In recent seasons, the Barossa United Under 15s won a (deserved) reputation as The Great Entertainers. They are now the Under 17s and they continue to entertain. They lost 4-7 to the top side on the weekend.
However, they need to look out because the newly formed Under 14s are sneaking up on them. They too have the capacity to entertain and are starting to be known as The Apprentice Entertainers. They have a number of inexperienced players who play with commitment and determination and are learning the game very quickly under Coach Paul Amos. They also have some seasoned players who are, well, very entertaining.
This is the story of their match on the weekend just gone.
As we drove through the fog and the mist in the bucolic Adelaide Hills, we were somewhat surprised that James Herriot wasn’t puttering along in his Austin Seven. Evie was admiring the cows. “They are perfect cows,” she said.
Then, suddenly, the sun was out, and the home ground of Stirling Districts FC appeared. Carved from the mountainside, it is the perfect secluded amphitheatre, not unlike the ancient stadium at Delphi.
Top-of-the-table Stirling was going to be tough to handle, especially as we had just eleven players. Coach Paul Amos set the girls a challenge: to improve on the 3-11 result of a couple of months ago.
Well, this Barossa Under 14 side, living up to its reputation as The Apprentice Entertainers, was magnificent. Every player made a huge contribution, right to the very end.
Phoebe Koch – a wonderful club person who will take on any responsibility with a cheery smile – went into goal and was the player of the match. She made many saves and started attack after attack with her hefty right boot.
The whole team played with strength and commitment. The girls’ belief grew and grew during the match.
They had numerous opportunities to score. Delilah Gill, again the zip-zip girl, won her own ball and had at least half a dozen chances, but was held out.
Lucy Amos was a key figure up forward, making heaps of territory with her incisive runs and constructive passes, especially to Pippa Brassil.
Pippa was closely checked by the Stirling defenders but still managed to get some shots away.
The lightly-framed Bowley twins, Leila and Annabel, had breakout games, not taking a backward step. Both attacked the ball and then looked for a teammate, especially Pippa.
Emme Mowbray did not have a lot of chances early, but she really came into the game after half-time, finding space down the left and hitting some strong crosses and shots.
Lily Catanzariti started in the mid-field but went back when Stirling attacked relentlessly. She won many contests.
Ruby Roth also had plenty of defending to do and handled the pressure really well.
The defence was held together by the versatile and reliable Charlotte Kitschke who is getting stronger and stronger and veteran Evie Harms. Evie had a purple patch in the second half where she stopped the attackers and distributed the ball wide to Pippa, through to Lucy, and down the left to Emme.
After Stirling scored, Barossa rallied and were the better side for a long time. The Stirling players looked worried. Barossa had chances to equalise and who knows what might have happened had one of Barossa’s shots gone in.
Towards the end of the second half, Stirling’s class prevailed. They eventually won 3-0.
The day will be remembered for Barossa’s brave performance.
It will also be remembered for the moo-ing of the cows, the decisiveness of Phoebe’s operatic voice, and the shrieks of excitement from the supporters of these brave Apprentice Entertainers, all sounds reverberating around the brilliant amphitheatre.
Stirling Districts 3 Barossa United 0
Read more from John Harms HERE
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JTH is a writer, publisher, speaker, historian. He is founder and contributing editor of The Footy Almanac and footyalmanac.com.au. He has written columns and features for numerous publications. His books include Confessions of a Thirteenth Man, Memoirs of a Mug Punter, Loose Men Everywhere, Play On, The Pearl: Steve Renouf’s Story and Life As I Know It (with Michelle Payne).
He can be contacted [email protected]
He is married to Susan. They have three school-age kids – Theo, Anna, Evie.
He might not be the worst putter in the world but he’s in the worst four.
His ambition was to lunch for Australia but it clashed with his other ambition – to shoot his age.
Great work Barossa United