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Club History
10 April 2005
Leeming Spartans ***************************************** As the club was now hopefully permanently domiciled at the Connell Reserve in Leeming it was obvious common sense to change the name from Bullcreek Spartans to Leeming Spartans and this was duly done at a general meeting of all club members on the 24th June 1988. Although the name change led to considerable debate, thankfully it was nowhere near as bitter as had been the case on the previous occasion. ***************************************** A full statistical record kept in conjunction with this history shows that the best performances over the years to this point to be:-
1988-89 Officials Senior Vice-President Peter Read Junior Vice President Barry Preedy Secretary Deborah Blight who resigned during the season due to her pregnancy and was replaced by Colleen Thurkle Treasurer David Blight First Grade Captain Peter McGilvray. Second Grade Captain Morrie Pietroniro Third Grade Captain John Eddington Fourth Grade Captain Chris Bibrlik 6 games Brian Waterer 3 games Fifth Grade Captain Graeme Ashley 1 game Brian Waterer 7 games The club did not enter a colts team. Peter McGilvray, an outstanding all-rounder and captain-Coach with Hilton Park who had retired from the game prematurely , was persuaded to make a come-back as captain-coach of Spartans. Peter's very forthright style soon made an impact on the training and playing standards of the club and as a consequence there was success in the First grade for the first time in many seasons. In fact the next few years were to see the fortunes of the club steadily improve. This particular season would have actually been an outstanding success but for the incredible number of players who made themselves unavailable for the first four games. This meant that the lower grades did not reach full strength until mid-way during the season which in turn saw them lose most of their early games and in the long run a place in the finals. The player drain was so great that for the first time in the club's history we forfeited a game , two games in fact, both being in the fifth grade. First Grade. Won the Minor-premiership by winning nine of the ten games played in the qualifying round.However , their lack of finals experience was a big handicap and they ultimately lost both their finals to finish in third place. The club was more than happy with this as it was a vast improvement on the results of the previous decade. The leading performers were Peter McGilvray with 443 runs and 14 wickets, Paul Clement 286 runs and 40 wickets, George Mazzini 373 runs, Jason Hamling 248 runs, Des Deering 214 runs and 27 catches and rookie fast bowler John Kruize 23 wickets. Second Grade. Missed the four by only 2.46 points which was a very creditable performance as this was the side that suffered the most from the lack of quality players early in the season. Good players were Des Barratt 396 runs, Craig Forsyth 312 runs, Keith Harper 299 runs, Morrie Pietroniro 172 runs and 21 wickets and Steve Preedy 29 wickets which included a haul of 8 for 30 in a match tally of 11 for 67. Third Grade. Missed the four by just seven points after losing three of their first four games which was a marvellous comeback. The batting had a great deal of potential as there were a number of attractive stroke makers in the team but it tended to crumble under pressure in the important games. The better players were Steve Aylward 481 runs, Norm O'Neill 286 runs and 22 catches, Peter Rynski 230 runs . John Eddington 28 wickets, Mal Hales 23 wickets and Noel Wood 22 wickets. Aylward and O'Neill put together a third wicket stand of 206 which was a new club record. Fourth Grade. Once the club regained its full complement of players most of the promising juniors were placed in this side. They finished seventh out of ten teams but considering they lost their first five games this was a good effort. Players to do well were Brian Western 264 runs and bowlers Chris Bibrlik and Matthew Bardsley with 18 and 12 wickets respectively Fifth Grade. After their disastrous start with the two forfeits the side put in some determined efforts to salvage some of the lost pride resulting from these forfeits. They finished ninth, but given their start that was really all that could have been expected from them. Better players were Steve Baron 254 runs and 10 wickets, Eric Thurkle 110 runs and 19 wickets and Bevan James 111 runs and 20 wickets. Bevan James finished the season with a grand total of 635 wickets which broke Ron Stanton's long standing record of 617 wickets. Unfortunately ill-health forced James out of the game which was a great pity because he was still a very fine bowler capable of running through sides in all conditions. His career totalled 280 games in which he scored 4579 runs, captured 635 wickets and took 146 catches with him playing in five Premiership sides. Brian Waterer also passed the batting record of 6322 runs previously held by Harold Bell. The club finished fourth in the Club Championship Trophy and had they in fact one more of their early games they could have won this trophy. All things considered it was Spartans most successful year since 1980. 1989-90 Senior Vice President. Noel Wood Junior Vice President Norm O'Neill Secretary Colleen Thurkle Treasurer Noel Wood First Grade Captain Peter McGilvray Second Grade Captain. Morrie Pietroniro Third grade Captain. Peter Rynski Fourth Grade Captain Chris Bibrlik 3 games Barry Preedy 6 games Fifth grade Captain. Brian Waterer Colts Captain Des Deering (Over-age) So Spartans entered the nineties and initially it looked as though they were going to tear the competition apart. At the Christmas break the firsts, seconds and fifths were all in top spot while the thirds and fourths were within six points of the four. Then, as happened so often during the eighties, a player drain destroyed the club's momentum. Work and family committments, a couple of retirements and in some cases a lack of responsibility towards the club saw 21 players miss the first three games after Christmas which completely wrecked the four lower teams as competitive units. The firsts survived to reach the finals but the other four sides only won one game between them over the last five rounds. First Grade. Great seasons by Roy Spencer (returning to the club after a stint as captain-coach of Hilton Park ) 591 runs, Peter McGilvray 493 runs, 15 wickets and 11 catches, Steve Quartermaine 315 runs, Paul Clement 46 wickets and John Kruize 24 wickets saw the side qualify in third place. They lost a hard fought semi-final to Kardinya with Quartermaine's 72 being the leading performance. Second Grade. After a spell on top of the ladder they fell right away to finish fifth partly due to player losses and partly due to lack of application in a couple of the more important games. The better players were Brian Cordes 287 runs, Des Barratt 264 runs and Morrie Pietroniro 19 wickets. Third Grade. Played well at times but as was the case in the previous season the batting did not always perform under pressure. There were some solid individual performances but they never occurred at the same time and they faded to finish eighth with the only consistent player being Steve Aylward with 228 runs. Fourth Grade. Were a very competitive force until the player drain and then fell away badly during the second half of the season. Barry Preedy, who had replaced Chris Bibrlik as captain when the latter had to be promoted, never had the same side for two games in succession and as a consequence they took some terrible hidings towards the end of the season. Preedy did all he could with 192 runs and 15 wickets. Fifth Grade. Had to forfeit the first game due to lack of players then won the next four, two of them outright, smashing 5 declared for 312 against Cockburn and 365 against CBC along the way. The post-Christmas drain saw the sides mainstays promoted and the side struggled from then on to finish sixth. Terry Wortley 302 runs and an outstanding new young fast bowler in Liam McGregor who took 23 wickets in six games were the stars. An unusual aspect of the season was that in general the sides couldn't make enough runs yet eight centuries were scored during the season which was a club record. 1990-91Officials. Senior Vice President Peter Dama Junior Vice President Merv Smith Secretary Graeme Ashley Treasurer Noel Wood First Grade Captain Peter McGilvray Second Grade Captain. Peter Read Third Grade Captain Peter Rynski Fourth grade Captain David Blight Fifth Grade Captain Brian Waterer Once again the fifths had to forfeit the first game due to an early season lack of players ( which was becoming a worrying trend as this was the third season in a row that this had happened ) and there was concern that the club might have to reduce to a four team structure which was contrary to the long term plans of the committee. Stemming from this problem the club went about forging closer ties with the local junior clubs and as the season developed there was a gradual influx of sixteen year olds introduced into the sides many of whom had the ability to develop into very good players as well as bringing a refreshing committment to the club. First Grade. After a slow start to the season a steady flow of new recruits increased the playing strength of the side, in particular the acquisition of left-hander Rod Duncan a genuine fast bowler who gave an already good attack a touch of class. The side fought their way through to the Grand Final where a combination of nerves and some careless batting saw them lose the game to old rivals CBC 168 runs to 139 runs. Still, it had been a marvellous effort to get there and club morale was once again at a fine level. Peter McGilvray, as always leading from the front with 594 runs and 26 wickets, was assisted by Paul Clement 381 runs and 41 wickets, Roy Spencer 606 runs (a new Record for this grade ), Steve Quartermaine 340 runs and 41 catches, Brad Mant 321 runs, Dean Knowles 30 wickets and Rod Duncan 29 wickets. Second Grade. This was quite a good side but lost some very close games which meant they missed the four for the thirteenth successive season but the club was optimistic that success wasn't too far away for them, especially as many of the club juniors were maturing to the stage where they could be considered for this grade. Better players were Peter Read 433 runs, Brian Cordes 337 runs, Liam McGregor 23 wickets and Steven Blight 19 wickets. Third Grade. This team had a dreadful year with the annual plague of player un-availability hitting them the hardest of all the sides. They finished a long last and it was patently obvious that this side would have to be remodelled so as to increase the player depth within the club. Chris Bibrlik had an outstanding season taking 40 wickets and he received good support from teen-age Batsman David Kernahan with 196 runs. Fourth Grade. This team picked up considerable momentum during the season and they too reached the Grand Final defeating Kardinya in the semi-final and CBC in the Preliminary Final. Unfortunately Phoenix over-powered them 231 to 80 runs in the Grand Final. None-the-less it was another great boost for all those who had stuck by the club and worked so hard to keep it going through the lean years of the previous decade. David Blight led the way with 657 runs and 16 wickets with support from Jim Leinasars 321 runs and 56 wickets, Murray Sibson 387 runs, Dick Manning 382 runs and Mal Hales 35 wickets. Fifth Grade. This side became the "nursery" for a talented crop of fifteen and sixteen year olds most of whom had graduated from the local juniors. The side was very competitive and gave several good displays to hover on the edge of the four for most of the season to ultimately finish sixth which was very pleasing given their lack of experience. Veteran Peter Dama scored 251 runs and took 13 wickets with support coming from youngsters Steve Hope-Hume 17 wickets, Michael Barry 16 wickets and Christian Bailey 162 runs. The on-field success also led to to the off field operations being successful with the club finances receiving a considerable boost. The euphoria generated by having two teams playing off for the Premiership resulted in many well attended social functions during the three week finals period and so for the first time since moving to the Connell reserve the club finished in the black with a trading profit of $1000. To keep the momentum rolling along Peter McGilvray was appointed coach for a further three years with a junior development squad being formed to train during the season under the tutelage of Roy Spencer. 1991-92Officials. Senior Vice President Peter Dama Junior vice President Merv Smith Secretary Graeme Ashley Treasurer Noel Wood First Grade Captain Peter McGilvray Second Grade Captain Peter Read Third Grade Captain David Blight Fourth Grade Captain Brian Waterer Fifth Grade Captain Graeme Ashley 11 games Peter Dama 3 games Colts Captain Craig Forsyth The causes for all this were many with the First Grades poor effort being largely a matter of poor attitude and application but in the lower grades it was principally the lack of experience. In the last few rounds there were four players under eighteen years of age in the Seconds, eight in the Fourths and three in the Fifths. While this high percentage of youth in the playing ranks was a great omen for the future it had made success somewhat difficult to achieve in this season. Most of the really worthwhile performances occurred in the fifths where Graeme Ashley became only the third Spartan player to play an innings of over 150 when he flayed the Cockburn attack to the tune of 153 while Jim Leinasars in taking 44 wickets achieved the 100 wicket milestone in just two seasons with the club. Once again it was back to the drawing board for the committee so it was with some apprehension that we approached 1992-93. On the positive side for the second year insuccession the club recorded a profit on the seasons trading due to a telephone delivery contract worth $2700 and a bar profit of $7000. 1992-93 Officials Senior Vice President. Peter Dama. Junior Vice President. Dean Knowles Secretary. Graeme Ashley Treasurer. Noel Wood. First Grade Captain. Peter McGilvray Second Grade Captain. Peter Read Third Grade Captain. David Blight Fourth Grade Captain Noel Wood 9 games Ron McDonald 4 games ;Brian Waterer 1 game. Fifth Grade Captain. Graeme Ashley Colts Captains. Greg Dudley 1 game Craig Forsyth 1 game Matt Smith 1 game. The apprehension experienced pre-season soon faded away as the playing ranks received a real boost with the recruiting of several first and second grade players from the Hills Association. in particular all-rounder Graham Pound and gifted young batsmen in Paul Hitch, Matt Smith and Greg Dudley improved the quality of the first grade side so much that they reached the Grand Final where to everyones delight they defeated old rivals CBC to win the Premiership. This influx at the top meant that there was a filtering down of good players to the lower grades so that we finished up with five very competitive sides. The Thirds and fifths reached the four which gave the club its best overall result since the 1977-78 season. First Grade. Grand Final Scores. Leeming Spartans 116 Paul Hitch 56 CBCOB 76 Rod Duncan 7 for 29 The side in batting order Paul Hitch, Craig Forsyth, Greg Dudley, Roy Spencer, Matt Smith, Peter McGilvray, Brad Mant, Paul Clement, Alex Read-Brain, Graham Pound, Rod Duncan Duncan had an outstanding season bowling with great pace and accuracy to take 52 wickets. He received great support from Clement 26 wickets, Pound 23 wickets and McGilvray 14 wickets. The batting was awesome as follows :-Hitch 529 runs, Smith 512 runs, Spencer 488 runs ( and 43 wicket-keeping dismissals), Mant 482 runs, McGilvray 440 runs , Forsyth 358 runs and Dudley 355 runs. Second Grade. Although they missed the four again they were a very good side whose individual performances kept the pressure on the first Grade players to do well if they wanted to keep their place in the team - and this was the first time in years that this had been the case. Peter Read 538 runs ( a new grade record) , Alex Read-Brain 467 runs, Jim Grubelich 310 runs and young pace bowler Grahme Reid 32 wickets all produced far superior performances to what had been happening in this grade for some seasons. Third Grade. Played great - if somewhat erratic - cricket to reach the semi-finals where they were knocked out of premiership contention. Along the way they broke the club grade record twice , their best being 7 for 327 against Jandakot Lakes. David Blight 506 runs ( a new grade record), Brian Cordes 373 runs, Morrie Pietroniro 285 runs and 15 wickets, Andrew Wragg 238 runs and Kevin Wade and Shane Hersey with 16 wickets each were the stars. Fourth Grade. This side didn't quite enjoy the stability of the others but they played some good games when they were at full strength with a highlight being the dismissal of Minor Premiers Cockburn for 33. Ron McDonald and Miles Jordan with 289 runs each, Graeme Ashley 239 runs, Noel Wood 224 runs, Steve Evans 25 wickets and Ray Turnbull 21 wickets did well. Fifth Grade. Played a very good standard of cricket all year and were a touch unlucky not to reach the Grand Final as they got the worst of two umpiring decisions in the Preliminary Final against Hilton Park which cost them the game. Still, that is part of the game and it didn't detract from the fact that they had enjoyed a great
season. Graeme Ashley 361 runs ( which added to his fourth grade tally gave him 600 runs for the season), John Facey 281 runs and 18 wickets, veteran opener Brian Waterer (who was still a competitive member of the
side at sixty years of age) 260 runs, gifted youngsters Sean Wright 245 runs and Graham Bond 237 runs complimented an outstanding season by veteran left hand medium-pacer Chris Bibrlik who established a new grade record of 50 wickets. 1993-94 Officials. Senior Vice President David Blight Junior Vice President. Peter McGilvray Secretary Graeme Ashley Treasurer. Noel Wood First Grade Captain. Peter McGilvray Second Grade Captain. Peter Read Third Grade Captain. David Blight Fourth Grade Captain. Lee Donovan Fifth Grade No 1 Captain Graeme Ashley Fifth Grade No 2 Captain. Dick Manning Due to the rather large influx of players in 1992-93 and 1993-94 it was decided to add a second fifth grade team to the club structure
CIVIC RECEPTION. With the help of the Melville City council the training facilities had been enlarged from two practice nets to four and this made an enormous difference to the training atmosphere. Over the previous two years Spartans had built up a strong relationship with the Bullcreek Amateur Football Club and as a consequence a second fifth grade side was added to provide the footballers with the opportunity to play cricket together. The inclusion of this
side along with the successes of the previous year led to a great level of enthusiasm at training and it became a common sight to see sixty or more people which had never happened at any club in the history of mercantile cricket.
To honour two of its greatest players and administrators the club decided to replace the fairest and best awards in each grade with an overall club champion award named in their honour. All grades were eligible with the votes being awarded at the end of each game with these votes to be counted at the end of the season at a special function to be held for that purpose. The inaugural winner was NICK SPARKS who had enjoyed an outstanding season as an opening bat and spin bowler in the Second Grade. 1994-95 Officials Senior Vice President. Graeme Pound Junior Vice President. Peter McGilvray Secretary. Graeme Ashley Treasurer Terry Wortley First Grade Captain. Peter McGilvray Second Grade Captain. Peter Read Third Grade Captain. David Blight Fourth Grade Captain. Gary Simm Fifth Grade No 1 Captain Graeme Ashley Fifth Grade No 2 Captain Dick Manning Colts Captain Darren Rose An unusually wide and successful range of fund raising activities led to the club recording a record profit of nearly $9000. The previous highest profit had been recorded a decade previously when the club was domiciled at Trevor Gribble Park, the sum at that time being nearly $5000. First Grade. The on-field performance was solid despite losing a dozen first and second grade players at the start of the season. The most serious loss was that of champion fast bowler Rod Duncan with a serious back injury particularly as he seemed to be coming to his peak as a bowler. The side overcame this setback, as well as the loss of leading batsmen in Matt Smith (to WACA), Alex Read-Brain (to Queensland) and Roy Spencer (retired) to win the Minor Premiership. Their only real bad performance for the year was in the Grand Final where they were comfortably beaten by Cockburn 136 runs to 3 for 141. The leading players were the Read-Waterer Medal winner Paul Hitch 503 runs and 28 wickets, Greg Dudley 451 runs, Peter McGilvray 411 runs, Craig Forsyth 406 runs , wicketkeeper Darren Rose 249 runs and 23 catches, Graham Pound 31 wickets and Paul Clement 28 wickets. Clement announced his retirement at the end of the season due to increasing family commitments closing an outstanding career with the club that yielded 1581 runs, 286 wickets and 59 catches. Second Grade. Were never really a threat to the premiership and finished well ouside the four. Peter Read once again led the way with 485 runs with solid contributions from Peter Agostino 282 runs, David Abercrombie 22 wickets and Darren Fletcher 19 wickets. The highlight of their season came in the final round of the qualifying games when they compiled a score of 401 against East Fremantle to which score Peter Phillips (135) and Shane Hersey (100) contributed a seventh wicket score of 212. Third Grade. Never really settled down following their Premiership win of the previous season and ultimately finished fifth. Colts Graham Bond 285 runs and Luke Carlson 233 runs tried hard with support from skipper David Blight 243 runs, Mick Bennett 26 wickets, Steve Hope-Hume 21 wickets and Tony Bright 18 wickets. Work commitments severely limited Steve Aylward's appearances and he scored what was for him a very moderate 219 runs which was a major factor in the side not achieving higher honours. Fourth Grade. Experienced an incredible finish to the year and it was definitely not the side to be in if you had heart problems. They finished in fourth place but lost their semi-final by a dozen runs to Hilton-Tempest. However Hilton-Tempest had played an ineligible player so the game was taken off them and given to Spartans. Spartans then met East Fremantle in the Preliminary Final only to lose in the last over by seven runs. Gary Simm led them well scoring 492 runs ably assisted by Morrie Pietroniro 283 runs and 23 wickets, Michael Grice 281 runs and John Armstrong 192 runs and 14 wickets. Veteran left handed all-rounder Morrie Pietroniro announced his retirement at the end of the season. In a 319 game career he had scored 6057 runs, captured 430 wickets and taken 135 catches. He captained the First grade on 50 occasions and the Second Grade on 30. He was a three times Premiership player. Fifth Grade No 1. Created a record they would have rather done without by becoming the first Spartan team to go through a season without winning a game. Their attack was very limited and they lacked the fire-power to bowl sides out and consequently lost most of their games by a wide margin. To their credit they worked hard in all their games but simply could not overcome the lack of talent. Veterans were the mainstays of the side principally Barry Preedy 344 runs and 20 wickets, Kim Passmore 349 runs, Graeme Ashley 287 runs and Brian Waterer 200 runs. Fifth Grade No 2.. Premiers. Defeated Cockburn to take the Premiership and lost the One day Final to Hilton-Tempest so all-in all it was a most successful season for them.Grand Final Results. One Day Cup. Leeming-Spartans 106 lost to Hilton-Tempest 1 for 107. Premiership. Leeming Spartans 173 defeated Cockburn 164. Premiership Team. Craig Fletcher, Gary Boyes, Kevin Nash, Dick Manning [Captain], Duncan Munro, Mark Palumbo, Alan Cole, Ron McDonald, Jim Leinasars, Ray Turnbull, Frank Wood There were many outstanding all-round performances with Dick Manning 510 runs and 10 wickets, Jim Leinasars 401 runs and 27 wickets, Mark Palumbo 329 runs, 36 wickets and 16 catches and wicketkeeper Gary Boyes 569 runs and 13 catches all combined to give the side a very solid backbone indeed. Craig Fletcher 248 runs and veteran spinner Ray "Noddy" Turnbull also contributed to the success of the side. Colts. Many players from the previous season had become over-age so this was a fairly inexperienced side. They won one game in their division but more importantly many of the younger players gained valuable experience against some very good sides. Senior Vice President Graham Pound 2nd year. Junior Vice President Peter McGilvray 2nd year. Secretary Graeme Ashley 6th year. Treasurer Terry Wortley 2nd year. First Grade Captain Greg Dudley. Second Grade Captain Peter Agostino Third Grade Captain David Blight Fourth Grade Captain Dick Manning Fifth Grade Captain Alan Cole 10 games Brian Waterer 4 games. Saturday work commitments as well as University and school examinations depleted the player lists to the point that the club somewhat reluctantly had to withdraw the second fifth grade side. Despite the player loss the season ended up being a reasonably successful one with the top four sides reaching the finals although none of them were quite strong enough to take out a premiership. The year was also another successful one financially so the club finished the year in great shape all round, especially as several of the younger members had been given considerable experience in the top two grades. It was becoming obvious at this stage that the F&DMCA was losing its viability and at this stage preliminary talks were taking place between the F&DMCA and the South Suburban Association with a view to the two bodies merging. First Grade. Under a new captain in Greg Dudley the side finished with a late burst to finish in the four. They absolutely annhilated Kardinya-Lakes in the semi-final but lost a tough preliminary final to Cockburn. Paul Hitch 516 runs and 20 wickets, Greg Dudley 471 runs with two centuries, Alex Read-Brain 392 runs and Graham Pound 30 wickets were the leading players Second Grade. Played steady cricket all year but the lack of penetration in the attack led to them finishing fourth after losing the semi-final to Cockburn. Peter Phillips with 467 runs and 10 catches was the one outstanding player. Third Grade. They too finished fourth after losing the semi-final to CBCOB by 234 runs to 264 runs in a very good contest. Steve Aylward 256 runs and Mick Bennett 26 wickets were the best performers over the year. Fourth Grade. Played consistently all year but a poor batting effort in the semi-final led to them being well beaten to also finish fourth. Dick Manning 484 runs and 15 wickets and Peter Kynaston 25 wickets were the stars. Fifth Grade. Despite beating the eventual premiers Cockburn in both the qualifying games the side didn't win enough of the other matches to challenge the four and finished in sixth spot. Newcomer Mike Bunyan was outstanding with 344 runs and 15 wickets which coupled with his great fielding saw him win the Read - Waterer Medal as well as the Knox-Peden Trophy as the best first year player and to cap it all off he was awarded the F&DMCA batting trophy. for this grade. Colts Not enough of the players involved at this level really contributed and as a consequence what was a fairly talented side performed dismally. Article by Brian Waterer |