With the annual Round 1 clash with traditional rivals the Mt Gravatt Vultures – Sherwood AFC are delighted to announce that next weeks home game will see the inaugural contesting of the Pelly Selvage Cup, to be awarded to the winning team and the Butler Hammond Medal for the best player on the ground in the Round 1 encounter.

This perpetual trophy and perpetual medal recognise legends of both clubs in Warren Selvage, Dennis Pelly, Greg Butler and Mitch Hammond.    Pelly and Hammond represent the Vultures and were both highly respected opponents of the Magpies during decorated playing careers. In fact Dennis Pelly and Greg Butler were on field rivals, but remained firm friends for many years after their careers and Butler was one of many attendees at the funeral of Dennis Pelly in 2019. A quote from the ‘Vale Dennis Pelly’ article upon his passing referenced the strong rivalry with Butler.

“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.”

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. 

Dennis Pelly and Mitch Hammond

Dennis Pelly was a close rival and great mate of Greg Butler during and after their playing careers, Pelly was widely respected by all at Sherwood and during his time at Mayne where he was a Runner Up in the Grogan Medal, he was also coached by Sherwood Legend Kevin Kluver and was a member of Mayne’s 1973 QAFL Premiership team. Mitch Hammond was one of the fiercest, yet most respected rivals of Warren Selvage and a quality representative of the Mt Gravatt Vultures.