Gladesville Ravens Sport Club

With the mini’s competitions being non-competitive they continue their great year with a few more rounds and look forward to the end of season party at presentation day, 2008.

This season’s bumper crop of Under 9s has had a great year.

With the Under 9/4s mixing it with the best of them throughout the year finishing a creditable 6th and the Under 9/1s have pushed all their oppositions to the limit finishing a fantastic 2nd.

After a tough season in 2007 our U10s this year have been the toast of their division.
Finishing second in a competition where the local derby with All Saints Hunters Hill has moved to a new competitive high.

Talking about local derbies with two teams in the 11/1 division it was a big year for the premiers of division 1 and 2 in season 2007.

The 11/1 red after some initial trepidation about the step-up to the top flight repaid people’s faith in them with an outstanding 6th a mere two points of 4th spot.
And after seeing them in the final round beat the, until that point, undefeated premiers
2-0 it could have been an interesting championship series indeed.

Fourteen games played, and only one loss makes the 11/1 blue Premiers once again. Congratulations guys, sterling effort and another Ravens team off to Champions of Champions.

This leaves our third Under 11s team, the 11/3s. With a new coach and a combination of players from two different teams, these guys may not have won their competition but they are the sort of players that make us all proud to be Ravens. Never giving up and constantly improving, well done guys, we look forward to seeing you back next season once again.

2008 saw our U12s with just one team, the 12/1s.

Unfortunately last seasons Premiers weren’t able to repeat their performance and finished an outstanding 2nd in what has to be the hardest competition in the whole GHFA. Well done boys and good luck in the finals.

Again this year the Ravens’ were strong in the Under 14s age group with three teams.
Promoted up a division from 2007 the 13/4s now found themselves in the 14/3 and they have just moved from strength to strength. Undefeated for the season and Premiers on 38 points, it has been their year.

Often it is the finest margins that separate the closest competitors and the 14/2s are no exception. After a slow start to the season the boys missed out on the finals not by goal difference but by 4th place scoring one more goal than them!

But 5th is a commendable result boys – great effort guys, your spirit is an example to all Ravens’ teams.

After being runners up in 2007 the U14/1s in season 2008 reversed the tables on their competition and blitzed their division by six points to second place. Congratulations on winning your Premiership boys and good luck in Champions of Champions.

This leaves our U16s and U18 teams.

With teams in both the first and second divisions of Under 16, both teams had challenging seasons finishing 8th and 6th respectively. Better luck next year.
Then there is our 17/1s that for years have been slowly working their way up the divisions. Promoted from division 2 in season 2007 the boys fought admirably but found the top flight a much tougher proposition finishing 8th.

But already they’re planning their assault on season 2009.

So what about Premier League, All Age and Over 35s?

After overhauling the Ravens’ PL for season 2008, what promised to be a huge season somehow slipped away and somehow we escaped relegation. With their 10-team competition running longer than the rest of the divisions in the end both 1st and reserve grade finished 9th and 10th respectively – luckily they don’t relegate on reserve grade form!

So what of All Age?

Champions and Premiers as 21/2s in 2007, the guys this year stepped up to AA3s and found out it’s a lot harder playing wily old men. Finishing 4th by goal difference the team goes into the finals with hope of an upset. Good luck guys.

Season 2008 also saw the Ravens extend the hand of help to three former Putney Community Club AA teams. As our AA4, 6 and 16 teams they finished 8th, 7th and 7th respectively.

Perennial runners up, the AA8s this year broke the mould and finished 5th, hoping to win the most draws competition!

Not to be outdone the AA9 decided 4th would be a better way to attack the finals this season, with the AA11 showing us all up winning their league and our AA14s and AA20s also making their finals from 4th place.

Lastly this brings us to the Ravens’ Over 35 teams, with our 35/3 blue and red teams limping across the park they finished 8th and 6th respectively. This year with a near new O35/2s the stretcher was packed away for another year and they strolled into the finals in 4th place.

And what of our Over 35/1 team!

After years of dominance the guys are finding it even tougher against the young ex international blood that has flooded the division but true to their champion spirit they once again finished 4th and ensured they gave their opposition no easy points. Good luck guys show your opposition who the team are to beat.

So that is how the premiership season panned out for our Ravens men’s teams and whether you are fighting for a Pennant winners medal or a place in the grand final, good luck.

Steven L.

The Finals of the MBF Champion of Champions tournament are held at Valentine Sports Park and are the highlight of the Community Football season.

This year, our Ravens U14 and U11 teams are competing in this prestigious tournament.

Round 1 U14 v Far Northern NSW 9am kick off Crawford Park 2 Alstonville

Round 1 U11 v Far Northern NSW 9am kick off Nesbitt Park South Lismore

• R1 - 14th September
• R2 - 21st September
• R3 - 28th September
• Semi Finals - 12th October
• Finals - 26th October

Keep visiting the site to see how they go!

2nd Grade managed only 8 points for the season, but helped 1st grade earn at least 9 points through their vocal support at the canteen end of Peel Park. The highlight for Ressies would have been the 5-0 flogging of Roselea, which saw Con Hrysanthos score a hat-trick and Stuart Jackson bag a brace, but unfortunately the win did not count due to a team sheet irregularity. Applications for PL Manager are now being received. Those interested should email Stuey at stuart.jackson@citi.com

The results aside, it was great to see some good young players join the squad this year with the likes of Dave Brennan, James Koussas, Navid Varess and Adam Shepherd complimenting the experienced (too old) players, such as Brad McIndoe, Rick Giometti and Paul Purcell, very nicely. Special thanks must be given to the coaching staff of Chris Gio and Stuart “Fat Cat” Jackson for their efforts throughout the year. 2009 promises to be another successful one with these two at the helm.