John McMonigle, the lanky, shy, 6’4” gentle-giant who became an Ovens and Murray ruck star, passed away recently, aged 87.
Old-timers recall ‘Long John’ playing a significant role in the great Wangaratta Rovers teams of the late-fifties.
Rovers’ coach Bob Rose engineered a recruiting coup when he enticed McMonigle and his Glenrowan team-mates Neil McLean and Pat Tully to try their luck at the W.J.Findlay Oval in 1957.
The trio became crucial members of the Hawks’ first-ever premiership the following year – Tully as a dogged, long-kicking hard-hitting full back…..McLean as an agile left-footed, adaptable half-forward……and McMonigle as a tower of strength in the ruck…….
The big fellah almost didn’t make the ‘58 Grand Final……A nagging foot injury, which had troubled him for several weeks, cast a cloud over his availability…….As a last resort, Club Doctor Matt Rohan talked him into having some pain-killing injections, which enabled him to get through the big game……
He controlled the ruck duels against Wodonga’s Tom Awburn and Percy Appleyard, as the Rovers ran away in the last half, to win by 49 points…..
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John McMonigle was a mere 18 year-old when he played in the first of three successive Grand Finals for Glenrowan in 1954.
The Tigers hadn’t won a flag since 1925, but under the guidance of Mac Hill – a Wangaratta school-teacher, former Collingwood player and football guru – they recruited strongly and took out the Benalla & District League title the following year.
McMonigle had a big spring, and could palm or punch the ball with equal dexterity, to wherever required …
Legend has it that, in a match at Devenish, his punch from the centre bounce landed in the hands of Glenrowan forward flanker Maurie Webb…….Perhaps unsighted, the umpire unwittingly blew the whistle for a mark…..It was to become a trademark of his ruckwork….
John was so dominant that O & M football was destined to be his pathway……But even then, it took a considerable amount of persuasion for him to leave the clutches of his home club…….
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Bob Rose believed that, had he so desired, the Rovers’ number 24 could have undoubtedly played League football.
His tight-knit family and his passion for bee-keeping, which had been handed down through three generations, were among the reasons he gave for rejecting St.Kilda’s approaches when they pursued him in 1959.
Instead, he helped the Rovers to another Grand Final – a hard-fought affair against Yarrawonga – which is regarded as one of the greatest of all-time – in which John’s opposite number, burly Alf O’Connor, snapped the clincher in the dying seconds.
One of the finest of his 52 O & M games came in the 1960 decider, when he waged a great battle with former St.Kilda ruckman Lindsay Cooke, and helped power the Hawks to a convincing 23-point triumph over Wodonga.
With that, the boy from Glenrowan faded from the scene, preferring the serenity of tending to his bee-hives in the bush, as opposed to being caught up in the hurly-burly of football……
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He continued on, however, with his cricket career, which had also been nurtured at Glenrowan………His height enabled him to extract good bounce from the pitch and his ability to ‘wobble’ the ball in the air made him one of the Wangaratta Social competition’s premier fast bowlers.
A fellow Apiarist and fine leader, Lynton Briggs, was in charge of The Glen at the time……..During a period of transition, during which they changed their name to United, they took out the 1960/61 WSCA premiership.
After stepping up to the Wangaratta & District Cricket Association the following season, United’s Grand Final defeat to Rovers ( in which John captured 3/29 ) was to prove the forerunner to a period of dominance by the club during the sixties and seventies.
In 1963/64, McMonigle’s 3/34 against Rovers helped United to the first of their 10 WDCA flags as a stand-alone club, whilst his brother Graeme top-scored with 119……..
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Veteran Rovers fans often reflected, when the name of ‘Long John’ McMonigle was raised, that there’d probably never again be such a laid-back footballer……until, that is, his eldest son Neale arrived on the scene in the late-seventies.
‘Big Macca’ fobbed off accusations of nonchalance and unpredictability, to become a 108-game, 377-goal, dual-premiership Hawk star…..adding further lustre to the McMonigle football tradition……
ON REFLECTION 