Sport
13 June, 2026
Kicking goals among the gum trees
THE O’MEALLY brothers were prominent Inglewood footballers in the early days of success for the club.
THE O’MEALLY brothers were prominent Inglewood footballers in the early days of success for the club.
Jim and Bill were members of the 1895 premiership side, and as another Inglewood legend Colleen Condliffe reveals of her ancestors, they had a unique training method.
The brothers lived on the family farm at Salisbury West= and weren’t able to make it to Inglewood other than on match days.
So, they would stand on the back of a piece of farm machinery in a paddock and try to dob the footy through a forked gum tree in the distance that served as a goal.
Jim, known as Tiger, and Colleen’s grandfather, was a prominent goalkicker in the late 1890s and early 1900s.
The family still owns the Salisbury farm, and the gum tree goal is still standing today as a tribute to a pair of football pioneers in the Loddon Valley region.
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