There’s a team shows no fright and their colours red and white And they call us the Banyo Bloods For the team that we are licking, the ball we are kicking is such a sight to see You ought to see our boys go up for a mark – they go up so high – they don’t come down till dark Any team that thinks they’re good Banyo puts them on the wood We’re on the road to a premiership Up the Bloods!!
And so went the much loved Banyo anthem to the tune of the Australian Folk classic Along the Road to Gundagai.
The Bloods will once again come together this coming Saturday 4th December 2021 in the public bar of the Breakfast Creek Hotel at Midday to enjoy a roll call of players, supporters and friends who represented or were part of the Bloods between 1970 and 1993 in a halcyon period of Queensland football.
The Bloods were formed out of a group of players who represented the Mayne Tigers in the late 1960’s in their third grade team when the Queensland premier competition was restructured. The Mayne Tigers assisted the fledgling club get underway with the clear intention to provide an opportunity for players who couldn’t get a game in very strong Mayne Firsts and Seconds who had been involved in every grand final of the previous decade. However the club attracted plenty of talented players who either played first grade at Mayne and came down to play for the Bloods or who went to the Tigers to play at the highest level of footy in Queensland at the time.
The Bloods competed at the highest level in the South Queensland Australian Football Association for a number of years but achieved their greatest success in Division 2 where they were premiers in 1972, 1973, 1975 and 1982. The Bloods also regularly fielded a reserve grade side which enjoyed premiership success in 1980.
The Mayne Tigers have been well served on and off the field at senior and junior levels by long term committed people who represented both clubs over long periods as administrators, coaches and players including Keith Beavis, Neville Poppleton, Tony Mannix, Jock Mackay, Greg Jones, Peter Cubis, Alan Laycock, Ken Hayes, Graham Glover, Jerry Lehky, Steve Secombe, Frank Mallan, Michael Glover, Matthew Stewart and with the likes of Rod Barber, Dick Fell, Rod Judd and Russell Ditchburn still actively involved with the Tigers today the memory of the Blood Brothers connection lives on.
The era of the Banyo Bloods was one of the most exciting and passionate periods in Queensland Footy and there will sure to be many great tales shared next Saturday at the annual reunion.
All Banyo Bloods are invited along with Mayne Tigers young and old.
Enquiries can be made with Rod Judd on 0438 560 179 or Dick Fell 0402 052 337.
