Golden Grove Football Club

The Golden Grove Football Club, known as the Kookaburra’s was founded in 1995. The club is based at the Harper’s Field Oval, which is situated in on One Tree Hill Road in the Northern Suburbs of Adelaide. Many people wonder why the ground is called Harper’s Field, it is named after James Little Harper and Robert Emslie Harperfrom the 52nd Australian Infantry Battalion.
The club is a member of both the SAAFL and NEMJFA. At the time of our foundation we were able to field a number of junior sides, which played in the then North Adelaide Junior Football competition. Although Greenwith Oval was then the home ground a number of games were played at Hargreaves Oval. The club had limited facilities and hired the Greenwith Community Centre to run a match day canteen and evening presentations. After two positive years a number of committee members sent a proposal to the SAAFL outlining the clubs intention to set up a senior club. Senior football commenced in 1997.
The club was entered into Division 7 of the SAAFL competition and played its first full season at senior level in 1997. The club gained promotion in its first season and appointed John Economou as our senior coach. The club remained in Division 6 until its Premiership season in 2003. Although the club played in Division 6 for 5 years without success at A Grade level, the B Grade was a very strong force in the Division 6 Reserves competition. This led to a number of Finals appearances and was capped with a Premiership in 2001 and a Grand Final appearance in 2004 in the Division 5 Reserves competition. The introduction of a C Grade in 1998 was proof that the club was growing and the side consolidated its position in the Division 9 North competition very quickly. Finals appearances in 2005 and 2006 gave the club the depth it required to set a base for coaches to develop. After three seasons in Division 5 the club had a very average season in 2006, which saw it finishing in 15th place and subsequently relegated to Division 6. Over the close season the committee worked diligently to employ a new senior coach and it announced that Ashley Mitchell, a proven A Grade coach, would lead the club into the 2007 season and beyond. Ashley took the club to Division 4 in consecutive seasons before handing over the reins to former Tea Tree Gully A Grade Coach, Mark Weaver. The club gained promotion to Division 3 in Mark’s first season but after a season hampered by injuries we were relegated back to Division 4 the following year. The committee re-appointed Ashley Mitchell in 2012 but work commitments only allowed Ashley to coach for the one season.
In 2013 the club was pleased to announce the appointment of Ben Armstrong, a former North Adelaide and Kilburn player, as the new senior coach of our club. Ben went about changing the culture of the playing group and encouraged as many former juniors as possible to come back to the club to join the journey. In his first season the club finished minor premiers but unfortunately could not continue our form into the final series and we dropped out of the competition finishing in 4th spot. This was a massive disappointment to players, officials and committee and the club went about strengthening its playing group. Last season was to be our strongest to date finishing again as minor premiers. After a small hiccough in our first final the side went on to beat Eastern Park in a Preliminary Final, gaining promotion into Division 3. The side then went on to win the Division 4 premiership by defeating Salisbury West. The Season 2014 was to be the most successful in the clubs short history with the B Grade also taking out the Division 3 Reserves Premiership, the C Grade being Runners – Up in Division 8 and our under 18’s playing finals in their respective Division. As the 2015 season looms expectations are high as we start the next step of our five year plan and head towards gaining promotion to Division 2 by 2017.