Kicking to the scoring end in the last quarter, Parkside won the A Grade Grand Final of the 2023 FIDA season by 13 points.

It was Williamstown’s second loss of the  big day, with Monash Demons 10.5 65 defeating the Seagulls 3.1 19 in A Reserve.

In B grade Ferntree Gully easily accounted for Ballarat, 5.13 43 to 1.1 7. In C grade Fountain Gate kicked the highest score of the day (21.9 135) against Mazenod White (12.7 79).

All games were played at Coburg City Oval on Sunday 20 August.

Williamstown coach and president Rob Klemm said to the club:  “Winning a single premiership doesn’t make a club great, but great clubs* win multiple premierships. We are a great club, and while we were ultimately unsuccessful on Sunday, we are the only FIDA club to have two teams participating in the Grand Finals this year.

“The resilience of our club is shown in the more-than-60 people who came back to the Pascoe Vale RSL for a Grand Final postmortem.

“Our three principles are integrity, loyalty, and respect, and those qualities were shown by the two recipients of our Spirit of Williamstown trophies, Dean Zavatierro and Zac Ireland.

“Our success on and off the field over the year certainly comes down to the efforts of the players, but more importantly, to the contributions of our committee and our steadfast band of volunteers.

“From coaches to ground managers, team managers to goal umpires, canteen ladies to scoreboard managers, timekeepers to the “snakes and oranges” providers, runners to trainers and water carriers, the setters-up to the packers-up, our sponsors and our affiliated clubs, the supporters at the ground and our followers online, we say Thank you.”

FIDA is the long-running Football Integration Development Association.

The grand finals were played at Coburg City Oval, which we last visited in 2011 for a day of women’s grand finals.

*Since forming in 2011 the Williamstown FIDA Seagulls have won flags in 2014, 2016 (Reserves also), 2018, 2021 and 2022.