Historic Beechworth has produced its share of sporting heroes……
At the height of the 19th-century Gold Mining boom, for instance, the town become a metropolis, as its population swelled to over 20,000…..
During that time its sporting hub – Barmuutha Park – hosted its first – and only – International cricket match.
The touring All England XI met the Ovens XXII; the pick of the region, who would spend the week fossicking for their fortune, then, on weekends, strut their stuff with bat and ball…….
Such was the popularity of sport – and its headquarters at ‘Barmuutha’ – an elegant Grandstand was erected, to cater for the large crowds which flocked from miles around, to see Horse Racing and Athletics meetings and follow the hugely-popular Beechworth Football Club.
The home team were flying in the late nineties, and clinched Ovens and Murray League flags in 1893, ‘94 and ‘97…….
One of their Grand Final appearances perhaps illustrates the fervour of the time……when the home team clashed with arch rivals Rutherglen, in front of a packed audience…..
“The first few minutes of the game were fairly friendly,” reported the O & M Advertiser…..”until Harry Thompson, the Wanderers’ ace goal-kicker, was attacked in a spiteful manner by a Rutherglen player.”
“The ground was immediately rushed by supporters of both clubs……Only for the intervention of police, a free fight seemed imminent.”
“After several minutes had been spent in excited wrangling, order was restored and the game proceeded. Play however, continued to be rough throughout…..When the final bell rang to end the game, Rutherglen were just ahead 2.7 to 2.4…..”
Spearhead Thompson was just one of a number of stars who would be spirited to the city; playing for Beechworth one week….. and in the VFL (in his case Carlton) the next.
And he paved the way for countless other Beechworth youngsters who made their name in sport, locally and beyond, over the next 125 years………
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Olympic Pole-Vaulter Emma George is the best-credentialed of them all……But football stars such as Tony Chambeyron, Steve McGuffie, Andrew Carey, Ron Rutten, Rob ‘Tree’ Forrest, Neil Whitehead, Robert Gilchrist, Malcolm Jessup, champion goalkickers Graeme ‘Chewy’ Hill and Bob McWaters, tough defender Francis Carey, 300-gamer Anthony Mihaljevic and former coach Brendan Breen, come to mind.
Of course, the Surrey brothers, Brenton and Kayde, have been the backbone of Beechworth footy and cricket for almost two decades…….Their personal achievements include a combined 590-odd club games with the Bushrangers, 10 Football Club B & Fs and 12 WDCA centuries.
‘Grub’ has coached the Bushrangers, won a TDFL Barton Medal, and has captained the cricket side for 15 years…..’Cob’ has been an able back-up…….They’re the epitome of loyalty and an inspiration to the young blokes……It would be fair to say they’ve extracted everything out of their careers ……
Which reminds me of another fellah who could have scaled the sporting stratosphere, but remained an unfulfilled talent…….
They called him ‘Gypsy’……..
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Picture a 15-year-old, smallish, well-proportioned kid with unruly, dark hair and an impish grin, strolling to the wicket, then plundering a double-century in one of his first Ovens & King Cricket Association matches for Beechworth.
Or, several months later, leaving tough, seasoned opponents for dead as he effortlessly plucked the pill from packs in his first season with the O & K’s Beechworth Bombers.
Terry Bartel was the proverbial teenage sporting prodigy……one of those rare products who come along once in a blue moon, playing with the abandon of a tiny kid in street pick-up matches.
Fortuitously, he was to come under the watchful eye of two experienced mentors, Vic Rowlands (cricket) and Wally Russell (football) whose task it was to try to harness the precociousness of the wayward youngster.
Russell, a former Geelong player, who was still picking up kicks at 42 years of age, was persuaded to take on the Bombers’ coaching job in 1965……One of the few highlights he garnered from their mid-table finish was the form of his roving dynamo, who finished high-up in their B & F.
“Wally taught me all the basics,” Terry once recalled.
Late in the following season, as he continued to impress – and with several O & M clubs sniffing around – Bartel was lured by Wang Rovers to play the final two home and home matches, and subsequent Finals – on Match Permits.
Beechworth must have had serious misgivings about his departure as they were seemingly September-bound ……only for their loss to Greta in Round 18 to dump them from the finals on percentage.
But the potential shown by their new recruit in his brief four-match stint prompted the Hawks to dangle what they thought was the signature-clincher – a berth on the looming Trip Away – in front of him.
So, just on a month later, the 16-year-old was sailing the Southern Ocean, lazing upon the deck in the balmy spring sunshine, as the Italian cruise ship ‘Achille Lauro’ plotted its path to Perth.
16 year -old Terry Bartel (seated, centre of picture) on the Wang Rovers 1966 Trip Away.
Alas, when the aura of the Trip had dissipated, Terry returned home to Beechworth where he continued to amass runs, take wickets, and boot goals with regularity.
Carlton came calling in early 1968 and he succumbed to their requests to try his luck at Princes Park……Many keen observers tipped that, should he grasp this opportunity, it could be the makings of him.
He played a handful of District cricket matches at a lower level with Melbourne, performed promisingly enough in footy practice games and in a handful of Reserves games with the Blues, to get the aficianados at Princes Park excited….
But he couldn’t settle into the ‘big smoke’.
On his journey home to Beechworth he pulled up on the side of the road and delivered the news to Carlton…..
He wasn’t coming back……
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Carlton coach Ron Barassi wrote him a letter, imploring him to ‘give it another go’ but instead, he accepted a ‘financial offer’ to play the season out with Albury. He was back with the Bombers the following season, then coaxed back to Albury.
There was no doubting the Bartel sporting package……He was a brilliant, clever, elusive, goal-kicking rover with sublime skills and, despite his lack of height (5’9”), a witheringly quick fast bowler and hard-hitting batsman who could turn a game, Travis Head-like, in a matter of overs.
But he, indeed, lived up to his nickname…..
A couple of Rovers-oriented ‘posties’ were having a midday beer in the summer of 1971 when they spotted Bartel enjoying a counter-lunch at their familiar ‘haunt’, the Bull’s Head Hotel.
“You should go down and see him,” they suggested to Hawk secretary Tom Tobin upon their return to the Post Office.
Tobin did his due diligence, enlisting the help of coach Neville Hogan……And it was as simple as that….After a five-year hiatus, the ‘Gypsy’ had agreed to return to the Findlay Oval.
He was working as a Car Salesman at West City Autos alongside a Rovers team-mate Bob Atkinson, and slotted in seamlessly to the Hawk side.
His early form earned him selection in the Ovens and Murray League squad, to play the Farrer League at Yerong Creek……..not that he regarded wearing the famous Black and Gold guernsey as that big a deal….
“I don’t think I can be bothered driving all that way, “ he told Atkinson……”I’ll probably be sitting in a forward pocket all day; I reckon the other pricks won’t give me a run on the ball,”
“You never let anyone down,” ‘Akky’ retorted. “Jump in that car and get up there….I’d give my left knacker to play in one of those games. You don’t know how lucky you are…..”
“And would you know it, the little bastard’s gone up and kicked nine goals….”
Terry Bartel (second from left,front row) in the Wang Rovers 1971 Premiership line-up.
The Hawks came from fourth spot to win the 1971 flag…..Bartel, thriving on the ruck dominance of Mick Nolan, booted three goals in the Grand Final and shared roving duties with another star O & K export, Chiltern’s Donny Lappin.
He was the central figure in a fiery skirmish with Albury early the following season when he flattened Tiger star Ray Thomas, right in front of the coach’s bench at the Findlay Oval.
Albury President Ken Bowtell rushed onto the ground and began remonstrating with him…..Former Rovers player – and Wangaratta’s Senior-Sergeant of Police – Les O’Keeffe entered proceedings and promptly arrested Bowtell.
The proceedings lasted more than five minutes before calm was restored…… The result ? ……Bartel was rubbed out for four weeks and Albury ruckman Joe Ambrose copped two.
The spasmodic brilliance of the little fellah continued that season…..He featured strongly in another Premiership win over Yarrawonga, kicking three majors, as the Hawks overcame their inaccuracy, registering 12.20 to defeat Yarrawonga by 17 points……
‘Gypsy’ ready to pounce on the ball in a Country Championship game against Goulburn Valley in 1973.
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Neville Hogan is as good a person as any to give an assessment of the Bartel sporting prowess, having coached him for almost four seasons, and played cricket alongside him at WDCA power club, United.
“He loved the aspects of sport that draw your attention as a little kid……Loved kicking goals, taking a ‘speccie’, belting the cricket ball, and bowling as fast as he could…..” Neville says.
“I’m reminded of his bowling action when I watch the English quickie Mark Wood…..but he could have showed more restraint with the bat……when you’d expect him to put his head down and bat out an over he was more inclined to try to put one over the top.”
“I’m pretty sure he could have made it to the next level as a footballer had he possessed the right attitude, but he was so darned unreliable.”
“Similar to Mick Nolan, who’d take an eternity to bandage his ankles, and get out on the training track, knowing full well he was getting on your goat, Terry basically didn’t like training…..”
“He’d miss a few nights, then turn up just when he was close to getting dropped……That’d drive me crazy….”
“He’d then try to convince you that he got caught up selling a car…..”
“He was a real wheeler and dealer……..the car-game was right down his alley. But my theory was, he needed an excuse if he didn’t play well….that’s why he was absent so much from training
Bartel again represented the O & M in 1973, as the Hawks, chasing a hat-trick of flags, fell to North Albury in the Prelim Final.
But as his interest and training attendance fell away in ‘74, he was dropped from the side……After 65 Senior games and 122 goals, it spelt the end of his career with the Rovers.
“I’d got tired of football; got so damn lazy,” he recalled……”I sort of felt that I’d had enough….”
The Hawks went on to convincingly win another premiership, but Terry was following them from afar…..He accepted an offer from Beechworth, and helped his home club clinch their 11th O & K flag, booting six goals in their 44-point win over North Wangaratta.
At the ripe old age of 24 he then decided to hang up his boots.
“I’d been playing football since I was a kid…..There were no hard feelings between me and the Rovers…..I remained great mates with them…..It’s just that I’d developed other priorities.”
Neville Hogan says one of his lasting coaching disappointments was that he was unable to get the maximum out of an immense sporting talent.
Bartel moved, through work, to Brisbane, Bendigo, Albury and Geelong, and continued to be involved in cricket, culminating in playing with, and coaching, the St. Mary’s Cricket Club in Geelong for several years.
The enigmatic ‘Gypsy’ lost his battle with cancer in 2010…..He was 60.
Beechworth’s 1974 Premiership – Terry Bartel’s last game.
To read more by KB Hill click HERE.
This story appeared first on KB Hill’s website On Reflection and is used here with permission.
All photos sourced from KB Hill’s resources unless otherwise acknowledged.
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