Tigers honour past and present heroes

From back left, George Riddiford, Martin Carter and Kirk Norton, and from front left, Robbie Castello, Jimmy Masterson, and Ted Goodall. (Supplied)

By Tara Murray

The who’s who of Werribee Football Club marked 60 years of the club at a special celebration on Sunday.

The club had a special hall of fame function with seven people inducted into the club’s hall of fame along with one person made a legend.

George Riddiford, Robbie Castello, Martin Carter, Jimmy Masterson, Kirk Norton and Ted Goodall were in attendance as they were inducted into the hall of fame along with the late

Chad Ravlich.

Alan Clayton, who is known at Hutchy, was made a legend of the club in the biggest honour of the night.

Players from the club’s two senior premierships were in attendance and shared stories and their experiences.

All the premiership players were awarded with a special premiership pin with 1993 star Frank Lesiputty, along with Dom Brew and Nick Coughlan from last year sharing their grand final stories with the crowd.

There were two panels of speakers looking at now and then.

Coach Jimmy Allan, chief executive Mark Penaluna and community coordinator Krista Woodroffe were part of the now panel, while Michael Sodomaco, David Lyons, John Lamont and Stephen Sells were part of the then panel.

Current Werribee coach Allan said it was a special day to be part of.

Allan played with Werribee before moving to South Australia to continue his playing days.

Player number 618 for the Tigers, Allan played games across two seasons at the club.

“It was really cool and there was a really good turnout from all the eras,” he said. “We talked about the old days and now.

“A lot were talking about how good a club it has been to be involved in. It was nice to be there.”

Speaking of new legend Clayton, he said he was someone who had been around the club for a long time and worn a lot of different hats.

“He still comes all the time,” Allan said. “He had a number of stories on a lot of the guys, but kept them under wraps.

“We’ll have to get them off him another time.”

Clayton was a board member between 1988-91, was treasurer in 1989, tribunal advisor between 1985-88 and part of the stats team in 1986.

He was on the social committee in 1992-93, 1997 and again in 2000-01 and was a property steward, Bingo trustee, on the sports club management and was a club sponsor.

Clayton played under-19s and reserves before that.