Peninsula Raiders Superules FC Club History

1995
The idea to form “The Mornington Peninsula Superules FC” came about in late 1995 by Leigh Paris, Roger Corfield and Phil Peterson who were associated with the Mornington F.C. These men went to the Vic Metro Superules Football League and applied to form a team in Mornington. They had to supply a list of names showing they had the numbers to form a team. They were going to use the Mornington FC “Bulldogs” jumper but that jumper was taken by Nth Heidelberg. The club adopted the Mornington Peninsula Nepean Football League colours of Navy & Gold panels on the jumper.

1996
A Superules team took to the field for the first time in the “Vic Metro Superules” competition in Division 2, for the 1996 season. The home ground was the main Mornington football ground, Alexandra Park. The club had good numbers so they also fielded a team in the “Masters” exhibition matches. The President was Roger Corfield, Secretary: Don Sheenan, Treasurer: Norm Scammell and Coach: Barry Evans. Phil Williams was our inaugural captain. The team finished 9th on the ladder. 2 games were played at Victoria Park. The first win for the club was in round 5 verses Noble Park played at Victoria Park. The team won 4 games for the season.

1997
A coup took place at the 1996 AGM. John Gannan was elected as president for season 1997, with Warren Adam: Vice president, Bob Penzer: Secretary and Karen Wooldridge: Treasurer. The previous committee all left the club. It was decided that a new emblem be adopted. A “Viking” was selected and the team’s nickname would be “The Raiders”. At first there was only one O/35 team but that was expanded to 3 teams for this season. We had 2 x O/35(Superules) teams in Division 2 because another team folded before the season began. We filled the space with our 2nd team. We also fielded an O/40(Masters) team. The Masters competition was played for the first time this season. The Superules teams were both in Division 2. The Superules teams wore the navy & gold panelled jumper with gold socks. They were given separate identities. The first O/35 team were called “Bass” and wore navy shorts. Phil Corn was appointed coach and Colin Bambrook captain. The second O/35 team were called “Flinders” and wore gold shorts. Alan Sutherland was appointed coach and Mark Woodruff captain. When they played each other the away side wore the Masters jumpers. The Masters team wore a Navy Jumper with a gold sash, navy shorts and gold socks. John Jones was appointed Masters Coach and Andy Dinnage captain. The Masters competition was not played for points and there are no finals. Bass finished 5th on the ladder and missed the finals narrowly by percentage only. Flinders finished 10th. They kicked their highest score of 113pts in round 4 verses Sunshine to win by 106pts. Mark Grills won the Division 2, League Superules (O/35) Best and Fairest Award. Bill Rutherford was the club’s first All Australian player after the National Carnival held in Geelong. He won selection in the Seniors(O45) age group. The club song of the time was to the tune of “The Marseillaise” Fitzroy FC theme. The words were written by a player, Ian Wheeler.

We are the boys from Mornington,
We wear the colours of Blue and Gold,
We will always fight for victory,
We will always see it through,
Win or lose we’ll do or die,
In defeat we’ll always try,
Go Raiders, Go Raiders,
The team that loves a beer,
Premiers we’ll be this year.

1998
The committee remained the same for this season with John Gannan President. Phil Corn was still Bass coach and Col Bambrook captain. Alan(Chesty)Hayes coached Flinders with Mark Woodruff again captain. Alan Sutherland coached Masters with Les Clarke captain. Bass & Flinders were still together in Division 2. Bass had a great season winning 9 games to finish in second spot on the ladder and make the finals for the first time. They played their semi final against Nth Heidelberg at Northcote Park but were beaten. Masters failed to win a game and Flinders only won 2 games. The club song was updated for this season. It was set to the tune of “The Road to Gundagai”.

OOOOhhhh,
Come on boys make a noise,
We’re the red hot Raider boys,
We are the boys from Mornington,
You can bring up all your locals,
And bring them to the top,
But the Raiders boys are coming,
And they’re coming on the hop,
Come on boys make a noise,
We’re the red hot Raider boys,
We are the boys from Mornington,
(SPOKEN)
What do we sleep on?     SEAWEED!
What do we eat?     FISH!
How do we eat it?   RAW!

1999
John Gannan remained President. The committee employed a Manager for the first time. John Stirling was appointed as a paid manager to ease the load on the executive committee. John Jones was VP and Bob Keillor Treasurer. Phil Corn continued as Bass coach with Ross Twyford captain. Alan Sutherland was captain/coach of Masters. Paul Carlson was appointed as coach of Flinders but was replaced as coach by Chris Burke after 4 games. The club was unhappy with the job that Paul was doing. Both coaches were captain coaches. This season Bass played Mordialloc for the “1892 Commemorative Cup” for the first time. Bass won.  Masters won 3 games. Flinders won 1 game. Bass won 9 games to finish 4th and make the finals. They played Reservoir West Preston at Peanut Farm Res. St Kilda but lost. The Grandstand at Alexandra Park burned down.

2000
The Committee remained the same this season except Tom Klingenspor became VP. Phil Corn coached Bass for the 4th season with Ross Twyford captain. Chris Burke captain/coached Flinders and Alan Sutherland captain/coached Masters. A new set of jumpers were purchased for the Masters side. They were the same Navy Blue & Gold panels as Bass and Flinders. The Vic Metro Superules League split the Over 35 divisions into 3. Bass remained in Div2 while Flinders moved to Div3. The committee decided that Bass would be called the 1st’s & Flinders the 2nd’s. Bass made the finals again finishing 4th on the ladder with only 5 wins. They played Reservoir West Preston at Spotswood but lost. Flinders won 2 games finishing 6th out of 8 teams. Masters had 4 wins for the season. Flinders won 2 games and finished 6th out of 8. Chris Burke kicked the most goals in a game for Flinders with 5 goals in rounds 9 & 11. The club became incorporated this season and the name changed to “Peninsula Superules FC Inc”. Phil Corn became the first player to play 50 club games. Kevin Deason played in the Ted Whitten legends game curtain raiser, Vic Metro v Vic Country. By the end of this season 200 players had represented the club.

2001
John Gannan was president again, Tom Klingenspor & Dave Dooley VP’s, John Stirling Secretary/Manager and Bob Keillor treasurer. Leith Gage was appointed Bass coach with Ross Twyford captain. Garry Newman coached Flinders with Bob Keillor captain. Ash Ackehurst captained/coached Masters. Bass won all their home and away games to finish on top of the Division 2 ladder for the first time. They also won their first ever final when the defeated Nth Essendon at Williamstown Oval. They lost the Grand Final to Southern Saints at Preston FC. Jim Marconi won the Div 2 League goal kicking award with 43 goals. He also was the first Raider to kick 10 goals in a game in round 6 against Cranbourne.  Bass also kicked their highest score of 173pts in round 6 verses Cranbourne to win by 163pts. Flinders recorded 2 wins to finish 10th out of 12 teams. They played their 50th game in round 6 verses Brunswick Districts at Brunswick. Masters won 3 games. Bass kick their highest ever score, 26-16-172 to beat Cranbourne by 163pts in rd 6.

2002
The 2002 season had a lot of changes for the Raiders. Brendan Anderson became President. Dave Dooley & Des Dalrymple VP’s. Phil Williams became Treasurer. John Stirling was Secretary/Manager but in a much reduced role due to the poor finances of the club. Phil Williams took over most of the managers duties early in the season. The new committee found that the club was in debt by about $12,000. Firstly, Committee members payed their membership fees early so that John Stirling could be payed out. The next step to erase the financial debt was to put the membership fees up and increase prices over the bar. An auction night was also held using donated goods and services. Dish and Anne Anderson put in a huge amount of time in Mornington asking for donations from local businesses. By the end of 2002 the deficit was eliminated. After losing the Grand Final in 2001, Bass were promoted to Division 1. Graeme O’Sullivan was appointed as Bass Coach with Ross Twyford Captain for the 4th season. Ash Ackehurst was reappointed captain/coach of Masters. Due to falling club membership over the last few seasons the club decided not to field a second Over 35 team for 2002. After 5 seasons, Flinders were no more. The name Bass was dropped for the Superules team. They were just called Supers. They struggled in div 1. The club lost a lot of players from the 2001 GF side. The Supers won only 1 game and finished 9th out of 10 teams. Masters only had 1 win also. The club changed the socks from gold to navy blue. The National body of Superules changed its name to “Masters Australian Football”, MAF.

2003
In 2003 the club officially changed the name to “The Peninsula Raiders Superules FC Inc.” The jumpers were also updated with a stylised “Viking” holding a shield and sword depicted on the front of the jumper and the colours changed to royal blue, white and gold. The shorts were updated to royal blue with the name Raiders on the leg piping in gold. The socks became royal blue with gold tops. Brendan Anderson was President, Rick Hubbard, VP & Phil Williams, Treasurer. Alexandra Park in Mornington was being resurfaced this season so we had to play our home games at Dallas Brooks Park. Graeme O’Sullivan again coached the Supers with Troy Arnott as captain. Ash Ackehurst captained/coached the Masters side. The Supers again struggled in Div1 recording only 2 wins for the season to finish 7th out of 9. The Masters had 1 win and finished 10th & last on the unofficial ladder. Troy Arnott won the MAF Division 1 Superules O/35 Best & Fairest. He also won the National Carnival O/35 Best & Fairest in Perth. Andy Evans was the first player to kick 50 club goals in rd 8.

2004
The club executive committee remained the same with Ross Twyford added as secretary. The club appointed new coaches. Andy McQueen coached the Supers with Troy Arnott as captain. Peter Boyle coached the Masters with Vin Brown as captain. The club celebrated the playing of the 100th Superules game in Round 8 by naming the “Best Superules Team of the first 100 games”. The Supers had only 1 win for the season finishing 10th and last. The masters had 2 wins and finished 9th out of 10 teams on the unofficial ladder. Home games were played back at Alexandra Park. Sadly we lost one of our mates when Stephen Knights passed away during the Rd8 Masters game against Keysborough. A player from Northern Districts/Greensborough Masters also passed away during the Rd10 game against us at Alexandra Park.

2005
The only executive committee change for this season was Mark Leonard elected as VP. The coaches and captains were reappointed. 2005 was the 10th Anniversary of the club. We had a big Birthday function with former players and committeemen invited. The Supers were relegated back to Div 2. They had a much better season winning 7 games to qualify for the finals after finishing in 4th position at the end of the home & away season. They lost to Federal/Bayside in the semi final at Southern Saints. The Masters side had 2 wins, one being a forfeit. Troy Arnott won the MAF Division 2 Superules O/35 Best & Fairest. Vin Brown won the National Carnival O/50 Best & Fairest in Adelaide. The Raiders fielded their own team at the Pambula Easter Carnival. Kevin Deason was the first to play 100 club games.

2006
The club executive committee was unchanged for this season. Andy McQueen and Troy Arnott remained in charge of the Supers. Ash Ackehurst was appointed for his second time as Masters coach, with Vin Brown captain. The MAF established a league headquarters at the Whitten Oval. League meetings, best & fairest count and matches each round were played there. Supers played 2 games there and Masters 1. Supers won 6 games but missed the finals finishing 6th out of 10 teams. The Masters competition was expanded to 18 teams but was separated into 2 groups to play each other for the season. The Masters side won 5 games and played their 100th game in Round 7 verses Diamond Valley at Whitten Oval. Gordon McQueen won the National Carnival O/55 Best & Fairest in Maroochydore, Qld. The 300th player represented the club this season.

2007
The club executive committee was unchanged for this season. Andy McQueen and Troy Arnott remained in charge of the Supers. Ash Ackehurst was appointed for his second time as Masters coach, with Craig Armstrong & Peter Ellery joint captains. The Supers missed the finals again by percentage only. They lost the last game of the season to slip out of the 4. The Masters again won 5 games. Troy Arnott won the MAF Division 2 Superules O/35 Best & Fairest. The league began an O/47 competition. It was played as Northern, Southern, Footscray & Werribee. A few Raiders played with the Southern side. Ash Ackehurst coached his 50th game for the club in round 8.

2008
The club executive committee was unchanged for this season. Dean Bowman was appointed Supers coach with Stephen Lewis as captain. Ash Ackehurst continued as Masters coach with Don Theobald as captain. The National body of Superules changed its name to “Australian Football League Masters”, AFLM. The Over 47’s competition expanded to 6 sides. With good member numbers the Raiders took over the Southern O/47’s after rd 1. This gave the club 3 sides for the first time since 2001. It was a hugely successful season for the Raiders. The Supers finished the season in 4th place with 6 wins. They qualified for the Grand Final after winning their 2nd final by beating Darebin in the semi final at Epping. They lost the grand final to Mordialloc at St Bernards College. The Masters competition was split in to 2 divisions. The Raiders played in Masters 2/3. The Raider Masters team was unbeaten for the season. Masters kicked their highest ever score 20-23-143 when they beat Knox Lions in rd 7 by 133 pts. Andy Burriss won the Masters 2/3 Goal Kicking award with 34 goals. He also kicked the most goals in a game for Masters with 7 goals in rounds 7 & 9. Troy Arnott won the National Carnival O/35 Best & Fairest award in Darwin.

2009
The Club Executive was unchanged for the 5th year in a row. Dean Bowman remained as Supers coach with Stephen Lewis as captain. Graeme Toms continued as Over 47’s coach with Des Dalrymple as captain. Brendan Anderson took over as Masters coach with Don Theobald continuing as captain. The Australian Masters Games were held in Geelong in February. AFL Football was included in the games schedule for the first time. The Raiders entered 2 teams. The Over 35’s were coached by Dean Bowman and won a bronze Medal. The over 45’s were coached by Ross Twyford. The Over 47’s division expanded from 6 teams in 2008 to 11 teams in 2009. The Raiders won 4 games. They kicked their highest ever score in Rd5 at home against South Yarra with 23-11-149 to record a 146pt win. Greg McCracken kicked the most goals in a game for the Over 47’s in that game with 7 goals. The Masters divisions added 4 new teams in 2009 with Masters 2/3 division now 12 teams. For the first time this season there were Finals games played in Masters. While there wasn’t a full finals series, the top two teams in each Masters division by percentage played off in a “Challenge Final” at Pakenham FC. The Raiders finished 2nd on the ladder with 7 wins from 9 games equal with Beaconsfield but behind on percentage. In a low scoring final the Raiders went down by 4 points. Andrew Evans became the first Raider to kick 100 goals for the club when he kicked 2 goals in Rd7 against Frankston. The Supers had a disastrous start to the season losing their first 3 games. They were much better after that only losing one more game to finish the season in 5th place just missing the finals. At the Easter carnival at Pambula, Netball was played for the first time in conjunction with the football games. The Raiderettes had a team that was undefeated at the carnival. In Rd 7 of the season against the Frankston Tigersharks, a Netball match was played as well as the 3 football matches. The Raiderettes defeated the Tigersharkettes to remain undefeated in 2009. At the Raider presentation night held at the Mornington Bowls Club, the first ever Raider Life Memberships were awarded to Ross Twyford and Phil Williams. Peter Ellery & Bill Rutherford became the 12th & 13th players to play 100 games for the Raiders in rounds 8 & 9. Wayne Halbert became the 39th Raider to play 50 games for the club. In 2009 the Raiders sporting fields of endeavour was expanded to include Basketball and Cricket. The Basketballers play Thursday nights at the David Collings Leisure Centre in the Over 35 competition. The Cricketers played in the MPCA Sunday, D Grade, One Day competition under the umbrella of the Mornington CC. They played each fortnight the same as the football season.

2010
The club executive remained unchanged for 2010 as did the coaching panel. New captains were appointed for the Supers; Gabe Mauerhofer, Masters; Mark Leonard, Des Dalrymple was Over 47 captain for the 3rd season in a row. In March the club played in a mini carnival at Frankston Bombers ground in Baxter hosted by the Frankston Tigersharks. We had an O/47 and Supers team play. At Easter we played in the annual Pambula carnival. As well as the Raiders team there was the “Lenny’s Legends” team celebrating Mark Leonard’s 50th birthday. They played in a special jumper for the carnival. The season was again shortened to 9 rounds. The draw was not a good one for the Raiders with only 3 triple headers at home. The Masters team only had 3 home games all up, the Supers and O/47’s had 4 home games. We swapped the Rd7 O/47 home game to Old Scotch with the Supers so we could be at one venue. Masters had a bye in that game. There were 10 teams in Div 2 Supers, 13 teams in Masters 2/3 and 16 teams in the ever expanding Over 47’s. We had a jumping castle and face painting for the kids at our first home game in Rd2. Frankston won the Rd 5 Raiders/Tigersharks challenge shield by winning the 3 football games. The Netball game was cancelled due to rain. The Supers made the finals but lost in a semi final at Mordialloc FC to Northern Districts who went on to win the Div 2 flag. Masters won through to the Challenge Final for the second year in a row but were beaten in the final by Northern Districts. Mick Burgers, Ash Ackehurst and Garry Moncrieff all played their 100th games for the club. Gordon McQueen and Stephen Lewis played their 50th games. Ross Twyford became the first player at the club to play 150 games in the Supers Semi Final. Troy Arnott won the Division 2 League Best and Fairest award for the 3rd time to go with his Division 1 B&F award. The National Carnival was held in Canberra with Ash Ackehurst awarded an All Australian award for the 3rd time. The Raider presentation Night was held at the Mornington Golf Club. Glenn Stevens was named Best Clubman and Dave Nagy won the player voted “Stephen Knights” Most Admired Raider Award. Bob Keillor and Brendan Anderson were award Life Membership. Damien Park won the Supers B&F, Mark Leonard won the Masters B&F and Vin Brown won the Over 47’s B&F.

2011
The club Executive remained unchanged for the 7th year. Preseason training began on the 3/11/2010 at Mace Oval in Mt Martha. New coaches were appointed for the 2011 season. Damien Park: Supers, Gerald Meyer: Masters and Wayne Halbert: Legends (O/47's) are the coaching panel. We were able to move training to Alexandra Park on the 16th of March. There were big changes to the league structure for season 2011. 2 more teams were added to the Legends to give 18 teams.

The Supers competition was changed to Premier, North Zone and South Zone divisions. Masters was split in to 2 divisions of Premier Masters and Zone Masters. These changes were good for the Raiders because it meant that we played clubs in our area and didn't have to travel to the northern suburbs for some of our games. The teams in South Zone were Raiders, Frankston, Cranbourne, Carrum Patterson Lakes, Hallam, Dingley, Knox Lions, Parkdale, Bayside Saints and Eastern Rovers. It was a mix of 2nd & 3rd division teams but a lot less travel to play games. Southern Saints and Federal Bayside merged to form Bayside Saints and won the South Zone Grand Final defeating Dingley. The Raiders finished in 4th place but lost their Semi Final to Bayside Saints. The league also introduced extra games for some clubs in Rd4 and Rd10. the Rd4 games were held when Premier Div had a bye and the Rd10 games were held on Zone Semi final day. These were games for Masters and Legends teams only but the results did not count on the ladders. This meant that our Legends and Masters played 10 rounds while our Supers played 9 rounds. With 18 teams in the Legends division we only played teams in our area with the Masters and Supers but we did have 3 games that the Legends played at other venues.

In the Masters division there were 13 teams in Zone Masters but we didn't play them all. In the Masters round 7 game against Hallam at the Doveton Eagles ground, the Masters full forward Andy Burriss kicked a League and club record 17 goals. He went on to win his 2nd Masters League goal kicking award with 39 goals.

The Raider Masters team finished on top of the ladder to qualify for the Challenge Final for the 3rd season in a row. They had only 2 losses for the season. Rd2 they lost to Bayside Saints by 30 pts and to the same team in the Rd10 extra game by 34 pts. The Challenge Final was between the Raiders and Melbourne at Highett. The Raiders won by 4 pts with Peter Daniel awarded the match ball by the Umpires as BOG. This win was the first "Grand Final" won by the club. The Supers got into the final four in the last round (rd9) after they beat Easters Rovers and Bayside Saints beat Frankston by 4pts,

The Raider Supers got off to a shaky start to the season and after Rd5 were 2 wins and 3 losses after being beaten by Dingley in Rd5. They then won four in a row to finish strongly and make the finals. The club had 5 home games for the season with all 3 teams playing. The Rd10 Legends and Masters home games against Bayside Saints were transferred from the Raiderdome to Frankston Pines ground and played before the South Zone Semis Finals. In Rd 8 the Raiders won back the Raiders/Tigersharks shield with wins in the Supers and Masters but no netball was played. We had 16 new players play their first game for the club in 2011. In Rd 9 Shane Turner became the 2nd Raider to play 150 games for the club. Shane has played at the club since the inaugural season in 1996. Mark Leonard, Troy Arnott and Andy Evans played their 100th games for the club. Troy Arnott played his 100 games in a row with out missing a game since he started at the club in 2002. During the season the Raiders helped the South Mornington Tigerettes by having them train with us at the Raiderdome every couple of weeks. The Club Best & Fairests for 2011 were Pat Foy in the Supers, Mark Leonard in the Masters and Frank Engel in the Legends. At Presentation Night Mark Leonard received the "Stephen Knight" award. Gordon McQueen and Graeme Toms were joint winners if the "Best Clubmen Award" and Kevin Deason received "Life Membership". Mark Leonard capped off a fantastic season by winning the League Zone Masters Best and Fairest award.