I’ve written previously over the years around my love and admiration for the Reclink Organisation and it’s founder Peter Cullen AM.

https://isowilson.com/the-power-of-reclink-footy/

Yesterday was grand final day for our Ballarat Bushrangers, so it was all into a hire bus and onto Coburg’s Pirnha Park, formerly the City Oval.

We were playing Sunbury as the second of the grand finals that day. The first was Collingwood versus Geelong which saw a tight contest with The Pies finishing the stronger.

Reclink run three days of grand finals over three weeks, two games each day.

This was the second week, with the third being at Werribee FC’s home ground, Avalon Airport Oval, formerly Chirnside Park, next Wednesday.

The reason for the distribution of finals is all about participation and experience for as many participants as possible.

There are no ladders in Reclink, so when it comes down to the pointy end of the season, Peter and his team select as compatible teams as is possible to play in their respective grand finals.

To the outsider this may seem a bit lame but when you work with and understand the participants, you will witness something quite special.

The secret to the success of these grand finals is the work that goes in behind the scenes.

What Peter creates for the teams is a replica of an AFL grand final in many aspects.

Sure Robbie Williams may be out of Peter’s budget but these are some of the things that is there for the participants and crowd:

  • Kids from the posh Xavier College man stalls, cook sausages and do a lot of the heavy lifting on the day. They were fantastic, polite and along with the teachers clearly had fun. I think strategically Peter has been bringing the Xavier kids to the grand finals for ten years to perhaps provide them some insight into how the ‘other half’ of society live. He is using kids from McKillop College in Werribee next week.
  • One stall manned by the Xavier kids had a heap of second hand sporting goods such as boots, jumpers runners, caps etc for free.
  • Sausages, cordial and coffee was free.
  • Before each game there was six members of the Victorian Police Pipe Band playing, then a Welcome to Country, followed by the national anthem sung by an opera singer. Teams lined up as they would at ‘The G’ and you could see how enraptured they all were.
  • A three piece band played in between quarters.
  • Guests on the day included ex Bulldog premiership player Tom Boyd, these days a strong advocate for mental health and Norm Smith Medallist and former Swan and Blues champion David Rhys Jones. Rhys has been supporting Peter and Reclink for over twenty five years. He may hold the record for most AFL on field reports but off field he is one of the nicest blokes you could ever meet.
  • Live commentary came from a couple of people including veteran broadcaster Dan Lonergan. What made it so compelling was that the players could hear their names being called out on the ground from the speakers. Such a clever touch.

Unfortunately Ballarat went down to a more seasoned Sunbury but they tried hard. The games were played in excellent spirits despite a minor scuffle in the Cats v Pies game.

These blow ups in Reclink and FIDA footy can flare up occasionally as emotional levels increase but are quite easy to extinguish by stopping the game and bringing both teams in for a chat.

The medal presentations were terrific and to see my client who I’ll call Jack for the purposes of this, receive his, will go some way to healing what has been a traumatic few years for him.

He kicked a goal in the grand final and assisted in a few more but most importantly he has made new friends and has found some much needed purpose and belief.

Peter Cullen’s energy and networking skills are extraordinary. Next week at Werribee I believe he has Simon Madden and Shaun Mannagh locked in as guests already.

Having worked in the Mental Health and Disability field now for about a decade, I honestly don’t know where we would be without Peter and Reclink.

So many thousands of disenfranchised in our community who could easily have fallen through the cracks have been lifted up by this wonderful organisation.

Thanks again to the Bushranger’s coach Andrew Dunn who does a marvellous job and to Reclink for everything they do.

Tired of heavily corporatized, sterile footy smattered with gambling ads?

Part three of the Reclink Grand Finals starts at 11am at Avalon Airport Oval Werribee next Wed September 16.

I guarantee you will witness everything that we love about our game. Unadulterated, authentic footy and pure joy on the faces of those who otherwise wouldn’t get the opportunity.