NO SCORE FOR BORDER CROSSING

A fantastic day of football was heralded for Saturday 25th August as a large group of players headed south. The Cougars and Eagles players left in a timely fashion from the infamous Esso gas Station at Burrard and Davie, hitting the road at 8.15am. After a brief 2nd stop in Kits to collect the remaining players we all headed to the US/Canada border!


The border - oh what a joy! Arriving at the Peace Arch it was clear that word had spread throughout Canada of a huge game of footy being held in Seattle - fans from far and wide were lined up to clear customs and make it to the ground early enough to snag the best seats. Indeed, two and a half hour waits at both the Truck and Peace borders were being blamed exclusively on the the game - people with scarfs and streamers draped from their cars could be seen as far back as the famous Staples store on 32nd!

Due to the commotion, the BC footy hierarchy had managed to secure an escorted route away from the most well known border crossing and headed straight for Aldergrove - Cooper and Grills taking the low side and Campion and Murray taking the higher 16th Ave option. We planned to cut each other off at the pass!

The Eagles boys were hemmed in at the Truck crossing and rolled the dice with attacking from the west. ...... 3 votes Cooper!

Cooper/Grills 45 minute cross, Campion / Murray 1.5hr cross and Mick Pedler and the boys took 2.5hr cross (ouch!@).

Dedication to footy - unbelievable, and thanks for the pesistence fella's!

At 3pm the "Game" began! It was a great ground setup for a great battle.

The Grizzlies came out firing on all cylinders and peppered the goals early. Full credit to the accuracy in front of goal for the Seattle boys - at the end of the term having snagged

Seattle 6.1.37 to the Couegs (Eagles and Cougars combined side) 0.3.3.

Grills kicking at goal needed some severe accuracy adjustments! It was evident that the Couegs needed to lift the intensity and gain more of the ball. Ward and Brad played solid first quarters collecting a bag of kicks across the HB line. NSWelshmen Dan and Mick were adapting well to the cramped style of play. The Dr and his namesake James W suffered some hard hits throughout the early stages of the game.

The boys came out harder and faster in the second quarter and quickly put pressure on the Grizzlies back line. Sam Bonney snagged a lovely goal and new tall Ashley Steier took some great marks up forward and managed to register the Couegs 2nd major.

Dave Miller and Justin were playing hard across the forward line and provided many options for our attacks forward. Ben Howe (the come back kid) was applying lethal tackles around the ground aided by some handy dash! Half time saw the Grizzlies held to a 4 point gain -
Seattle 6.5.41 to Couegs 2.5.17

In came the support of the Mark Fraser, Steve harper, Steve Polit, James Harper and Mick Peddler. With a few injured players starting to have an impact on the interchange it was great to actually have players to switch around. Steve Polit provided great effort in the ruck allowing Scott Flemming to roam across the CHF region and collect possessions. Peter Campion could use his experience both up forward and down back and provided great plays all day - solid game Commish. Consistent Cam made the move from Full Back to the forward and it appeared that the game would become a real battle.

Cam slotted truly up forward as did the impressive "jumping jack" Steier. Alas the first quarter blow out continued to haunt the Couegs score! 3rd Quarter score - Seattle 10.8.68 to Couegs 4.5.29.

The directives given at 3 quarter time was for the Couegs to win the last quarter - to make the trip worth while! All players took up the challenge.

Ted Murray attacked the ball hard thrawting Grizzly attacks. Tony Cooper finished off a great game with "hard at the ball", "surfing", "twister" plays. Irish Cathel provided pace and poise showing that he is picking up AFL faster than his ability to chat up girls!

Ed put his niggling injuries aside and fought hard for the ball. James Harper worked hard across the forward line and Mark Fraser had some fantastic "at the ball" tussles resulting in a great goal! Mick Pedler and Steve Harper played solid games across the centre and half back lines. Scott Fleming had a great last quarter and kicked two great goals - a 45 degree set shot and an impressive "on the run" shot from 45m. The Couegs had been true to word scoring 3.2 to the Grizzlies 2.3 in the final term. End score Grizzlies 12.10.82 defeating Couegs 7.8.50.

Interesting analysis of footy - "one quarter can be devastating scenario". If you take out the first quarter score - the result would have been 6.10.46 Grizzlies to 7.5.47..........but ...........


Well done to the Grizzlies for a great day of footy and a really great game. Thanks to the umpire - who did a great job (solo) and made the day an even bigger success (it truly is a thankless job!). Also thanks to Ted, Coops, Campo, Stu, Justin, Ashley and Mick for driving all the players down and back. And specific thanks to all the players;

Ben Howe, Justin, Dan Keating, Cathel O'Loughlin, Mick Viret, Sam Bonner, James Warfe, Scott Flemming, Tony Cooper, Dave Miller, Campbell Baird, Ed, Ashley Steier, James Donkin, Ward, Brad Teasdale, ted Murray, Peter Campion, Stuart Grills, Steve Harper, Mark Fraser, Steve Polit, Mick Pedler, James Harper.

Goals - Ashley Steier (2), Scott Flemming (2), Campbell Baird (1), Mark Fraser (1), Sam Bonney (1).

Best (from) - Peter Campion, Scott Flemming, Steve Polit, Ashley Steier, Sam Bonney, Ward, Tony Cooper, Brad Teasdale, Mick Viret, Steve Harper.

Friday Night Footy

The Burnaby Eagles will take on their cross town rivals the Vancouver Cougars on Friday August 31st at the UBC G. The local derby will start at 6:00 p.m. All players are encouraged to arrive at the ground at 5:00 p.m. As the footy season is drawing to a close it is important for all players to get out and play so that the entire team will be ready for the NWPAFL Grand Final. Which is only a few weeks away. Coach Chris Freeman is keen to have a good turnout for the game, please help Chris and his assistant coaches with their game plan by letting Freemo know about your availabilty for this big clash. He can be contacted via email at freemo76@hotmail.com or via the dog and bone at 604 961 6874.

Go Eagles

Late Start Pays Off for Eagles

A well-planned strategic move by the Burnaby Eagles has resulted in a phenomenal win.
The talented eagles committee came together last week in a deep discussion of how to get the cougars psyched out before the game. It was decided that since the cougars are always ready 45 min before the game that we would make them wait even longer in an effort to tire them out significantly before the match. It was a fateful move that would see dividends paid at the end of the day.

The Burnaby eagles assembled together at the back of the car park at 1245 pm. 15 min before the start of the game. No one was dressed to play. The walked towards the field and found all of the cougars in a full warm up session in the bright sun. As the eagles slowly made there way towards the ground a call was made to President Hilton.

“Hello, Colin here”. “Col its Freemo, we are at the ground bring the posts in 15 min”
“No worries Freemo I am just finishing up my latte here at starbucks ill see you then”

Little did the cougars no that the late start plan was IN EFFECT

15 min later and with the eagles just getting ready Hilton arrived with the posts and before the eagles could expend any vital energy, the game was on.

At this time the Cougars players under the warm-up leadership of ‘Chip’ had already completed 11 laps of the field, 35 push-ups, 55 sit-ups and numerous other hard paced warm-up activities.

The eagles were off to a great start with centre breaks and the ball was tightly contested around the ground. A see-saw first quarter saw Mick Peddler getting plenty of the ball off the half-back line and feeding Tickets running off the packs. Freemo was everywhere in the forward line and Welcome-Back-Rich was running rampant on half forward. The wind was a deciding factor in this game blowing a strong 4 goal lead to, as President Hilton calls it, the Starbucks end of the field. The First quarter saw the cougars stretch out to a small lead. In the Huddle Freemo asked the players for more. Chuck made a call to the older players to step up and play with the inspiration that younger guys were bringing to the field.

The second quarter was predominantly the eagles. The smaller eagles ran well with the wind. The Cougars Sacrificed a man to tag Tickets around the ground but the run of the other eagles carried the ball well through the midfield with class to deliver to the hands of the forwards. Honorable mentions for this quarter go to Ben Loams for keeping a great defensive quarter, Chuck fantastic in the ruck, Ray, ever-presenting leads in the forward line. Steve Harper putting his body on the line and getting fly-kicked to the back – Well done Steve.

Third quarter was like a re-run of the first with the wind playing an obvious deciding factor in who the winner would be. Cougars desperate to scrape up every bit of energy they didn’t use in there warm up lifted to kick a few goals and get back from the half time deficit of 19 points to trail by only 9 points at the final change.

The last quarter was where the Eagles Late plan was really seen. As the energy stores for the Cougars dried up the ever running eagles were dominant in the final quarter and added more than a couple of goals to take the final quarter and win the game by an impressive 5 goals. Ronan was a great inclusion into the side and performed extremely well in the late stages.

It was very impressive to see the all of the younger eagles stepping up to play extremely well, even kicking goals for the eagles. The hard hits from the young guys were another great feature. The team really lifted today with many of our regular players out of the side due to injury and travel commitments and it was great to see so many contributors all around the ground. Congratulations go to Captain Ray for choosing to come home with the wind – A great decision that paid off today.

Thanks to the Cougars for being worthy opponents and providing a great contest. Everyone’s skills are really improving.

Disclaimer: This article may contain fabricated information and is not in any way meant to be a true representation of the happenings of events prior to the start of the game.

FOOTY WINS HANDS DOWN

After a great and successful weekend of football at THUNDERBIRD STADIUM, UBC it was very clear that Aussie Rules football played outside of Australia was clearly the big winner. It seems everyone loves this fantastic game.

Everyone here at the home the Burnaby Eagles would like to send out a huge thank you for all those that were involved. From volunteers to organizers and to all players, (far to many to mention) what a sensational effort. But more importantly, a special thank you to all that came to watch and support this new craze swooping its way around the world.

With your continue support we promise to give you a sport that's entertaining, fast paced, high scoring that is action packed all of the time.

After the big event and after all the pies had been eaten, the President of BC Footy sat down and had sent this letter to the Burnaby Eagle Headquarters



To the Burnaby Football Club:


On behalf of the British Columbia Australian Rules Football League, I would like to express a huge thank you to all your players and supporters that participated, and helped support the BC Footy Cup and International competition, over the past weekend, in Vancouver.

The weekend without a doubt was a tremendous success and the attendance of your club in the event confirmed that the growth of Australian Rules Football is heading in the right direction.

The committee members of your club should be very proud of how your club represented its self on and off the field during the event. A special thanks to those members of your club that assisted with umpiring duties and other volunteer positions during the event.

We appreciate the distance traveled and expense that was incurred by your players and supporters to show their amazing commitment to this great game.

We will look forward to seeing you again in 2008, for the next addition of the BC Footy Cup. Let the legend continue.

Yours truly,


Peter (Campo) Campion
Commissioner of BC Footy.

Ps. Congratulations on winning the BC Footy Cup for 2007.

Facebook

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July 21 You Tube Highlights

Eagles win big in the wet!

Click here to view

BC Footy Cup Champions 2007

Burnaby Eagles capture the BC Footy Cup after three convincing wins over their rivals from Vancouver, Seattle and Calgary. Congratulations to Coach Freeman and all the players.

ITS A GIRL

The Burnaby Eagles Football community would like to congratulate Chris and Mel Freeman on the birth of their 2nd child, a beautiful baby girl , born August 9th at a healthy 8lb. Both mother and baby are doing well.

CONGRATULATIONS

Burnaby Eagles win the BC Cup 2007 !!

A fantastic weekend for the Burnaby Eagles Footy Club and for Aussie football in Vancouver!

Check out these Vids from the weekend:

Campo presents the BC Cup (Boot) to Freemo & the Eagles!

Freemo gets carried off the ground!

Drinking from the Cup (Boot) in the Grandstand after the game!

JS.

UBC ThunderBird Stadium

If you are not sure where Thuderbird Stadium is located click on the following link to the map. UBC ThunderBird Stadium. Once again I encourage all Eagles players to contact Coach: Chris Freeman at 604 988 8734 or freemo76@hotmail.com to confirm their availabilty for the day. It is going to be a sensational day of footy!

Tickets Takes down the Flash

In the annual Burnaby “fastest man” competition Tickets Wakefield has come out in front. In a close race that received a late flurry of bets, the younger Tickets Wakefield beat last years fastest sprinter Chris “the flash” Freeman. As in true Burnaby tradition the competitor is chosen by the title holder and Freeman will be questioning his decision for some time to come. A young Wakefield had this to say after the race, “It was a close race but if you want to win you have to bring your ‘A’ game that’s what I did tonight”. Freeman was unavailable for comment. Best of luck to all players this coming weekend in what is a Big Weekend for BC Footy. Don’t forget to bring your ‘A’ game.
Players are asked to be at the ground at 9am Saturday morning.

TRAINING THIS THURSDAY

G'day boy's, just a reminder that training this Thursday is back at our artificial turf training track located next to 8 rinks, Burnaby. Training will start at 6:30 pm till about 8:30 and will continue at the pub after where last weeks AFL highlights will be playing. This is a big week with the up coming games and many players available. So make sure you are at training to ensure plenty of game time. If you can not make it please give Freemo a call on 604-961-6874.