” ‘THE WHITFIELD FLYER’…..STILL AN AVID SPORTING FAN…….”

Ian Gambold is reminiscing on one of the magic moments of his life………

He’s almost 11 years old…..He and his younger brother Noel are adorned in the Blue and White stripes of their beloved King Valley……excitedly preparing for the 1970 O & K Grand Final……

Their dad Phil, a club stalwart, who’d experienced many more hard times than good in his 18-year playing career, has convinced them that this match will compensate for the years of disappointment that the battling Roos have endured……

He’s right on the knocker……..

Trailing Milawa by five points at half-time, the Valley take control from then on, booting nine goals to 3 in a blistering display……… to win their maiden flag by 34 points.

“It helped that a big fellah at full forward, Ray ‘Rocky’ Hooper, kicked 11 goals from 12 shots,” Ian recalls……”He was a star, as was Tony Crapper – a brilliant defender.”

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You rarely find someone as enthusiastic about sport as ‘Gambie’. The flame still flickers……..decades after his football hey-day, when they dubbed him ‘The Whitfield Flyer’………

I remember him arriving at the Findlay Oval in the mid-seventies – as a prospect from Junior team Combined Churches…….. The thing that struck those around the Club was the devotion of his Dad, who had placed his faith in the Rovers to teach young Ian the rudiments of the game.

Phil took it upon himself to transport his eldest son to training and matches; racking up thousands of kilometres to and from the wilds of Whitfield in pursuit of the lad’s football ambition……

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Phil was a salt-of-the-earth identity himself…….A country cockie, whose life revolved around family, work and sport.

The Gambold forebears assumed their property – on the Cheshunt side of Whitfield – in 1912, and after Phil first saw the light of day twenty years later, he spent most of his life there, tending cattle and sheep and growing crops such as Millet.

There were tough times, including drought, which led to severe downturns in sheep and cattle prices. They faced up to the unbearable prospect of shooting stock, which gave him a lesson on the complexities of life on the land.

In those calamitous situations Phil found work on the Dam, on nearby Tobacco farms, and, one year, a season of Cane-Cutting in far-North Queensland, to keep the wolf from the door.

Competition wood-chopping in the summer and footy in the winter, were his sporting outlets. He made his footy debut in 1949, alongside another couple of Valley icons in Marshall Burrowes and Colin Knaggs, and chalked up more than 300 games in the Blue and White.

“He was hard-at-it, apparently…….a ruckman-defender who never gave in……..” Ian says.

In 1964 after spending nine-months in the Wangaratta Hospital recovering from Tuberculosis, Phil showed typical stoicism to return to the field and strip for three more seasons with the Valley.

His skill as a proficient shearer also enabled him to supplement a sometimes meagre farm income. He earned a deserved reputation as a 120-a-day man.

The opportunity presented itself in the mid-seventies, for he and a colleague, Kevin Vincent, to take up a 6-8 week contract at Penshurst, in Victoria’s Western District.

They continued to travel down there for 21 years, heading off at Cup-time and returning home to see their families each week-end.

Ian also became adept with the blades in his late teens. He’d not long started playing with the Rovers when Leigh Hartwig asked if he and Phil would shear their Poll Dorsets.

“We had 4-5 years with the Hartwig’s……..His mum (Madge) used to lay on the cakes and sandwiches……. A bit too much to eat for that sort of work,” he jokes.

Not surprisingly, Phil adopted the Hawks’ durable, tough-as-teak centre half back Mervyn Holmes as his favourite player.

In 1978, as the Rovers charged through another finals series, he detected that ‘Farmer’ – who’d spent a hard few days shearing in the lead-up to the Prelim – had looked a touch weary in the dying stages of the game.

“I’m going over to ‘Holmesy’s’ before the Grand Final,” he advised Ian. “I know he’ll be reluctant, but he’ll be on lighter duties on Friday……….He’s going to have a spell from shearing……”

‘Farmer’ responded with a near-best-afield display in the big win over Benalla…….

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Phil visualised a bit of the ‘Carboor Farmer’ in his strongly-built son.

Ian was perceived as an awkward opponent; a hard-hitting defender, with a damaging left boot. He’d have liked to be shifted up forward, he says, but the Hawks were convinced that he was a died-in-the-wool backman.

After a couple of seasons with the Thirds ( and a Grand Final appearance in 1977 ) he’d graduated to the Reserves; spent a year back at his spiritual home, King Valley, then returned to the Hawks, to play in their 1980 Reserves premiership side.

“King Valley were moulding a pretty strong side in 1981, and I was keen to be a part of it,” he recalls. “I felt another year in the O & K might be good for my development. I considered the forward line was my best position, and was determined to add another string to my bow……It makes footy a bit more interesting if you can play at both ends of the ground…”

He struck it lucky.

The Roos, under the coaching of Richie Allen, pipped Milawa by a point in the Qualifying Final, narrowly overcame Chiltern in the Second Semi, then clinched their second flag by 29 points against a dogged Milawa, prompting huge celebrations at the Swinburne Pavilion.

Ian admits his form tailed off in the latter part of ‘81……”I thought I’d better do something different with my training; to become fitter, and have another crack with the Rovers……”

He enjoyed a fine season, taking out the O & M’s Leo Burke Medal and the Rovers Reserves B & F………This was followed by involvement in successive Reserves Premierships, in 1983 and ‘84.

But still, that cherished O & M Senior debut eluded him.

He’d made 105 Reserves ( and 22 Thirds ) appearances with the Rovers, and sensed that he must have gone close, at various stages, to achieving his dream.

So he decided to try his luck with Benalla.

Mid-way through his second season with the Demons – Round 9, 1986 – he finally won promotion to the Seniors…..lining up against Yarrawonga at the Benalla Showgrounds.

“I’d almost given up hope….. It was my last shot……..I played reasonably well that day….. probably the best of my four senior games.”

He also took out the Reserves B & F in what was a somewhat disastrous year for the Demons……What didn’t help matters, of course, was that two players – Neil Drake and Willie Ryan – were tragically killed in a car accident in the lead-up to the season.

‘Gambie’ decided on a ‘tree-change’ in 1987, and found employment in Melbourne, as an accounts-clerk with soap-manufacturing company, Cossons. He travelled back to play with King Valley each week-end, and was rewarded with the ‘Roos’ B & F award.

After 12 months, he’d had enough of the city, and moved to Rutherglen, to work with McNamara’s CRT. He was tossing up what to do with his footy, when he received a phone call from a prominent Hume League figure, Ian Schilg, inviting him to play with Brocklesby.

“They offered me $80 a week, which I was appreciative of. They said they had a spot at centre half back they needed to fill…..I agreed to play for the remainder of the season…….Instead, I spent five enjoyable years at ‘Brock’, made a lot of friends, and ended up playing 102 games…..”

“Dad, who’d followed my footy at the Rovers, King Valley and Benalla, had done a bit of shearing in the Brock area and loved going up there. He was passionate about training, and used to help out on match-days……”

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When he left Brocklesby he decided to head back home and finish his career with King Valley.

“My brother ( Noel ) and I hadn’t played much footy together – even though he spent 20 years at the Valley. Mum ( Betty ) always watched Noel, whilst Dad would follow me; so it was great for them to see us both play.”

Ian was runner-up to promising ruckman Mark Porter in the B & F in 1994, and played through until 1998, finishing with 118 senior games at King Valley.

He was then talked into playing with BDFL club Bonnie Doon, but after kicking his second goal in his debut game, was unceremoniously ‘cleaned up’……

“That was it…..I gave it way, and took up umpiring for a season,” he says.

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He became a full-time student in 1990, undertaking a four-year Accountancy course at Charles Sturt University, which led to teaching Accountancy to mature-age students at Wangaratta and Wodonga TAFE on a sessional basis.

But he discovered he wasn’t cut-out to be a Teacher, so he enrolled in a Sport and Recreation course at Wangaratta TAFE, and worked part-time at the YMCA for three years.

His final career-change came 18 years ago, when he procured a Lawn-Mowing business, which he admits, ‘keeps him on his toes’…….

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You’ve no doubt become acquainted with ‘Gambie’s’ dulcet tones if you’ve turned on the radio to catch up with the local footy of a winter week-end afternoon.

He first began calling games on OAK-FM, alongside Tony Cuskelly, Bernie Lonergan and Brendan Rhodes, back in 2001.

He says it was a great opportunity to remain involved in the O & M, albeit behind the microphone.

There’s no doubt that the service provided by OAK-FM and 2AY/3NE over the years has provided priceless free publicity to the Ovens and Murray League.

They obviously appreciated that fact when Ian was presented with the ‘Peter Bruhn O & M Volunteer Award’ in 2018, for his services to the game.

He’s the sole survivor of that initial foray into broadcasting, but also helps produce a Sports Show, which airs from 5pm to 6.30pm every Friday throughout the year, covering all modes of sport in the area.

…..It includes another of his great loves – cricket.

His first comeback to the game came, aged 36, when King Valley joined the Wangaratta Sunday competition. He resumed playing four years ago when Gapsted approached him to join their WDCA C-Grade side…….

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‘Gambie’ says that much of his inspiration for his lengthy connection with sport came from his Dad:

“Phil loved being involved…..whether it was playing, or as a Trainer. He often spoke about the day he was invited to be a part of the Melbourne Training staff for a match against Collingwood, at the MCG. I remember when Myrtleford were going through that losing patch around 2009, he wanted to help them in some way, so he’d drive up and help out as a Trainer on match-days……..”

Phil Gambold passed away seven weeks ago, aged 89………..

‘FROM KING VALLEY, TO MOONEE VALLEY…AND BEYOND…’

Leigh Newton’s father Laurie, grandad Aub and great-grandad Jack, are all legends of the King Valley United Football Club.

So when Leigh, a lanky, blonde-haired 14-year old ruckman, shared the 1992 O & K Thirds’ Fred Jensen Medal, there was a bullet beside his name.

The Club’s ardent fans salivated that the lad had the breeding and talent to lead them out of the wilderness; maybe to Premiership glory, in years to come.

Furthermore, they dared to dream, with his mate ‘Marty’ Porter alongside him, they’ll be a near-unbeatable ruck combination………..

It wasn’t to be…. By 1997 both were playing League football…….They had to acknowledge that this pair of 6’6” beanstalks would, in all likelihood, never wear the Valley’s Blue and White stripes again………………….

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I catch up with Leigh during a break in his hectic schedule as the Regional Services Manager of Country Racing Victoria. He’s been involved in the racing game for more than nine years; loves it, he says. It’s the only sport that’s been able to soldier on throughout the Coronavirus Crisis, albeit, of course, minus the crowds.

• 

The sight of his gigantic frame towering over all and sundry at Race-courses is a far cry from the slight youngster tagging along behind his old man at the Whitfield Reserve back in the eighties…..

I suggest that he inherited the wonky Newton limbs. Laurie was a star, and had two stints as Valley coach, but his crook knees – and assorted other body parts – played havoc with him. He fitted a famous flag (1976) into his five years with Wangaratta, and was a member of King Valley’s two premierships, in 1970 and ‘81.

He’d retired early in that ‘81 season. His back was giving him hell, but someone came up with the idea of fitting him with a brace. It allowed him to play out the season – and be a dominant ruckman in the Valley’s last flag.

Even after that, he would still fill in with the Reserves, up to the ripe old age of 42.

Leigh recalls playing with him at Bright. “You were always short when you travelled up there in mid-winter. I kicked a few goals in the Thirds this day, lined up in the Two’s with dad, who was just about best afield. Then they named me at centre half back in the Seniors. I think I’d just turned 15………..”

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He reckons he totalled no more than 20 senior games with the Roos. “A few from our 1993 Thirds Premiership team moved up the following year, but I spent a fair bit of that season with the Murray Bushrangers,” he says.

Then he began studying at Charles Sturt University, embarking on a Marketing and Accounting Degree. Rather than making the difficult choice between the Wang Rovers and Wangaratta, who were both on his hammer, he decided to play with Albury. Besides, he was living within walking distance of their headquarters, the Albury Sportsground.

The Tigers had assembled a crackerjack side. Their ruck duties were in the hands of Ken Howe, another ‘blonde bombshell’, who enjoyed the season of his life, taking out the O & M’s Morris Medal and guiding them to a flag.

Leigh made a few spasmodic senior appearances, but Howe then moved on to Canberra club Ainslie, and he grasped his opportunity.

• 

• 

• 

During the course of the 1996 season he became the League’s pre-eminent big man. He represented the O & M, figured in Albury’s premiership triumph and, with 25 votes, ‘bolted’ to the Morris Medal, a massive eight votes in front of another ruck star, Wodonga’s Paul Nugent.

• 

His dramatic rise to centre-stage had, naturally, attracted the attention of the recruiters. Leigh has a feeling it was a relative of Melbourne assistant-coach Greg Hutchinson who first alerted the Demons to his potential.

By January 1997 they’d nabbed him with the third pick in the Pre-Season draft. It had been a meteoric rise to A.F.L ranks………..

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But the climate in the Demons’ camp at the time was, to say the least, unsettled. Volatile ‘Diamond’ Joe Gutnick, who had rapidly ascended to the Club Presidency the previous season, was becoming increasingly agitated with the on-field performances, and demanded improvement.

The affable Neil Balme, highly-regarded by the players, was unable to wave the magic wand. After defeating eventual Preliminary Finalists North Melbourne in the opening game, they proceeded to lose the next eight.

Leigh played in a handful of those, which included kicking two of their three goals in a 51-point Friday night thrashing at the hands of Port Adelaide.

That was enough for ‘Diamond Joe’. His off-the-cuff comment was that: ‘Blood will flow……….’. Sure enough, on the following Tuesday evening, Balme was sacked and Greg Hutchinson installed as the interim coach.

With a few games under his belt Leigh began to settle into the rhythm of League footy. His debut against the Sydney Swans had been highlighted by a booming 50m goal with his first kick….. He had a big influence in an encouraging win over Carlton and produced snippets of class in a few others.

• 

But the dreaded Osteitis Pubis had begun to take hold of his body. “These days, the medical people would immediately order you to have a break; to let the groin heal. But I was determined to play through the pain. I’d have an anti-inflammatory injection, then could hardly move after a game and it would be early the next week before I was able to run again.”

Finally, he had to admit that he couldn’t go on. He’d played 13 games in what was regarded as a highly-promising season……One ray of light in a litany of disasters for the wooden-spooners.

His rehab was slow and steady. Mid-way through the following year he’d got back to somewhere approaching full-fitness. But deep down he knew that, if he played, he wouldn’t be able to come up the next week. So Melbourne’s medicos suggested he take the rest of the year off.

By early 1999, Leigh felt he was right to go. He booted four goals in a promising return to the Reserves, but was laid up for a month after a hernia operation. The resultant comeback was halted by a dislocated shoulder. That put paid to another season for the luckless big man.

Melbourne had given an indication that he’d be offered another contract in 2000, but his groin began to flare up again. He had to face the reality that his AFL career was over.

Leigh rued his misfortune, as Neale Daniher’s line-up went on a rollicking ride from third-last to the Grand Final. He took on the role as Opposition Analyst, watching three to four games a week.

Melbourne utilised his Professional qualifications by seconding him to their Marketing and Sponsorship Department in 2001. On match days he was Neale Daniher’s ‘Board-Man.’

The following year they appointed him as their Media and Communications Manager, a position he was to hold for seven years: “It was a tremendous experience…..so diverse. Whenever any news broke about the Demons, I was the man the media got in touch with. It meant I was on hand, virtually from 6am to 10pm, either promoting the Club or putting out spot-fires.”

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  Leigh Newton, with sporting luminaries Ron Barassi and Max Walker, on a promotional trip to China
  

Additionally, Neale Daniher asked if he’d take on the job as ruck coach.

When he decided to take a break from footy, he stepped into a position in Marketing and Public Relations with the Moonee Valley Racing Club. Hawthorn, fresh from winning the 2008 AFL flag, also nabbed him as their ruck coach.

“I was flat-out combining the two jobs,” says Leigh.

“I’d be up at 4am analysing and cutting tape to show to the players…….and then head off to my job in P.R and Communications at Moonee Valley.”

“Something had to give, so I eventually passed up the ruck-coaching – much and all as I loved it.”

But he did manage to fit in one last fling as a player. “Dad was a bit crook at one stage, and I was coming up regularly to keep tabs on he and mum. My brother Michael, who was coaching Milawa, said: ‘You may as well have a run, seeing as you’re here most weeks’.”

“I played about eight games, including the 2009 O & K Grand Final. We played Tarrawingee, who’d been unbeaten in 39 games. It was a terrific clash, and we held on to win by nine points.”

• 

Leigh moved on to become Moonee Valley’s Marketing Manager for three years, and had a sojourn in Local Government and Real Estate, before an opportunity came up to return to the racing industry.

He accepted the position as Manager of the Echuca Race Club and threw himself headlong into building it into one of country racing’s showpieces.

The extent of the Club’s development was recognised in 2017/18 when it was selected as the Country Racing Club of the Year.

“The things that have been achieved since Leigh arrived have been significant and he has set us, the Club, the trainers, the other people who use the track, the punters and our wider community with an exciting and solid future,” remarked the Club’s President, Troy Murphy.

He did such a good job that Country Racing Victoria hand-picked him, mid-way through last year, to take on the role of Regional Services Manager.

Leigh and Aingela and their two boys Lachlan and Taylor returned to the city, where he’s based at racing’s headquarters, Flemington.

His all-encompassing job entails keeping an eye on all country racing, including Governance, Marketing, Administration, Trainers, Race-dates – and offering advice to Clubs.

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Sport has virtually been Leigh Newton’s life. He wouldn’t have it any other way……..well, maybe the footy gods could have been a little kinder to him on the injury-front …………….

• 

FAREWELL TO A PAIR OF STAR DEFENDERS…..

The famed hostility between the Magpies and Hawks had just reached its zenith when Bernie Killeen and Bob Atkinson made their way into Ovens and Murray football.

They were to become sterling defenders for their respective clubs.

Killeen, the high-marking , long-kicking left-footer, held down a key position spot for most of his 13 years with Wangaratta. ‘Akky’, wearing the Number 33 of his beloved Wangaratta Rovers was a back flank specialist, uncompromising, hard-hitting and renowned for his clearing dashes upfield.

Both passed away in the past week or so, after lengthy illnesses……………

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Bernie Killeen returned home from St.Patrick’s College Sale in 1956 and walked straight into the Wangaratta side. He was just 17.

Dame Fortune shone upon him, as the Magpies were in the throes of developing a powerful line-up . His form was solid enough to hold his spot in the side and bask in the glory of the ‘57 Grand Final, alongside such experienced team-mates as coach Jack McDonald, Bill Comensoli, Graeme Woods and the veteran ‘Hop’ McCormick.

It was an unforgettable day for Killeen, who was named on a half-forward flank. Wangaratta came from the clouds, thanks to a last-minute goal from champion rover Lance Oswald, to overcome Albury by two points.

• 

  Bernie Killeen, pictured left, middle row. Rex Allen and ‘Rinso’ Johnstone are alongside him.

This early taste of success would have given Bernie an inkling that that it was to be a forerunner of things to come.

Fate intervened. Four years later, a debilitating knee injury struck him down. He spent most of 1961 on the sidelines, and could only watch on as the ‘Pies scored a huge win over Benalla in the Grand Final.

Killeen fully recovered, and reached his peak in 1963, when was rated among the finest centre half backs in the competition. He took out Wangaratta’s Best & Fairest Award and the Chronicle Trophy, and represented the O & M against South-West League.

Perhaps his most memorable performance came in the 1964 Second Semi-Final, when he was like the Rock of Gibralter in the key defence position, pulling down 19 towering marks against the Rovers. It was a bad-tempered match, with the ‘Pies pulling off an upset, to march into the Grand Final.

• 

A fortnight later, when the teams again tangled, Killeen found himself matched up at the opening bounce by Hawk coach Ken Boyd, whose intent was to niggle, and put the star off his game.

Boyd later moved into defence, but as the match progressed, Bernie found himself continually out of the play. The Rovers’ strategy was obviously to prevent him from ‘cutting them off at the pass’ as he’d done so effectively in the Semi.

Wang fell short by 23 points – the first of three successive heart-breaking Grand Final losses.

Bernie Killeen was a model of consistency over 13 seasons and 226 senior games with Wangaratta. He was installed as a Life Member of the ‘Pies in 1966…………

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As an angry, milling group of players swapped punches in the second quarter of the 1972 Ovens and Murray Grand Final, one of the central figures in the melee slumped to the turf.

His face was splattered in blood……. He tried in vain to resist the efforts of trainers, who were trying to escort him off the ground….. Eventually, sanity prevailed.

• 

It was always going to be Bob Atkinson’s last game in Brown and Gold. But it wasn’t supposed to finish so abruptly ! At least, when he’d gathered his equilibrium after the game, his team-mates consoled him with the news that he’d added a sixth premiership to his collection……………

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‘Akky’ arrived at the City Oval in 1959 – a product of the South Wanderers. If there seemed to be a touch of maturity about the swarthy apprentice Motor Mechanic, it was understandable. During the last of his four years with the Junior League Club he’d already announced his engagement, to Fran, his future wife.

Young footballers of the modern era wouldn’t be so accepting of the patience that he displayed, as it took the best part of five years before he was able to nail down a permanent senior spot.

Maybe it was the proliferation of talent at the Club that saw the youngster deprived of opportunities…… Bob Rose may possibly have felt that he’d developed bad habits that needed rectifying…….like continually trying to dodge and weave around opponents.

Whatever the reason, Rose was unable to tailor a suitable role for him.

After making his senior debut in 1960, he’d played 49 Reserves, and just 26 Senior games.

His rejuvenation came in 1963, when Ken Boyd inherited a side bereft of many of its stars. His challenge to the younger guys was to place their stamp on the Club. In ‘Akky’, he found a player who relished responsibility, and jumped at the opportunity of shutting down dangerous opposition’s forwards.

• 

‘Boydie’ also admired his aggressiveness and spirit. He urged him to attack the ball……..”And if anyone happens to get in your road, just bowl ‘em over,” he said. The re-born back flanker didn’t need too much convincing, and responded by finishing runner-up to Neville Hogan in the B & F.

This ‘Vigilante’ of the backline had some handy sidekicks in ‘Bugs’ Kelly, Lennie Greskie and Norm Bussell who were all football desperadoes.

The Rovers won 15 games straight in 1964, before hitting a road-block. They dropped the next four matches and were seemingly on the road to nowhere. That they were able to recover, and take out the flag was a tribute to Boyd and the character of his players.

They repeated the dose in 1965, again taking down Wangaratta in a tense encounter. The fierce opening of the Grand Final was highlighted by an all-in brawl, which saw a few Magpies nursing tender spots. Twice, in the dying stages, Wang had chances to win the game, but they fell short by three points.

The Hawks remained there or thereabouts for the next three years, including contesting the 1967 Grand Final.

But Bob had an itch to coach, and when lowly King Valley came knocking in 1969, he accepted their offer. The Valley had finished last, with just two wins, the previous season. They’d never won a flag.

‘Akky’s’ arrival coincided with the construction of the Lake William Hovell Project. Several handy recruits landed on their doorstep almost overnight.

It enabled them to sneak into the finals in his first year. But 1970 was to provide Valley supporters with their finest hour.

After thrashing Milawa in the final round, they went to the top of the ladder, but their confidence was eroded when the Demons turned the tables in the Second Semi.

The Valley made no mistake in the Grand Final. It’s handy when you have a full forward like Ray Hooper, who boots 11 of your 14 goals. Hooper, a burly left-footer, was a star, as was his fellow Dam worker Tony Crapper.

‘Akky’ was inspirational, and with the scent of a premiership in his nostrils, drove his players in the last half. His old Rovers team-mate Barry Sullivan also held sway in the ruck, as King Valley stormed to a 34-point victory………

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Bob returned ‘home’ to the Rovers, and lent his experience to a youthful side, under the coaching of Neville Hogan. The following year he was appointed vice-captain.

• 

“It was probably the best thing that happened for his footy at that stage of his career, as he got fully involved,” recalls Hogan. “The discipline he showed provided a great example to our young players.”

One of those was Terry Bartel, who was a fellow car-salesman at West City Autos. ‘Akky’ once recounted the story about Bartel telling him he couldn’t be bothered driving to Yerong Creek to represent the Ovens & Murray in an Inter-League game:

“I’m probably going to be sitting in a forward pocket all day. I don’t reckon the other pricks will give me a run on the ball,” said Bartel.

“You never let anyone down. Jump in that car and get up there,” I told him. “I’d give my left Knacker to play in one of those games. You don’t know how lucky you are.”

“And, you know, the little bastard’s gone up and kicked 9 goals……..”

Bob capped a fine 1971 season by finishing fifth in the B & F and playing a key role in the Rovers’ 19-point premiership victory over Yarrawonga. He’d lost none of his venom, and at a critical part of the game upended Pigeon ruckman, the formidable Jimmy Forsyth.

‘Akky’ lived ‘by the sword’. He knew that retribution might come one day, and when big Jim flattened him twelve months later in his swansong game, the 1972 Grand Final, he accepted that as part of footy.

• 

After such a hesitant start, he’d made a huge impression at the Rovers. He’d played 175 senior games, figured in four senior and one Reserves flag, was a Life Member, and had earned a reputation as one of its finest-ever defenders.

He succumbed to the temptation of coming out of retirement two years later, when he played several games with Tarrawingee.

Finally, though, ‘Akky’ decided it was time to pull the pin……………

• 

” TOO TOUGH TO DIE……”

Bob Comensoli was more than handy with his dooks.

I was barely a teen-ager, the night he retained his Riverina middle-weight title in March 1961. Fans in the packed Richardson Stand at the Wangaratta Showgrounds threw their support behind the local boy, as he went to work against Holbrook’s Basil Gason on a floodlit, makeshift centre ring.

He was too strong, too tough for the plucky Gason, just as he had been two years earlier, when he carried a broken hand through most of the fight, to take the points in an exciting eight-rounder.

Bob began boxing, principally to keep fit for football. “Donny Harmer took me aside and started sparring with me when I was just cementing my spot in the Magpies’ side,” he recalls.

“At first there was just the pair of us, then fellahs like Brian Archman, Ted Anderson, Bert Simpson, Peter Fogarty and Rossy Colosimo came on board. We used to train in the old visitors’ rooms – on the score-board side of the Showgrounds.”

There’s little doubt that he could have gone places, had he kept on with his boxing. He was unbeaten, had ‘heavy hands’, as they say, and had captured the attention of fight fans in his three years in pro ranks.

“Who knows,” Bob says. “But I didn’t want it interrupting my footy, so that was my last fight……”
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Of course, he’s a member of a famous local clan. All nine kids ( four boys and five girls) made an impact on sport, be it footy, cricket, netball or Wood-chopping. Their competitive spirit was something to die for………

His eldest brother, Bill, was approaching the end of a stellar career with Wangaratta before continuing on in the O & K. Bob was still making his way through the ranks with Junior Magpies. He confesses, though, that it wasn’t a ‘lay-down-misere’ that he’d follow in Bill’s footsteps.

“I had some good mates at the Rovers. There was no particular reason for me ending up at Wang. I just made up my mind to go over at the last minute.”

They tried him on a back flank. In a good Magpie side, he played a handful of games in his first season. He and ‘Doggie’ Rowland, later destined for St.Kilda, were the youngsters to be narrowly squeezed out of the Premiership side in 1957.

Their naming as emergencies for the Grand Final was an indication that they earmarked as  ‘players of the future’.

Bob later settled into a role as ruck-rover, sharing duties with the colorful Kevin Mack. Over the next seven years he was to became ‘Mr.Dependable’ in a side which was a regular finals campaigner.

He wasn’t over-endowed with pace, but endurance was an asset. That, and a preparedness to work hard and be a thorn in the side of the opposition.

The toughness that characterised his boxing also carried over into his footy. “I didn’t mind it in close, and I managed to perfect the old Bobby Rose ‘short jab to the solar-plexus’. That proved effective at times,” he jokes.

Wodonga, runners-up the previous season, had been a dominant force in 1961. But they fell apart in the finals. Wangaratta, to the contrary, ‘ran hot’, winning their first two finals by 41 and 52 points.

Bob Comensoli was just one of a number who tore Benalla apart in a one-sided Grand Final. The Pies were 6 goals up at quarter-time, and carried on, to take it out by 63 points. It was a crackerjack side, which managed to hit its peak come finals time.

Bob finished second in Wang’s B & F in 1964, and was playing possibly his best football. The next step in his sporting journey, he felt, was to satisfy an urge to coach.

Three clubs approached him, but he decided on Moyhu, mainly because his sister Glad, and brother-in-law Gordon Townsend – the local baker – were closely involved with the Hoppers.

“Glad was playing Netball, and was keen for Val, my wife, to have a game. Val enjoyed it; I think she won three flags while we were out there. It was a really good fit for us.”

He arrived at a time when Moyhu were starting a re-build after a highly-successful six-year run, which had included three flags and two other Grand Final appearances.

“The first thing I realised is that, sometimes, you can’t coach the way you’d like to ; you have to adapt your coaching according to the ability of the players. I certainly learnt a lot in those first couple of years,” he says.

And his form didn’t suffer. He won the O & K’s Baker Medal in 1965 and ‘67 and proved an inspirational leader, mostly playing on-ball, but plugging gaps in his middle-of-the-road side when so required.

Wang snuck him back to qualify for the finals at the conclusion of the ‘67 O & K season, and talked Bob into staying on in 1968.

But he again answered the call from a persistent Moyhu, and took over the coaching reins for another couple of years.

“I really enjoyed the challenge of coaching, particularly when the side was looking to you to provide a lift on the field. One of the things that tickled me was coaching against Bill and Jay (brothers),” Bob says.

“But my body was starting to let me down. I agreed to play on when Richie Shanley took over as coach, because he’d been a big help when I was in charge.”

The end as a player, came late in 1971, when he blew out his knee at Whorouly. He was going on 34.

Twenty-two years later, Bob began his third stint as coach of Moyhu, in a non-playing capacity.

The Hoppers’ side now included a few of his sons and nephews and was a well-balanced outfit.

They reached successive Prelim Finals, and in the first of these, I witnessed first hand, the raw emotion of a distraught coach.

North Wangaratta had proved a little too strong in the latter stages, to win by 20 points. In the rooms afterwards, the shattered Comensoli bluntly pointed out that some of the players had let themselves -and the club – down.

“Some of you,” he said,”are in the twilight of your careers, some are just starting out. You mightn’t get an opportunity to play in another Grand Final……. In a week or so, you’ll wish you’d suffered a bit more pain, to find the extra effort……….”

But there’s something about coaching. It becomes addictive.

After three years with Moyhu, Bob thought his coaching days were over…….until a desperate King Valley sought his services.

They’d won the wooden spoon in 1995, but had an impressive clump of local talent, and were hopeful of improvement.

“It didn’t start off too well,” Bob says. “ We decided to take a bus from Wang, to training each Tuesday and Thursday night. The first night we got there, only three locals turned up. I thought, what have we got ourselves in for here.”

But the Valley improved, and within three years, finished the home-and-home games on top of the ladder. “I thought we were the best side in it in 1998, but didn’t have a lot of luck in the finals, and bombed out in straight sets.”

Bob had four years at King Valley. “Terrific people, it was thoroughly enjoyable.”

So his coaching career, which had encompassed 12 years, and saw him inducted to the Ovens & King’s Hall of Fame, drew to a close. He  now  focused on his other sporting passion – training greyhounds .

He says he’s been walking dogs since the age of eight, when he used to help his dad, who was always keen on the ‘dishlickers’.

“I still love it. You have to take ‘em out at about 4am these days, to avoid those people who are walking their pet poodles and the like…..”

He’s convinced that the bad rap the greyhound industry has copped over the past two years or so, will soon blow over.

“There were a few bad eggs in the game. And they’re eradicating them.”

He’s trained hundreds of winners, on tracks as far away as Warrnambool, Traralgon, Geelong and Ballarat. He rates Deep Sweep and Tinkerman Prince as the best of them. Both won approximately 25 races.

2017 has been the ‘year from hell’ for Bob Commo. On the day he retired in March, after a near lifetime in the petroleum industry, he suffered a mini-stroke.

Three weeks later he was diagnosed with lymphoma cancer.

It’s been a battle, he says, but he’s in remission now, and believes things are on the up.

I reckon he’s too tough to die…….

DEDICATION TAKES VALLEY YOUNGSTER TO THE TOP ……

Old-timers around Whitfield joke that they discovered a magic elixir in the cool, crystal-clear waters of the King River, in the early 1990’s.

That’s why, the wags say, a spate of talented young footballers began to emerge, much to the excitement of the King Valley faithful, who hadn’t had much to cheer about for a decade.

At one stage the ‘Roos weren’t able to muster the numbers to field an under-age team. And when they eventually did, they were on the receiving end of some fearful hidings.

Within three years the Valley had won a Thirds premiership and bold predictions were being made about a few of the kids who wore the Blue and White with distinction in 1993.

The assessments were spot-on:

Lanky, blonde-haired Leigh Newton, was to win the O & M’s Morris Medal in 1996, and go on to play 13 AFL games, before injury cruelled his career at Melbourne…….

The long and winding journey of his younger brother, Mick, would include time with the Murray Kangaroos, a couple of stints in the O & M, and coaching roles with the Valley and Milawa…….

Bruce Hildebrand would move on to the Rovers, then to Coburg, where he was to earn selection in a VFA Under 23 team………

But probably the pick of them was a beanpole ruckman, who would, in the years to come, lock horns with the best big men in the land, and establish a reputation as a lion-hearted performer……

His name ? ………. Mark Porter.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The Porter tale is one of extraordinary dedication.

Yarns have been passed down by his old Wangaratta High School mates, of his lunch-time weight sessions……… downing tub after tub of yoghurt …………..always toiling away on his fitness.

His first senior coach, Gary Bussell, once recalled: “I actually watched him in a Thirds Grand Final when he was 15. He looked like a gangly calf. He could hardly stand up.”

“Mark actually worked on his strength one whole summer. He pushed his chest out 10 centimetres and built his arms up like you wouldn’t believe.”

The result was, that at 17, in his first senior season, he matched wits – and physicality – with the best of the O & K’s ruckmen – and came up trumps.

It was all rather heady stuff for the Year-12 student, when he received an invite to the League’s vote-count – and shocked the crowd by taking out the Baker Medal. He had created history by becoming the youngest Medallist ever.

The anticipated calls came from Ovens and Murray clubs. He was in demand.

Wang.Rovers coach Laurie Burt headed the queue. When Mark explained that he would be shifting to Melbourne to undertake a Physical Education degree, Laurie organised for him to train at his old club, Coburg.

The suggestion, of course, was that Mark might return home each Friday night and spend the season with the reigning premiers.

But his dad, Merv, wasn’t keen on that idea.

“Laurie said : ‘That’s okay, but can you at least play a practice match with us ? ‘ I came home one week-end and had a run against Wodonga, but I’d more or less decided that I was going to stick with Coburg,” Mark said the other day.

It proved an inspired decision.

“I was a bit lucky that one of the big men got injured and another one walked out,” he says of being thrust into the role of number one ruckman.

He enjoyed a magnificent season and handled the huge step from the O & K to the VFA with ease. So much so that he was awarded the Round-Fothergill Medal as the VFA’s Rookie of the Year.

In his two years with Coburg, Mark represented the VFA against Tasmania and NSW and had become firmly established as one of the competition’s ‘big guns’.

His coach, Kevin Breen, rated him “probably the best tap ruckman going around.”

So it wasn’t surprising that Carlton’s recruiting manager Shane O’Sullivan, was on his hammer. He was eager for the big fellah to play a Reserves game towards the end of 1996 , but was unable to make contact.

When they did eventually meet up, he invited Mark to do a pre-season.    Suitably impressed, the Blues nominated him as their sole selection in the ’97 Rookie Draft; a ‘project player’, alongside established ruckmen, Justin Madden and Matthew Allen.

Four years earlier, he had guided King Valley Thirds to a flag. Now the lad with the imposing  6’7″, 105kg frame, was on the cusp of League football.

Unfortunately, a broken bone in his hand at the start of the season cost Mark six weeks and he was fully expecting to play the rest of the year in the two’s. But he had ‘come on’ so rapidly that he was the obvious replacement for regular number one ruckman Matthew Allen, who had been ‘rubbed out’ for charging Demon Leigh Newton ( yes, Mark’s old team-mate ! ).

As he became more familiar with the intricacies of the big man’s craft at the highest level, Mark continued to develop. His tap-work was lauded, but he knew he needed to have more strings to his bow.

“You’ve got to earn your stripes in the AFL. If you haven’t got all the tricks you get left behind. I had to play aggressively and tackle strongly. And then start to take a few ‘grabs’ ,” Mark said.

A knee injury in a 1999 practice match ruled him out for a season, and halted his progress for most of the following year.

But he played superbly in 2001, and it was somewhat surprising that, after 55 games with the Blues, they traded him to North Melbourne, as part of a swap for Corey McKernan.

Mark fitted nicely into the Kangaroos’ set-up, alternating in the ruck with Matthew ‘Spider’ Burton, and chalking up another 55 senior games in his three-year stay at Arden Street.

The Porter work-ethic had not just been confined to the field of football. Mark had been studying assiduously and completed a degree in Financial Services and Master of Business and was more prepared than most for life after football.

The end came, for him, at the top-level, when North delisted him at the end of  the 2004 season.

“I was still keen to keep playing the highest standard I could, so I signed with North Ballarat and spent a season back in the VFL. Then Anthony Stevens talked me into joining him at Benalla in 2006 “, Mark says.

A couple of locals who saw Mark play at Benalla, reckoned  that the slower style of footy suited him down to the ground. He dominated the big-man duels and knocked up taking marks.

He helped the Saints to their first Grand Final in years, but they were outplayed by a strong Seymour side.

” Stevo decided to retire after that, but I lined up again. Things were going okay until I broke my arm and ended up in the Wang Base Hospital after Round 10. That was the finish for me. I was needing knee surgery, so it was time to pull the pin.”

Life has remained pretty hectic for Mark Porter. Married, with three young kids, he spends a lot of his professional time, along with Brad Wira, the ex-Bulldog and Freo Docker, co-ordinating the AFL Player’s Association’s Financial Education program. It is designed to instruct young players on how to maximise their financial potential.

The pair are also advisers for the AFLPA and AFL Industry Superannuation Plan and Mark is continuing his Financial Planning studies.

The young man who was dubbed ‘an old-fashioned blue-collar ruckman’, has transitioned perfectly into the white-collar world.

It’s seemingly light years away from the idyllic surrounds of the King Valley cattle farm………