STRONG AFL success and a high public profile have done nothing to dull Adelaide Crows Football Club player Bernie Vince's strong connection to the country.
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The talented midfielder remains a regular visitor to his hometown of Stansbury. Trips often include supporting his original football club, Curramulka Minlaton Stansbury Crows.
Bernie made it to the Yorke Peninsula Football League Round 10 game against Central Yorke Cougars at Stansbury in June where he volunteered to be a runner for the CMS Crows.
Bernie played for the CMS Crows junior team until 2003 when he was recruited into the senior team at the age of 17 and became part of the A-grade Premiership team - awarded third best on ground.
He finished his senior years of schooling at Prince Alfred College, where he played First 18 football, after which he was recruited to play for the Woodville-West Torrens SANFL reserve side while studying at Roseworthy, which he later gave up to focus on football.
During this time he played his last games for the CMS Crows after being temporarily dropped from The Eagles' reserves side.
"So I went over to YP and played there for a while," Bernie said.
Bernie was eventually given a chance to return to The Eagles and play in the midfield, and at the end of the 2005 season he was recruited to play in the senior SANFL side, playing three finals including in the grand final loss against the Central Bulldogs.
He was then picked as draft 32 by the AFC and had his AFL debut in round one against Collingwood in the 2006 season.
*Full report in Stock Journal, July 11 issue, 2013.
