1979
Protective cricket helmets were the “in thing” and Cooma veteran Bernie Dreher was one of the first to adopt the headwear made famous by England captain Tony Greig.
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Dreher wore the helmet in a match only two days after being discharged from the Eye and Ear Hospital in Melbourne.
He had suffered a severe eye injury when the ball ricocheted off his bat handle into his eye.
He was rushed to the Melbourne specialist hospital and had nine stitches inserted into a cut over his eye, with fears he may have permanent damage to his vision.
If it hadn’t been for Kyabram’s Dr McQueen-Thompson the situation could have been worse.
The helmet cost him $80, but he expected it to be well worth it and was planning to encourage son Wayne to use the helmet.
– Stanhope Football Club’s new committee has appointed Tatura pair Brian Finnigan and Neil Warnett as coach and assistant coach of the club for the 1980 season.
Finnigan, from Nagambie, was a member of the GVL’s Country Championships side and replaces former Kyabram player Paddy Meehan as coach.
Finnigan was no stranger to Stanhope, having played with the club as an ex-radius player before leaving to coach his home club in 1974.
– John Purdey emerged from the shadows of his more celebrated father, Ern, to lead a Tatura batting domination of Cooma in Kyabram District Cricket Association A-grade competition.
On the undersized Tatura school oval the second generation Purdey hit 124, having been a batting failure for most of the season.
His innings included 12 boundaries and a quartet of sixes and was reminiscent of his father’s brilliant batting.
Churches fast bowler, Len Cooper, was playing on permits with Cooma and worked in tandem with Doug Stone (4-35) to later stem the tide.
– A new payment scheme for Kyabram Football Club players was being considered by the committee, where players would receive more than the $15 for a win paid during the 1989 season.
An increased scale of payment for players was based on games played: 1-50 games, $17.50 for a win; 51-100 $20; 101-150 $25 and more than 150 games, $30 for a win.
For losses, the proposal was for players to receive $5.
1989
New Kyabram coach, and former Collingwood player Mark Beers called for an improved effort from everyone within the club ahead of 1990 Goulburn Valley league season.
He was addressing players, officials and supporters at the Commercial Hotel in Kyabram which had announced experienced Jeff Berry would again be assistant coach and Mick Walsh coach of the reserves.
Twenty four-year-old Beers said it was his aim to take Kyabram into the finals for the first time in 11 years. A physical education teacher at St Augustine’s College, Beers played 40 senior games for Collingwood under Leigh Matthews and John Cahill.
He had also been a national level junior athlete and was expected to have the Bombers at peak fitness for the coming season.
1999
Thirty three-year-old cricket champion Jamie Murphy was being celebrated as only the third KDCA player to represent Victoria after being named in the team for the National Country Cricket Championships.
The Tongala Cricket Club star followed in the footsteps of Kyabram wicket keeper Steve Bubb and Fire Brigade star Wayne “Doc” Thomas.
Murphy famously made 302 not out for Mathoura in a season that saw him make 1100 runs, before playing alongside Shane Warne for St Kilda in Premier League cricket in Melbourne.
He played in three premierships, including alongside Warne, England’s John Emburey and Gary Cosier.
In four seasons at Tongala he had captained two premierships and lost one other grand final.
2009
Julie Crockett-Grills earned a spot in the Victorian team for the National Girls Cricket Championships for a second straight year, having represented the state as a bottom age player when the team finished third in 2008.
The 15-year-old, a right arm swing bowler who bats in the middle order, had spent almost six months in trials before the squad was pruned to 13.
The Fire Brigade Cricket Club under-17 player had spent the past four years in the Kyabram district competition, but had also tasted success at senior level.
She made 19 and took one wicket for the club’s A-reserve team.
– Kyabram P-12 College Year 7 cricket team won the Victorian title, batsman Matt Ryan and bowler Liam Barrett the stars of the win against Lyndale Secondary College.
Ryan made 96 not out in the team’s 35 over total of 6-181, while Barrett (a former Victorian under-13 player) stepped up and took four wickets.
The team had survived a thrilling semi where they were bundled out for 88 (68 of those runs from the bat of Liam Barrett), but managed to dismiss their Maryborough opposition for 86.
– Kyabram Lawn Bowls Club duo Chris Preddy and Rob Anset were bound for the state pairs finals after winning the Goulburn Valley’s 60 and overs title.
They won through the group event to earn a spot in the state title and were hoping to repeat the efforts of Greg Shilling and Noel Reddrop, who had claimed the state pairs title only four years earlier — at the same venue — Bruden Park at Springvale.
– Ten Tongala Primary School girls who won the regional Kanga8 cricket competition were bound for the Melbourne Cricket Ground after winning the regional title for the eight overs a side competition.
They beat Kennington, Katunga, Mansfield and Moyhu to win the title and were bound for the hallowed turf on December 8.
– Tennis veteran Wayne Hanslow and daughter Bree were the toast of Kyabram after the Goulburn Valley championships.
Bree won the 11-year-old girls title and Hanslow beat Stanhope’s Paul Macknamara for the men’s singles title, despite being the oldest player in the field at 41.
It was Hanslow’s sixth GV singles title, to go with 10 doubles championships that were won with Brad Ibbott, Ross Pritchard, Damien Morvell and Nathan Ryan.
He had also won nine premierships with Stanhope and Kyabram in the GV lawn tennis competition.
Before the 2009 title win his last victory had come in 1993, having won his first title in 1993.
– Kyabram Football Club had announced a $17,000 debt at its annual general meeting, but club secretary Judy Nelson said the club was not in crisis mode.
She said some usually reliable club fund raising initiatives had not been as successful as previous years, with bingo well down and the ladies committee also struggling to hit the heights of previous seasons.
Vin Sleeth had been appointed to head up a fund raising committee, while Bill Solly, Ken McLeod and Ian Stone were involved alongside Peter Nelson, Maurie Finn, Tony Andison and John Show in getting the club back on track.
– Thirteen-year-old Claire Whitford was selected to run for Victoria at the Australian All Schools and Youth Championships in Hobart.
A Year 7 student at Kyabram P-12 College, she won a silver medal in the state secondary schools 200 metre event and was fourth in the 100m at the All-Schools Track and Field Championships.
In Hobart she was racing in the 100, 200 and 4x100m relay events.
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