Banik is now the inaugural president of Woodside and District Wildcats FC (which split from DWWWW) and joined the North Gippsland FL.
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Four-wheel drives go off road
Adam McNicol | March 30, 2008
IN 1997, the merger of the Devon-Welshpool and Won Wron-Woodside Football Clubs created an entity that attracted a cult following among regular readers of the bush footy scores.
Listed each week in the Alberton league results as DWWWW, the club became colloquially known as the Four-Wheel-Drives, despite its official nickname being the Allies.
Initially, the bringing together of four tiny Gippsland communities, located near the rural service centre of Yarram, was a raging success. DWWWW won three senior premierships in its first seven seasons and produced plenty of talented juniors, including Royce Vardy, who went on to play for Richmond.
But a lack of on-field success last season resulted in declining player numbers and local support. Cracks emerged in what had seemed a solid foundation.
The people of Won-Wron and Woodside decided to go it alone. They created a new club, the Woodside and District Wildcats, and entered the North Gippsland league.
Surveying the scene with a smile was Anthony Banik, the inaugural Woodside Wildcats president. Best known as the No. 1 pick in the 1989 AFL national draft, Banik played 49 games for Richmond before returning home to Gippsland. He finally retired after coaching the Allies to a premiership in 2003.
Having been the Allies' president last year, Banik has clear reasons why the club could not go on the way it was.
"It had been a progression downwards slowly in numbers and it got to the point where we only had six guys at pre-season last year," he said, citing the long trips to Phillip Island (171 kilometres) and Wonthaggi (131 kilometres) as major problems.
Full article at:
http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/fourwheel-drives-go-off-road/2008/03/29/1206207499839.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
