200 games and loving it says IK’s Dylan Clark

By Michael Giles

WHEN champion Inverloch-Kongwak footballer Dylan Clark took the field for his 200th senior game on Saturday, with young family members and a big group of family, friends, supporters and fellow club mates applauding, it was a celebration for the whole club.
Here was a stalwart of the club who started his footy journey with the Sea Eagles, played in an Under 15 premiership with his mates, won two senior best and fairest awards along the way and stayed around long enough to see the club taste ultimate success again after more than 30 years.
And he didn’t just roll out and go through the motions on Saturday, figuring strongly in the club’s 112-point demolition of the visiting Korumburra-Bena Giants, including kicking two goals himself, one of them an outrageous shot from right on the boundary line in front of the adoring fans.
Coach Leigh Cole paid tribute to Clark as ‘a great servant of the club’ after the game.
“It was just a really nice way to celebrate such a great servant of the club. We had wins right across the board mids, forwards and backs so have a good one tonight, we deserve it,” he said.
Asked for his most memorable moment in more than 20 years of senior football, Clark was quick to respond.
“The 2017 premiership. It was 31 years since the club had won a flag so to win it with these guys. There was a core group of us who started from being you know, a mid-range to lower-range team, to being a premiership team. That was incredible,” Clark said after the game.
He thanked his family “who supported me the whole way through”.
“The club’s been amazing to me. We’ve had some fantastic coaches, Ben Soumilas, Tom Hams and now with Sparksy (Ryan Sparkes) and Leigh Cole... it’s been a terrific journey.”
His experience at Inverloch-Kongwak over the years has left him in no doubt about the standing of the club in the local area.
“It’s the best. Have a look at everyone around, staying on, having a beer, there’s families out playing on the oval, we’ve got women fully involved in all aspects of the club, a real family feel. It’s the best club in the world.”
Clark looked reluctant to get chaired off after the game but ultimately acceded to the gesture, again receiving the warm applause of the many who stayed on to celebrate his big day and what the club has been able to achieve, especially in the last decade or two.
He might have achieved the milestone a lot earlier if not for a broken shoulder, broken ankle and the COVID years.