“THE TRAIL-BLAZER WHO BECAME A HAWK LEGEND…..”

They say that footy clubs are haunted by the ghosts of former champs……That they loiter around the Club’s corridors and settle into their vantage spots on match-day, discreetly urging their successors to emulate their miraculous deeds………

If so, one of them would be perched over on the Score-Board wing of the W.J.Findlay Oval……

He’d ride every kick, foreshadow every tactical move, flinch at every contest, and finally see his side home….. then drive off into the sunset in his Blue Datsun 180B Ute …….until the next game………

Before Lesley Ronald Clarke shuffled off to his mortal coil, that had been his routine for thirty-odd years.

He was a Rovers trail-blazer…….helped guide his Club through the harrowing early years when they were the competition’s easy-beats…… strapped himself in for the ride, as they became an Ovens and Murray power…….And maintained a fervent love of the Club until his dying days…..

Les Clarke (second from left) at a Re-Union with his 1958 Premiership team-mates John Frawley, Len Greskie and Bob Watson.

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He grew up in Gapsted, absorbed in an idyllic bush lifestyle alongside his siblings…..They’d harvest walnuts, participate in fox-drives, kill snakes and send in their ferrets to flush out the ‘underground mutton’ ( rabbits ).

“On a good day we’d net a couple of hundred and, considering they sold for a bob a pair, it was handy pocket money,” his brother Arthur once recalled………” At shearing time we’d work in the shed, sweeping the floor and dabbing tar on the sheep….Then, on week-ends we’d go and watch Gapsted, who had a team in the Myrtleford-Bright Football Association.”

Les was three, and his dad Ernie was captain-coach, when Gapsted clinched a victory for the ages……..”Although out-marked at practically all points of the field, the Blues, by means of perfect team co-operation, defeated the Valley Rovers by one point in the most thrilling Grand Final ever witnessed on the Myrtleford Oval,” it was reported.

The Clarke’s moved to Wangaratta in 1948 and were domiciled at 29 Morrell Street…….The Junior League rules of the day decreed that the boys were zoned to South Wanderers, whose home ground was Wareena Park.

That’s where Les and Arthur spent most of their week-ends…….Playing on Saturdays and kicking the footy with their mates for most of Sunday afternoon.

The Wanderers won the Junior League premiership in 1950, with a line-up that included future League stars, Lance Oswald and Peter Hughes, and several others who would graduate to O & M ranks.

The natural inclination might have been to try their luck with the Mac Holten-coached Wangaratta, who were in the midst of a Golden era, during which they were to annex four successive flags.

But the Clarke’s decided to throw in their lot with the town’s ’ugly duckling’ – the downtrodden Hawks .

The Rovers’ inauspicious entry to O & M ranks had seen them register a winless season and – not only that – cop demoralising 111 and 105-point schellackings from their home-town rivals.

But Les had occasionally filled in as a boundary umpire during their Ovens and King days, and had already become a familiar face around the Club………..

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He walked straight into the senior team in 1951. Tipping the scales at 12 stone and standing five feet nine, he was versatile and skilful, and his early leaders found him an ideal man to plug the many gaps which sprung up around the ground.

He was a lynchpin in the struggling Hawk combinations of the early 50’s, and his durability became the stuff of legend……Twice carried from the ground on a stretcher after being monumentally ‘cleaned up’, he recovered to resume his place in the side the following week.

His trusted side-kick was his sweet-heart Reta, a converted ‘Pie, whom he married on the eve of Round 3, 1953.

They tied the knot, caught the train to Albury and he spent the first day of his honeymoon picking up kicks on the Albury Sportsground.

Reta and Les hosted regular Saturday night post-game functions at their residence in 30 Vincent Road ( just a decent drop-kick from his parents home around the corner ).

There was no shortage of long-necks, an abundance of tucker, and the place would be jam-packed…….Reta would have been preparing for it since the early hours of Saturday morning…… she’d have a spell at 10am, flick on the wireless to jot down the race scratchings, then, as the kids started coming, get them ready for the footy.

Les received approaches from several VFL clubs in the early days, and actually trained at Geelong and South Melbourne………But he resisted all offers…..He was content with his job as a Pastry-Cook at the time, and sensed that the Rovers were building something…..

The appointment of Bob Rose as captain-coach was the sealer……The mere presence and guidance of the champ helped players ‘grow a leg’; recruiting became that much easier; new Members signed on, and excitement levels lifted around the Club.

Les’s run of 104 consecutive games was halted in one of Rose’s first games in 1956, when he copped a fractured cheekbone…….But he swiftly returned, to become one of the coach’s most valuable weapons, as he could be swung onto the ball, into the midfield, or to either end of the ground with equal effect……

Les Clarke with his greatest fan, son Barry.

Bill McKenzie, Claude Roger’s, Les Clarke and Roley Marklew watch Rovers boot-studder Alan Hay in action.

He savoured his proudest football moment in 1958 when the Hawks stormed to their first O & M flag……He starred in the back pocket, and his cohesion with full back Pat Tully, and fellow defenders Arthur Smith, Ted McSweeney, Don Ellison and Geoff Lack kept Wodonga at bay.

Despite the obvious brilliance of Rose, who booted 6 goals, vice-captain Clarke was handed the laurels as best afield, in a performance characterised by his sweeping runs downfield.

The Rovers 1958 Premiership side. Les Clarke is third from left (front row)

The Rovers lost a nail-biter in 1959, when, with seconds remaining, Yarrawonga big man Alf O’Connor snapped truly to clinch one of the O & M’s great Grand Finals.

But they were back on the dais the following season, depriving Wodonga of another chance of glory with a 21-point victory in the decider.

They had to curb their celebrations somewhat, as they were scheduled to meet VFA Premiers, Oakleigh, in a challenge match at the Findlay Oval the week after the Grand Final.

Local punters eagerly accommodated a handful of Bookmakers who were ardent Oakleigh fans ……They’d made the trip up the highway to register a quick-kill……..Once again, Clarke was near-impassable, as the Rovers belted their opponents by 68 points…..

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The Hawks had to find spots for nine premiership players when they lined up for the 1961 season.

Les Clarke uncovered a replacement for celebrated defender Arthur Smith when he talked his mate Ron Murray into having a crack at O & M footy.

They were both larrikins, but nevertheless, an unlikely duo…..Clarke was an occasional shandy drinker at best; ‘Modest’ Murray, who was fresh from coaching Moyhu to the 1960 O & K flag, was extremely partial to a cool ale on a warm day.

Les convinced the Hawk hierarchy, and in particular coach Rose, that he’d be able to keep his mate in check. ‘Modest’ became a colorful figure and enjoyed a consistent season, annoying hell out of the League’s best centre half forwards.

But he proved a nightmare for President Jack Maroney, who had the job of transporting him to and from each away match. Jack’s conversation would resemble something like this: “Now you won’t go out tonight, will you Ron ?”….”Trust me Jack; no worries.”

Much later, Les would receive a call from the Police Station……”We’ve got your mate here…. Come and get him.”

Unfortunately, Bob Rose was hospitalized with a serious back injury during the season, thrusting extra responsibility on his side-kick Clarke, who assumed the captaincy in his absence. Even so, despite a crippling injury-run the Hawks battled on, to finish just outside the Four.

Acting-captain Clarke leads the Rovers out in his final season. Following him are ruckman Brian Condon and defender Ron (Modest) Murray.

It proved to be Les Clarke’s final year in Brown and Gold……He had appeared in 179 games over an 11-year period, and was awarded Life Membership.

Rose, in bestowing the honour upon his deputy, said of him: “I have never met a stauncher or more sincere player”……

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With a young, growing family, and eager to consolidate their future, Les took on the coaching job at Terang, where he also landed a job with the PMG.

He proved a popular and successful leader in his two years with the Hampden League club. Then, seeking to shift closer to home, he was appointed assistant-coach to Barry McIntyre at Deniliquin for a further two seasons.

By now the body was showing signs of wear and tear, and he decided it was time to return home, put down his roots, and settle in to a job at Telecom.

The footy retirement was short-lived……Milawa coach Jay Comensoli sweet-talked him into having a run, but he pinged a hamstring in his second game with the Demons.

When son Barry retrieved his footy boots from the rubbish-bin the following morning, Les said: ‘Leave ‘em there…..I’m done’.

It was all over……..

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He did some coaching over the years, with Imperials and Centrals, and helped out with the Rovers Thirds in the mid-seventies….. as well as doting over his five kids ( Ros, Barry, Graeme, Glenn and Alana) and subsequent grand-kids….and following their progress in sport.

He watched on as Glenn become an Olympic cyclist and Commonwealth Games Gold Medallist, and tracked Barry’s career with the Rovers, Lemnos, Merrigum, Yarram, Devon and Sale, as his job as a stock-agent took him around the state.

Cancer claimed Les in 2004, and robbed him of the thrill of seeing one of his grandsons, Travis, make his senior debut for the Rovers 18 months later.

His offspring remain heavily involved in local sport……Glenn, the champion cyclist, threw off the effects of a stroke and, at age 61, remains a prominent ‘man in white’ in O & M football……Barry, after coaching the Rovers Reserves and Thirds, continued on as a behind-the-scenes man with the Hawks, and has helped to operate the Score-Board at his old home ground for more than three decades….

Travis enjoyed a lengthy playing and coaching stint at Ballina, in northern New South Wales; some of his grand-daughters became prominent Netballers; whilst Jackson – an inspirational midfielder, has previously shone at Coburg and West Preston-Lakeside and is the current co-captain at the Magpies.

Maybe, high up in the bleachers of the Showgrounds’ Richardson Stand, the ghost of an old champ casts an eagle-eye over his rangy grand-son – despite ruing the fact that he’s wearing Black and White……..

“HEROES IN OUR EYES…….”

Greg Rosser is a self- confessed ‘sports-nut’……..

In his heyday – almost half-a-century ago – he was a quadruple O & M premiership footballer, an automatic selection against international cricket teams, and a former Victorian Second XI player………As a proven coach and administrator, he’s the obvious person to quiz about his local sporting heroes of his generation…….

‘The Happy Hooker’ : Greg Rosser.

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“ I’m walking past 21 Scott Street, Wangaratta, when a kid yells out: ‘Wanna play, mate ? ‘………

It was 1952…..I was five; he was seven, and that was my introduction to footy and cricket in our wild, wild West End neighbourhood….

The participants in those hard-fought backyard games of cricket were the kid in question – John Welch – his little brother Geoff, me from nearby Orkney Street, and Eric Cornelius from around the corner, in Hogan Street…..

Even then, John was a star in my eyes………

I remember he, Eric and I running from Appin Park to the Sisely Avenue crossing in 1956, carrying Olympic Torch-style jam tins nailed to a stick, ablaze with a camphor-smothered rag……We were there to catch a glimpse of the real Olympic Torch being carried through town.

Were we imagining things when we spotted a dapper old bloke there in a neat brown suit and pork-pie hat ?……We reckoned it had to be Don Bradman…….

John and Eric would soon become gun players with Junior League club South Wanderers, and would both scurry from the High School to work part-time with the immortal Bob Rose, who operated the Sports Store in Murphy Street.

Youngsters Eric Cornelius and John Welch, with the great Bob Rose.

Geoff Welch grew up with, played and coached alongside Greg Rosser. Here he provides his son Shane with some batting tips.

Imagine that !……You’d hardly call it work; spending time in the company of the person dubbed ‘Mr.Football’; acknowledged as the greatest player in Australia…..I was lucky enough to also land that job for a while and, to me, he remained my hero for the rest of his life.

The four of us backyard cricketers ?……..Well, we all went on to play a lot of footy and cricket together, and those Scott Street days proved an ideal launching-pad for our careers…..

Cornelius and Welch in latter years.

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My grandfather, Graham Cairnduff, was an integral part of the sporting fabric of our town. He was typical of many; an unsung hero when it came to sports administration…….

Graeme Cairnduff – ‘The Organiser’

A week in the life of the Cairnduff’s would comprise outings on two or three week-nights and every week-end, to either cricket, football, Golf, Lawn Bowls, Carpet Bowls, Tennis or Croquet……

You’d go to Bowls or Golf with Pop, and he’d be the bloke taking the entries; getting people out on the rinks or the course……He loved it……At the trots on a Saturday night he was in the Secretary’s Office, organising fields and finalising nominations.

If you tuned in to 3NE on a Saturday morning, his dulcet tones would come across the air-waves, along with his mate ‘Doc’ Findlay……They’d ramble on for half an hour or so, but just about every bowler in the North-East would listen in for their popular prognostications.

The most important thing about Pop though, was that he ensured nobody was left out of things……..

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On the occasions we’d walk up from our house to my grand-parents, who lived in Phillipson Street, we’d hopefully catch sight of a curly-haired young fellah, who’d be visiting his girlfriend’s place, three doors down from the back gate at West End Primary School…..

It was Lance Oswald, who, in his mid-teens, was already a star with Wangaratta, and was regarded as a hero among us local kids.

One of Wangaratta’s greatest sporting exports: Lance Oswald

Later, on our infrequent visits to Melbourne, Dad would pull up at the cafe’ in Kilmore, where we’d order a ‘Burger…….Across the road, at the Red Lion pub there’d be 5-6 carloads of Wang people who’d travelled down to watch Lance play for St.Kilda.

Of course, he was to become a League champion; eventually being named as the centreman in the Saints’ Team of the Century……….

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I was a big bike-riding fan, and wouldn’t have missed a Wangaratta Carnival for more than thirty years. Some of those Aces 5-mile Scratch races were about as good as sport can get……. Come to think of it, the whole ANA week-end, with the accompanying Lawn Tennis Tournament, showed the town in a fantastic light.

And it reminds you of the unsung heroes that made it happen……Like Norm Minns and his mates spending weeks and months making sure the Gift and distance tracks were world-class…. ‘Mulga’ Smith flipping over the lap numbers and ringing the bell-lap……Kevin Howard on the starter’s pistol….Geoff Webster ensuring that the Gift track was brilliantly lit up for the major sprints…..

Ron Harding and his local Axemen hosted the world’s best wood-choppers…….the water-truck drivers kept the dirt bike track as safe as possible……St.John’s First-Aid…the Gate-Attendants, Presidents, Secretaries and Committee-members, all volunteers, contributed to an event which attracted the world’s best to the Showgrounds….

It was the same down at Merriwa Park, where it was ‘all hands on deck’ to have the Lawn Courts in pristine condition and the ANA Tournament running as smoothly as ever……..

What about the hush that fell over the crowd when that legendary commentator Eddie Bush would dramatically announce: “And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, we come to the running of the Final of the Wangaratta Gift ( or Wheelrace )………”

I can still see ‘Puddy’ Vincent pushing his little legs to stave off the field in the 1975 Wheelrace Final……It was met with raucous applause whenever a local entered the record books as a winner of the coveted Wheelrace or Gift ……..

Norm Minns: preparing for the Wangaratta Carnival ( with Dave Wohlers)

Alan ( Pud) Vincent takes out the 1975 Wang Wheelrace.

That’s why ‘Pud’, ‘Pettsy’, ‘Clarkey’, ‘Simmo’, Terry Ryan, Wally ‘Pas’, Greg O’Keeffe, Jason Boulton, Jimmy Doolan and Jack Sommer all became local heroes in our eyes……..

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When I was growing up, the big names in local cricket were Mac Holten, Max Bussell and Stan Trebilcock. I was around ten years of age when they played key roles in taking Wangaratta to its greatest triumph – Country Week Provincial-Group champions.

‘Tige’: Max Bussell

And they couldn’t be prouder of the fact that they paved the way for us to remain in Country Victoria’s elite group for 20 years; competing against – and beating – some towns three and four times bigger than us…….

What a thrill it was to line up alongside ‘Tige’ and ‘Trebly’, two more of my heroes, as they helped initiate me and many others into the hurly-burly of Melbourne Country Week…..

I mentioned Norm Minns earlier…….He and ‘Hopper’ McCormick, staunch Magpies, and from the opposite side of the laneway in respect of my footy leanings, were heroes for their promotion of Junior football.

They couldn’t do enough to encourage kids in the town to play the game; to have the Junior League running smoothly, and providing a pathway for the more talented ones to be selected in the Schoolboys sides for the State Championships……..

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“You are now working for the toughest boss in the World – the people of Wangaratta, ” they told me……

It was May 1st 1975, and the message was delivered by a couple of the city’s legends – the Mayor, Kevin Howard, and that great sportsman and bloke, Max Bussell….

I had just been appointed assistant-manager of the Wangaratta Stadium…….I resolved immediately that it would be my life’s work……and it was !

The following Labour Day week-end we welcomed every State and National Basketballer to a pre-season camp…..There he was, the famous coach, Lindsay Gaze, waving directions to basketball identities like his son Andrew, Brian Goorjian, Phil Smyth and Cal ( C.J) Bruton, surrounded by Boomers and Opals.

As we farewelled participants in one of the earliest tournaments, the best Basketballer I ever saw fired off the first high-five I’ve seen: “Best boards I ever played on, man,” said the effervescent Cal Bruton to Max Bussell…..

Volleyball, table-tennis, badminton, netball, cricket, soccer, squash and racquetball players made use of the facility……The Wangaratta Stadium teemed with enthusiastic sporting action…….

Every day, for the next 28 years was a buzz, piloting the operation and management of Australia’s first-ever community transformer.

The versatility of the Stadium saw it take on a different persona, hour after hour, day after day……The vibe was continuously buoyant…..It was great to be a part of……..

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In 1984, Greg was 37, and leading Whorouly in the O & K Preliminary Final, when he suffered a life-changing accident……….

Luckily, he was in reasonable physical shape, which helped him recover from being declared an incomplete quadriplegic, after spending months in the Austin Hospital………

The Austin doctors’ initial verdict of ‘never to walk again’ weighed heavily on his mind…….By comparison, he recalls the bloke in the next bed chomping on, and swallowing, a thermometer in a desperate bid to end it all………

He didn’t have the good fortune of being part of the Wangaratta sports-mad community…….

Greg’s family, and the mates he had lived, learned and played with, joined arms and willed his lifeless body back into action by their compassionate reaction to his dilemma……..

They, he says, we’re his greatest heroes………

” A TRIO OF MAGPIE MEDALLISTS…….”

Timmy Lowe would have been an Ovens and Murray champ in any era.

The classy small man fortuitously landed in Wangaratta’s lap when his dad Roy decided to re-locate the family building business from Melbourne in 1948.

R.J.Lowe Constructions ( also employing Tim and his brother Ernie ) became one of the town’s largest companies, and spread its tentacles throughout the North-East …… even assisting in the re-alignment of ‘New’ Tallangatta, when it shifted 8km west to allow for the construction of Lake Hume in the early 50’s.

Roy wholeheartedly embraced his civic responsibilities , serving firstly as a councillor, then as Mayor of Wangaratta in 1955/56…….But it’s the mercurial Timmy who sticks in the minds of old-timers, many of them still fondly recalling his dazzling ball skills………….
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Tim Lowe’s childhood years were affected by his battle with the debilitating disease of polio.

He was somewhat of a late starter to football, beginning at the age of 16, with State Savings Bank, in the A-Grade Amateurs, in 1947. When he joined Wang the following season, he walked straight into a developing side.

Small in stature ( standing just 5’7” ), he was a quick, agile and elusive rover. Under the coaching of George Tribe, the Pies were hampered by injuries in the early games, but recovered well to finish just half a game out of the four.

Lowe was hailed as the ‘Recruit of the Year’, besides winning the first of his five Club Best & Fairests.

It was the arrival of football sage Mac Holten that helped fast-track many promising Magpie youngsters into out-and-out stars.

Lowe, in particular, derived much benefit from the discipline and tutelage of the master-coach…………..And he certainly required the whip to be cracked occasionally………

Jack Dillon, who was just starting his career with the Rovers, was Timmy’s next-door neighbor early on, and says, despite being footy adversaries, the pair were as thick as thieves:

“We only owned one bike between us and would take it in turns to dink one another to the Dance or the Pub………..He was a bit of a cheeky bugger, Tim……Combined with that, he was partial to a cool drink on a hot day………So he could get us into a bit of strife without even trying…….”

“I could tell you heaps of stories, but I remember one time, we found our way to the Footy Club Dance out at Tarrawingee…..Lord knows how we got there, but I do recall we brought a Crayfish and a couple of Bottles of Wine with us…….I went into the Hall to have a dance, and when I came outside again, Tim was standing beside the fire, stirring one of the popular local players – big Leo Devery.”

“Next thing, Leo’s hauled off and whacked him flush on the moosh ……….That stopped him in his tracks. He thought his jaw was broken………….was still nursing it the next day…….”
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A touch of spunk added an extra ingredient to the Lowe football make-up. He relished the big occasions and starred in Wangaratta’s 1949 flag win over Wodonga.

The Pies had struggled to wrest control of the game from the Bulldogs, who, despite the absence of their inspirational coach Jack Eames, trailed by just a goal at half-time.

When the heavens opened up during the long break, it made conditions decidedly difficult for players and spectators alike.

Wang streaked away with the game in the final term, booting four goals to one, with Jack and Doug Ferguson, Bill Parkinson, Lowe and Ken Nish helping them to an 11.16 to 6.14 victory.

It was, of course, the first of the Pies’ famous ‘Four in a Row’, which would perpetuate the Holten legend.
But there was no more important player in the side than Timmy Lowe.

His capacity to rack up countless possessions and his rapport with ruckmen Kevin French, Graeme Woods and Bill Comensoli saw him named Club B & F in the 1950, ‘51 and ‘52 premiership years.

The evenness of the Wang side was exemplified when four players – Jackie Stevenson, Lionel Wallace, Mac Holten and Lowe tied for fourth place in the 1951 Morris Medal.

The following year Timmy polled 18 votes to finish third, behind Wodonga champion Norm Webb (22) and North Albury’s Billy King (19).

Melbourne had been on his hammer for several years and finally, in the pre-season of 1953, he and ruckman Graeme Woods agreed to head down to train and participate in a couple of practice matches.

Neither of them were comfortable in the ‘big smoke’ and were back home prior to the start of the season.

Chasing a historic five on-the-trot, the Pies finished two games clear on top of the ladder but were below their best in the finals. They dropped the Second Semi to Albury by 13 points despite booting four goals to one in the last quarter………

The Preliminary Final saw ex-Wangaratta star Norm Minns leading Benalla against his old coach, Holten.

The Demons, outpacing Wang and continually creating the loose man, held a slight edge all day and clung on to win a thriller by 19 points. Vice-Captain Lowe was magnificent, as he strove to keep his side in the game.

Benalla clinched their first O & M flag against Albury the following week. Prior to the game Lowe’s brilliant season was recognised when he was presented with the 1953 Morris Medal.
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Lowe was enticed to Beechworth as captain-coach in 1954 and proceeded to set O & K footy alight with his individual brilliance.

He took out the Bynon Cup ( League B & F ) with 18 votes, ahead of two old Magpie premiership team-mates, Ray Warford (Moyhu) and ‘Hopper’ McCormick ( King Valley).

The Bombers went within an ace of snatching the flag the following year.

Bogong led 6.12 to 5.16 in the dying seconds of a sensational Grand Final. As they grimly clung to a three-point lead the ball was bobbling around in Beechworth’s 10-yard square….. Lowe grabbed it and snapped it through, just as the siren blew…….Alas, it was a split-second too late, and the Bombers rued their misfortune.

They made amends in 1956 when Lowe (who had shared the League B & F, with Ray Warford and Moyhu rover Greg Hogan ) led them to a strong win over Milawa.

Despite woeful kicking ( they booted 9.17 to 6.5 ) the Bombers were too strong for a smaller, but courageous Demon side. Jock Gardner was a star for Milawa, kicking five goals, whilst the premiers were inspired by their tireless leader.

Beechworth fell away, winning just 6 games in 1957. Tim relinquished the coaching post and returned to Wangaratta. Injuries and a subsequent drop-off in fitness saw him confined to a handful of senior appearances, taking his final games tally to 122.

But he remained eligible for the 1959 Reserves finals and figured in yet another premiership when the young Pies eclipsed Benalla in the Grand Final curtain-raiser.

He was lured out to Moyhu in 1960. Despite some indifferent late-season form, he held on to his spot for the keenly-anticipated decider, against his old team, Beechworth.

The game’s fate was still in the balance when the siren blew and the ball was in the hands of Bomber rover ‘Ab’ Comensoli. His shot for goal from 40m out, on the angle, missed, and Moyhu snatched the flag, 9.11 to 9.5…….

Fittingly, amidst wild celebrations, the Timmy Lowe career had drawn to a close.

It was his seventh premiership……He’d won seven Club Best & Fairest Awards, three League Medals, and would, after his death, be inducted to the Ovens and Murray and Wangaratta Halls of Fame, and the Magpies’ Team of Legends………
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Ray Preston was a fifties football nomad who slotted smoothly into the Wangaratta side after the departure of Timmy Lowe.

He began his career with Ardmona in 1947, before moving to the Mountain District League for three seasons. On his return to home territory he stripped with GVFL club City United, winning their B & F in 1951 and making his name as a talented small man.

South Melbourne considered the 170cm, 70kg rover a likely type. He spent two seasons (1953 and ‘54 ) at the Lakeside Oval, but was contending for his spot with a handful of players of similar calibre and stature.

He was limited to just seven senior games with the Swans. When Wangaratta came knocking in early 1955 the Pies’ recruiting strategy appealed to him, particularly as it fitted in with employment with a cigarette company.

He enjoyed a brilliant season……. The smart, stocky on-baller was more than handy around goal and it was no surprise when he took out the 1955 Morris Medal with 22 votes, two clear of Myrtleford coach Alby Rodda.

Additionally, Preston performed more than capably in the Ovens and Murray’s Country Championship victory over Ballarat.

He snagged 20 goals during the finals series, during which Wangaratta overcame Yarrawonga in the Prelim Final re-play and lowered their colours in a tight Grand Final against North Albury.

He had a patchy 1956 season and was dropped from the senior side on more than one occasion.

But Wangaratta’s B & F voting system in that era decreed that the award should go to the leading vote-getter in the Morris Medal.

Thus Preston, with 8 votes, took out his second successive award, sharing it with brilliant youngster Lance Oswald.

Ray Preston continued his football journey, moving to Lemnos in 1957, to Seymour for three seasons; then on to Mooroopna for 1961 and ‘62.

He concluded his career back with home club Ardmona in 1963…………..
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Lance Oswald will forever be regarded as one of the Magpies’ proudest sons……

He was a schoolboy prodigy – a curly-haired football nut who had won a Junior League Medal and two premierships with South Wanderers before his 14th birthday.

Two years later, he was making his O & M debut against Wangaratta Rovers…….He only played one more senior game in 1953, but consolidated his spot the following season.

By 1955 Oswald was an out-and-out star. He kicked 17 goals during the finals series, including seven in a losing Grand Final against North Albury.

League clubs circled him, but his coach Mac Holten advised him to add a bit more beef to his slender body…… Holten was keen to nudge him towards his old club, Collingwood, but St.Kilda won the race for his services.

They played him on a match-permit in the opening round of 1957 and urged him to stay after his promising debut.

But Wangaratta put the foot down and persuaded him to return home.

By now Lance was the complete player. Strongly-built for a rover, he could sniff a goal and had a manic attack on the footy.

In a dominant season for the ‘Pies he kicked 90 goals to win the League goal-kicking, played in the O & M’s Country Championship triumph and shared the Morris Medal with Myrtleford defender Neil Currie…..

And he snapped the winning goal in Wang’s last-minute Premiership victory over Albury…….

After such a fairytale finish to his O & M career, big things were expected of Oswald……

.Within three years he was rated the best centreman in Australia, had represented Victoria, and picked up two St.Kilda B & F’s.

Lance Oswald retired to the ‘bush’ from the Saints after 107 games and 102 goals, settling his young family in Strathmerton, where he played 210 games and coached for nine seasons………

‘THE OBJECT OF MY DESIRE………’

I happened upon the object of my desire many, many years ago.

She was destitute, unloved; forever being compared unfavourably to her sassy neighbor across the road, who attracted, and courted, numerous suitors.

Noses were turned up whenever her name was mentioned. Jokes were made about her unsophistication. She’ll amount to nothing, they scoffed.

But I could see something in her. She possessed a rare charm which turned me on. I grew to love her more and more. It’s an affair that has never abated.

Through no fault of hers, my emotions still occasionally overflow in her presence. I find myself scaling the heights one minute, then plummeting to the lowest of lows the next.

Permit me, if you will, to recount a few of the cherished milestones of this dear old friend of mine ………….

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WELCOMING A NEW GUEST

I’m no more than four or five, and nipping at dad’s heels, when I’m first introduced to the new home of the Wangaratta Rovers.

They’ve received permission to use a ten-acre patch in Evans Street that had been handed to the Council way back in 1859. The specification of the Lands Department at the time was that it be used for sporting purposes.

It was un-named, but colloquially dubbed ‘The Cricket Ground’, and used sparingly over the next 91 years, for cricket and the occasional game of footy. Precious little had been done to improve it. The ‘paddock’ was rough-hewn, full of tussocks and mostly unkempt. A ramshackle building, which comprised a roof and two and a half sides, was occupied by a local swaggie, Tommie Clack.

Tommie used the floorboards of one part of the ‘pavilion’ as firewood, to provide some element of comfort in the harsh winter months.

He continued to squat, even when the Rovers began training there in the early fifties. The process was that they’d undress in the Industrial Pavilion under the old Showgrounds Grandstand, climb through an opening in the tin fence, and begin ball-work shortly after.

They continued to play Home games at the Showgrounds whilst spending thousands of hours -with Council assistance – grading the oval, rolling and sowing grass, and re-developing the surrounds of their new home.

“We had to grub out large trees; the oval had to be re-fenced. I recall we had to cart gravel from Eldorado for the banking; we had as many as 50 at working bees,” Rovers stalwart Frank Hayes once said.

“ And every evening and week-end for months, carpenters, plasterers, bricklayers and labourers worked like beavers to convert the dilapidated building into presentable Clubrooms.”

In 1952, in time for their third Ovens and Murray season, the Hawks are finally settled into their new headquarters…………….

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STAGING THE ‘BIG SHOW’

Just four years after its christening as an Ovens and Murray venue, ‘The Cricket Ground’ is chosen to host the eagerly-anticipated Grand Final encounter between North Albury and Wangaratta.

More than 11,000 fans pack in, and are treated to a classic contest which fluctuates throughout. It’s really a ‘coming-of-age’ for 18 year-old Magpie champion, Lance Oswald (later to become a VFL star). In a best-afield display, he boots five of his seven goals in the third quarter, to bring Wang back into contention.

But the ‘Hoppers steady, and hold a slender four-point three-quarter time lead. ‘Mother Nature’ seems to turn against Wang in the final term, as ideal conditions give way to a gale-force storm which blows towards North’s goal. The turning-point comes late in the game, when North’s Arthur Pickett sends one through the big sticks from the centre of the ground. They hang on desperately to win by 10 points – 13.15 to 13.5…….

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A CENTRE-STRIP

A centre-square of black turf is laid, lovingly-nurtured, and comes into use for the first time in January 1955. It survives flood, drought, plagues, vandals, under and over-indulgent curators and some footy coaches who regard its presence as a necessary evil.

The Rovers Cricket Club springs up and soon becomes a vital component of the Oval.

With shared tenants, Combined Schools and United, which morph into the merged Rovers-United, then Rovers-United Bruck, they snare a total of 23 WDCA senior flags……..

Another WDCA flag returns to the Findlay Oval

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MR. FOOTBALL ARRIVES IN TOWN

Everyone with the remotest connection to football in the vicinity, is abuzz with anticipation in late-1955, as news spreads that Mr.Football has arrived in town.

Bobby Rose, unanimously touted as the best footballer in Australia, has been lured as captain-coach of the Rovers.

The battling Hawks are astounded at the extent to which he transforms their fortunes. A crowd of over 1,000 flock to watch him in action in the club’s first practice match. Membership shoots up by more than 300%. The outlay of 35 pounds a week for a man who was a ‘marketer’s dream’ is deemed a fabulous investment.

Suddenly, the Rovers are front-page news and recruits eager to savour the champ’s wisdom, sign on. History will record him as the club’s most esteemed figure………

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‘LET  CELEBRATIONS BEGIN……’

The biggest party in the Ground’s history begins soon after the siren blares to signify the Hawks’ 51-point win over Wodonga in the 1958 Grand Final – their first O & M flag.

The game is a triumph for the dynamic Rose, but there are numerous heroes. The players return to Wangaratta by train and are led down to the Ground by the Town Band.

At the open-air Dance and Barbecue, a crowd of more than 3,000 is there to greet them. They devour 3,000 steakettes, 1,000 steaks, and the caterers carve up two large bullocks. The crowd is still at it in the wee hours of the morning…..

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A YOUNGSTER IN THE WINGS

As a keen cricketer, Bob Rose is an integral part of three premierships with Rovers. His greatest fan is a tiny 7-8 year-old, who diligently uses his own score-book to record each game. .

And at each break in play he grabs a bat and pleads with somebody to throw a few down to him. Years later, the kid seems destined to wear the baggy green, as he progresses to become a prolific Sheffield Shield opening batsman. However, a tragic car accident puts paid to Robert Rose’s highly-promising career……

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THE CHALLENGE MATCH

The Rovers’ victory over Wodonga in the 1960 Grand Final prompts a challenge from Oakleigh, who have taken out the VFA flag.

The match, played on the newly-named City Oval the following Sunday, attracts huge interest from the football public. Several city book-makers – keen Oakleigh backers – sense an opportunity to clean up and find multiple ‘takers’ when the word is put around .

But it’s a one-horse race. The Hawks lead from the first bell, running away to win 14.17 to 3.10…..

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COMFORT FOR THE FANS

With support from the Rovers in 1960, the Council submits plans for a Shelter, which is to be built in two stages and will cover the whole embankment to the right of the Clubrooms. It provides a vast improvement in supporter comfort and becomes possibly the most identifiable feature of the City Oval.

Many of the Ground’s most rabid fans make the new Shelter their home, and it is later named ‘The Neville Hogan Stand’, after a Club icon.

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THE BOYD – TUCK CLASH

It’s early 1964, when an incident occurs which is still imprinted in the minds of those who were there – although, to this day, you’ll get different versions.

Rovers coach Ken Boyd, one of the most controversial figures in the game, and Corowa leader Frank Tuck, the ex-Collingwood skipper, clash on the score-board side of the ground. To most it seems like a legitimate shirt-front which costs Tuck a broken jaw, but it triggers hitherto-unseen demonstrations at half-time.

Spiders supporters hurl abuse at ‘Big Ken’ as he walks from the ground and several, with fists raised, try to push their way through the packed crowd.

The ‘Melbourne Herald’ reports on the incident in their edition the following Tuesday, with the headline: ‘KEN BOYD IS NAMED’. Boyd subsequently sues for libel, and the aftermath is played out in the Supreme Court two years later.

Against all considered opinion, Boyd wins the case and is granted substantial damages. He retires later that year, with two flags to his name and a reputation as a charismatic and inspiring coach…..

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THE SECOND STOREY

The Rovers undertake a substantial renovation to the clubrooms, beginning in late 1964, and complete the task in ‘65. A second story is added to the humble abode that had been constructed twelve years earlier.

The players are to the forefront of this, as coach Ken Boyd marshalls them to lend support to the voluntary ‘tradies’ who had been at it every week-end for months.

It’s called the ‘Maroney Pavilion’, as a tribute to one of the club’s stalwarts, who has been at the forefront of the project ………..

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THE LOCAL DERBY

Rinso Johnstone marks spectacularly in a Local Derby. Half-a-century on, his grandson, Karl Norman would become a familiar figure at the Findlay Oval.

Neville Hogan gets his kick away, in front of a large Local Derby crowd.

72 epic editions of the ‘Local Derby’ have been staged at the City Oval to date, but none have carried the consequences of the 1976 Grand Final.

The Rovers are in the midst of their fabulous ‘Super Seventies’ era when they meet a confident Wangaratta side which has hit peak form.

The Hawks are considered likely to hold an advantage, playing on their own dung-hill , but it’s not to be. The ‘Pies produce power football from the first bounce and lead by 25 points at half-time.

The capacity crowd settles down to watch a predictable fight-back from the champs, but it fails to eventuate. They’re dismantled to the tune of 36 points……….

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CLUBROOMS EXPAND

A further re-modelling of the ‘Maroney Pavilion’ is undertaken between 1981-82, which increases the floor space of the complex by almost 40 per cent, and crowd capacity from 200 to 350.

Thirty-odd years later, a further step in the Clubrooms project is completed when a Balcony, covering the perimeter of the upstairs building is constructed, offering arguably the O & M’s best viewing facilities.

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THE LIGHTS GO ON

The first match for premiership points, under new lighting, is played at the City Oval in 1993. Whilst the Rovers’ performance in their 80-point win over Yarrawonga, is bright, the same can’t be said for the lights.

Supporters from both clubs fume that they’re unable to identify players on the far side of the ground,

But the dim lights don’t deter Hawk spearhead Matthew Allen, who slots nine majors in a scintillating display…..

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A FINAL NAME – CHANGE

The City Council, in consultation with the Rovers, re-names City Oval the ‘W.J.Findlay Oval’, in appreciation of the contributions of a former Postal Clerk, long-term Councillor, Mayor, Parliamentary candidate, author, Rovers committee-man, Life Member and ardent Hawk supporter.

Four legends of the Findlay Oval – Bob Rose, Neville Hogan, Robbie Walker and Andrew Scott

‘Old Bill’, who has passed on a couple of years earlier, had first-hand experience of the evolution of a decrepit patch of dirt into a sporting mecca …………..

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BACK TO THE PRESENT

Darkness falls early on this bitter, early-August Tuesday evening……A curtain of misty rain glistens as it sweeps across the floodlit Oval……Brown and Gold-clad figures flip the pill around with precision, egged on by a demanding figure with a stentorian voice.

I’m propped under the giant gum-tree, which has probably hovered here longer than the 160-year existence of this sporting Oval.

If only it could tell the tale it may be of: “….. People who come and find seats where they sat when they were children, and cheered their heroes….. And watch the games as if they’d dipped themselves in magic waters……..The memories are so thick they have to brush them away from their faces……..This field, it’s part of our past……..”

‘FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD’…..

Lance Oswald, who passed away last Wednesday, is rated by many local experts as Wangaratta’s finest football product.  

‘On Reflection’ caught up with the old champ just on four years ago. This was his story……:

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He’s rising 79 and has been ensconced in the sleepy Murray River town of Strathmerton for over 50 years. Life is just as he wants it – peaceful, idyllic and ‘far from the madding crowds’

He spent six years in the ‘big smoke’. More than enough time to earn recognition as the best centreman in Victoria – and probably Australia.

Occasionally his mind drifts back to where it all started………   ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Lance Oswald was a South Wanderer.

The Oswalds resided in Greta Road, which meant that, in accordance with the prevailing Wangaratta Junior League rules of the late 40’s, he was zoned to the Green and Golds.

Picking up kicks was never a problem for the curly-haired footy ‘nut’. He was 13 when he played in the first of two flags for the Wanderers. A year later he was the League Best & Fairest.

He seems chuffed when I start to reel off a list of his premiership team-mates . “There were a few good kids in those sides. Some of them turned out to be pretty handy players,too”, he says.

But none of them came remotely close to matching the achievements of the prodigiously talented Oswald.

In one of the early rounds of the 1953 season, he was selected to make his senior debut for Wangaratta against the Rovers. He was just 16.

The ‘Pies were fresh from winning their fourth straight O &M flag and it was a fairly hard side to break into. He only played one more senior game that year, but consolidated his senior spot in 1954.

The fabulous ‘Holten Era’ was drawing to an end, and I asked Lance how he rated the former Collingwood star ……”Good coach…excellent tactician…But gee, he was tight. Wouldn’t shout if a shark bit him !”

Holten urged Oswald, who, by now, was attracting plenty of attention from League clubs, that he should put on a bit of beef before he headed to Melbourne.

He’d kicked 17 goals as a rover-forward during the 1955 finals, including seven in a best-afield performance, as North Albury overpowered the ‘Pies in the last quarter of the Grand Final.

As clubs circled him, he swayed towards playing with Essendon. But Holten warned him…”Look, you’d be competing with Hutchinson, Clarke and Burgess for a roving spot. Don’t go there”.

Mac was keen to entice him to his old club and took him down for a practice match. He started in the Reserves curtain-raiser, then was whisked off the ground and played in the main game, under an assumed name. He starred, but was happy to return home, much to the chagrin of Collingwood officials.

After St.Kilda coach Alan Killigrew had trekked up the Hume Highway to visit him three or four times, Lance agreed to play the opening round game of 1957, against South Melbourne, on match permits, as the O & M season didn’t get underway until the following week.

It was a promising debut, and he was named in the side again, but Wangaratta put the foot down and told him he was going nowhere.

By now he was the complete player. Strongly-built for a rover ( 5’10 and 12 stone), he could sniff a goal, was an accurate kick and had a fierce attack on the footy.

If anyone still had a ‘knock’ on him, Oswald put paid to those doubts with a dominant season. He kicked 90 goals, to win the League goal-kicking award, featured in the O & M’s Country Championship triumph, and shared the Morris Medal with Myrtleford full back, Neil Currie.

And he played a starring role in the Magpies thrilling two-point win over Albury in a gripping Grand Final. Wang had kicked only six goals to three-quarter time and trailed the Tigers by 27 points.

They gradually closed the gap, and with a minute remaining, Lance snapped a miracle goal to give them the lead for the first time in the game. It was his 73rd, and last game for Wang.

What a note to leave on !

He was an apprentice at Jack Cox Engineering and St.Kilda arranged for his indentures to be transferred to Melbourne firm, Phoenix Engineering, as he settled in at the Junction Oval.

Lance and his wife Dot coped with severe bouts of homesickness. “We went home pretty regularly the first season. I suppose we improved as time went on, but Dot still hated the place”, he recalls.

After 10 years in the wilderness, the Saints were on the move and hit the jackpot with recruiting. The place became a bit of an Ovens and Murray haven. Brian McCarthy and Peter Clancy (Yarrawonga), Geoff Feehan (Wodonga), Ian ‘Doggy’ Rowlands ((Wangaratta) and, briefly, Les Gregory (Rovers) all wore the Red,White and Black guernsey.

Lance was a more than handy rover-forward in his first three seasons, but his career took off when he was moved into the centre.

The team’s strong defence and improved depth allowed him to roam the field and pick up kicks at will. In an era when centreman rarely moved away from the cricket pitch area, he was an exception. He had a big tank and could run all day.

By 1960 he was an automatic choice in the Victorian side and narrowly missed an All-Australian blazer in 1961, after performing superbly at the National Carnival in Brisbane.

He gained some consolation by winning his second successive St.Kilda Best and Fairest in ’61 and helping the team into the finals for the first time in 22 years.

He almost swung the semi in St.Kilda’s favour with an inspirational third quarter, as they pegged back a big lead to get within a couple of points. They eventually fell nine points short.

Although starting to feel the effects of some niggling ankle injuries, Lance was still playing at his top in 1963 and again starred when the Saints bowed out in another semi.

He and Dot packed the kids in the car the next week and headed up to visit his mum, who was living in Strathmerton.

She must have worded up the locals.They paid him a surprise visit , escorted him down to the footy ground to show him the facilities – and offered him the coaching job. “Give us a couple of weeks to think about it”, was his reply.

They were only a few miles out of ‘Strathy’, on the way back to the city, when Lance rang back and accepted the position.

So, after 107 games, 102 goals and four Interstate appearances, Lance Oswald’s League career was over.

He was offered employment at the Kraft Cheese factory, coached Strathmerton to a Murray League premiership in 1964 and, all-up, led them for nine seasons. He finally hung up his boots at the age of 37, after 210 games with ‘Strathy’.

It was a lifestyle choice that he never regretted and was an ideal place, he and Dot reckoned, to bring up their three kids.

He was at the J.C.Lowe Oval last Saturday, to watch his grandson Scott play for Yarrawonga, against Wangaratta. He had, he says, mixed feelings about the result, as he always keeps an eye on the fortunes of his old club.

It has been an incredible football journey for the St.Kilda Hall of Famer and Team of the Century member and a man who some experts rate as the greatest of all Magpies.