Horsham Falcons reflect on claiming maiden under 17 premiership

Horsham, a town renowned for its love of sport, only has the one soccer club; the Horsham and District Soccer Club. The side affectionately known as the Falcons have competed in the Ballarat District Soccer Association since 2009 in various divisions.

In that time the unassuming Falcons may not have had the success of other sporting teams in the region, but they did have their own Leicester City moment in 2011, when their under 17s side won the club's first title in the Ballarat League.

It's been almost a decade since that team of young men led by coach Mick Clark, travelled to Redan in hope of making history and upsetting Ballarat North in the grand final.

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Ballarat North went into the match as heavy favourites, despite some mixed results between the two teams over the season.

"(During the season) we played North Ballarat, they thrashed us and then they sent a team up to us of their reserves side and we beat them easy," coach Clark told the Wimmera Mail-Times.

"When we met them in the semi-final they beat us 6-2 I think and I said boys look we've learned a lot out of this, and I said we'll go away from this with a couple of plans that might help us beat those guys in the grand final."

What unfolded on grand final day will be forever etched into Horsham sporting folklore.

The Falcons won the game 2-1 thanks to a double from star striker Max Facey in what was an entire-team effort.

"They (the Falcons) beat a team that was supposed to be invincible," Clark said.

"They were shocked, North Ballarat, they were absolutely devastated.

"I always thought that I'd give it another year for us to win the premiership, we had a three-year plan."

Even more impressively they were forced to use a makeshift goalie as regular-season goalkeeper Elijah Macchia was overseas for grand final day.

At half-time scores were locked at one-all when Clark had his Coach Carter moment.

"At halftime I just said to the boys, if you can look each other in the eye when you finish this game and say I did everything I could to win this game and help my teammates..." Facey said.

"All you've gotta do, you've done a great job, just try and lift, dig deep and lift that little bit more.

"Anyway we held on."

Clark also highlighted Haydn Smith and Travis McClurg's ability to nullify Ballarat North's two best players in the first half as being influential in the result.

To make things better at half-time the opposition coach substituted those players which Clark described as a "bonus".

"They won't beat us now," Clark said of his reaction to the tactics.

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Facey who scored a mammoth 51 goals from 17 games was awarded man of the match honours.

"Maxy he was a great player, we couldn't have won it without him but you say that about a lot of them," Clark said of his star striker.

"I was proud of the boys, Smithy (team spokesman Gary Smith) helped me out a lot and Gavin (current committee member Gavin McRoberts) did a huge job."

Although the Falcons have since gone on to win the 2018 B Grade premiership, Clark believes the under 17s victory is extra special.

"What was great about it, I know they've won a B Grade Championship since which was great, but we played the best in the league," he said.

"It wasn't B Grade, they were all A Grade players the next year.

"To me that was a great performance by the lads and as I said we were all pretty close, they listened, they tried and they put everything into that and they got what they deserved."

The celebrations didn't end on grand final day, with the all-conquering Falcons invited to meet Horsham Mayor Michael Ryan at council offices and receive a certificate of achievement, the following Wednesday.

"it was a big deal, that was great," Clark said of the heroes' welcome.

After 2011 some of the 17-year-olds went their separate ways while some stayed on and played seniors with the Falcons.

Higher-profile stars Facey and Smith spent time playing in Ballarat and Melbourne, while Elijah Macchia went on to feature in the club's 2018 Division Two premiership.

Clark doesn't necessarily see a lot of the players these days, but the memories will forever hold a place in his heart.

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