1970
A midweek women’s basketball competition made the news when it was launched for young married women.
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Among the six teams to take part in the first competition was Girgarre East.
⋅ Taking over the role of talking sport with Kyabram townspeople was the new publican of the Blue Brick Hotel, Ron Case. He took over the hotel with wife June, son Geoff and daughter-in-law Heather.
A keen sportsman, his conversation spread to the subjects of football, golf and fishing. At the time he was leasing the hotel from Mooroopna’s Nev Coe.
1980
Kyabram Bocce Club members Nardo Di Petta and Nevio Pigatto played off for the state championship in 1980.
They were among 32 teams from across the state who qualified for the titles and finished runner-up in the B-grade event.
⋅ Nick Quirk and Paul Normington were preparing for the state schoolboys football carnival in Melbourne, having been selected in the Goulburn Valley team.
Nick was captain of St Augustine’s under-16 team and Paul played in the high school team, the two going from rivals to teammates for the event.
Tongala’s David Connally was also picked in the team, while another Kyabram High School student John Walsh (a Stanhope player) was selected in the Bendigo side for the carnival.
Also named in the Bendigo team was Shane Walsh, brother of John, and Rushworth High School’s Greg Hitchcock.
Two Tongala players, Shane Claridge and Andrew Miller, had also made the squad of 22 named to represent the Goulburn Valley in the Caltex Cup. Nino Nardella and Daryn McLennan were named as emergencies.
⋅ Four Kyabram swimmers, Felice Arena, Jeff Wright, Andrew O’Brien and Peter Howell, combined to shatter a Victorian school swimming record that had stood for 16 years.
They won the 4x50 metre boys under-13 freestyle relay at the annual State All High Schools Swimming Canrivla, slicing four seconds off the time to win in 2:30.08.
1990
Nola and Lindy Cunningham were members of the Shepparton marching girls team that scooped the pool at the country championships.
Competing in the deportment, march past, display and march plan categories, they were pitted against teams from all ove the state.
At the national titles they were ranked 34th of 170 teams, the daughters of Wayne and Marilyn Cunningham of Julia Street South being celebrated for their achievements.
⋅ Arguably Tongala’s youngest ever senior footballer, Mick Souter, chalked up his 250th senior game after breaking into the team at the age of 15 years and three months in 1976.
Souter had played all but two seasons with Tongala, spending the 1987 and 1988 seasons at nathalia in the Murray league.
He won the club best and fairest in his first three seasons of senior football, 1976-77-78 and topped the 1989 GVL senior goal kicking with 71 - despite the Blues finishing on the bottom of the ladder.
⋅ Croquet player Ken Boal was named the 1989-90 Kyabram Apex Club Sportstar of the Year, the 16th sportsperson to win the award.
The Rich River pennant player won the Australian title in Perth in 1989, having qualified for the event by winning the Goulburn Valley regional title and following that up with a Victorian championship victory.
2000
Lancaster-Wyuna cricket brothers Gavin and Russ Napier scooped the pool at the club presentation evening, skipper Gavin the batting and all-rounder of the season and Russ the bowling star.
Other award winners were Greg Hancock, Kelvin Hubble and Tim Devine, while veteran Ken Websdale was the star of B grade.
Hardworking club secretary John Bentley won the best senior club man award.
⋅ Tongala’s Brad Campbell and Kyabram rover Chris Atkins were stars for the Goulburn Valley ina shock win against Ovens and Murray in round one of the 2000 Victorian country football championships.
Campbell had 32 possessions, kicked four goals and took 14 marks from a forward flank and Atkins was at the bottom of most packs for the afternoon.
The GVL kicked 27 behinds from 41 scoring shots, winning by 12 points.
⋅ Fourteen-year-old Kyabram Secondary College student Michael Shaw was named in the Victorian schoolboys squad to contest the 70th School Sport Australia Football Championships in Darwin.
He had been a member of the Goulburn Valley team that was runner-up to Ovens and Murray in the state schoolboys Under 15 championships.
He was selected in a squad of 50, from more than 800 players, with that squad set to be cut in half before the championship team was announced.
⋅ Jamie Murphy became the first Kyabram Sportstar of the Year for the new century when the 32-year-old cricketer was named the 27th winner of award.
The Tongala Cricket Club captain, who lived in Moama at the time, had won selection in the Victorian and Australian country cricket teams.
He also led Tongala to a premiership in the club’s first year back in the Kyabram District Cricket Association after 16 years - winning a share of the Jack Stone Medal (as the best cricketer in the competition) along the way .
Junior sportstar of the year was Tatura 15-year-old lawn bowls star Jessie Eva.
Kyabram Free Press and Campaspe Valley News editor