The smell of liniment is as synonymous with footy as a rolled ankle, and behind every loosened hamstring or taped up appendage is a trainer.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
If you have been around East Point since the merger in 2001, or even Golden Point from 1974 onward, you would have been strapped by a Sculley.
"I've got life membership from East Point, Point and the league now," Ron Sculley, head trainer at East Point, said as he reminisced on his more than 50 years of service to the clubs.
READ MORE: Sculley, Morcom recognised for contributions
The foundation of a football club rests on people like Ron Sculley. And when you get three-for-one, you can build a strong foundation.
Beginning its association with the Golden Point football club in the '70s, Sculley is now a grand old name at East Point represented by three generations.
Mark, Ron's son, was cut from the same cloth as his old man and has the same propensity to help out.
He was raised around Golden Point football club before pulling on the boots in 1988.
Once the boots wore out he swapped them for a white top marked "trainer" and has been in that role at East Point for the last 16 years.
"I've been doing this (training) since 2003. Dad came and said, 'I'm the only trainer', so I came down to give him a hand, and I haven't left," Mark said.
Mark needed a water runner one day and had to look no further than his daughter, Emily.
She took to the job with the same generosity as her Pa and Dad and had the best seat in the house for a big mark from East Point champion, Dan Jordan.
That was enough to convince her and, with more than ten years of service now, she has never looked back.
"Being involved is one of the highlights of the winter. Football is always there, you've always got something to do," Emily said.
She remembers kicking the footy on the oval with the boys when she was a kid.
The early introduction to football clearly had an impact with Emily playing in a premiership for women's side, East Point Dragons, earlier in the year.
The victory added a another wholesome chapter in the Sculley story with Mark and Ron acting as trainers for Emily's side.
East Point clearly runs in the family, and Ron, Mark and Emily have a hereditary passion for the red, white and blue.
"It's a pretty awesome effort to have Dad and one of my daughters here helping. It's great, I love it," Mark said.
Emily is keen to keep the Sculley lineage strong and can see herself being involved at the club for just as long as her Pa.
"They're all very welcoming and loving. Once you're there, once you're in the football club, you've got friends for life," Emily said.
But it is not just East Point that experiences the kindness of the Sculley fraternity.
They help out the Ballarat interleague teams and have even been known to assist the enemy.
In East Point's first final this year, the Sculley's threw their allegiances aside to help an injured Sebastopol player.
"That's what a football trainer is. No matter who you're playing against, if somebody goes down you all go out to help," Ron said.
With over 75 years of combined service to the club, Ron, Mark and Emily practice what they preach.
East Point is as much a mark of family for the Sculley's as a surname.
"East Point is a big part of my family," Mark said.
And now the Sculley name is an emblem of the team they love.
To win one grand final wouldn't do them justice: club stalwart
BY MELANIE WHELAN
ANY sense of sacrilege in merging rivals is well and truly behind old boys who are united as supporters under the East Point banner. The Kangaroos winning Ballarat Football League's senior flag last year was key to the rebirth of the club, long-time administrator John Cotter says.
And supporters from the club's East Ballarat and Golden Point foundations say a new challenge is ahead - creating a new flag legacy.
"It would be great going back-to-back. We've been building up for a couple of years now. To win one grand final wouldn't do them justice," Mr Cotter said.
"We don't want last year to be a one-off, we want it to set us up as a real powerhouse club in the BFL."
Premiership glory for East Point came 17 years after amalgamation but historically, the Cup had been a far longer wait - more than 30 years for Golden Point and 25 years for East Ballarat.
For long-time Kangaroo Daniel Tung, who had spent about a decade in seniors, a flag was a hard-fought reward.
"This isn't just one year (of work), this is five to six years," he told The Courier amid celebrations.
Mr Cotter was raised a Bulldogs with East Ballarat, playing juniors and going on to play about 140 senior games before moving into club administration. All they had shared with Point was Eastern Oval and a fierce rivalry.
But that is the past. He has become a proud 'Roo now.
WATCH one of the most epic BFL grand final wins from East Ballarat below
After all the ongoing work to bring these rival camps together, a string of East Ballarat and Golden Point premiership players told The Courier ahead of last year's final the club has never felt as one as it did now.
"I was the inaugural secretary when we merged and it was considered sacrilege from many supporters in both camps. At the time it was necessary and made sense, both clubs were on the brink, but I think we've got past that," Mr Cotter said.
"A premiership is the rebirth of a new club. We're now East Point and forging our own new identity as a club."
Have you signed up to The Courier's variety of news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in Ballarat.
