September 1958
“…….The train trip back to Wangaratta was a slow one….Banners flew and streamers filled the air, and there was loud and sustained cheering from hundreds of fans at every station they passed…When they reached their home station they were met by the town’s brass band… The band struck up the Club’s song; they were soon joined by hundreds more fans and the whole mob marched from the station to the ground, where they were met by an even bigger crowd…….
“Over 3,000 people celebrated with their heroes…….
“The party continued for the whole week-end and was still in full swing on Monday morning…..Four bullocks were killed and barbecued and many, many kegs of beer were consumed….”
From: Bob Rose, A Dignified Life ( by Steve Strevens )
Sixty-five years later:
An assortment of old Rovers…..elderly gentlemen.……silver (or sparsely) haired.….some hobbling, favouring decrepit hips, knees and aching frames….. grin as they shake hands and fall into rowdy, cheerful, dressing-room banter.. …….
I’ve counted 25 premiership players among this gathering of around forty, ranging in age from early-seventies to early-nineties……Several are Club Hall of Famers; others wore the Brown and Gold with varying degrees of distinction…….
One of the reasons they’re here is to pay homage to the surviving members of the Rovers’ famous 1958 and ‘60 premiership teams…..
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Tony Chambeyron is one of them……A couple of strokes over recent years have curtailed the mobility of the lightly-built Stanley orchardist….. His short-term memory’s not all that flash either, but his eyes light up when he recognises a few of his old team-mates….
Tony was 21 when the lure of playing under the great Bob Rose dragged him away from the Beechworth Bombers. His knack of being able to find the footy saw him play in the mid-field in both of the flags.
“The Rovers helped him out with an FJ Holden Ute when successive apple crops were ruined by hail,” his son Paul says. “He really appreciated that…. Dad stayed on the farm all his life, and didn’t play that much after his 73 games with the Rovers…..He and mum just concentrated on the orchard, and raising us six kids……He loved it when I, and my son Ben, both came down here to play ….”
John Tanner followed a family tradition when he pulled on the Greta guernsey. His first season, he reckons, was about 1948. He was going on 15……One of his team-mates was a small, nuggety kid called Max Newth.
They both played in the Purple and Golds’ legendary 1954 Premiership win over Chiltern, in which Greta got up in the dying stages of a 45-minute last quarter….
“Two Rovers officials, Jack Maroney and Frank Hayes, called out to see me and ‘Newthy’ early in 1956, and invited us in…..”
“It was ‘Rosey’s’ first year, and they didn’t really have to twist our arms….I was only a touch over 6’0” and he slotted me in the back pocket, looking after the resting ruckmen, with an occasional run on the ball……I was opposed to a fellah named Percy Appleyard in that ‘58 Grand Final….”
John says he and ‘Newthy’ travelled in together for much of his time at the Rovers……..“We got up to a bit of skulduggery over the years…..”
He remained closely attached to Greta after returning home, but enjoyed watching his son Greg play in two flags during a fine career with the Hawks…..
Max ‘Pigsy’ Newth was just 5’6”; a rough-hewn shearer, who could be swung onto the ball, into the centre or up forward, with equal effect.
It was Bob Rose’s idea to use him as a spearhead….reasoning that, with his pace, toughness and sure hands he could hold a decided advantage over lumbering full backs.
He roved in two premierships and kicked 202 goals in 89 games…..But he says he got his comeuppance when opposed to Yarrawonga’s hard-hitting full back John ‘Oscar’ Ryan in the ‘59 Grand Final.
“I’d always suffered from asthma, but he hit me so hard he knocked it right out of me…..I never suffered from asthma from that day on.”
‘Pigsy’ later coached Greta and Tatong in a 400-game career, which concluded at the age of 40……
“His favourite trick used to be opening a long-neck with his teeth…..And he got plenty of practice,” says John Tanner.
Ray Burns had recently graduated from the Police Academy when he was transferred to Wangaratta. As a Richmond Reserves footballer he was highly sought-after by both local clubs…..”but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to play under Bob Rose”.
‘Burnsy’ was tough, durable and a big-game player; a coach’s dream, really……And if there were any opponents who needed to be softened-up, the cop with the flattened nose, spread generously across a ‘lived-in’ dial, gladly accepted the assignment.
After starring in both premiership victories, he embarked on a successful coaching career with Moyhu and Tarrawingee, returning to the Rovers as assistant coach in 1967…….
A long stint in the Pub game followed, as Licensee of Port Melbourne’s London Family, a favoured watering-hole of Wharfies, Painters and Dockers and ‘colourful identities’.
“My head was used for a football on more than one occasion….They sure kept me on my toes,” says Raymond Michael Burns, who’s now retired, back in his old home town of Shepparton…..
Les Gregory has aged gracefully……He still looks like he could run a few steady laps, even at the age of 85.
Walking straight into the Rovers side in 1957, from Milawa, via Junior Magpies, he was a football contortionist……a winger who could slip and slide, dodge and weave around opponents, then drive a sizzling drop-kick goalwards.
He was already a star when he lined up, aged 20, in the ‘58 Grand Final……Wodonga coach Des Healy played on the scintillating youngster all day…….”It took away a lot of their drive, because Healy was more intent on nullifying Les…” Bob Rose later reflected.
Rose was a huge Gregory fan, believing he had all the attributes to become a top League winger.
He went down to St.Kilda on match permits, and played promisingly enough in three Saint victories……”When the permits had expired, Rosey rang me: “Are you happy down there ?”….”Not really,” I replied…….”Well, we’d love to have you back…..”
He played in three further premierships, in amassing 186 games, before hanging up his boots….
Ronnie Macklan had enjoyed a dream debut season, fresh from Junior League club Imperials, when he was selected on the bench for the 1958 Grand Final, in his 11th senior game.
The 17 year-old blonde-haired rover had fought his way back from a mid-season jaw injury, and his promising performances saw him voted the Club’s Best First-Year Player…….Unfortunately a few injury set-backs in subsequent years stilted his progress, limiting him to just 30 senior games, before he headed out to Moyhu in 1964…..
Bob Watson’s school-teaching travels had connected him to a few Clubs, including Geelong West, Tatura and Myrtleford ( where he won a Best & Fairest ) before lobbing at the Rovers in 1958.
“I sat on the bench for a couple of weeks, early on, and approached ‘Rosey’…..I said: ‘Look Bob, this isn’t doing anybody any good…..I need a bit of game-time’……”I thought he’d put me in the eighteen next week, but instead I’ve spent the next nine weeks in the Seconds !…..”
“My form must have been alright because I won the Seconds B & F……Luckily, I got promoted on the eve of the Finals…”
Watson played in two flags, and two losing Grand Finals, before moving on to Koo Wee Rup. He finished his career as coach of Greta.
Don Ellison’s footy journey began at South Bendigo ( where he played in a flag in 1956 ), on to Yarrawonga, then to the Rovers in 1958.
“The President at the time, Jack Turner, arranged a job for me at Holdensen-Neilson’s Butter Factory and I was boarding with the family of one of my team-mates, John ‘Slab’ Frawley,” Don recalls.
“I was 23, and life was one big adventure…..I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to be lining up on a back flank in this team of stars….”
Ellison’s luck with premierships continued the following season, when he returned to Yarrawonga and played in their dramatic Grand Final win over the Hawks…..He’s one of only three surviving Pigeons from Billy Stephens’ team.
“I had a few years with Myrtleford, then coached Bright in 1965…..We lost nine games by less than a goal…..Fair dinkum, I was the worst coach ever….., “
He still resides in Myrtleford, and is recuperating after a spell in Hospital : “The old ticker’s playing up a bit these days,” quips the 88 year-old.
Neil McLean’s life as an academic took him around the world, but he still has fond recollections of his 71-game career with the Rovers.
He was recruited from Glenrowan, as a 6’1”, 16 year-old in 1957 and found his niche on a half forward flank.
“I remember playing on a former South Melbourne player, Don Star, in that ‘58 Grand Final……I got roughed up early on, and Ray Burns came to my rescue, thankfully…..”
Neil also played in the 1960 premiership……Whilst studying in Melbourne he would return home each week-end.
He hit a rich vein of form when Richmond recruited him in the early sixties…… “I was best-afield in the Reserves and was touted to make my VFL debut the following week. But fate intervened. I fell over the top of a pack at training and injured my knee…..That was that, virtually….”
He played for BFL club Ballarat whilst doing an Arts-Teaching Degree in the old mining town…..then began studying for the Ministry……After spending 20 years in England as a Professor of I.T, he returned to Australia 1989, and still resides in Wollongong………
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Roley Marklew served an ‘apprenticeship on the run’ when thrust into the Senior side mid-way through 1960……He was just 16 ( a Collingwood six-footer ) and was tried in a variety of positions, as the Hawks marched into the finals, four games clear of second team, Wodonga.
In just his ninth game, Marklew experienced premiership success……Huge expectations were placed on the adaptable youngster…..He battled to cope, and headed out to Tarrawingee for three seasons.
He returned as a much more complete player, and was one of the ‘hard-heads’ in premiership sides of 1971 and ‘72, finishing with 162 games.
After a coaching stint at North Wangaratta, he returned to perform decades of unstinting off-field service with the Rovers….His son Rick (229 games) and grandson Alex ( currently on 92 games ) carried on the Marklew tradition ….
For good reason Noel Richens was nicknamed ‘The Mudlark’; but his game involved much more than his renowned wet-weather skills……..He joined the Rovers in the mid-sixties, from Junior Magpies, but didn’t really cement a senior spot until 1959.
His ability to play multiple roles saw him contribute handily in the 1960, ‘64 and ‘65 premierships during his 133 senior games, interspersed with coaching Tarrawingee for two seasons…..He went on to coach the club’s Reserves and Thirds….
Brian ‘Nipper’ Hallahan was a highly-touted Greta recruit. At 18, and in his first O & M season, he played a prominent role in the 1960 premiership.
An accurate left-foot kick, he read the play astutely, and produced the best footy of his 119-game career as a winger in Ken Boyd’s title-winning sides of 1964-‘65.
He later embarked on a coaching career at Wilby and Cohuna, both of which he led to flags.
Ray Thompson had hands the size of meat-plates and could hoof the footy a ‘country-mile’……Whenever he sidled back after plucking one of those towering pack marks up forward Hawk fans would yell: ’Line ‘em up Thommo……’
He left school at 14 and joined the family Brickworks business. Long hours, and physically-demanding work developed his imposing stature and stood him in good stead when he began playing O & M football in 1959.
He graduated straight from WJFL club Centrals to the Rovers seniors……..Besides being a match-winner up forward, he could save games with strong intercept marking when consigned down back.
‘Thommo’ showed his class in the 1960 decider, but figured in equally-important roles in the successes of ‘64 and ‘65.
Sadly, a ‘dickey’ knee, which gave way in 1966, terminated a brilliant career……… restricted to just 143 games…..
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It’s almost a lifetime ago now, but memories of these footy heroes of my early teens…..their kicking and running styles….their character….their idiosyncrasies……are still embedded in my mind……….it was fascinating to see the glint in their eyes, as the old fellahs reflected on the days of yore……
ON REFLECTION 