Omnia   

humeAS A boy growing up on a farm at Walbundrie in the NSW Riverina, footy was everything to Matt Fowler.
IN the 1970s, John Burns was as dynamic a midfielder as anyone in Australian football.
moeAS A kid growing up in Moe, the local recreation reserve was Frank Goode's home away from home.
castertonIT'S been years since Western District football legend Reg Burgess retired, but his old mates still refer to him as "Your Royal Highness".
KDFLHe played in 18 final series in two decades... not bad for a bloke known universally as ‘Skinny'...  Much-travelled Ian ‘Skinny' Shiner was one of bush football's lucky ones. He played in 18 final series in 20 years of senior footy. Particularly cherished was his involvement in back-to-back Kyabram & District flags with Avenel in 1978-79, the club's first successes since the Great Depression.

‘In ‘78 we went unbeaten all season,' Shiner said. ‘We were all country lads and got together at the right time. The town had been starved for success for so long. The footy was the biggest thing in town. No-one really got near us all year, though in the Grand Final (against Lancaster) we were four goals down at three-quarter time and ended up winning by six. Our coach was taking to us at that last break and one of the boys winked at me. He wasn't paying a skerrick of notice. The moment I saw that wink I knew we were going to win. We had that mentality that we could win from anywhere.'

A relief officer for Australia Post, Shiner was shuffled from town to town and would wander down to the local footy club and ask if he could have a run. ‘I ended up playing finals in all but two of my 20 seasons,' he said. ‘I just got lucky. No matter where I was posted, we ended up having a pretty good year.'

He played in 11 Grand Finals for four flags including the big double at Avenel, the highlight of his 12 playing years there. Previously he'd played at Woodend, Donald, Kyneton and Seymour.

After his playing days ended at 36, he became secretary and president at Avenel and his sons Justin and Ricky each played 100-plus games there.

Asked to name his favorite player over the years, he said it was a one-horse race. ‘Definitely Ian "Bluey" Shelton,' he said. ‘He was an Avenel boy when he started and he finished up there too, in between having all those terrific years at Essendon. Sometimes when these guys finish up and come back to coach in the bush they're not worth two bob. But Bluey was straight as a gun barrel and had real presence on and off the field. He'd been a tough player in Melbourne but he just played footy in the bush. Blokes would try and snipe him and he'd let it all go. They played for sheep stations down there, but not up here.'

Shelton was also responsible for Shiner's nickname. ‘I was leaning against the door of the change rooms at Seymour one day and Bluey came along, picked me up with one arm and said: "Get out of the way skinny". I was only 12 stone (76 kg) at the time. Skinny I was and Skinny I have remained!'

• Excerpts from Football Legends of the Bush, Ken Piesse's 64th book, just published by Penguin.

Prolific sports writer KEN PIESSE's new book FOOTBALL LEGENDS OF THE BUSH has just been published. It features home town heroes and those who came and conquered. An ‘A to Z' town by town list of every important player to play at VFL/AFL level is also included. For more, visit Ken's website www.cricketbooks.com.au

By Ken Piesse

Article first appeared www.vcfl.com.au August 24, 2011

HFLA drop of ‘Bundy' can work wonders especially at wind-swept Warrnambool when your side needs a lift....
There's nothing like a drop of ‘Bundy' to combat the chilling Warrnambool wind and inspire a famous act or two. Ask Stewart Lord, captain-coach of Camperdown's two thrilling Hampden League premierships in 1968 and 1970.

His trump forward Graeme Langsworth, a 70 goal a season man who had played at Essendon reserves, had gone virtually kickless in the first three quarters of the '68 Grand Final.

At the final break with the premiership in the balance, Camperdown president Alan McIntyre passed a small bottle of rum in a brown bag to Langsworth. ‘Here Langer,' he said, ‘have a swig of this. It might do you some good.'

Suitably warmed, Langsworth kicked three inspiring goals in the last quarter, including the clinchers from opposite boundary edges as Camperdown kicked clear of a tenacious Terang to win their first flag since another ex-Cat Norman Sharp had triumphed against arch rivals Cobden in 1951.

‘I just got lucky,' said Langsworth, who normally drank only beer. ‘I'd hardly touched the ball in the lead-up. It was a freezing day. I just couldn't get warm.'
Two Grand Finals later, Camperdown was clinging to the narrowest of three quarter time leads against hot fancies Mortlake, Lord in shut down mentality as his team was kicking into a brisk four goal wind.

‘No-one thought we could win that year,' said Lord. ‘We'd come from fourth. Peter Lyon was coaching Mortlake and he had a champion side. (Twin brother) Alistair had beaten them in the previous grannie (in 1969) by a point. They were cherry ripe for the flag they'd gone so close to winning the year before.

‘We had a very young side who were good listeners and tried to put into practice everything I said. The wind always blew from Port Fairy to Warrnambool, but this day it was coming from the east (the opposition direction). We were four points up at the last change and kicking to the City end against this big breeze.

I dropped our two ruckmen and myself across the half-back line and see if we could keep them out.

The South Warrnambool ground had a slope of six or seven feet with a bike track going right around it. It was easy to box sides out if you knew what pockets to keep them in.

Gathering his players in close, Lord said: ‘We can win this... if you do as I tell you and play as I want you to play and kick where I want you to kick.'

Just as the huddle was breaking up, he motioned Langsworth over and said he'd won one Grand Final for the club. He could do it again.

Legend has it that Langsworth had another swig of rum, to put a bit more pep into his step, but he truly can't remember.

Within minutes, Mortlake had forged to the front. It was looking black for Camperdown coming into time-on when the ball finally crossed its centre line and Langsworth, virtually kickless all day, bravely split a pack like he was Alan ‘Bull' Richardson, Matty's Dad, and kicked a magnificent running goal to re-wrest the lead, triggering a joyous volley of car horns from the Leura Oval embankments.

‘The game was on the line. We were behind. Stewart had moved himself back into defence. Someone had to do something,' said Langsworth, a Collingwood six-footer. ‘The ball was there. I saw it and just went for it. It's one of those favorite moments you live and re-live.'

At Essendon John Coleman had tried to turn the lightly-built Langsworth into a defender but with the half-back line of Barry Davis, Ian Shelton and Alec Epis, one of the greatest ever, he couldn't crack it into the senior side. Only once in his two years at Windy Hill was he ever made an emergency for the firsts. On return to Hampden football, opposing full-backs like Koroit potato farmer Des Keane and Coragulac's equally-tough Graham Kerr were always looking to make mincemeat of him.

It was a heart-stopping finish. The quarter went 34 minutes. There was stoppage after stoppage and finally the siren sounded, with Camperdown two points ahead. Lord was engulfed. His tactics had won the day. Only two goals were kicked all quarter. Lord cherishes his two Camperdown flags alongside his brother's Brownlow in 1962 and Geelong's famous ‘63 premiership.

Asked about the judicious use of rum every now and again to gee up his players, Lord said: ‘When it got very cold, the trainers at Geelong used to slip a nip of the doings into the bottles at three quarter time. You read history and the boys in the trenches would sometimes have a nip before they went over the top. Graeme wasn't a drinker. He told me at our last reunion he didn't know at the time what he'd had, but it certainly did the trick for us. He's a big part of our history.'

 

Prolific sports writer KEN PIESSE's new book FOOTBALL LEGENDS OF THE BUSH has just been published. It features home town heroes and those who came and conquered. An ‘A to Z' town by town list of every important player to play at VFL/AFL level is also included. For more, visit Ken's website www.cricketbooks.com.au


• Excerpts from Football Legends of the Bush, Ken Piesse's 64th book, just published by Penguin.

Article first appeared www.vcfl.com.au August 17, 2011

EDFLHe was in his club's 'Team of the Decade' three decades in a row... not possible you say? Read on! 
ELLINBANK'S ICON - Gippsland dairy farmer Russell Pratt played against many stars-on-the-rise including Tommy Alvin and Kelvin Templeton who went on to illustrious careers in Melbourne and beyond.

While he stayed home to work, he built his own remarkable niche at Ellinbank and Buln Buln, winning a dozen best and fairests and being involved in 10 premierships as a player and coach.

‘I've always loved my footy,' Pratt said. ‘Dad loved it and two of my brothers played a heap of games, too.

An extraordinary feat of his, unique in bush football annals, is that he is a playing member of three Ellinbank Teams of the Decade for the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s.

In all he played more than 400 game at Ellinbank, including 328 in the seniors in three different stints punctuated by seasons at Buln Buln, Warragul and Yarragon.

He originally left Ellinbank in 1977, having been considered too young to be senior coach. He crossed to Buln Buln along with his younger brother Ken and promptly coached two winning Grand Final sides against his old club!

The first flag was particularly sweet as Ellinbank had thrashed Buln Buln in the second-semi final. ‘These were the days of the final four and they had a week off while we played. We had blokes coming back from injury and suspension who had been under-done in the second-semi. By Grand Final day they were cherry ripe again. It helped us playing the extra match.' In 1981, he figured in a third flag at Buln Buln where he played 96 of a possible 98 games.

In his outstanding country career, Pratt once kicked 10 goals in a game and even played in a winning side when his team kicked just 1.2! ‘That was an ever-so-cold, wet day at "Dusties" (Warragul Industrials). One of our blokes had played in the seconds earlier that day and by half-time he was frozen stiff so we told him to go and have a shower and warm, up a bit. Only two goals were scored all day!'

One of Pratt's premierships, aged 42, came the day after his father had died. He came on off the reserves bench and dominated. ‘Dad would have wanted me to play. It was a Grand Final after all,' he said.

Pratt loved the competition of football so much that he played into his 50s. ‘At 50 I coached them to a flag in the reserves and they got me to play one more year after that,' he said.

Opponents said few were as determined to win as much as Pratt. He wasn't overly fast but could mark the ball strongly and was an expert reader of the play.

Like many of his age he wishes for more contests at AFL level and says country football is a more ‘pure' game, the way football should be played. ‘They're more athletes now than footballers at AFL level. It has all changed,' he said.

Prolific sports writer KEN PIESSE's new book FOOTBALL LEGENDS OF THE BUSH has just been published. It features home town heroes and those who came and conquered. An ‘A to Z' town by town list of every important player to play at VFL/AFL level is also included. For more, visit Ken's website www.cricketbooks.com.au

Article first published www.vcfl.com.au 09 August, 2011

CFCWas Castlemaine high-flyer Steven Oliver the ultimate home town hero? Football expert Ken Piesse thinks so...

Hometown Hero
Castlemaine's Steven Oliver remains just about the ultimate hometown hero.

Four times he kicked 100 goals in a season, including 22 in one match, triggering a flood of offers from big city clubs. But other than two short stints at Carlton, he played virtually all his football back home at Castlemaine at ‘The Camp'.

‘Country life has always been more agreeable,' he says. ‘Always has been, always will.'

The father-of-three was also an outstanding teenage cricketer and golfer. He played his maiden first XI matches at Essendon at 16 and won his local golf club championship at 17. ‘I simply didn't like the city,' he said. ‘There was lots of talk (to stay) but I made the decision to return home. It's just the way it was. It wasn't a stellar career, no, but I don't regret any decisions along the way. I'm lucky to have done what I've done.'

His biggest goal hauls were 147 in 1992 and 135 in 2000, both premiership years.

‘In 1992 we had a fantastic side, a lot of local born-and-bred juniors. We were all mates and still are. It was the club's first premiership in 40 years.' Among the team's stars were Brent Crosswell's son, Tom Kavanagh and Paul Starbuck who both played AFL.

‘We had a phenomenal year that year and the Grand Final was a particularly great game,' he said. ‘We'd thrashed Eaglehawk in the second semi and then Golden Square beat them in the preliminary to earn another shot at us. We'd blown sides away most weeks that year and had lost only a couple of games, but they really took it up to us and gave us a good game all day. I still remember the last hectic few minutes. It was tooing and froing from one half-back line to the other. It went down to the wire (Castlemaine winning by a kick).'

In the 2000 play-off, Oliver was held goal-less in a narrow 12 point win against Kangaroo Point, the Bendigo ‘Roos having 26 scoring shots to 23.

Having kicked 1000 Bendigo League goals, Oliver finished as a playing-coach with district club Newstead but said his body was fast breaking down and he was unable to repeat the signature leaping which made him such a favorite at Castlemaine.

He'd learnt to mark in his backyard battles with his brothers, Ben and Tom. ‘I was reasonably athletic and we all used to try and take speckies. Basically I was always beating up on my brothers. It was lucky for me they were younger.'

Both his father Charlie and his brothers were also excellent sportsmen, Ben playing representative cricket for both Tasmania and Victoria.

Prolific sports writer KEN PIESSE will next week release his new book FOOTBALL LEGENDS OF THE BUSH. It features home town heroes and those who came and conquered. An ‘A to Z' town by town list of every important player to play at VFL/AFL level is also included. For more, visit Ken's website www.cricketbooks.com.au

• Excerpts from Football Legends of the Bush, Ken Piesse's 64th book, published by Penguin this week.

Article first appeared www.vcfl.com.au 26 July, 2011

MFLDon't you believe it, as Finley's newly-appointed, keen to achieve captain-coach Ken Shaw was to find out...Ken Shaw had just been appointed Finley's new captain-coach (1957) and keen to impress, he listened to all sorts of advice. Finley was playing top-notchers Cobram, coached by ex-Kangaroo Les Mogg from St Pat's, Ballarat. Pre-match, one of his teammates, Ray Brooks, suggested to Shaw that Mogg was soft and could easily be knocked off his game.

OOPS (1)
From the opening bounce, Shaw was into him, cuffing, scruffing and generally trying to take Mogg's mind off immediate business. When he continued his tactics into the second quarter, Mogg let fly with a back-handed forearm which collected Shaw straight across the bridge of his nose. A bloodied Shaw wasn't sure who to be angrier with... Mogg or teammate Brooks, who had known more than he'd let on!

Mogg said it was the only time in almost 20 years as a player that he deliberately hit anyone. ‘If he hadn't stopped me from going for the ball I wouldn't have worried about it,' he said.

‘But he was holding me back and I didn't think it was on. I got him absolutely flush. I knew I had because I could hear the bones in his nose breaking! Funnily enough we became pretty good mates after that!'

Mogg was to win four flags in his seven years as Cobram's coach including three in a row from 1959-61. During his leadership reign, the Tigers won an unprecedented 35 games on end. Returning in 1984 as non-playing coach, he won another.

Asked the secrets of his success, he said: ‘I learnt early in the piece you get good people around you and you sit back. Good coaching is largely to do with the talent you have. You don't have to be super smart. You help them to do their best and to help each other.

The influence of coaches is overrated. You just have to look at the records of successful coaches when they do go to lower clubs to see that.'

OOPS (2)

Finley was playing Numurkah late in the '82 season. It hadn't been beaten in 36 matches.

After Finley won the toss, the start was delayed while each Finley player had black armguards fitted in memory of club stalwart Phyllis Thornton.

Captain Mark Newton took his place in the forward line and the rest of the team fell into their respective positions. As so often happened in Murray League football of that era, Finley's spring-heeled ruckman Michael Hawkins judged the first bounce perfectly, immediately involving rover Mark O'Bryan.

Dashing clear ‘The Pup' delivered towards the fast-leading full forward Darren Jackson. The pass was a little high and spilled over Jackson's head into the hands of a Numurkah player who calmly snapped the ball over his shoulder straight through the hi-diddle-diddle!

Newton and the Finley players were looking at each other in bewilderment.

What was going on?

Yes, they'd all lined-up in the wrong positions!

All 36 players were hell bent on getting the ball through the same set of goals!

It set a trend for the game. While the Finley forwards then did take their proper places, the die had been caste. Numurkah won the game and Finley's great run of wins was over.

• Prolific sports writer KEN PIESSE is set to release his new book FOOTBALL LEGENDS OF THE BUSH on August 1. It features home town heroes and those who came and conquered. An ‘A to Z' town by town list of every important player to play at VFL/AFL level is also included. For more, visit Ken's website www.cricketbooks.com.au

Article first appeared www.vcfl.com.au July 19, 2011

GFLThere has been no finer month in Warragul history, triggered Rob Ballingall says, by unwavering belief and a fitness level to rival any VFL team.

Self belief is an amazingly powerful weapon. Warragul had limped into the Latrobe Valley finals in 1984, without defeating any of the fancied teams in the premiership race. Yet coach Graeme Gahan insisted that the team's best would be good enough and Warragul steamrolled the opposition in one of the emphatic September campaigns in Gippsland history.

‘Graeme insisted that we had to believe in ourselves, no matter what,' said captain Rob ‘Bingle' Ballingall. ‘We were massive underdogs going in, yet ended up beating Morwell in the first-semi by 52 points, Leongatha in the preliminary by 44 and then Traralgon in the Grannie by 83 points. It was an amazing month for us.'

Ballingall, a 600-game centreman, dined out on the rucking dominance of ex-Sandringham giant John ‘Super' McNicholas who was among the best afield on Grand Final at Moe.

‘We were a good honest team on a bit of a roll,' Ballingall said. ‘We were also very fit. On the Tuesday night before the Grand Final, we did 20 or 30 two hundred metre sprints in the dark. We'd done it in the lead-up to the finals and we did more and more of them the further we advanced. We had plenty of run in our legs!'

Logan Park was used for the Warragul dogs and trots, the players training in the centre part with floodlights the equal of the MCG. But come 7 pm and the first race, they had to be off, so would go out the back onto a smaller oval and complete their extra fitness work.

Of McNicholas' dominance, he said: ‘The first day big John turned up and was introduced as our new ruckman, he looked like a Mac truck,' said Ballingall. ‘He couldn't jump or run but he could take a mark and tap the ball out to you. He was a great protector too. He dominated for us throughout that final's campaign.'

Ballingall said Warragul fielded its best team at the right time and while Grand Final opponents Traralgon included country stars like Russell Northe and Peter Hall, Warragul's brilliant start was crucial. ‘In each of those three finals, we kicked seven or eight goals in the first quarter. We got on a roll allright,' he said.

It was the most memorable September in Ballingall's 35 years in the game. It's also the only Grand Final he ever won, ‘out of 30-something finals'. The day was made even sweeter as his younger brother Michael captained the seconds to a flag.

‘In my first five years at Warragul I reckon we went out of it five times in a row the very first week, so it was a great day all round for us,' he said.

Simon Hogan was best and fairest that year while Steve Dunkley kicked six in the Grand Final. Peter Quirk was best on the ground from the 16-stone rucking giant McNicholas and Ian Twite.

The team was:
B.: Tony Nott, Peter Risstrom, Ian Dunn
H.B.: Alex Morrison, Fred DeReiter Peter Quirk
C.; Trevor Smith, Robert Ballingall, Peter Ross
H.F.: Simon Hogan, Stephen Hodge, Mark Ridgway
F.; Howard Cropley, Steve Dunkley, Michael Vick
Rucks: John McNicholas, Ian Twite
Rov: Alan Ross
Interchange: Terry Kilday, Chris Ayres

Scottish-born Ballingall played 376 games at Warragul and another 200-plus with Ellinbank. Originally he'd been keener on soccer and played for years when he first arrived in Australia as a 10-year-old. Other than a brief stint with Hawthorn reserves in 1981, alongside up-and-comers including Gary Ablett and Dermott Brereton, Ballingall played all his footy in the bush, his distinguished CV including six senior best and fairests at Warragul and selection in the first Victorian Country representative team which played against the ACT in Canberra in 1980.

Prolific sports writer KEN PIESSE is set to release his new book FOOTBALL LEGENDS OF THE BUSH on August 1. It features home town heroes and those who came and conquered. An ‘A to Z' town by town list of every important player to play at VFL/AFL level is also included. For more, visit Ken's website www.cricketbooks.com.au

• Excerpts from Football Legends of the Bush, Ken Piesse's 64th book, being published by Penguin on August 1.

Article first appeared www.vcfl.com.au July 12, 2011