All PHFC fields are presently closed due to the heavy rain & storm damage. At this stage the next training session for 2009 U15 BJL, U16 and Youth Trials will be 26th November

Trials & Pre-season training for these age groups has now commenced (from 5th November) to prepare teams for the 2009 season. These sessions will run weekly on wednesday evenings until early december.

New players all welcome to trial, preferably phone either Ashley on 0413 371 016 (2009 U16s & Youth) or Mick on 0402 972 788 (2009 U15 BJL) or just turn up ready to train. Note that kickoff for each session is at 6.30pm sharp!

Congratulations to Ashley and his senior men's side who are this year's Div2 premiers & champions after beating Slack's Ck in both the final home league match at Pythons Park and in the Grand Final. This sets us up to play Premier Div1 in 2009 and further confirms the big improvements being made at the club over recent years.

Our annual general meeting will be held on Wednesday the 12th of November at 7.00PM in the meeting room of the Pine Hills Football club clubhouse.

Click here for more info and click here to download a nomination form

Many thanks to all who made the art union such a success. Congratulations to all the prize-winners. Click here for the complete list of winners.

To read latest club news go to our news page here

For full details of training days and times for each team and to view a map of training locations, please go here

Congratulations to all involved in organising and running the U7/U9 carnival. Another great event and commended by many visitors as the best carnival they'd visited all year

To browse a huge collection of photos taken at the carnival go here

In 2008 Pine Hills will again run in-house competitions for U6, U7 and U8s.

We find this provides a great environment for the younger players and is also more convenient for parents not needing to drive all over town. Incidentally this approach has now been formally recognised by Football Australia as best-practice because it helps to maximise the time kids get to play. Basically less travelling time means more time available for football.

This year we'll also be introducing the new 'small-sided game' format as promoted recently by Football Australia as being crucial to the development of our youngest players. Information about the new format is available for download here but in summary the main intent of the change is to reduce the number of players on the field so that every player will have more time on the ball during matches. The fields are slightly smaller but with less players there's more room and with no goalkeepers, there will be more opportunity to score goals. Hopefully we should see very few 0-0 draws and many happy goalscorers due to the new format.

Please take some time to downloadand read the information so you can give your child some background before the season gets underway.

Attached here for download is the welcome letter currently being sent out to all our 2007 club members. If you're thinking of joining Pine Hills, have a read of it and then come along to our sign-on as detailed at our Calendar of Events

For details of our Fee Payment policy, please look here

For all important season dates, including the grading schedule for this season, please go to our Calendar of Events

Pine Hills senior mens team have capped off another great season with a deserved grand final victory over arch-rivals Grange Thistle.

The two best teams in Division 2 faced off in the grand final.

Grange was fully fit, rested having had the benefit of a week off before the semis, and confident in the knowledge of having finished on top of the table and having scored more goals than any other team in the competition.

In contrast, Pine Hills was emotionally drained by the away goals loss to Rocklea in a promotion playoff which it had dominated for large periods, and physically battered, facing up to its sixth game in three weeks, all games with a lot at stake. For Pine Hills Riki Fulton and Robby Wales whose goals had done so much to get them to the grand final would be watching from the stands as they nursed injuries. Jared Moriarty had given an indication of the impact he could have in a cameo performance against Newmarket in the semis which helped to stem the tide when it seemed that Newmarket might claw itself back into the game, but he had fallen foul of Newmarket’s determination to extract the maximum price for their loss.

Ashley Hampstead, the Pine Hills coach, had followed Jared in the long walk back to the dressing room at the end of the Newmarket semi final which explained why Shane Donovan was prowling the Pine Hills bench to the delight of the Pine Hills supporters chanting his name. Those in the know confidently predicted that if the injuries and suspensions were not enough to sink Pine Hills, the heat of a midday kick-off would take the sting out of the Pine Hills’ veterans’ legs – too old and too slow was the consensus. Yet as the teams lined up the Pine Hills supporters were in good cheer, drowning out any support for Grange. Chalk up one victory off the field at least to Pine Hills.

Grange started the game slowly. A pass across his own goal mouth by the keeper almost let Pine Hills in. It was a sign of things to come. With barely 3 minutes on the clock Ange’s marker let Ange get in behind him. The ball sat up invitingly, and Ange lashed it across the keeper who was left grasping at thin air as the ball nestled into the back of the net. 1 nil to Pine Hills and a goal worthy of winning a grand final.

Stunned Grange tried to work its way back into the game. Alex McKean and Mick Wilson were intent on not letting the Grange forwards have a kick, and were succeeding. Behind them Scott Elliott was playing as if in an arm chair, and James Dickson was collecting anything pumped into the box with ease. The team with the best finishing record in the Division was finding chances very few and hard to come by.

20 minutes in and the first sign of problems for Pine Hills. Grant Dickens who along with Brad Harbeck had been leading by example in midfield rolled his ankle. His grand final was over. On came Matt Cook. Previously starved of opportunities in the final series he took this one with both hands working tirelessly to shut down the Grange midfield. Dean Stear and Iain Stephens were giving Grange headaches down the flanks and refusing to allow their opposition room to get forward unchallenged. Grange huffed and puffed but the better opportunities were still coming in front of the Grange goalkeeper.

At half time the talk was confident and simple. Try as they might Grange could still not shake the Pine Hills’ defence in the second half. Jason Poggi and Luke McKenna had been working hard and as Grange started to throw more and more men forward they started to create some panic of their own in the Grange defence. Deano was tiring but holding firm and Scott Elliott and Brad Harbeck were urging players on.

Grange still did not look like scoring when Dicko dived bravely on a loose ball in the penalty box. He struggled however to get back up. Johnno, calmness personified, was on to hold Grange at bay for the last 10 minutes. No more scares though as the clock wound down and Pine Hills celebrated its first grand final win and premiership in a premier competition.

The Grange skipper graciously acknowledged that the best team had won on the day. The best supporters continued to provide a cup final atmosphere as Brad Harbeck raised the cup aloft.

Congratulations to Matt Johnstone, Pat Gregory, Ian Shaw and Shane Donovan for their contributions in the final series.

Alex McKean won the coach’s vote for man of the match for a controlled and totally dominant performance in the middle of the defence.

Previous Articles ..

Photo courtesy of Quest Newspapers