The Long and Winding Ride: Episode 6 – Ovens to Buffalo River: Hopping along

The Long and Winding Ride

 

Episode 6 Ovens to Buffalo River via Myrtleford: Hopping along

 

Stage 6 Ovens to Buffalo River

 

In this episode cycling moves to the side allowing football to take centre stage. The spotlight falls on Myrtleford footy, and more particularly, on a clutch of Saints players who have excelled both locally and at the very top. Do the names Ablett, Kekovich and Crisp ring a bell? Get ready for theatre aplenty.

 

After the challenging Mount Buffalo stage, the cycling will be a breeze as we head down the M2M Trail to Myrtleford. Our first stop is R.C. McNamara Reserve. My first visits to the ground were in the mid 1960s. This is how I remembered the atmosphere when I put pen to paper half a century later.

 

Soon after arriving at Myrtleford’s home ground and ascending the embankment around the oval I could feel the chilling wind straight off the not-too-distant alps. Spectators surrounded the playing arena, some standing casually on the bank, while others sat near the fence in seats they had brought to the match. The reserves game was well under way in the midday sunshine when we arrived. After a few moments to check the scoreboard and watch the play, it was time to eat. Smoke from the food stall drifted across the ground and grabbed my attention. The familiar sounds of boot on leather, the piercing umpire’s whistle, barracking and loud applause from the crowd leapt at me as we walked around the boundary to buy a hot dog.

 

Lunch stop

Today’s lunch is more a feast of football rather than an epicurean delight. We have arrived at the home ground of the Myrtleford Football Club, or the Alpine Saints, as they are otherwise known. The big match this afternoon in round eight of the Ovens and Murray League is the clash between the Saints and last year’s O&MFL premiers, Wangaratta Rovers. 

 

RC McNamara Reserve (Google maps)

 

Games between these two clubs go back a long way, in fact before both entered the Ovens and Murray League in 1950. Prior to that they had a brief but great rivalry in the Ovens and King League, with the honours shared. The Rovers won in 1948, while Myrtleford turned the tables on their rivals to win the flag in 1949. Both clubs saw a better future in the Ovens and Murray League and with the greater likelihood of a Seconds competition soon being formed, they applied for the move.

 

As the two clubs entered the O&M, Myrtleford had the bragging rights but it would be the Rovers who were first to hold the O&M premiership cup aloft. After eight seasons the Rovers, with Bobby Rose at the helm, tasted premiership success. The Saints had to wait a bit longer. It took two decades before they claimed their first and only O&M flag, in 1970.

 

After chaining the bikes to the fence let’s head inside the ground for some classic footy fare – a meat pie, a hot dog, and on this occasion, a beer. Sit back and take in all of the action of three games of local footy.

 

Myrtleford v Wangaratta Rovers

 

Saturday 7th June 2025

 

Coming into round eight Myrtleford were placed mid-table after a 43 point loss to Wodonga the week before. The reigning premiers, Wangaratta Rovers, held top position.

 

Myrtleford recorded one of their best wins in recent memory. A week can be a long time in footy.

 

Myrtleford 9.12 (66) defeated Wangaratta Rovers 2.10 (22)

Goals: Myrtleford – Ryley Sharp 3, J. East 2, D. Bren 2, Jake Sharp, B. Calogero

Wangaratta Rovers – B. Filo, L. O’Brien

Best: Myrtleford – East, Cossor, Calogero, Pethybridge, Tenardi, Smith

Wangaratta Rovers –  Filo, Dayman, Cattapan, Dal Zotto

 

In the Thirds (Under 18s) Wangaratta Rovers won by 17 points after kicking two goals 19.

In the curtain-raiser Reserves match ladder-leaders Myrtleford enjoyed a comfortable 21 point win over the visitors.

 

People know Myrtleford for its once thriving tobacco industry, while football fans associate the town with the names Ablett, Kekovich and Crisp. One was a father figure of the Myrtleford football club, another, a nephew of the former, was a prodigiously talented player known to many as ‘God’. Another is a modern day media personality, and like his brother, a former VFL recruit from the Ovens River district. And one is now the record holder of the most consecutive AFL games (currently 250 games). In this episode we follow the careers of Len Ablett, Gary Ablett Snr., Sam and Brian Kekovich and Jack Crisp. 

 

While Myrtleford is in the spotlight, we must not forget two imports: a genuine star of South Australian football, Jimmy Deane, who landed in Myrtleford in the mid fifties and made a huge impact on Ovens and Murray League football; and the man who holds the record as the longest serving coach in O & M history, former Carlton rover Martin Cross. 

 

Tobacco was first cultivated in the Ovens River district of NE Victoria in the early 1850s by Chinese, American and European gold rush migrants. Chinese growers commenced tobacco cultivation in the King River Valley in the 1860s and the Buffalo River Valley in the 1870s. In 1892 tobacco curing by heat convection commenced at Whorouly, while kiln drying became common from the 1920s. At the same time Italian migrants became involved in tobacco growing in the Myrtleford district. 

 

A combination of economic, climatic and biological factors led to a sharp decline in tobacco production in the mid 1930s just when the preference for American leaf grew. Government support and the increased demand arising from World War II allowed tobacco production to expand once more. The industry reached its peak in the 1960s-1980s period after the influx of Italian, Spanish and Yugoslav migrants, many of whom took up share farming opportunities before becoming owner growers. One of the Yugoslav families to arrive in Australia after the war and settle in the Myrtleford district had sons who would make names for themselves in the Ovens and Murray League and VFL football in the 1960s and 1970s. 

 

Tobacco cultivation eventually ceased in 2006, displacing more than 130 local growers and taking a large chunk out of the local economy, however the tobacco fields have been replaced by hops, cattle, vineyards, nut and fruit groves and regenerative pine. A relic of the industry, the characteristic old corrugated iron tobacco-drying kilns, still grace the landscape.

 

Hop cultivation is not new to the district. Descendants of Chinese gold prospectors from the Buckland Valley pioneered hop growing in the North East in the late 19th Century. Hops were first grown in the Ovens Valley in the 1890s when The Pan Look brothers, descendants of Buckland Valley storekeepers and gold buyers, established a fifty acre hop garden at Eurobin in 1895 alongside their tobacco crop. Tobacco crop failure in 1933 led them to expand hop growing on additional land they had purchased nearby and by the mid-1960s Pan Look’s “Rostrevor” Hop Gardens was the largest in Victoria. Today the enterprise is the largest of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.

 

The Kekovitch family who fled war-torn Yugoslavia in 1946 first settled in Western Australia before moving across the continent in 1955 from Manjimup to the northern Victorian town of Gunbower. Five years later they settled at Nug Nug in the Buffalo River area near Myrtleford. Their mission was to grow tobacco in the fertile Buffalo River Valley while their sons, Brian, Sam and Michael had Australian Rules football on their minds.

 

From Myrtleford to Princes Park and Arden Street

 

Brian, the oldest son in the Kekovitch family, played four seasons of football for the Myrtleford ‘Saints’ before being recruited by Carlton in 1967. Myrtleford coach Martin Cross telegraphed his former club about the talents of Brian Kekovitch after he had kicked 49 goals in 1966. Richmond were initially interested in the full forward but Carlton got their man on a match permit arrangement which they consolidated into a deal with Myrtleford. 

 

Kekovitch only played two seasons in Melbourne, with his greatest accolade coming from the vital role he played in the Blues’ 1968 premiership victory over Essendon. In a close low scoring match, full forward Brian Kekovitch booted four goals out of his side’s seven which helped end Carlton’s 21 year premiership drought. Thereafter, a back injury curtailed his career, although Carlton cleared Kekovitch to North Melbourne in 1970 giving him a chance to join his brothers Sam and Michael at Arden Street. Unfortunately, Brian’s injury and Michael’s tragic accidental death prevented the three Kekovitch boys from showing their wares together.

 

Brian Kekovitch footy card  (source: Blueseum)

 

‘Slammin’ Sam Kekovitch (the name he was dubbed by Lou Richards) approached his football in the same vein as the media persona he is renowned for as the frontman for Meat and Livestock Australia – the flamboyant entertainer, full of confidence and controversy. Whether it was throwing his footy boots in the Yarra in a protest against coach Brian Dixon, having running battles with Barassi, going missing in action when he should have been at training and team photo sessions, or appearing nude in a Melbourne rag’s centrefold, he did things his way regardless of the consequences. 

 

Winning North Melbourne’s best and fairest award in just his second season of VFL football tells us that he could play the game. And, we must not overlook Sam’s contribution to North’s breakthrough premiership in 1975, when he took on Don Scott in the forward-half rucking duels and helped quell the damaging Hawks half back line. 

 

Scanlens footy card: Sam Kekovitch

 

It all started back at Myrtleford in 1966 when Sam won the Reserves best and fairest award. Next season he topped Myrtleford’s goal-kicking as a 17 year old playing at full forward.

 

Sam Kekovich goals for Myrtleford in 1967
(Source: Border Morning Mail 21 August 1967)

 

Kekovich was soon to leave the rain-drenched and muddy grounds of the Ovens and Murray League for a new home at Arden Street.

 

It was Martin Cross who again tipped off the Blues about a good prospect. However, a major change to country recruiting thwarted the endeavour of getting Sam to Princes Park. When North Melbourne came knocking in 1968 the Saints’ hierarchy was adamant they were not going to clear Kekovitch. The Saints were building a team to win the club’s first Ovens and Murray League premiership and Sam was a vital part of that plan. With the introduction of the Country Zoning Scheme in 1967 North knew they had the whip hand and Sam did not require a second invitation to head to the big time of VFL football. The deal with Kekovitch’s parents was eventually secured when the Kangaroos offered to pay for their younger son Michael’s schooling at Trinity Grammar. But Myrtleford were not happy with North Melbourne’s snaring of Sam Kekovitch.

 

Slammin’ Sam  debuted for the Kangaroos in round 8 1968 against the powerful Geelong outfit, picking up 20 disposals and kicking one goal. His explosive VFL football career was launched. Sam’s breakout season was in 1969 when he booted 56 goals on his way to winning the Syd Barker medal. A glamour boy of the VFL, he appeared to have the football world at his feet, then a knee injury struck and for a combination of reasons he didn’t reach those heights again. By 1977 North had had enough and he was traded to Collingwood where he played just four games before losing interest and hanging up his VFL boots. It is said by some critics that Sam Kekovitch was a wasted talent. That may have a fair element of truth to it, but it is a harsh way to judge his career – 232 goals from 128 games and three times the winner of the club’s goal kicking award is not a bad record for a half forward flanker/utility player.

 

Post VFL he played in Prahran’s 1978 flag before moving to the Harbour City where he coached Newtown taking them to the grand final in 1981. Kekovitch was the NSW coach for three years after the tenure of Allan Jeans. He returned to VFA football coaching Camberwell between 1987 and 1989.

 

In hindsight, all of the argy-bargy over North Melbourne’s recruitment of Sam Kekovitch ended on the bright side for both clubs. Despite losing Sam, Myrtleford got their treasured first (and only) premiership in 1970, while North Melbourne, with Kekovitch and a clutch of stars from other clubs on board, claimed their first flag in 1975. It should not be forgotten that thanks to country zoning and North’s aggressive scouting, the Ovens and Murray League proved to be a rich source of talent for the Kangaroos in the 1970s.

 

The youngest Kekovitch, Michael, was destined to be a star at North Melbourne after being awarded the best first year player in the club’s Under 19s in 1970. Sadly, he was struck by a car and killed one evening in June 1971 when returning from playing with his school team.  

 

From Myrtleford to Punt Road and back again

 

Let’s go back to Myrtleford’s early days in the Ovens and King League and their first three decades in the Ovens and Murray League to appreciate the contributions of Len Ablett, a father figure at the Saints. Ablett was born in Myrtleford and played for his home town club (1932-38) before joining Richmond in 1939 where he played 84 games including the Tigers 1943 premiership. After the war he returned to Myrtleford, who at that time were in the Ovens and King League.  In one match in 1946 Len kicked 17 goals on his way to a season tally of 108, the first time an O&KFL player had kicked 100 goals in one season. 

 

Len Ablett was the club’s best and fairest player in 1950, their inaugural season in the Ovens and Murray League. He also captain coached the Saints before their admission to the O&MFL. After football he was Myrtleford’s president for 21 years and was honoured with the club’s first life member award. Len Ablett was inducted into the Ovens and Murray Football Netball League Hall of Fame in 2006.

 

His value to the Saints did not end there. In 1983 he was instrumental in Myrtleford gaining the services of his nephew, Gary Ablett Snr. 

 

From Princes Park to Myrtleford and (thank heavens) to Kardinia Park

Len Ablett offered his nephew a football lifeline at Myrtleford after Hawthorn cut the prodigiously talented Gary Ablett Snr. adrift. Ablett and two former VFL players, Greg Nichols and Peter Ruscuclic made a highly potent combination for the Saints, which saw the team kick big scores week in and week out. With Ablett on board, McNamara Oval drew crowds of over 4000 for  home matches in 1983. He  played just one season in the O&M, nearly taking the unlikely Saints to a grand final berth. In the First Semi Final against North Albury he almost single-handedly pulled the game out of the fire for the Saints with a barnstorming five minute blitz late in the final quarter. His season in the country was nothing short of sensational, a beacon not missed by Geelong who snapped-up the young Ablett.

 

From Punt Road and the Adelaide Oval to Myrtleford

The 1950s and 1960s was an era in which a host of star VFL players took up coaching positions in the bush. One was Bob Rose at Wangaratta Rovers, another was Murray Weidemann at Albury. Dual Magarey Medallist Jimmy Deane from South Adelaide joined the party in 1958 as playing coach with Myrtleford. He guided the Saints to their first O&MFL finals in 1960 and won the Morris Medal twice (1958 and 1961). Deane was inducted into the O&MFNL Hall of Fame in 2019.

 

From Kergunyah and Myrtleford to the Junction Oval and beyond

Football journeyman Frank Hodgkin started his long and winding football odyssey at the young age of 14 at Kergunyah where he played in a premiership team in his first season of Tallangatta League football. Destined for bigger things, he joined Myrtleford in 1957 and was immediately recognized as a very promising talent by the Ovens and Murray representative team selectors. Hodgkin won Myrtleford’s best and fairest award in 1960 before being recruited by St Kilda where he played 32 games between 1961 and 1962. In 1963 he was back at Myrtleford but was on the road again soon after, embarking on a succession of playing (and later coaching) roles at Ganmain, Rutherglen, North Albury, Mitta United and Wodonga. At the end of his 25 year playing career he had tallied 426 games of senior football. He was known widely in country footy as ‘iron man’ for his tough and tenacious style of play.

 

From Princes Park to Myrtleford

The aforementioned Martin Cross holds the O&MFL record as the longest serving coach. He tallied 378 home and away games and 14 finals campaigns as a coach in the span of 21 years. Cross’s legendary coaching journey started at Myrtleford in 1966 (after 36 games with Carlton), shifted to Dederang in 1972, returned to Myrtleford in 1976 for two years before moving to North Albury in 1982 for an eight year stint. He returned to the Saints in the early 1990s for a third time at the helm and finished back at North Albury in 1995-96. As well as Myrtleford’s sole premiership in 1970 he steered the Hoppers to the 1984 flag.

 

Myrtleford premiers of the Ovens and Murray League 1970
(source: 1970 The Year of the Saints by David Johnston)

 

From Myrtleford to the ‘Gabba and the MCG

A contemporary AFL player, Collingwood’s Jack Crisp, played his early football with Myrtleford and the Murray Bushrangers before joining Brisbane in 2012. He switched to Collingwood in 2015 and has amassed a record number of consecutive AFL games, taking the title from Jim Stynes in round eight 2025.

 

On the bikes again, we cross the Ovens River at Myrtleford and enter the beautiful Buffalo River Valley. Soon we pass Rostrevor’s other Victorian hop farm on our way to Nug Nug on the Buffalo River. Here we set up camp and rest under the stars before our ride across the Ovens Valley to Mudgegonga and beyond.

 

Next episode

In stage 7 we cross through the town of Myrtleford again, picking-up supplies on our way to Beechworth.

 

 

More from Peter Clark can be read Here.

 

 

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