Portarlington Football Netball Club (PFNC) has launched Kicking Against the Wind, a new book celebrating the club’s 150-year history.
Written by local author Rick Wilkinson and PFNC History Group chair and club life member Peter Ashton, Kicking Against the Wind tells the story of one of the oldest clubs of any football code in the world.
One of the central pillars of the town’s community, the club’s history reflects the good times and bad experienced by the people of Portarlington over the past century and a half.
“For 150 years the club has been heavily involved with the local community, not only in Portarlington but also St Leonards and Indented Head,” Mr Ashton said.
Mr Ashton, who began playing for Portarlington as a junior and was a member of the club’s 1978 premiership side, said the idea for a book had its origins in the 1980s when he began to take an interest in researching the club’s history.
“I had access to the library, fairly quick access back in those days; I could just walk across the road at lunch time and do a bit of research,” he said.
“Then I began to revisit the idea in 2017, and someone said ‘why don’t you write a book?’
“This is for all the members, supporters, sponsors and the general community. Not every member of the community is a member of the club, but I dare say they have an interest in the club’s involvement within the local region over the last 150 years.”
Kicking Against the Wind is available at Australia Post Portarlington, Staple Eatery & Deli, the Portarlington newsagency and the club.
