Father figure Giles is positive about future of the club

THE father figure of the Castlemaine Club is Alfie Giles who has now hung up his boots but is still as dedicated as ever and is working hard in the background to push the club further. In his playing days Alfie was an exceptionally talented player who was the engine room of the team and was looked up to with the highest admiration by his colleagues.

He began playing at underage level but the highlight of his career was as manager of the Castlemaine United side that won back to back league titles in 1997/’98 and 1998/’99.

“I have played in many positions with the senior team, but my favourite was centre of midfield. We had our ups and down during my playing years, but we always remained positive and made sure to bounce back when we were in difficulties,” he told The Kerryman.

“Most of the squad at that time were friends of each other as well so great camaraderie existed between the whole squad. I was thrilled when I make my debut at 16 and getting chance to play with local heroes Jim Daly, Andrew ‘The Yank’ Boyle, Seán Costello and John ‘Chopper’ Lenihan.

“In 2015 we had a great run to reach the Reserve Cup final where we were defeated by an excellent Killarney Celtic side but the run brought plenty of excitement to the area.

“Overall great memories with great lads. Stories of how Kieran Flynn and Jason Giles marked each other in a Milltown versus Keel football match in the morning and had a disagreement over ‘a disputed point’ but a couple of hours later both lads were celebrating together after a Castlemaine United victory. Great stories and loads of good memories.

“I became involved in coaching young players in recent years and it was great to see our under 16 team that I coached winning a league title. We didn’t win too much silverware at senior level in my playing days but we very proud of reaching two Greyhound Bar Cup semi-finals.

“It has been very pleasing to see the team going well this season and if the league resumes again after COVID-19 we will be hoping to try and make it to the league final. Going into the future I would like to see the club improve and expand their facilities and put a lot of emphasis on promoting schoolboy soccer.

“We have a great committee running the club and they always have the interests of the players at heart.”