Country football giants Ovens & Murray and Goulburn Valley tangle for the 27th time at the Albury Sports Ground this Saturday……….It comes 93 years after their initial clash at Wangaratta, back in June 1930.
Despite the fact that representative footy has fallen out of favour with the modern generation, the major-league near-neighbours are doing their best to promulgate what has always been an intense rivalry…….
In so doing, the barely-flickering flame of Inter-League football remains alive……
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It has waxed and waned over the years…….In fact, the O & M possibly laid claim to the revival of Inter-League matches when they selected a team to embark on a tour of New South Wales in June 1952.
The projected trip tickled the fancy of all O & M players, and they were keen to clamber on board, to be a part of the historic, week-long jaunt…….Even Corowa’s veteran captain-coach Tommy ‘The Turk’ Lahiff, who wasn’t selected in the squad, joined the travelling entourage….
The first port-of-call was the Riverina town of Leeton, where a huge crowd paid £177 to see the South-West League handed a football lesson:
“The visitors showed how to support a team-mate by running to receive a hand-pass……and they were equally adept at leading to position……..They also gained the advantage by their superiority in the air….This came as a big surprise, because the South-West team included some particularly high fliers……..” the ‘Murrumbidgee Irrigator’ reported.
It was a slaughter, as the O & M booted 7.6 to 0.3 in the opening term, on their way to a 24.16 (160) to 7.10 (52) victory.
Champion Rutherglen spearhead Kevin Gleeson kicked 12 goals in the avalanche, whilst his dynamic Redleg team-mate Joey Gilfius chipped in with four.
Gleeson, a former Benalla star, was at the peak of his form in 1952. He finished the O & M season with 106 goals, including an 18-goal haul against Corowa……
Yarrawonga coach Marty McDonnell played superbly, as did the elusive Wangaratta rover Timmy Lowe……..
The Ovens and Murray team which toured New South Wales in 1952
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Five days later, the travelling caravan landed in Sydney, to prepare for a keenly-anticipated clash with the N.S.W. Football League on Sunday June 15.
Astute judges predicted that N.S.W. would have too many guns, but the ‘Sun-Herald’ reported that the underdogs prevailed:
“It was a boil-over at Trumper Park yesterday…..The O & M used clever handball, and its high-marking was excellent. The players’ anticipation was, at times, uncanny and every man kicked well…..”
Leading scorers for the winners were full forward Kevin Gleeson (7 goals), half-forward Lester Yensch (4) and rover Tim Lowe (3).
Centreman Mac Holten, with clever handball and long kicks continually sent his team into attack….Ruckmen Graham Woods and Alan Cunneen were on top all day.
Ovens & Murray won easily: 17.24 (126) to NSW 7.5 (47).
The side, indeed, contained a host of stars…..
Playing-coach Holten had established a sizeable reputation, on and off the field, since his recruitment by Wangaratta, from Collingwood.
He was on the verge of guiding the Magpies to a record-equalling fourth successive flag……Timmy Lowe, his live-wire rover, won B & F’s in three of those years, and would take out the Morris Medal in 1953.
Myrtleford’s Neil Currie was in the process of establishing himself as the League’s premier fullback…..He was to become a fixture in representative sides over the next eight years, and was crowned the Morris Medallist in 1957.
Keith Williams is often spoken of as being in the upper-echelon of all-time O & M greats. A proverbial bush champion, he clinched the 1947 Morris Medal at the age of 18, with Border United (Corowa), then, in a brilliant season with Fitzroy, was voted the VFL’s best First-Year player.
Just as quickly as he’d flashed across the League kaleidoscope, he disappeared, …….returning to the O & M, where he undertook a three-year coaching stint at Rutherglen, followed by a season back at the helm of Corowa…..
“When I was coaching Rutherglen there were plenty in Corowa who wouldn’t talk to me…..” he once joked. “Then, after I went back to Corowa, Rutherglen people walking down the street would turn away from me…..”.
A severe back injury forced a 12-month lay-off. He contemplated retirement but, against doctor’s advice, Williams made a come-back with Corowa. Propped at full forward, he booted 100 goals.
He lived long enough to see his grandson, John Longmire compile a magnificent AFL career……
Marty McDonnell was one of the many VFL stars who continued their careers as bush coaches……
He’d been a stalwart defender – and regular Victorian representative – after he burst on the scene at Footscray in the mid-forties. After applying for the Bulldogs’ coaching position….. and missing out….he was approached to take on the job at Yarrawonga.
It proved a master-strike…..Highly-popular and a fine leader, McDonnell nurtured several of the youngsters who would form the basis of the Pigeons’ first flag in 1959.
The war years robbed Stan Rule of a good portion of his career, but when he returned from active service he walked straight into the powerful Melbourne line-up. Standing 6’1” he was used as a ruckman/defender, played in a Demons’ premiership side and wore a Victorian guernsey in 1949.
He moved to Wodonga in 1951, as coach, and made an immediate impression, finishing third in the Morris Medal.
But every member of the side had his own footy story to tell…….The trip was hailed a huge promotional success, and it’s said that lifelong friendships were cultivated among the players, some who’d previously had only limited contact………
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Almost a year later, on June 2nd 1953, an Ovens & Murray team made the journey to Echuca, to play the Bendigo Football League, as part of the town’s Centenary Celebrations….
If you were thinking of scripting a match which would provide a showpiece for the best of Country football, this was it…..
Several of the players who’d toured NSW, including Holten, Lowe, Williams, Currie, Graham Woods and Keith Thomas, were selected for the Bendigo League clash, but a new wave of stars were coming through….
Albury ruckman Barry Takle and his team-mates Reggie Gard and John Ziebarth, Rutherglen speedster (and future Stawell Gift-winner) John Hayes, and North Albury’s Stuart Strong were selected, along with Wangaratta defender Lionel Wallace.
‘Lioney’ Wallace was a sandy-haired dairy farmer who the Magpies took years to extricate from the clutches of his home club, Greta.
His arrival in O & M footy coincided with Mac Holten’s coaching reign at Wangaratta…..
“He’s the best country footballer I’ve ever come across”, said Holten. “He’d have been a sensation if he’d played in Melbourne….”
Holten’s vice-captain for this game was Billy King, a former South Melbourne ball wizard, who played in the 1945 ‘Bloodbath’ Grand Final and was renowned for his skills. He’d been a regular Victorian representative and had coached Corowa for two seasons before accepting the job at North Albury.
King was a man for the big occasion, and was destined to play an integral role in this encounter……
Lionel Wallace
Marty McDonnell in his Footscray days
Mac Holten
The brilliant Billy King
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Important big man Kevin Curran, had suffered a rheumatic attack and was a late omission for Bendigo, but their coach Alan McDonald remained optimistic about their chances.
Followers Harry Equid, Dick McGillivray and strong centre half-forward Ike Illsley needed to be countered, as did their small men, Hosking, Evans and Bull, who had all made their way onto VFL lists in the pre-season.
The huge crowd of 10,000, assembled at Park Oval, Echuca for what was freely accepted as the unofficial ‘country championship of the state’, could hardly believe how the game unfolded.
Bendigo completely dominated for two and a half quarters, and led by seven goals well into the third term.
It was a matter of ‘how far Bendigo’……
It was at that stage that shrewd O & M coach Holten made a crucial move, shifting himself from the centre to the forward line, and allowing Billy King to take over in the mid-field.
King breathed fresh life into his struggling side, and by lemon-time they trailed by only 22 points….
The final term was a thriller…….O & M had now wrested the ascendency and, in the dying stages Keith Williams goaled, to see them trail by just 4 points.
From the resultant centre bounce O & M big man John Zeibarth marked strongly and drove the ball into the goal-mouth where Elg, in great style, dodged two opponents to snap a goal.
The O & M now led by two points with four minutes remaining…
Dick McGillivray received a penalty free for Bendigo and his long, towering punt kick split the big sticks, to restore the home team’s advantage.
In reply, John Hayes grabbed the ball from the centre and thumped it forward……As it swung into the pocket, the ever-elusive Timmy Lowe snapped truly to beat the siren by seconds……….
Ovens and Murray: 2.4 (16), 3.5 (23), 6.11 (47), 11.13 (79)
Bendigo. : 3.2 (20). 8.6 (54), 10.9 (69), 11.11 (77)
Best: O & M : K.Thomas, W.King, R.Gard, N.Currie, G.Woods, W.Morris.
Bendigo. : Evans, Illsley, McGillivray, Dryburgh, Equid, Carter.
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The following season – 1954 – the inaugural Victorian Country Championships were held at Ballarat, comprising teams from O & M, Ballarat FL, Bendigo FL, Mornington Peninsula FL and Goulburn Valley………..Fittingly, after the previous season’s titanic struggle, O & M met Bendigo in the Final.
It was almost a carbon copy of their first encounter……A wayward Bendigo had led 6.20 to 5.8 at three quarter-time, but were swamped in the final term, going down by eight points, 11.11 (77) to 8.21 (69).
The Country Championships had arrived with a bang……..
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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