PELLY-SELVAGE CUP & BUTLER-HAMMOND MEDAL

Introduced in 2021, the great rivalry of the SQAFA era is relived in the first clash of the season between the Mt Gravatt Vultures & Sherwood Magpies, where the winner takes home the ‘Pelly-Selvage’ Cup and the Best on Ground awarded the ‘Butler-Hammond’ medal.

During the 70’s and 80’s these proud clubs had the fiercest of rivalries. Between 1970 and 1983 Mt Gravatt & Sherwood shared all fourteen SQAFA (The Association) Premierships.

An excerpt from ‘More of the Kangaroo’…
During 1973, Mt Gravatt lost only two ‘home-and-away’ games and they were well on their way to their third consecutive flag. Charlie Tipungwuti arrived at the Vultures from the Tiwi Islands and he set the competition alight. The Vultures dismantled Sherwood by 83 points in the 1973 Second Semi-Final. After Sherwood had regrouped to make the Grand Final, the Magpies announced in the lead up to the big game that two of their forwards, Ken Kassulke and Ken Tolleneare, would be interstate and therefore unavailable. Long term Magpie player, coach and supporter, Kev Kluver revealed what happened on Grand Final Day in 1973: ‘We smuggled [Kassulke and Tolleneare] into the ground, and at that stage you didn’t have to have the team sheet in until quarter-time. So the team ran on and within thirty seconds of the start Tolleneare and Kassulke ran off the bench. And that’s where we won the Grand Final. The Mt Gravatt blokes just lost it. We finished up winning it by four points’.

Dennis Pelly…
An excerpt from ‘Vale Denis Pelly 1949-2019’.
Denis had a distinguished AFL career playing in the QAFL with Mayne AFC from 1970-1976.
In 1977 Denis built a home in Rochedale and was approached to join the Mt Gravatt Football Club hoping that his proximity to Club would get him “over the line”. It did, the signing of Denis was a coup for Mt Gravatt and their prized recruit delivered big time, winning multiple Club best and fairest’s, a Competition best and fairest, and saw him playing in Grand Finals in 1978,79,80,81 and 82.
Denis was a member of the famous Mt Gravatt victory over Coorparoo when SQAFA clubs Mt Gravatt and Sherwood were invited to participate in the QAFL pre-season competition. The victory by Mt Gravatt over Coorparoo spawned the famous cry “Coopa who?” that can still be heard around our club to this day.
Many games against arch rivals Sherwood involved titanic centre man clashes between Denis and the Magpies Greg Butler. These clashes were season highlights and were as good as anything on offer in the QAFL at the time. These two tough, talented hard heads going at it hammer and tongs were always a delight to watch.
The Mt Gravatt Football Club recognises and honours Denis Pelly, a former player and mate, a man who represented our Club with distinction and is richly deserving of the respect that Club members, fellow team mates, and opponents so rightly bestow upon him.

Mitch Hammond…
Mitch began his time at the Vultures in the Under 15s in 1968. Graduating quickly to the senior ranks, he quickly earned a reputation as a hard, skilful, reliable defender that saw him play in the 1972 and 1974 premiership sides. Mitch was also a member of the 1983 premiership side that defeated Aspley.
Mitch was involved in the Mt Gravatt juniors over a long period, coaching and managing sides over many years. His two sons Nick and Ryan played junior footy at the Vultures and the family tradition continues to this day with Ryan still having a run in the Friday night QFA side.
After finally hanging up the boots Mitch coached the Reserves before becoming involved at committee level filling the roles of Secretary, Vice President and President over many years. Mitch is also a Life Member.

Warren Selvage...

Warren Selvage was a local Sherwood lad attending Sherwood State School when he began his footy journey with Sherwood. He went onto attend Churchie, but continued to play footy at Sherwood progressing to the senior team for his first senior game in 1972. His father Ian Selvage was President for 10 years, and his mother Ailsa was also a strong supporter of the club. The club Honour Boards are known as the Ian & Ailsa Selvage Memorial Honour Boards after they were sadly lost in a car accident in the 1980’s.

After making his debut in 1972, Warren went on to have remarkable success in senior football with Sherwood, playing in 9 Premiership sides (1973 and 1975-82) playing Mt Gravatt in the Grand Final in 6 of those victories. Selvage was also the Captain/Coach of the team for his final two Sherwood Senior Premierships in 1981 and 1982 before moving to North Queensland for work commitments. Selvage continued his involvement in football in Townsville, Cairns and later on the Sunshine Coast as well. He added a further 2 senior Premierships in Townsville playing for the Currajong Blues before also being part of the setup of the Northshore Jets on the Sunshine Coast, serving as a committee member of the Maroochydore Roos and was a member of the AFL Queensland Advisory Board for South East Queensland Juniors (President 2013-2016) and in 2018 was awarded the AFLQ Merit Award, which is the highest honour awarded to volunteers who have provided 10 or more years of outstanding service to community football.

One of three Selvage brothers to play at Sherwood, Warren was a tough, hard nosed and tight checking defender, able to shut down the absolute best players of his era, he was quick, strong, disciplined and described as the ultimate teammate by those who played with him, no finer compliment could be given.

Greg Butler...

Greg Butler was the eldest of 10 children, all of whom played at Sherwood. There were 7 brothers, while the 3 sisters also played in the Womens team in the 70s. Greg was an absolute natural, representing QLD all through his junior career in u12s, u15s and u17s as well as in Senior Football. After an illustrious junior career at Sherwood, he moved to Melbourne due to work commitments and played with Richmond u19s alongside the likes of Dale Weightman, Mark Lee and other future household names.

Returning to Brisbane in 1978, Butler was straight back to Sherwood where he played in the 1978,79 and 80 Senior Premierships, including winning the Best & Fairest in 1978 and 1979 in a champion Sherwood Team. 1980 was a most unusual year for many Sherwood Footballers, with many of them winning 3 Senior Premierships in the one season. For years both Sherwood and Mt Gravatt were continually denied entry in the QAFL, despite Mt Gravatt defeating Premiers Coorparoo in the pre-season competition, and Sherwood going one better and winning the QAFL Pre-Season competition accounting for all of the leading QAFL teams of the era. In 1980, a quirk in the SQAFA and QAFL draw allowed for some players who were willing, able and good enough to play in both competitions and Kedron were smart enough to recruit 9 players from the champion Sherwood side who would play SQAFA Football for Sherwood on Saturday and QAFL for Kedron on Sunday. As a result, Butler and 8 of his Sherwood teammates won the 1980 QAFL Pre-Season Cup for Sherwood, the SQAFA Senior Premiership for Sherwood and also played for Kedron to complete the trifecta and win the QAFL Premiership as well. In 1981 this loophole was closed and with Butler now residing in the northern suburbs, he went on to play a further 200 QAFL games for Kedron through the 1980s, continued to play for QLD and was a champion player of Queensland footy in the era. Butler was widely respected by all he played with against, highly skilled and tough and carried himself with great character both on and off the field.

Results

2025 - Sherwood 15.22.112 defeated Mt Gravatt 5.8.38. Luke Mitchell (Sh) was awarded BOG.

2024 - Sherwood 20.21.141 defeated Mt Gravatt 6.4.40. Ethan Harris (Sh) was awarded BOG.

2023 - Mt Gravatt 13.21.99 defeated Sherwood 8.4.52. Jake Torney (MtG) was awarded BOG.

2022 - Mt Gravatt 17.11.113 defeated Sherwood 13.15.93. Todd Carbone (MtG) was awarded BOG.

2021 - Mt Gravatt 12.12.84 defeated Sherwood 9.16.70. Craig Malone (MtG) was awarded BOG.