East Ballarat “old boys” will gather on Saturday to recall and again celebrate one of the biggest grand final upsets in Ballarat Football League history.
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The former Bulldogs are having reunion to mark the 25th anniversary of their famous premiership victory over North Ballarat.
And appropriately it has been planned to coincide with East Point’s clash with North Ballarat City at the Eastern Oval.
The Roosters had been dominant leading into the grand final and were chasing a 50th consecutive win and third consecutive premiership.
Only East Ballarat had finished within 50 points of North Ballarat in 1993 leading into the grand final.
Coached by Gary Odgers, East took the honours 21.10 (136) to 16.10 (106) at the City Oval.
Odgers was originally from Golden Point, which merged with East Ballarat in 2001 to form East Point. He spent seven years with St Kilda, returning to Golden Point in 1988 and a season later taking on the coaching role at the Bulldogs.
His deeds at East Ballarat made him a club immortal – leading it to four grand finals and three flags in an era when the Bulldogs and Roosters had one of the biggest rivalries in country football.
East (1989, 1990 and 1993) and North (1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996) shared all eight premierships from 1989 to 1996.
The 1993 East Ballarat premiership players: Paul Whyte, Sean Blood, Paull Jeffrey, Peter O'Connell, Gary Ogders, Marcus Wolak, Tony Evans, Scott O’Donohue, James O'Connell, Terry Simpson, Matt Stevens, Ashley Cook, Alister Ford, Wayne Dawson, Peter Jacks, Rod Gladman, Nigel Keating, Mark Orchard, Matthew Cox, Carl Haseloff.