CHAMPIONS

 

The Kiama Quarriers Soccer Club were crowned Champions of the Illawarra Soccer Association First Division League after going through the entire season undefeated.  The Quarriers finished up their season with a tight 1 – 0 win against local rivals Warilla Wanderers.

 

During the season the Kiama team won thirteen games, drew three, lost none, scored fifty one goals and conceded eleven for a total of forty five points to take the title from second placed Tarrawanna three points adrift and Warilla a further four points behind.

 

The win is the first of its kind in the Clubs history with the last major taste of success occurring in 1994 when the Club was promoted from the now defunct Second Division behind Dapto and won the Grand Final.    

 

This years success is mainly due to the very strong squad of players put together by First grade Coach Brod Creighton.  The side is a blend of skill and strength with the two main factors being youth and local players.  Kiama have one of the youngest squads in the entire district and the players are mainly local boys who have come up through the Junior ranks.

 

Committee Member, ex-First Grade Coach and Club stalwart Larry Beringer said, “This didn’t happen overnight.  Five or six years ago we bit the bullet and started pushing the younger players into the top flight.  It was hard at first and we got a few beltings, but piece by piece it all started to come together to this point where we have won the Championship.  What makes me very proud is the fact that we have done it with mainly young players that we have developed ourselves.  Most of these kids came to us as skinny little runts with big nobbly knees and even bigger feet but the transformation has been terrific.  We know have some of the best players in the Illawarra playing in our side and they are home grown kids.”       

 

Winning the Championship has meant that the Club has been invited to apply for promotion to the Illawarra Premier League, the elite standard of the Illawarra region.  To achieve this goal the Club has to take a giant step up in class both on and off the park.  Whereas the club feels that the player situation is well in hand and the standard of players is more than acceptable, a lot of work remains to be done off the field on ground improvements.

 

To gain the valued promotion a number of improvements must be implemented at the Kiama Leisure Centre.  The Club is deep in negotiation with the Kiama Council in relation to these improvements and it is anticipated that they will be attended to in the near future.  Unfortunately for the Quarriers, time is of the essence and it will remain to be seen if the improvements can be achieved in the time set down by the Illawarra Soccer Association.  The bottom line is that the Club will not be promoted if the improvements are not completed.

 

The Quarriers also took a further big step towards the First Division Grand final last Tuesday night when they beat Warilla Wanderers 4 – 0 in a brilliant display in the replayed Major Semi Final.  The original game played the previous Saturday resulted in a tight 1 – 1 draw but the Quarriers totally out classed Warilla in the replay.

 

This performance was possibly the best of the season as the young Kiama team tore Warilla apart at will.  The score was 4 – 0 but this could easily have been six or eight as the Quarriers bombarded the Warilla goals.

 

The match was in complete contrast to the first game when the Quarriers didn’t play well at all and the match seemed to have gotten bogged down in the midfield.  Tuesday night’s effort was simply stunning and the Quarriers looked class all over the park.

 

Veteran striker Brain Brown opened the scoring for the Quarriers in the twelfth minute when he hit a tremendous shot from ten metres past a hapless ‘keeper before fellow striker Jim Berry got the second with a header from a corner in the thirty second minute.  The game was as good as over five minutes from half time when midfielder Michael Broad nearly tore the net off the back of the goals with a ferocious drive from just inside the penalty box.

 

It was party time for the Kiama supporters on the sidelines as they witnessed some of the best football ever played by the club.  The second half was a mirror of the first as the Quarriers pushed and pulled Wanderers out of shape at the back and drove into the penalty box.  It was only great goal keeping by their custodian that kept the score down.  Brian Brown added the fourth and last goal midway through the second half when youngster Luke Bedford had a shot parried by the keeper.  Brown had no trouble in side footing the rebound into an empty net.

 

The Quarriers now have an unusually long break before their next game, the Preliminary Final, venue and opponent unknown, which is not scheduled until the 15 September.

 

The boys will be very busy indeed in the mean time and Creighton will put his charges through plenty of tough training sessions.

 

The Club has announced that the 2001 Club Presentation will be held on Sunday 4 November at 1.00pm at the Kiama Leagues Club.  This is an unusual time for a Presentation but the Club feels that it has plenty to celebrate and wants to give its players, officials and supporters plenty of time for the fun.  All supporters are welcome and tickets can be booked through the Kiama Soccer Club on 42 324099.