Needless to say, our first foray onto the diamond was nothing short of ‘absolute ridiculous’ with every mistake imaginable being played out in embarrassing fashion. The opposition teams looked at us in amazement as being the easy beats, but we soon learned (or at least some of us did – didn’t we ‘Tommy’ Vuke & ‘Freddie’ Williams) not to run on a fly ball, to run around making sure that we touched all the bases in order, and to steal bases with aplomb (occasionally) – so much in fact, that we made it to the grand final in our first year, but unfortunately lost.
The only success story of that year however, was ‘Freddie’ Williams who won the associations trophy for best pitcher – an award which no doubt still adorns Fred’s lounge room mantelpiece with pride of place. For the young people reading this, lounge rooms are now called ‘home theatres.’ Moving into 1984 where the real fun was had and where good friendships strengthened and new friendships developed…
During the ‘lay off’ between the 1983 and 1984 seasons, thanks to Hammy an overwhelming decision was made by all Flyers to leave the very competitive surrounds of Armadale’s ‘D Grade’ to enroll a side into the NEW Willetton Men’s Softball Association. The Flyers still remember 1984 playing their first year down at Shelley Reserve in Riverton. In that first year our playing line up consisted of: Gary (‘Hunk’) Fry; Steve (‘Whale’) Garbutt; Graeme (‘Hammy’) Hambley; Rob (‘Snake’) Lilleyman; Arthur (‘Arty’) Mills; Tony Stall (Coach); Barry (‘Bazza’) Taylor; Craig (‘Thommo’) Thompson; Tom (‘Tommy’) Vuke; Graham (‘Porky’) Walker; Fred (‘Freddie’) Williams; Ray (‘Rocky’) Winduss and Neil (‘Bozo’ Fry. Alec Petersen and Brett Reeves also played during this season, and yes, we all regarded ourselves as a great bunch of fine YOUNG blokes back then.
We managed to have a successful year by winning the Association’s first premiership by defeating the Hammers. It was a terrific game played in great spirit, and we all celebrated hard by drinking plenty of beer and ‘cardboard chardonnay’ at the Ambassador Chinese restaurant in Cannington until long into the night. Who could ever forget Whale’s classic catch out in the outfield to get Denis Sullivan out and win us the game (yes, he still reminds us 25 years on).
Flyers have won three premierships during our time in the WMSA but more importantly value the good times we have had playing and the friendships that have developed over 25 years”.