Yarrawonga football legend Craig Ednie will be inducted into the Ovens and Murray Hall of Fame on Wednesday, July 24 at the SSS&A Club Albury.
“It’s a great honour, something I’m a little shocked and embarrassed about,” the champion onballer rover told the Yarrawonga Chronicle.
“It’s good recognition for what I have probably achieved but it’s certainly not something I played for – to be in the Hall of Fame.”
A club Life Member, Ednie played 226 games with the Pigeons including three premierships, won five best and fairest awards, a league Morris Medal, A Did Simpson Medal and a Norm Minns Medal for best afield in interleague.
Ednie, 42, played seven AFL games with Richmond in 2002.
An electrician, he coached Yarrawonga from 2008 to 2010, and, after the electrician sparked coaching Rennie to premierships in 2017 and 2018, is back at Pigeonland in his second year as assistant coach to Steve Johnson.
Ednie loved his time in the Ovens and Murray league and playing with the Pigeons where his dad Russell donned the guernsey 216 times.
“Yarrawonga football club has been such a big part of my life, growing up here and playing with them for most of my life,” he said.
“The club is fantastic, I’ve loved the whole time and the support I had when I was playing. The club’s volunteers have been and are simply special people – it’s a special place.”
Two other stalwarts, from Wangaratta Rovers, will be admitted to the league’s Hall of Fame - Mick Wilson and a posthumous inductee, Mick Nolan, who was also a star at North Melbourne.
Ednie thanked the Ovens and Murray league for recognising persons they believe warrant Hall of Fame recognition. He certainly is and will join a star-studded list from Yarrawonga: in alphabetical order: Neil Davis, Pascoe Ellis, Tracy Gillies, Les Parish and Robert Tait; two who coached Yarrawonga Bob Craig and Bill Salmon.