Schweppes C Grade 2018

[K.Durant]

Hey guys, went to post this and noted there wasn't a 2018 C grade Forum.

An inspiring story of a true clubman from Adelaide Uni whom managed to get onto the end of a few the other week.

"Adelaide University footballer Hugh Woods boots 11 goals in stunning return from open-heart surgery.


HUGH Woods, before the surgeons opened his chest, had a choice – to have a new piece of metal stitched into his heart or a hand-me-down valve from a pig.

“But the metal one meant I was never allowed to play sport again,” the 24-year-old said.

“So I said ‘No, gimme the pig one and we’ll see how we go’. The boys haven’t given me any pig nicknames yet – but after this, well, we’ll see.”

In a comeback more fairytale than football, Woods justified his decision to keep his suburban footy career alive with a dream return to the field.

A whopping 602 days after playing his last match of 2016 with Adelaide University, and 14 months after open-heart surgery, Woods cemented his recovery with a stunning 11-goal game in the opening round of the Adelaide Footy League’s Division C3 season.

In what became a festival of celebrations, the recently graduated lawyer’s performance in a forward pocket came on his 24th birthday, and on the day his younger brother, Fraser, held his 21st birthday bash.

“You couldn’t have asked for anything more, really,” he said.

“It was unbelievable – but a lot of it was silver service (from team-mates). I was on the end of some unbelievable kicks, straight onto my chest.”

The same chest that carries the permanent reminder of a five-hour operation in February last year to replace a deteriorated pulmonary valve in Woods’ heart.

Hugh Woods waited 602 days between games for Adelaide Uni, after surgery in February last year to repair a hole in his heart. Picture: Sarah Reed
A 30cm scar runs up his middle, starting above his bellybutton, flanked by three more “bullet holes” on his stomach where tubes draped from his body for four days after surgery.

The operation was Woods’ second round of heart surgery, following his first at just six months of age to repair a congenital heart condition known as Fallot’s tetralogy.

“And I was doing quite well for about 20 years, but I was never all that fit and we weren’t sure why,” he said.

“I never really used the heart as an excuse, I just thought I was unlucky and I was an unfit bloke. But then a few years ago I got this new cardiologist and he detected there was still a hole in my heart. I was only getting 75 per cent of the blood supply through my body, which made fitness pretty difficult.

“It wasn’t until I had the heart done this second time that I realised what I was missing out on all those years.”

Woods’ physical recovery started with light swimming, and he had to wait four months before he was cleared to hit the gym.

“To do the operation they go in through the sternum and break all the ribs, so they were worried if I lifted anything my sternum would just crack,” he said.

“Mum, in particular, didn’t really want me to play footy ever again. She was worried if I copped one on the front side it might just break. But luckily I don’t get too many hard-ball gets, I just sit outside the packs and let the big blokes go and get it.”

Woods chose February last year for his surgery, to minimise the impact on his law studies at Flinders University. But it also forced him to spend the 2017 season as a spectator, watching his team – affectionately nicknamed “The Bastards” – march towards a Division C5 premiership.

“Seeing that, that’s what drove me even further to get back to it,” Woods said.

“They were considering dropping me in for the last few games last year, but we just weren’t sure I was ready for it. I ended up doing some umpiring, and then in the grand final I was listed as water boy No.1 on the teamsheet, so that was nice.”

His dream round-one return took shape early when he kicked his first goal inside the opening two minutes.

“All the boys came and jumped on me – it was the biggest relief,” he said.

“That’s all I wanted, was to get off the mark.”

He had his third by quarter-time and added one more in the second quarter, between spells on the bench.

“But there’s a guy at our footy club with a massive ego and he loves to rant about the time he kicked eight goals – never shuts up about it,” Woods grinned.

“I said to the coach at half-time, ‘Mate, I’m on four here, I could be in with a crack to stop him talking about it’. So after that he played me every minute.

“I ended up kicking five goals in the third, so that last one put me past the eight.”

Woods followed his 11-goal blast with a more modest single in wintry conditions last week. But he said although he had passed so many other checkpoints in his recovery, simply playing football again was the full-stop on his recovery.

“It really was the signification that I’m finally there – I’ve finally made it and I can go back to the way I was,” he said.

“It’s not like footy has been the be-all and end-all for me. But it’s really nice to be able to do the things I love.

“Now, I feel like I’m just back to normal and I can achieve whatever I want to achieve.”

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/sout ... f34ebe8638

[jo172]

Good article.

Not to completely railroad this thread but what appears to be two forefits in C6 this early in the season doesn't do wonders for confidence

[jo172]

Very disapointing to see 2 forfeits in C6 this week. Hopefully it was just too far for Edwardstown to come to Elizabeth and Mawson Lakes took a strategic forfeit against top side Old Iggies.. or are both sides done for the year?

From experience if you're struggling on field and it gets to the stage of a forfeit in round 3 life doesn't tend to get any easier as the year goes on.

Yeah, its a hard one.. Round 1 last week we had aroun 20-25 out across the top 3 grades which really impacts filling our D grade... we like to think we will have the numbers to compete all year but when it starts meaning playing with no bench or C Grade players having to double up to help out the D's later that day (or under 18's who play on the Sunday) it gets to the point where sometimes hard calls need to be made.

That call can often mean that your bottom 10-15 players either wont get a game each week or will play bugger all game time.

We had a number of people suggest that we get a D grade up and running as it was looking likely that up to 20-25 blokes would miss out on playing in the early rounds. So far we've just scraped up 24-25 each week with no one missing out, which would have meant an early forfeit for our D grade. And even that was only because a few new players came out. You really need at least an extra 40 players just in your D grade squad in my opinion to make it sustainable throughout the year

I know Edwardstown had a number of blokes play C grade at 10.15am and double up in the D grade at 2.15pm in Round 1, which I thought was a bit of a worry that early in the season

It's pretty simple maths really, at some point in the season you're almost certainly going to have 5 outs in the As, Bs, Cs and Ds due to injury/being away. Hell, you'll likely be lucky to only get those 5 outs per grade.

LIterally need to have an extra 20 footballers you can call. If you're in a side that's struggling (or if the weather just turns to shit) it can be pretty hard.

I suspect it's a good thing for C6 that it's a 2:10 comp rather than a morning comp though. Otherwise you'd see a lot more resistnance.

[The Dark Knight]

[quote="BenchedEagle"]Very disapointing to see 2 forfeits in C6 this week. Hopefully it was just too far for Edwardstown to come to Elizabeth and Mawson Lakes took a strategic forfeit against top side Old Iggies.. or are both sides done for the year?

From experience if you're struggling on field and it gets to the stage of a forfeit in round 3 life doesn't tend to get any easier as the year goes on.

Yeah, its a hard one.. Round 1 last week we had aroun 20-25 out across the top 3 grades which really impacts filling our D grade... we like to think we will have the numbers to compete all year but when it starts meaning playing with no bench or C Grade players having to double up to help out the D's later that day (or under 18's who play on the Sunday) it gets to the point where sometimes hard calls need to be made.

That call can often mean that your bottom 10-15 players either wont get a game each week or will play bugger all game time.

We had a number of people suggest that we get a D grade up and running as it was looking likely that up to 20-25 blokes would miss out on playing in the early rounds. So far we've just scraped up 24-25 each week with no one missing out, which would have meant an early forfeit for our D grade. And even that was only because a few new players came out. You really need at least an extra 40 players just in your D grade squad in my opinion to make it sustainable throughout the year

I know Edwardstown had a number of blokes play C grade at 10.15am and double up in the D grade at 2.15pm in Round 1, which I thought was a bit of a worry that early in the season

It's pretty simple maths really, at some point in the season you're almost certainly going to have 5 outs in the As, Bs, Cs and Ds due to injury/being away. Hell, you'll likely be lucky to only get those 5 outs per grade.

LIterally need to have an extra 20 footballers you can call. If you're in a side that's struggling (or if the weather just turns to shit) it can be pretty hard.

I suspect it's a good thing for C6 that it's a 2:10 comp rather than a morning comp though. Otherwise you'd see a lot more resistnance.[/quote]I was a tad worried with us having a D grade again but the numbers at training and blokes wanting to play regardless of what grade has been very good. The club is now strong enough and organised enough to have guys play where they're picked and properly facilitate the D grade. They've started strongly so that's a huge positive. And still think the triple headers every week is the best decision the league has made over the last few years.

[BenchedEagle]

FC u didnt bring convo over from 17 thread... if i comment here now ill look crazy! Lol

[BenchedEagle]

But it was actually 3 forfeits last week. Which is devestating for a side like mine who are a brand new team, looking to be very competitive with the bottom end of table sides that have now all forfeited this early. We took on 2 very good teams rd 1 and Rd 2 and i kept all the boys keen by looking forward to a game at our standard against Edwardstown at home.. to get the email late on a thursday night after i pulled together 25 blokes (with a massive amounts of blokes out in our ABCs). To say it was very disheartening would be an understatement. If the 3 teams that forfeited cant keep it going and pull the pin we are left in a 7 team comp against all very good sides. Im gonna stuggle to motivate my team to continue through the winter playing the same very good sides every week. .. and tbh i dont blame them.

[jo172]

Also end up with a bloody weird fixture that way, teams potentially won't play a game for weeks in a row

[Footy Chick]

FC u didnt bring convo over from 17 thread... if i comment here now ill look crazy! Lol

Sorry, I got busy. it's done now

PS: We know you're crazy *runs*

[Down the Hill]

Hang in there BenchedEagle. this time last year there were some C & D grade forfeits due to Uni and school holidays particularly with clubs who had their C or D grades separated from their A & B grade which I believe was the situation with Edwardstown on Saturday. The modern community footballer seems to jump at any chance to get away for a week or two and don't lose much sleep about missing a game(s) of footy.

[jo172]

Hang in there BenchedEagle. this time last year there were some C & D grade forfeits due to Uni and school holidays particularly with clubs who had their C or D grades separated from their A & B grade which I believe was the situation with Edwardstown on Saturday. The modern community footballer seems to jump at any chance to get away for a week or two and don't lose much sleep about missing a game(s) of footy.

Almost all C6 games involve separation from the other grades. I think only Mawson Lakes is playing triple headers.

[retiredhack]

How are the forfeited teams from last week shaping up for this weekend? Would think they would be doing everything possible to get blokes on the park or risk being booted... the coaches will be racking up some calls i would imagine!

[Sass!]

How are the forfeited teams from last week shaping up for this weekend? Would think they would be doing everything possible to get blokes on the park or risk being booted... the coaches will be racking up some calls i would imagine!

Modbury will field a side this week mate, few back in across all grades.

[Tony Clifton]

Would there be fewer forfeits if teams had to match numbers?

Eg if a club could only muster 15 blokes the other team could only put 15 on the park at any one time?

[BenchedEagle]

How are the forfeited teams from last week shaping up for this weekend? Would think they would be doing everything possible to get blokes on the park or risk being booted... the coaches will be racking up some calls i would imagine!

Modbury will field a side this week mate, few back in across all grades.

Very good to hear. Look forward to hosting you guys Saturday.

[jo172]

Would there be fewer forfeits if teams had to match numbers?

Eg if a club could only muster 15 blokes the other team could only put 15 on the park at any one time?

Do that last week when it's 31 degrees would have been bloody unpleasant on the hot days.

When we've had 25 and the opposition 15 we tend to offer them the under 8s rules of three of our players each quarter. Good fun really

[BenchedEagle]

good to see the 3 sides that forfeited made the park this week.

Was just our luck that Modbury had their 2 main goalkickers and a chuck of their C1 side drop down due to their bye!

Onwards to Rostrevor this week.

[Yank Man]

good to see the 3 sides that forfeited made the park this week.

Was just our luck that Modbury had their 2 main goalkickers and a chuck of their C1 side drop down due to their bye!

Onwards to Rostrevor this week.

We were as disappointed as you BenchedEagle about our forfeit. We were also looking forward to a competitive game of similar standard. Unfortunately with 20 out from A’s B’s and C’s there wasn’t much left. We drop a few back from C’s to make sure we can play but with the C’s playing at 3pm as a night game for our A’s we just weren’t able to support the lads. We also had 5 clearances pending on the Thursday before that game and we just couldn’t get it sorted in time. Our C grade has battled in the last 2 years but the coach worked really hard to get them to where they are now. He has taken the role to develop our D grade and give us further depth and I have full confidence in him to get us to where we want to be. It will take time though, you hang in there, as we will, it’s a tough gig coaching the last team.

[jo172]

Edwardstown D Grade close to putting a pin in it for the year?

[jo172]

Hi all,

An unusual one to consider but worth noting.

On Saturday a club was advised by text of an intent for their scheduled C Grade opposition to forfeit their match. The club receiving the text advised their players only to receive a message at ball up time from their opposition club asking where they were.

As it turns out there was no forfeit.

We should all be aware that any advice of a team’s intent to forfeit should be

a) ratified by the League as per normal processes i.e. before midday Friday OR
b) if it happens to be after Close of Business on the Friday as this one was, you should make direct contact with the club Delegate, President or Football Director as published on The League’s Website via the telephone to validate the advice.

WTF!?

[S Demon]

Hi all,

An unusual one to consider but worth noting.

On Saturday a club was advised by text of an intent for their scheduled C Grade opposition to forfeit their match. The club receiving the text advised their players only to receive a message at ball up time from their opposition club asking where they were.

As it turns out there was no forfeit.

We should all be aware that any advice of a team’s intent to forfeit should be

a) ratified by the League as per normal processes i.e. before midday Friday OR
b) if it happens to be after Close of Business on the Friday as this one was, you should make direct contact with the club Delegate, President or Football Director as published on The League’s Website via the telephone to validate the advice.

WTF!?

Whoops!!