Former Tigers return to the jungle

ALMOST 100 former Torquay footballers made their way down to Spring Creek Reserve on Saturday afternoon, some travelling from interstate, for the annual Torquay Tigers Past Players & Officials Day.

Former Tigers Craig “Leggsy” Voss, Wayne Stone, Shane Jacobson and many more were all in full Tiger spirit watching their old club hit the football field and catching up with some old mates in the process.

“The day started at about 12-12:30pm and everyone who came stayed right through until the end of the seniors’ game,” Tigers president Jenny Wood said.

“The old players got a chant going that used to be sung at the club way back when, it was really funny, they really got into because it was such a good game against Drysdale, the two top teams in the BFL currently.

“It was well worth the past players being there.”

The club has invited specific premiership winning teams to the event in previous years, but this time there were representatives from teams over the span of different decades.

Ms Wood said one of the former players brought a BFL Record with a full list of players from Torquay’s 1979 team.

“Everyone was talking about how many goals they kicked, who got Best and Fairest – just heaps of interesting stuff to talk about, I really enjoyed it,” Ms Wood said.

Head coach Dom Gleeson and captain Ben Raidme provided the past players with an update on how Torquay is progressing as a club, touching on topics such as junior development and senior performance.

Ms Wood said every year’s event provides a chance to pay tribute to those who graced Spring Creek Reserve before and helped grow the club into what it is today.

“They’ve made sure the junior and senior programs are well connected, they’ve created that environment that makes kids want to stick around and that’s why it’s so important to have the past players day,” Ms Wood said.