SIXTIES
The following newspaper article from The Courier in early 1970 gives a good overview of the early history of the club.
“BRIDGEWATER BRIDGE GAP
On April 5, 1967, four soccer fans came together for what is now regarded as the inaugural meeting of the Bridgewater Soccer Club. With no assets but their enthusiasm, the four got to work and a week later the first 11 members formed a team to play their first fixture in the old White Division against Parafield Gardens Reserves.
With a borrowed ball and goals made up out of scrap timber faced with 4 inch floorboard, the Blues lined up in all sorts of socks, shorts, shoes and white singlets.
The result is not important now, as the game was declared void anyway with the official referee apparently not knowing his way in the Hills and presumably he also managed to get himself stuck in the mud somewhere.
For the next match against Adelaide Fijians, a blue set of shirts was acquired from the results of a ‘little’ house party. The result of this game deserves a mention for the score of 14-0 for a long time stood as the biggest defeat I in the League. A dubious honour, but a record never-the-less.
From then on things improved gradually, and at the end of their first season Bridgewater boasted a total of 18 members, all of whom had an active part in attaining 11 premiership points for their club.
Looking back at these first months of soccer in the Adelaide Hills town of Bridgewater, some members will undoubtedly remember the celebration in the oval clubrooms after the teams first victory. What a night that was, with sore heads for the next couple of days, and no more wins for the next four weeks.
Most of the original side have now left the club, but two men have remained. And it is no coincidence that both have played an important part in the establishment of Bridgewater S.C., namely Werner Karschimkus and Eric Ladhams.
First year President and thereafter Secretary, Werner Karschimkus hardly needs an introduction. Everyone in amateur soccer circles has conveniently forgotten his tongue twisting surname and just calls him Werner.
Werner has been the driving power, and without him there probably never would have been a soccer club. His dearest wish is to see soccer accepted in the Hills district on a large scale. And this means right from senior players down to the Under 10’s, complete with a large following and a new soccer ground. Anyone who knows Werner well enough will realise that this aim will one day become fact.
Eric Ladhams is by now one of the oldest registered players in the soccer association. He played for Ascot Park when most of us were still spending time in our cots. From the day Bridgewater was established, Eric mowed, marked and watered the pitch, and looked after the clubrooms. As a player he always spurred on his team-mates through his own fitness and stamina and as a 50-year-old, he can still compete with many a youngster.
He accepted the position of coach in the 68-69 season and took the first team to their best performance yet. He has been talking about retiring for nobody knows how long, but his love for sport has kept him going right into his 37th season.
At present the Adelaide Hills District is still very much a footy stronghold, and as the Bridgewater Soccer Club is the only club in the area. It considers itself responsible for the promotion of our code in that district.
The management committee has set itself two goals to ensure good progress in the development of the game.
First there is the start of a Hills High School competition followed by a Primary Schoolboys’ League. The second aim is the establishment of the club’s own soccer grounds. Both projects will take time to materialise, but with dedicated men on the committee, success is assured.
Socially and financially the club is very sound. It is probably one of the few clubs with their own Soccer Queen and the social nights are always a success, while this season was started with a complete new outfit for the players as well as new goals and nets.
As far as playing is concerned – well, we can’t all be champions, can we?”
The above article is amazingly prophetic regarding Werner’s ambition to create a separate soccer facility in the Hills. It wasn’t until 31 years after that article was printed that his dream became a reality with the redevelopment of Bradwood Park into its present state of twin pitches, fencing and floodlighting under the control of the soccer club. Werner played a large part in the success of the clubs government grant application by pursuing local state and federal politicians David Wotton and Alexander Downer relentlessly over a two year period.
Another article in The Courier at the end of 1970 gives an insight into to a playing legend of the club, Frank Schoof.
“PERSONALITY PARADE
If the ability to score goals is a primary ingredient to win games the Bridgewater Soccer Club should consider itself fortunate to have a man like Frank Schoof in their midst.
Their number one centre forward has been with the club from the early days of its inception, and as their first player-coach he gave his team-mates enough valuable advice to start them off in the Amateur League.
Frank has been kicking a soccer ball about since the day he could walk, and learnt the basic skills in street matches after school.
Born and raised in Holland, he joined the Dutch First Division club Vitesse, and went through the ranks until he was selected to play his first league game as an 18-year-old.
Many games followed after that introduction into top class soccer, until he left Holland in 1959 to come to Australia.
The family established itself in the Adelaide Hills, and with no soccer club in the area at the time Frank took to the other code and did well.
His love for the round ball game persisted though, and when the Bridgewater club was established, he quickly switched back. Since then he has proved himself a real goal ‘sneak’, scoring a total of 90 goals in 70 games.
He was top scorer for Bridgewater in the 1967-68-69 and 70 seasons and in Division Two of the Amateur League in 1968, when he was also awarded representative honours.”
SEVENTIES TO EIGHTIES
In accordance with the dream to promote the code of association football throughout the Hills district, the club underwent a name change to Hills District United. This also encouraged the recruitment of players from a wider catchment area. A further name change occurred when the club moved to Woodside Oval, taking on the name Woodside Soccer Club, which remained in place until 1990.
The move to Woodside Oval allowed the club to build its first clubrooms, a small 10mx5m single room annexed to the rear of the bowling club, with separate change rooms. The building was funded by a $20,000 bank loan guaranteed by three club members.
The steps the club had taken were only partially successful in addressing the dreams that the club had. The club had equal use of the Woodside Oval rather than the ability to control the facility. The improved facilities allowed an increase in the quality of player the club could attract, yet the hoped for championship failed to materialise.
A third place finish in 1973 was followed by relegation in 1974 and again in 1976 taking the club down to the Fourth Division. The club regrouped and in 1978 won promotion as Runner Up in that division. The club found the jump back up to the Third Division too big a hurdle and suffered successive relegation seasons in 1979 and 1980 to drop to the Fifth Division for the first time.
A couple of poor season was followed by another promotion in 1983, again as the Runner Up. Unfortunately the club again failed to push on from the success and repeated history in suffering two quick relegation seasons in 1885 and 1987. The years 1988 to 1990 saw the club slump to its lowest point with three successive mediocre, mid table finishes in the Sixth Division.
NINETIES – MERGER
The club needed a new start, an injection of new enthusiasm and endeavor. It also identified the need to recommit to junior development. These considerations led to discussions in 1990 at a committee level with Heathfield Rovers regarding the possibility of a merger. Heathfield Rovers had a strong base in juniors as well as senior teams playing in the Collegiate League.
The discussions proved fruitful and, following the agreement of the members of both clubs at their 1990 AGMs, the merger was completed with the new club taking on the name Stirling District Soccer Club.
Stirling faced a number of challenges in blending the club together, including the logistics of three different playing venues. The Heathfield Rovers juniors were based at Mylor Oval and their seniors at Bradwood Park (Bradbury), which were at the opposite end of the old Stirling District Council area from the Woodside Oval clubrooms.
NINETIES – SEARCH FOR A HOME
The club decided to keep the juniors at Mylor and committed to improving the facilities from the existing small change rooms with attached kitchen. The club did eventually assist with the improvements at that facility several years later.
The Division Six (Sunday) side remained with the main facilities at Woodside and the decision was made to move the Collegiate League teams to the higher standard Amateur League (Saturday). This posed a difficulty as the Bradwood Park facility had no showers and a new home ground needed to be found for those teams.
Woodside Oval was the preferred option, but a clash with junior football (Australian Rules) was unable to be resolved with the facility’s management committee. Mylor was unsuitable, again due to the lack of showers. Finally as a stop gap measure, an agreement was made with Stirling Council to hire Stirling Oval.
Meanwhile the club, with the support of the Council commenced a concerted search for a home ground that would have sufficient room for two full size pitches, to allow the club to consolidate its senior activities on one site. The search considered and ruled out the following locations:- Woodside Oval (too small), Woodside Education Department Land (not available), Mylor Oval (conservation issues), Mylor Recreation Centre (too expensive and complex) and Stirling Oval (development restrictions). Finally the Bradwood Park location was considered. The location was not ideal and the development costs would be significant due to the excavation and levelling required, however the Council agreed to assist the club in developing the grounds. With no alternatives available the club agreed to take on the massive project of redeveloping Bradwood Park.
The first step was to move the Saturday teams to Bradwood Park with hired shower blocks in 1993. Showers were then constructed within the existing building for the 1994 season thanks to the efforts of senior player (and tiler) John Van Mierle.
NINETIES – ON THE FIELD
Between 1991 and 1994 the new club grew in membership, reaching a peak of approximately 10 junior teams (from under 8’s through to under 16’s), a women’s team and four senior men’s teams. Coaches of the men’s teams were Peter Buckley (Sunday Sixth Division) and Jim Simpson (Saturday Second Division).
Results were immediate, with the Sixth Division team gaining a lucky promotion in 1991 with a third place finish. Good recruitment saw the club consolidate in the Fifth Division for two seasons before pushing for a title challenge in 1994. 1994 was to prove a watershed year for the club in many ways.
With two matches to go in the 1994 season Stirling were sitting on top of the Sixth Division ladder and looking a good prospect to win the clubs first championship (after 28 years of trying) and with it promotion. Unfortunately poor results in the last two games (including a loss against the bottom team) meant that Stirling dropped to equal second, but in third place on goal difference.
The Saturday teams meanwhile achieved only mid table finishes in the early nineties, often losing their better players to the Sunday teams. A not entirely healthy rivalry built up within the club between the two squads and tempers often flared during internal club matches. In 1994 coach Jim Simpson also joined the Sunday team as co-coach with Steve Bradley stepping in at the last minute to fill the vacant coaching role for the Saturday teams.
1994 also saw the introduction of a women’s team to the club for the first time, playing in the South Australian Women’s Soccer Association (SAWSA). The idea was floated by senior player James De’Ath and with the clubs support he advertised for players and began to put the team together. With De’Ath unable to commit to coaching responsibilities the job was taken on by co-coaches Paul DeBoni and David Hoffman. The team consisted of some girls who had never played the game before, some girls who had played in junior boys (mixed) teams, one woman who had never played before and one experienced woman player.
The first two matches were lost without managing to field a full team, but this was followed by a string of wins which incredibly took the girls near to the top of the table and to a cup final at Hindmarsh stadium. The standout player in the team was Jessica Halfpenny who went on to represent the state at senior level, being named in an Australian ‘All Star’ team at the national championships. The Cup Final was lost 0-5 to Cumberland on a Wednesday night and the same teams met again on the Sunday with Stirling needing a draw to win the league. The match finished in a 1-2 loss. Despite losing both the Cup & League in a week, the team were ecstatic at their season.
The 1994 season also saw the club finalise the development application for Bradwood Park and at an Extraordinary General Meeting it was agreed by the members to push ahead with relocating the club to Bradwood Park. Stage One was construction of the clubrooms. A loan was subsequently arranged with the Council for $52,000 to purchase materials for the construction of club rooms. Thanks to the efforts of club President (and local builder) Dieter Wirkus, who led a small sub-committee to manage the project, and the volunteer labour provided by many club members, the clubrooms were completed at the end of 1994.
The disappointment of missing out on the Championship, as well as missing out on promotion to the Fourth Division, was to prove a crushing blow. Stirling were approached by the fledgling Hills Hawks federation club to assist their growth from juniors into senior teams. Coach Peter Buckley was offered the position as their senior coach. Faced with a fait accompli, Stirling gave their blessing to the move, which also resulted in the loss of a number of senior players to the Hawks.
Other senior Sunday players, not wanting to join the Stirling Saturday teams broke away and started a senior team at Hahndorf, who had previously only fielded junior teams.
MEMORIES OF THE MID NINETIES
The Hahndorf web site forum has become the meeting place for a number of people across the Saturday divisions between 2005-07. Following are a couple of memories of Stirling District and Bradwood Park in the mid-nineties from that site.
“We entered the League in 1994 in Div 2. Stirling were in there too. Our Secretary – genius that he is – told us that SD’s ground was in Woodside and we foolishly believed him.
On arrival at Woodside there was nothing and no one around. By some miracle the father of one of our young players thought the game might be at Bradwood Park, and even more miraculously knew how to get there. In the pre mobile phone age we made a convoy and got there with ten minutes to go to the start.
Temperature was about 2 celsius, with howling wind blowing hail into our faces – welcome to Jurassic Park. If you stood in the middle of the ground [at 90 degrees to how it now is] you could not see the base of the posts at either end. This is true. A creek ran across it widthways.
The development of that facility to its current state is a miracle that will one day appear on National Geographic Channel, entitled ‘Great Engineering Feats of our times’ or something similar. We won 3-1 and were all admited to hospital with hypothermia. That Secretary was sacked.
And now – the crowning joy – we are drawn to play up there in the Cup QF. I am not usually neurotic but why is it that the Saturday teams are always given the chance to knock each other out before the Final?
Settle TB. As Scully & Mulder used to say ‘the answer is out there…”
TB (St Peters)”
“Those were the days of the Bradwood bounce. The patches of dirt were interspersed with clumps of what we loosely called ‘grass’. If you were unlucky enough for the ball to hit the edge of a clump it literally went off at a 45 degree angle.
You didn’t even mention the slope on the ground. In the redevelopment they raised the lower end 5 metres, in other words it was approximately a 5% gradient. That’s what the Tour de France riders call a Category 4 climb!
The only club rooms were the current change rooms. The away team were in where the showers are now and on a rainy day the spectators would crowd around inside what is now the home change room door craning their necks to see past the others & watch the action. Having the barbecue inside was the only thing that kept us unfrozen.
I remember running from the change rooms to the hired plastic shower block, in zero degrees, in drenching rain, towel wrapped around to preserve my modesty and clean clothes under one arm. The mud squelching between the toes on the way was the crowning glory of the moment.
Presidents & other committee people of the day were known to go out after the A grade game and spread seed by hand in the worst patches or take barrow loads of loam out & fill in the worst holes. It actually did make a difference & over a period of about 5 years the ground did improve dramatically.
They were great days!
DH (Stirling)”
NINETIES – THE PATH TO VICTORY
The loss of players to both the Hawks and Hahndorf proved impossible for the Sunday teams to recover from, and midway through the 1995 season the Sunday teams folded, despite the valiant efforts of coach Phil Brooks.
A new women’s team coach, Linda, was appointed and new players were recruited including Amanda Hewison (who went on to represent the state at senior level) and goalkeeper Emma Wirkus (currently a member of the Matildas). A number of other players went on to gain selection in state under age squads. Bringing a wealth of experience as a winning basketball coach, Linda took the team to the clubs first senior championship in 1995.
The club meanwhile appointed former Adelaide City juniors coach Eddie Berger as senior coach for the Saturday teams. Berger introduced a new focus on youth and skill development. Advertising for an Under 19 competition which subsequently didn’t eventuate brought a group of young, talented players to the club who would form the player base for the next 7 years. The seventh place finishes during his two years from 1995-96 do not reflect his important contribution in bringing these younger players through.
Wanting to build on the technical work done by Berger the club next appointed Rob Booth as coach. His focus was on tactical development of the team and tactical decision making. This was a perfect fit for the continued development of the young squad. Unfortunately the team remained anchored in the bottom half of the table finishing seventh and sixth in 1997-98.
The next coach appointed in 1999 was James Brown who took a talented and tactical group of players and introduced a new work ethic and winning mentality. His appointment also coincided with the arrival of Charles Holding (a former club junior) which would prove a decisive addition. At the end of the century, after 33 years of trying, Stirling finally won a men’s championship, finishing the season as winners of the Saturday Division Two competition. Charles Holding won the League Best and Fairest award and Nick Briggs won the league Golden Boot award with 16 goals. The Reserves finished Runner Up, the highest Reserve Grade result in the clubs history.
THE NEW CENTURY
Brown remained as coach in 2000 for the clubs first season in the First Division achieving a creditable fourth placing. Holding backed up his previous year’s effort winning the First Division league Best and Fairest award.
This was a great year for Stirling as the development application for Bradwood Park was successful in achieving government funding for the project to be added used in conjunction with contributions from the Council and club members. Planning for the development was ramped up to commence in 2001, with President Peter Cooper leading a small sub-committee to ensure the smooth running of the project.
Damian Hone was appointed coach for the 2001 season. He faced difficulties in the loss of Holding to the Hills Hawks and the commencement of the redevelopment of Bradwood Park. Training was relocated to Mylor with the associated lack of showers and poor lighting. The home ground was relocated to Stirling Oval for the season. Despite recruiting well these obstacles didn’t help the team as its results slumped. In an effort to lift the spirits the club managed to play the last match of the season at the newly established Bradwood Park pitch. A poor 1-9 loss consigned the club to relegation when a draw would have been enough to ensure safety.
2002 saw the return to the club of Buckley from the Hawks as coach and his appointment of Jim Simpson to the coaching team. Holding also returned and Buckley recruited a number of other ex-Hawks players. This resulted in a strong side winning the Second Division undefeated with a league record points tally. Holding this time winning both the league Best and Fairest and the league Golden Boot awards. The Reserves also finished the season as champions, the only time the club have achieved this feat. As First Division Champions, Stirling faced up against Salisbury Inter, the Sunday First Division Champions in a Champion of Champions match, winning on penalties after a 2-2 draw after extra time.
The return to the First Division nearly proved too much for the squad in 2003 as it slumped to eighth, just avoiding relegation on the last day of the season.
Buckley further strengthened the squad by recruitment from the Hawks in 2004 and Simpson was replaced by Chris Hodgskin on the coaching team. The season was the clubs most successful ever, winning the First Division Championship. Holding again won the league Best and Fairest award.
This was followed in 2005 and 2006 with consecutive Runner Up finishes in the league, with the Reserves also Runners Up in 2006. The club also reached a Cup semi-final in 2005, the first in the clubs history (the previous best being quarter-final appearances in 1967, 1968, 1969 and 1973).
Buckley backed up his 2004 premier win in 2007 with another champion’s title before leaving the club and moving on to coach Sturt Marion Thunder for the 2008 season. Alan Evans set another milestone for the club in 2007 taking the Reserves Title as Player Coach, the first ever Div 1 Reserves title attained by the club.
2008 saw Juan Rodriguez take the helm as senior coach and had a reasonably successful first season in charge as both the A’s and Reserves placed a respectable 3rd in the league. Stirling saw more silverware flow into the club in the following year with Alan Evans again leading the Reserves to another championship as player coach. The A’s however struggled in 2009 and 2010, narrowly avoiding relegation in both years by winning their last game of the season. 2010 was Rodriguez’s last year in charge of the A’s, his successor being Alan Evans who has played under and coached alongside both Buckley and Rodriguez
In 2011 Alan Evans took the reigns of the senior team and finished an impressive 3rd and was unlucky not to have clinched the title, narrowly missing out by 2 points. Reserves player coach Caderyn McEwen helped his side clinch the 2011 reserves title on the final day. 2012 saw Tyron Blunt take charge in what was a season to forget, which saw the club relegated on the final day.
The 2013 season was contested in Division 2 and a welcomed return to former coach and long time serving player Alan Evans. Ambitions of returning to the top flight were put on hold as a number of narrow losses contributed to a 4th place finish. The following year Peter Cottle was appointed as the new manager which also bought in a few new faces to the first team. Cottle’s first season was successful, finishing second and lifting the club back into the Premier Division. The reserves team dominated both the 2013 and 2014 seasons in division 2, claiming championships under coaches Chris Winters and Gary Thwaites respectively. The club returned to the top division in 2015 and with a new influx of players managed to survive a relegation fight to finish the season in 8th position. Bob Barnard was appointed as the new first team manager for the 2016 season with Steve Spencer at his side as reserves coach.
40 YEARS OF HISTORY
After 32 years of winning nothing, Stirling are currently riding the wave of success achieving three A Grade Championships, six Reserve Grade Championships, three Runner Up positions and a Cup semi-final in the last 17 years. The women’s team have also been successful adding a multiple Cup and league wins to their 1995 Championship silverware.