The Courier |
NOT often would a club be able to hold its head high after a 10-goal loss.But Sebastopol can – and should – walk away from Saturday’s 59-point loss to East Point with a spring in its step.
That might sound odd, after all the Kookaburras lost their seventh Ballarat Football League game from as many starts this year.
However, there was a different feeling around Marty Busch Reserve on Saturday, a feeling the long-suffering supporters and club officials have been deprived of all year.
It might not seem like much, but Sebastopol won a quarter of football.
In its previous six matches of the 2014 season, the Burra had lost every single quarter of football.
At quarter time against East Point, they had lost all 25 quarters of football for the year at that point.
That statistic alone would have been enough to leave to leave anybody with a heavy heart.
But to Sebastopol’s credit, they kicked 5.7 to East Point’s 2.3 to show the BFL world there is still life at Marty Busch.
Yes, they fell away sharply in the second quarter as fatigue set in, but the first half performance was enough to show there is very much a light at the end of the tunnel.
Coach Phil Carman has never shied away from the fact Sebastopol was worse off than he expected when he first signed on.
There have been times throughout the season where it seemed impossible to compete, before Saturday’s game the average losing margin for 2014 was 118 points.
Now, it is not completely unrealistic to actually foresee a win around the corner.
Former captain Tom Petersen returned to the club for his first game of the year on Saturday, while former promising junior Jay Aguila came back for his first match in years, having previously spent time studying in Melbourne.
“There was a really good vibe around the place which I hadn’t seen a lot of so far,” Carman said.
“I had a supporter come up to me at half time who said he was loving what he saw. We have a great supporter base and it’s great to be able to show them we have a direction and we are getting somewhere.”
There have been many naysayers that have claimed there is no hope for the Burra – that they are destined to remain afoot at the bottom of the ladder forever.
The road is long and there are still tough times ahead for the Burra, but it can happen.
Hopefully, for the sake of Sebastopol (and the league itself), the Burras will start to take flight soon.
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
