FIDA is the Football Integration Development Association, a non-profit organisation. Its opening Statement of Purpose is to ‘initiate access for persons with an intellectual disability to the game of Australian Rules Football’. With matches first played in 1991, it has evolved to the point where there are now 28 clubs and 800 players involved across Victoria. Vin Maskell reports on Sunday’s Grand Final day:
Parkside has defeated Williamstown in the A Grade Grand Final of the Football Integration Development Association.
Kicking to the scoring end at Coburg City Oval in the last quarter, the Devils denied the Seagulls a three-peat, to win the flag by 13 points: 8.8 (56) to 6.7 (43). The Seagulls had led narrowly at quarter-time and three-quarter time.
It was Williamstown’s second loss of the big day, with Monash Demons 10.5 (65) defeating the Seagulls 3.1 (19) in A Reserve.
In B grade Ferntree Gully easily accounted for Ballarat, 5.13 (43) to 1.1 (7).
In C grade Fountain Gate kicked the highest score of the day – 21.9 (135) – to overwhelm Mazenod White 12.7 (79).
All games were played on Sunday 20 August.
Grand Final day is a familiar experience for Williamstown, a strong FIDA club.
Coach and president Rob Klemm said to the club: “Winning a single premiership doesn’t make a club great, but great clubs win multiple premierships. We are a great club, and while we were ultimately unsuccessful on Sunday, we are the only FIDA club to have two teams participating in the Grand Finals this year.
“The resilience of our club is shown in the more-than-60 people who came back to the Pascoe Vale RSL for a Grand Final postmortem.
“Our three principles are integrity, loyalty, and respect, and those qualities were shown by the two recipients of our Spirit of Williamstown trophies, Dean Zavatierro and Zac Ireland.
“Our success on and off the field over the year certainly comes down to the efforts of the players, but more importantly, to the contributions of our committee and our steadfast band of volunteers.
“From coaches to ground managers, team managers to goal umpires, canteen ladies to scoreboard managers, timekeepers to the “snakes and oranges” providers, runners to trainers and water carriers, the setters-up to the packers-up, our sponsors and our affiliated clubs, the supporters at the ground and our followers online, we say Thank you.”
To learn more about FIDA click here.
To return to our Footy Almanac home page click HERE.
Our writers are independent contributors. The opinions expressed in their articles are their own. They are not the views, nor do they reflect the views, of Malarkey Publications.
Do you enjoy the Almanac concept?
And want to ensure it continues in its current form, and better? To help things keep ticking over please consider making your own contribution.
Become an Almanac (annual) member – CLICK HERE.
About Vin Maskell
Editor of Stereo Stories website, director of Stereo Stories concerts. Co-founder of Scoreboard Pressure website with Les Everett.
- Web |
- More Posts
Vin, I’m sure the Almanac community would love to know more about FIDA and your association with it.
Hi Vin I coached a FIDA team Mt Waverley Demons for a few years and wrote a story about the experience. We lost 3 x GFs including one against Rob’s Williamstown but were very fortunate to participate in the 2016 AFL GF Parade which was a great experience for all the team and their families. This is the link to the story. Cheers.
https://isowilson.com/footy-for-the-disenfranchised/
Thanks Ian. ‘Enjoyed reading that piece. And a few of the faces in the photo looked quite familiar.
Here’s apiece I wrote for The Big Issue nearly 10 years ago:
https://vinmaskell.com/2014/11/14/best-on-ground-on-awards-short-list/