PDFNL | United to honour heritage

The club was founded in 1897 as Picola Football Club and became Picola United in 1971.

The Blues will honour the teams that have formed their identity with special jumper that features the names and colours of each club that has become part of United — Cummeragunja, Picola, Barmah, Moira and Yalca North.

United president Clinton Barnes said this weekend was all about paying tribute to the club’s past.

“There’s been 127 years of history of the Picola United Football Netball Club and we’re celebrating all of those years,” Barnes said.

“It’s been 50 years since we’ve been Picola United and we thought it was a good chance now that COVID-19 is out of the way to celebrate our history.”

Barnes said it would be special to have the United community at the club for a special day.

“I think getting back and connecting as a community, that’s going to be the main thing, seeing faces that we haven’t seen for a long time,” he said.

“We have people coming down from Queensland that are part of the club and that will be special. It will be good to catch up with a few mates that I haven’t seen in a while.

“If you are a part of Picola United’s history, we would love to see you there on the day.”

United will also celebrate previous premierships with a number of reunions on the day as well, with some of those festivities delayed, again because ofCOVID-19.

It will be the 60-year reunion for United’s 1961 A-grade netball premiership team, as well as a number of senior and reserves football sides.

“There are a fair few reunions going on, so it will be a big day,” Barnes said.

“We’re celebrating our reserves 2010 premiership and also our reserves 2015, 16 and 17 reunions, as well as our seniors 2016 and 2017 premierships and our netball A-grade 1961 60-year reunions.”

Last year the club unveiled its Finest 55, the best players at the club since 1967, and this weekend it will announce its all-time best 22.

On the field, United will be hoping to pick up its fifth-straight win when it takes on a strong Katunga side.

The Swans are 3-1 this season, with their sole loss coming against Katamatite in round four.

Barnes said United had bounced back well from its round-one loss, with the team really starting to come together.

“We’re starting to gel together a bit more as a side,” he said.

“The first week we came up against Berrigan and had a loss, but since then we have won four in a row so we’re pretty happy with that.

“There were a couple of tough opponents in there as well, so hopefully we can keep the momentum going and keep building on the season.”

In other PDFNL action, Mathoura will be hoping to pick up its second win of the year when it hosts the Deni Rams.

The Timbercutters had a big win over Yarroweyah in round five, but lost to Berrigan by 76 points last week.

They will face a Rovers side that is yet to win a game in 2022, with Deni 0-5 so far this season.