By: Daniel Cencic
Twitter: @DC_EFL
Identities at Bayswater simply don’t come much bigger than the Galvin name.
Its decorated family history in the Eastern Football League is set to add yet another milestone this weekend, as Bayswater captain Joel Galvin runs out for game 200.
The son of EFL legend, three-time competition best and fairest winner and current club president Gary, Joel says the double-century of games sits up there with the best in his 14-season career.
“It’s a pretty cool experience,” he said.
“I haven’t thought too much about it; I knew it was coming up but I hadn’t thought too much about it until probably dad started talking to me about it and a couple of people around the club started mentioning it.
“Not too many people get to play 200 games, let alone at one club.
“Loyalty’s hard to find and it’s definitely up there with some of the milestones I’ve achieved in football.”
After a promising junior career which was rounded out by a club best and fairest in the under-16s, Galvin would find himself lining up for the seniors six months later at just 17 years of age in Round 1 of the 2005 season as Bayswater hosted Coldstream.
It is an experience the 200-gamer hasn’t forgotten, made special by the fact the club tasted victory by 36 points after having only registered four wins the previous season to be relegated to Division 3.
“It was against a side dad had played with before and won a premiership at as well,” Galvin said.
“It was a daunting experience being so little and young but it was definitely a good day out and we won by six or seven goals as well – the club had just gone through relegation as well – winning didn’t happen too often at the time.”
The 2005 season is best remembered by Waters fans for its first senior flag in almost a decade – a five-point win over Doncaster East at Tormore Reserve.
“A lot of it I can still recollect – I’ve watched the game hundreds of times,” Galvin said.
“I can recollect a lot of the day, not so much the night. It was definitely a great experience being so young.
“Ben Williams, the captain, and his brother Gabe being 30 and 28 at the time – a couple of others had been around the club for a while at the time and they spoke about having a chance to win (a premiership) and hadn’t yet.
“They’d been playing senior footy for 12 years and here I am in my first year of senior footy winning one.
“I thought I was going to have four or five of them, but I’m forever grateful in winning two. You realise how hard they actually are to win, the older you get.”
PICTURE: Joel Galvin celebrates the 2005 premiership with mother Tracie.
That realisation would come during the 11-year wait between flags, which saw Joel take out four club best and fairests (2011,2012, 2015, 2016), along with the 2012 Kenneth Wright Medal for the best and fairest player in Division 2 – a feat he would repeat in the club’s next premiership year in 2016 alongside brothers Mitch and Bryce.
Joel Galvin celebrates the 2016 flag with father Gary and brothers Mitch and Bryce. Picture: Steve Tanner
“Definitely the premiership beats any individual award,” he said.
“You celebrate premierships five, 10, 20 years after you’ve won them.
“Individual awards are good at the time but you only sort of celebrate them for one night and that’s about it.
“It was a great achievement and something I’ll be able to hang my hat on once I’ve retired.
“It’s pretty hard to win one of them in a specific year, let alone all three (premiership, competition best and fairest, club best and fairest) in one year.
“I still pinch myself that I was able to do that (in 2016) and win another premiership.
“I think I was the only (2005) premiership player left playing in 2016, I was the last one standing.”
An uncompromising style of play has always been the 30-year-old’s trademark, where the Bayswater skipper has seen his share of gruesome injuries over the journey, including colliding with a goal-post and last year, breaking a cheekbone and missing a third of the season.
“I missed six or so weeks through that (cheekbone injury) and had surgery to put plates in,” Joel said.
“It was at Vermont’s ground, running off the line to tackle someone and run into the back of the head – my face just bounced off their head.
“I knew it was pretty bad straight away and had surgery a week later.
“The goal-post one I can’t recollect too much of just the scar on my forehead.
“I can’t remember too much of what happened. I was running towards goal and got hit from the side after I kicked it and hit the post.
“Padding was irrelevant, I was running that fast.
“Next thing I remember I was waking up and ambulances and trainers, and blood everywhere.
“It wasn’t so much the cut but the whiplash in my neck and my back and that was the struggle to get going again.”
Despite growing up in EFL circles with one of the most renowned surnames in league history, Joel says father Gary has been a big influence on his career and has never felt extra pressure to live up to his dad’s reputation.
“He’s never pushed any of us – me, Mitch and Bryce,” Joel said.
“I’m pretty self-driven anyway in that department and I probably got that off him as well, but I’ve never felt any pressure under his name.
“He’s been massive – I get good feedback from him and he’ll let me know if I’ve played well or pretty bad.”
200 games into a 14-year career with a myriad of honours and Joel still expresses a desire to continue to lead his beloved club in his seventh season of the captaincy.
“It was a privilege when I first got it and I still love doing it,” he said.
“With ‘Macs’ (senior coach Paul McCormack) being on-board he wanted me to do it again and I’ve got the urge to still lead the side.
“It’s something I can look back on as premiership captain – something that dad hasn’t been, so that’s one thing I’ve got on him!”