Ex player, Derek Trusler said they were hoping to get as many people as possible from Bomaderry and Shoalhaven City Soccer Club to the event.

“The Bomaderry side started about 1970-71, before we formed Shoalhaven City in 1980 and we went to Wollongong to play for a successful 14 years,” Mr Trusler said.

“There’s going to be a lot of guys coming from Queensland, overseas and Western Australia.  

“We are also inviting the over 45s masters that went to Italy and played the world masters two years ago.

“The side is going to Adelaide in the first week of October this year to play in the Australian masters, so it would be great if they come back with a medal and we can celebrate it at the dinner.”

Geraint Roberts from North Nowra arrived in the Shoalhaven in the early 1970s and was one of the players partly responsible for developing soccer in the region.

“I played semi-professional up in Sydney and came down here to teach and ended up playing and coaching Bomaderry,” Mr Roberts said.

“We played here at Bomaderry initially then we developed our own ground down at Ison Park in South Nowra.   

“We started Shoalhaven City Club in the 1980s and then we went to play in Wollongong and it grew from there.”

Harry Knowles from Kangaroo Valley is looking forward to sharing a laugh with old mates.

“I came back from England and got roped into playing football for a couple of years and finished when I was about 40,” Mr Knowles said.

“Bomaderry had a lot of juniors then, they didn’t have a senior team and I got shanghaied into playing.

“We still knock around and talk about how good we used to be, the older we get the better we were,” he laughed.

Like the majority of his former team mates, Michael Edwards brought his passion for football with him from the UK.

“Ninety per cent of the team was from England, we had one token Australian in the team,” he laughed.

“When I came out from the UK in 1973, my brother Ken, who was an ex England international was coaching Bomaderry in the first season.

“He played for England a few times so he was a great coach for us to start with.”

“Soccer is a religion over there of course, so we were all into football in a great way.”

The reunion dinner will be held at Nowra Golf Club on Saturday, October 24, 2015, commencing at 7pm. Tickets cost $30 and include a two course meal and wine.

To purchase tickets please contact Mick Edwards 0413 319 785, Derek Trusler 0411 852 602, Geraint Roberts 0409 587 896 or Dave Lovett 4446 0798.