BANYULE CELEBRATION

After 39 years and 400 games Hoota’s still a gun
Nick Leys
Herald Sun 18 July, 2011

Stephen”Hoota” Gray, left, and David Witchell played the 400th and 300th games respectively on Saturday.
THE record books won’t tell you much about a bloke called Hoota and the 39 years he has worn the Banyule jumper. Hoota, or Stephen Gray to his mum, has seen several generations come through the Banyule Bears Amateur Football Club since he took the field as a seven-year-old.
Now 46 and relying more on guile than agility on the field, Hoota yesterday played his 400th game as a senior, helping the Banyule Reserves knock over Bulleen Templestowe.
Playing beside him was Dave Witchell, who at 39 was playing his 300th game for the club – only the fourth player at the club to do so. The pair have been playing together for the past 20 years.
And while the match report does not extend to the celebrations at the clubhouse last night, it is fair to say they were loud and long.
“I’ve been playing forever and I still love it,” Hoota said. “I’m playing with the sons of the blokes who were in the seniors when I was 17 and they can’t believe I’m still doing it, that I’m stupid to still be there.
“But I love it; I can’t give it up and while I’m holding my own out there, I’ll continue to love it.”
Witchell says he has a few more years in him but has no hopes of reaching the same record as Hoota. “To get to 400 games, I would have to play until I’m 50, and that just isn’t going to happen,” he said. “I have sore muscles after every game.”
Both players kicked a goal yesterday, although Witchell said Hoota’s effort from 15m was an anomaly.
“He’s a gun – well, he was a gun – and he’s probably the best mark I’ve ever seen,” Witchell said of his mate.
“But he’s the worst kick I’ve ever seen.”
Hoota’s name will live on once his boots have been hung up for good, because every year the senior players compete for the Banyule best and fairest award, the Hoota Gray Medal.
Below: David Witchell in his junior days takes a mark.