Book to look back on the Burras’ past

AN upcoming book is tracing the history of one of Ballarat’s oldest football netball clubs.

The work, titled A History of the Sebastopol Football Netball Club 1879-2022 has been penned by Michael Cooper, who was been involved with the board since 2000.

Cooper started working on the book in about 2019, and with records slim on the club’s past, he said there was a need to collate everything they could find.

“Past players have always been requesting this, for some sort of a history,” he said.

“Over a long period of time, the club didn’t keep a lot of records.

“When I was in the office one day many years ago we came across 300 pages of hand typed extracts from The Courier from 1880 to 1973.

“That formed the basis of commentary in the early years. I relied on these and our annual reports that started back in 1974.”

The book’s more than 200 pages and about 50 images features paragraphs on individual years and the netball club’s establishment in 1991 as well as listed honour boards.

Cooper said he was influenced by other club publications such as “100 Years On” Centenary Ballarat Football League 1893-1993 in crafting the book.

Fourteen individuals have been highlighted with their own sections whom Cooper said were integral to the club’s development.

The back of the book feature’s a section on Cooper’s own background and decades-long relationship with the club.

A former reporter covering sports in Bacchus Marsh, his association with the club began in 1985 when his son, Peter, started playing for the ‘Burra.

Cooper said collating the book has given him a greater appreciation for the significance of the Ballarat Football League and Sebastopol’s role in it.

“The BFL was actually formed in 1893 as the Ballarat Football Association. Ballarat and Sebastopol were two of the original association clubs,” he said.

“Up until that time there seems to be lots of scratch matches with goldmine staff and there were teams like Yarrowee and Soldiers Hill. Everyone had a team.

“The biggest impact I’ve felt is the development when they started in 1893 with a senior team. Today the club has 32 teams that compete including their netball teams.

“In doing this project it came to home to me on how many thousands of people would have gone through the club.

“Ballarat, Redan, Ballarat North, East and Sebast, in Ballarat city there are five teams.

“To me it shows how big an industry the BFL is to Ballarat and what Sebastopol did to that. I marvel at the number of people and volunteers that have kept this all going for the past 150 years.”

With A History of the Sebastopol Football Netball Club 1879-2022 now off to the printers, the book is set to be available mid-next month at the club’s website.

At an expected cost of $50, all proceeds will go back into the organisation.