Stories

A fantastic day was had on Glenelg Golf Course on Friday, May 22, as the champs of yesterday took to the fairways.

The week got off to a rough start with the AFL Players’ Association Alumni manager Brad Fisher going down with a bad back (35kg squats get the better of him) on Monday morning.

Brad spent the rest of the week on his living room floor nursing his serious injury. Luckily he was well aware of the alumni services available to him and he accessed our national doctors’ network – a quick home visit and some bulk billing definitely eased the pain.

Now, back to the golf. Past players began to gather from 7.30am with the aim to have a shotgun start at 8:30am. Thirty-eight players were booked to play and needed to be fuelled with croissants and freshly-brewed coffee thanks to the coffee van, sponsored by the Adelaide Football Club past players.

We ensured there was no burglars out there so anyone who had a handicap in the past four years had to play off that, and those who didn’t had to play off 18. This hurt players like Tony Modra and Michael Doughty who are known to play off single digits but claim not to have a current handicap.

There was plenty of action on the course and some players at long odds to be leading the prizes. Chris Groom, who struggles to hold a club let along hit the ball, somehow managed to hold nearest the pin on the long par 3 for majority of the day. He was pipped at the post by the final playing group.

Brett Backwell knows how to perform when it counts. He might be a little man missing a finger, but he bombed the longest drive on the 18th to get himself a GPS golf watch.

Andrew Crowell repeated regularly that he used to bench 140kgs – and used every bit of that strength to hit a long bomb 40m past Ben Nelson’s attempt to take home a new golf bag.

Bruce Linder was up to his usual tricks and put one within three feet for nearest the pin on the 14th and was also a part of the controversial winning team. He took home four tickets to the Audi Club at Adelaide Oval for the next Port Adelaide home game. Thanks to the AFL Players’ Association official charity Ladder for that award.

Brad Symes took out best dressed (or worst dressed). We are still not sure how he edged out Shane in the pro shop with designer jeans and a t-shirt but he earned himself some Pink Laddie golf balls for his efforts.

Runners up were Brett Backwell, Peter Motley and Greg Anderson. They won themselves a towel and a hat. They should have demanded a score check against the eventual winners of Chris Groom, Shane Tongerie and Bruce Linder.

These blokes took home first prize but there was a score card error in the pro shop which wasn’t discovered until after the presentations were made.

This prevented Backwell and Motley from going back to back but at the end of the day we couldn’t reverse it as we all knew that Groom and Tongerie are unlikely to ever feature in the winning group again. Enjoy your watches men.

The presentations concluded with an auction of a golf bag that was donated to raise money for Ladder. There was a bidding war between Andrew Underwood and Bruce Linder but when the auction was nearly complete at $240 along came ‘Motts’ and blew everyone out of the water with a $300 winning bid.

There is a chance we will name this golf day after the Motts as he was at his best again by hijacking the stage and pulling out one of his typical jokes.

These days don’t just happen without a lot of effort. Thanks to Rod Jameson, head of the Crows’ past players, who did a mountain of work getting the message out there. Toby Thurstans did a fantastic job on rallying the Port past players.

A big cheer for the Glenelg Golf Club who went out of their way for us. They put on a great day weather wise and the course was in top nick. It may have something to do with Shane Birss, a past player from St Kilda and the Bulldogs, who is employed as a greenkeeper at the course.

Lion Nathan were the beverage sponsor for the day and we thank you for your generosity in keeping the boys well hydrated out on the course.

We will continue to hold the SA Alumni Golf Day and hope that it becomes a date to lock in each year. We at the AFL Players’ Association have some great benefits for our past players and encourage all to access the services and benefits.

We look forward to seeing you out there again next year and if you know someone who played is a past player and doesn’t get our notifications about these kind of events, please have them get in contact with us so we can update their records.