Demons golden

By Paul Pickering
FORTY years is an eternity in footy, and Kooweerup Football Club knows that better than most.
The Demons went 38 years without a flag before their memorable 1969 triumph over Longwarry in the West Gippsland Football League.
It was a long time between drinks, but as ’69 premiership midfielder Wayne Esler reflected last week, the party was worth the wait.
“You’ve never seen a celebration like it,” Wayne, now 61, recalled on the eve of Saturday’s premiership reunion at the club.
“I think they went through something like 12 barrels (of beer) at the old memorial hall that night – it was packed. And I think the buzz kept going for years to come.”
The celebrations will be slightly more subdued – we assume – when Wayne and his former team-mates join members of Kooweerup’s 1979 premiership side for lunch before this weekend’s clash against Nar Nar Goon.
Wayne played alongside his brother Neville in the ’69 grand final, and his brother-in-law, Gary ‘Bull’ O’Hehir, was one of the stars of the ’79 premiership side, so the family holds a special place in one of Kooweerup’s golden eras.
But, despite the Gazette’s attempts to lure Wayne and Bull into a hypothetical grudge match between their respective sides, they would have none of it.
“It would’ve been a very good game,” was Bull’s diplomatic response.
Clearly, there is a healthy mutual respect between two sides that had to overcome their own obstacles before lifting the silverware.
As Wayne recalled, the Demons of ’69 caused a major upset by defeating a previously-unbeaten Longwarry by 25 points in the decider.
Longwarry was unable to take advantage of a stiff breeze in the opening term and led by just 11 points at the break. Kooweerup responded with seven goals to one in the second term to set-up the match-winning break.