Moving out of the store room
Ballajura’s Vic Shoulder speaks to Cam Palmer
In recent seasons, one of the success stories of the Perth Football League has been the Ballajura Football Club. Having maintained a consistent place as a lower ‘C Grade’ club prior to 2015, the club embarked on a whirlwind ride up the Perth Football League grades rising from ‘C3 Grade’ to ‘B Grade’ in the space of three years.
This whirlwind on field ride is even more remarkable when you considered some of the off field struggles that Ballajura has had to overcome. No struggle more difficult, than establishing a real home by having their own clubrooms.
As former Ballajura President, coach and player Vic Shoulders recalls, it was a difficult, yet necessary battle to give the club a true home.
“From the beginning basically there was only one pavilion in Ballajura and the pavilion was under the control of the soccer club and they didn’t want to share with any other club,” Shoulders said.
“So basically we were running the club out of a store room and changerooms, we didn’t have our own clubrooms.”
Knowing that they were never going to have any success with the soccer club, it became obvious that one pavilion would need to become two. Like any club development, it was a lengthy process, but one that the club was committed to seeing through, determined to give the club a home fitting of its history and budding future.
When that project was finally complete, when the one pavilion became two, it was a proud moment for Shoulders and all those associated with the footy club.
“When we eventually did get our own clubrooms that was quite a highlight, because that was our home,” Shoulders said. “It was somewhere where we could say this is our home, our trophies, our pictures on the wall.”
Having a place to put trophies and hang pictures has become important for Ballajura due to that on-field success. The club is no longer a store room, it is a home that is adorned with the great memories that have been created on the field over these recent seasons. Something that is shared by a unique community of people, linked by their love of footy and the Ballajura Football Club.
“There’s been a lot of little highlights, the friendships, the things you do with mates and you bring people together because of the footy club,” Shoulders said.
“Everyone is welcome, you are all there basically for the same reason, it’s like a melting pot bringing it all together and it’s a good thing.”
It is an even better thing not having to share that melting pot in a store room.