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The scene is set for a wonderful weekend of activities to celebrate 100 Years of Queanbeyan Tigers Football. Preparations have been well in hand for what will be a gathering of past and present players from all over Australia and indeed the World.
The Tigers have not trained on their home ground for the past two weeks with restoration / maintenance work being carried out to have the facility in top shape for the upcoming festivities.
Those events kick off on Friday evening with a Heritage Jumper Display to be unveiled and the launch of the 3rd Edition of the Clubs History - Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright covering the years 2000 to 2022.
Following those activities, associates attending the Gala Weekend are invited to the Tigers Licensed Club for an informal gathering, meet and greet and nibbles.
The next day will be the opening games of the Men’s and Women’s AFL Canberra Competitions for 2024, with the Tigers and Tigerettes taking on old rivals Ainslie at 11.00am and 1pm respectively.
Between those games, will be a Guard of Honour by all players in the two 1st Grade teams honouring our past League Medal winners including Mulrooney Medallists Tony Wynd (1983, 1988, 1989, and 1991), Steve Cornish (1991), Michael Kennedy (1994), Steve Vizy (1997), Mitch Daniher (2009, 2010), Will Griggs (2021) and our first ever Bainrott Medallist Jayde Hamilton.
In addition, Heather Schow representing her late husband Keith (1950) and Geoff Strang representing his late father Merv (1938) will also accompany an impressive list of modern-day Medal winners.
A large crowd is expected to be in attendance to witness two great games of football to open the AFL Canberra Season as stand-alone games for the competition. The Tigers welcomed back 16 players over the off season, and we are super excited to have them all back. The team for round 1 should be at close to full strength with the exception of Coach Kade Klemke and rising star Lachy Mertz who are both expected to miss the entire season with ankle and knee injuries respectively.
Kade suffering his most recent injury during the Tigers successful preseason carnival between AFL Canberra and AFL Sydney Clubs during which they defeated Inner West Magpies in the Final.
The Tigerettes will unveil 6 debutants as the club continues their recent rebuild heading into 2024, the squad has picked up a host of new players form around the region, and we welcome them all to Tigerland.
And then the night of nights for the 100 Year celebrations with close on 500 people expected to attend the Gala Dinner being held at the Hellenic Club from 6pm. The evening includes a new visual display being released compiled by Marcus Lawrence, PowerPoint display featuring photos from the 1920’s through to recent years, the elevation of two 2 new Wall of Fame Members to Legend Status.
We then finish with the announcement of the Tigers Men’s Team of the Century and the Tigerettes Legends team of the past 15 years. Every attendee will leave with two memorabilia items and all nominated players in the above-mentioned respective teams will also have mementoes of their nomination and for those gaining selection a framed certificate.
It doesn’t end there with a BBQ brunch on the Sunday from 10am at Aulich Park during which a Golden Oldies game will be played (providing enough former players make through the night) and the digging up of a Time Capsule buried at the ground in 1999 when celebrating the Clubs 75th year Anniversary.
What a weekend. Thanks to all those who have contributed during the past two years of organisation. To those who have maintained, nurtured and progressed Aulich Park with mowing, edging, cleaning, and gaining necessary funding to provide amenities equal to any in Canberra football and to those who have travelled afar to be of part our 100 Years.
Let the festivities begin!
