushka were joined by four of their premiership teammates to reminisce about their 28-point victory over Branxholm back in ’73 – the inaugural Premiership for the Seagulls.

“It was a pretty hard game and pretty close I think,” Mr Jessup said.

The win was a case of redemption for losing the 1970 Grand Final, which they believe they should have won.

“We had the players to win in 1970 but we didn’t – they called us the ‘old has been’s and the never, ever will be’s,” Lindsay Freeland said.

The players remembered their late captain coach Doug Partridge as an exceptional player.

“He was a real good player, he’d played full back for the seniors at Scottsdale and over many years there were a lot of Scottsdale players who came down to play with Bridport – the likes of Rex Lethborg, Stan Wilson, Don Millwood and Bob Richmond – they all played in ‘70 but Bobby Taylor got called back to Scottsdale and didn’t play and if we had have had him we would have probably won it. We had him in the ’73 win though,” Mr Jessup said.

 “When we won it was a big, big thing for the town because we certainly would have been the underdogs.”

The group recalls celebrating with “a good night” at Barnbougle although Graeme Lette said he missed out because he had to get home to milk the cows after the game!

“We just hope it keeps going, that’s the main thing,” the 1973 cohort agreed.

That hope is shared by the 1993 Seagulls’ Captain Coach Peter Roozendaal.

Mr Roozendaal led Bridport to glory 30 years ago in his first year at the club, with a strong win against St Helens.

“I think we only lost a game or so that season. St Helens were the second strongest team in the comp,” he recalled.

“It was the fifth time we’d played St Helens for the year in a six-team competition and I think we beat them every time we played

“We had a very good even group of players. We didn’t taper off at 12 or 13, we had good players through to 19 which makes a hell of a difference in a
union comp.

“There were only three of the senior 22 that were not Bridport residents, we had a mix of age and experience with Steven Nichols who was an ex-Scottsdale 1973 State team player and Barry Jarvis our former Mayor who is not with us anymore. He played with us but he’d also played for Cooee in the ‘73 State game.

“Then you had Anthony Taylor who was a 15-year-old. He’d played in two flags in two weeks – one with North Launceston in the under 16s and then he played with Bridport in the seniors. He thought it was easy with flags just coming along all the time!”

Mr Roozendaal said support for the Seagulls was pretty special during his era at the club.

“Since I was one I have been at Bridport all my life but I played all my football at Scottsdale and ’93 was the first time I played at Bridport when I came here to coach,” he said.

“It was nice to come down and be involved in your home town footy. Jimmy Leitch was our bench coach, and he’d played for Melbourne and was the local service station owner at the time.

“The support around this area is phenomenal. We want to keep the club going and try to make more opportunities to celebrate premierships down the track.”

2013 Premiership Coach Troy Milne said his side’s success a decade on was still sweet.

“I just wanted to win,” he said. 

“In the second semi-final, I thought we were the best team and we won by about 10 points against Winnaleah. 

“We then played Winnaleah in the GF and won by seven points

“I just remember they got the jump on us and we were down in the first quarter and I made some moves. I think Ryan Glover came on the ground and kicked a few goals and we got some momentum and the rest is history.”