By DAVID NAGEL
CRANBOURNE Football Club’s 125th birthday celebration is in full-swing, and on Saturday it was the premiership winning side from 1966 that took centre stage at Casey Fields.
The highlight of the club’s season-long celebration will take place at the Amstel Golf Club this Saturday night, with the 125th Anniversary Gala Ball incorporating the club’s Hall of Fame Dinner. While the ball is sure to be a memorable affair, Saturday’s reunion saw the club’s third of 12 premierships – following on from 1926 and 1951 – celebrated in style.
Captain-coach of the ’66 side, and centre-half-back in the Dandenong Football Club’s Team of the Century, Gerry Pennefather, said it was the first time he had been back to Cranbourne since finishing his three-year coaching stint in 1968.
“It’s disappointing that it has been so long because every premiership side has a bond; we have a bond, and to see the players again is a wonderful thing,” he said.
“I remember I had just come out of 10 years at Dandenong and never saw myself as a coach. My main priority was to set an example, because if you set a good example it brushes off on the rest of the team. I was always determined to not worry about myself too much, and to have the team working together, and that’s how we achieved what we did.”
Pennefather currently resides in Shepparton, where at the age of 79 he keeps fit and healthy by being involved in his family’s wheat and canola growing business.
