Australian Football

Wangaratta Rovers

Wangaratta Rovers Football Club was formed in January 1945 and commenced in the Ovens and King Football League several months later, when that competition resumed after a three year break for war. It was actually the second club named Rovers to compete in the OKFL. Its predecessor had spent most of the inter-war period in the competition, reaching the finals in its debut season of 1922 as well as in 1925, 1927 and 1928, but never managing to claim a premiership.

Coached by George Healey, Rovers Mark Two fielded an extremely youthful team in1945, with many of its players still at school. Nevertheless, it commenced the year well, with a hard fought 11 point home win over a Tarrawingee side that had just reformed after a gap of fifteen years. Rovers proved they had Tarrawingee’s measure when the side’s met for the second time in round eight, with their 10.12 (72) to 8.8 (56) victory effectively consigning their opponents to the wooden spoon.

Over the next couple of seasons, captain-coached by Len Hill, and bolstered by the arrival or emergence of such players as Jack Adamson, Fred Booth, Jim Fisher and Kevin Peterson, Rovers grew in both stature and prowess, and in 1948, despite a somewhat shaky start to the year, they qualified for their first ever finals series. Opposed in the second semi final by another up and coming team in Myrtleford, Rovers cruised into the grand final on the strength of a surprisingly comfortable 32 point win, and two weeks later conclusively confirmed their credentials with a harder fought, but ultimately no less impressive, 20 point defeat of the same opponent.

Rovers and Myrtleford continued to set the pace in 1949, and once again played off in the grand final, with Myrtleford reversing the 1948 result. The season had been played out amidst growing rumours that both clubs were on the verge of transferring to the much stronger Ovens and Murray competition. When it was finally announced early in 1950 that this was indeed the case, very few people were surprised. What was perhaps surprising was that the moves had received the blessing of the Ovens and King authorities, who to their immense credit proved to be more concerned with what was deemed best for the game as a whole than with the short-term welfare of the OKFL.

Having been granted permission to depart by the OKFL, the two clubs still had a battle on their hands to persuade the OMFL to approve their applications. Contrary to what many people imagined, the OMFL had not been actively courting approaches from prospective new member clubs, but when it became clear that several clubs definitely wished to join, it decided to invite them to submit formal written requests. Besides Rovers and Myrtleford, Chiltern and two Shepparton-based clubs had also expressed an interest in transferring to the OMFL, but when the league initially rejected all five applications it appeared likely that the matter would simply fizzle out. Fortunately for Rovers, the balance of opinion among the OMFL’s eight member clubs soon altered, with the majority coming down in favour of expansion. The two Shepparton clubs then decided to withdraw their applications, leaving just Rovers, Myrtleford and Chiltern as candidates, and it did not take the OMFL long to plump for the two OKFL clubs. For Wangaratta Rovers, half a century and more of excitement, challenge and exceptional achievement beckoned.

Initially, however, there was an inevitable period of adjustment, and of coming to terms with the demands of a much higher standard competition. The club was also required to dispense with its black and white colours, as these were already in use by Wangaratta. It was decided to adopt the brown and gold of VFL club Hawthorn.

In 1950, coached by Ken Bodger, Rovers failed to win a game, their only premiership points coming via a drawn game with Rutherglen. Under Bodger’s replacement as coach, Don Holbrook, Rovers opened their account in the first round of the 1951 season when they overcame old OKFL sparring partner Myrtleford by 15 points. It was a prelude to a much better season which produced 9 wins from 18 matches, good enough for fifth spot on the ten team premiership ladder. The club’s transformation into an OMFL pace-setter would still take some time, not to mention an abundance of effort, but things were definitely moving in the right direction.

In 1954, former Essendon centreman Alan Dale was appointed coach, the first ex-VFL player to take on the role. He stayed for two years, but progress during that time was minimal. It was Dale’s successor as coach who would oversee the club’s emergence as a power, besides stamping himself as one of the all time legends of the game in the region. The man in question was Robert Arthur Rose, still aged only twenty-seven when he arrived in Wangaratta from Collingwood in 1956, but already with ten seasons and 152 games worth of experience in Australia’s toughest competition behind him, not to mention four club champion awards, an All Australian blazer, 15 interstate appearances for Victoria, and a near best afield performance in a winning VFL grand final. In seven years with Rovers, Bob Rose would augment his glittering reputation still further, becoming known in the process, with almost universal affection and esteem, as ‘King Bobby’.

Rose had honed both his football skills and his winning mentality under the steely supervision of one of the most demanding, and certainly one of the greatest, coaches of all time in Jock McHale, and his success during his time with Rovers was largely attributable to his bringing McHale’s tried and trusted Collingwood formula to bear with consistently telling effect. It was not that Rovers were invincible; the club’s era of almost unbridled dominance still lay in the future. It was simply that they made the most of the talent that was available, and any team that hoped to beat them had to do likewise.

In 1958, Rovers reached their first OMFL grand final, downing Wodonga by 49 points, with Rose responsible for 6 of his side’s 15 goals. It was the first of four grand finals contested by the Hawks during Rose’s tenure. In 1959, they lost a high standard thriller to Yarrawonga by 8 points, followed that up the next year with a 22 point victory over Wodonga, and a loss to Benalla by 10 points in 1962 in what was Bob Rose’s final game in the brown and gold. The 1963 season saw him back at Victoria Park as coach of the Magpies, but such was Rose’s stature and impact during his time with Rovers that his legacy is still discernible today, clear and indelible as a tattoo.

The 1960s brought further flags in 1964 and 1965, on both occasions under the captain-coaching of ex-South Melbourne ruckman Ken Boyd. Both wins were doubly satisfying in that they came at the expense of arch rival Wangaratta. However, it was to be the 1970s that would establish Rovers as one of the all time great teams in the history of Victorian country football. Bearing in mind the fact that the OMFL then, as now, was one of the toughest competitions in Australia, the club’s achievements between 1970 and 1980 are simply staggering, as it contested every senior grade grand final bar one, for premierships in 1971-2, 1974-5, and 1977-8-9. Players like Neville Hogan, a prolific possession gatherer in the centre, resolute defender Merv Holmes, full forward Steve Norman, who kicked in excess of 1,000 goals during his fifteen season career, gifted on-baller Andrew Scott, and rugged backman Norm Bussell, a member of Hawthorn’s 1971 VFL premiership team were just a few of the many significant on-field contributors to this halcyon era.

In terms of premiership wins, the 1980s proved notably less productive than either of the two previous decades, but Rovers were still among the competition front runners more often than they were not. The sole flag of the decade arrived in 1988, when Lavington was beaten on grand final day by 26 points, 14.17 (101) to 11.9 (95). Coached by Laurie Burt, who would go on to spend a club record eleven years at the helm, the Hawks of ‘88 were a predominantly young side, with many team members going on to play key roles in the club’s triple flag successes of the 1990s. Those successes came at the expense of Yarrawonga in 1991, and Wodonga in both 1993 and 1994. Rovers won the ‘94 premiership unbeaten, earning the title champions, and their grand final triumph was their thirty-sixth victory in succession.

Needless to say, there were many important contributors, both on and off the field, to this successful phase in the club’s history. Perhaps the most noteworthy was Robbie Walker, the most highly decorated footballer in the history of the OMFL. In the thirteen seasons between 1991 and 2003 Walker won every club best and fairest award on offer except one, and was Morris Medallist a stunning five times. Equally at home at centre half forward or on the ball, it was his supreme fitness that set him apart from most other players. At his peak, many astute judges regarded him as the finest country footballer in the land.

Hardly surprisingly for a club of its stature and pedigree, Wangaratta Rovers has produced an abundance of players who went on to taste VFL or AFL football. Perhaps the best known of these were the North Melbourne pair of John Byrne and “the galloping gasometer”, Mick Nolan, both of whom share with Norm Bussell the distinction of playing in VFL premiership teams. (Interestingly, however, although Byrne and Nolan were at North at the same time, they were never premiership team mates.)

Since the turn of the century the closest Rovers have come to adding to their tally of sixteen senior premierships was a losing grand final against North Albury in 2002. Nevertheless, over the previous six decades the club had been far and away the most successful in the OMFL, and it remains one of the best known country football clubs in the land. The continued health and success of clubs like Wangaratta Rovers represents a kind of barometer of the overall well-being of the game, something that those responsible for formulating football’s future structure and delineation would do well to remember