The Goulburn Valley League’s Indigenous Round last Saturday brings back plenty of memories for Kyabram supporters who have been privileged to see some of the very best Aboriginal players wearing Bomber guernseys down the decades
Two of them, brothers Jeff and John Cooper, are among the greatest Aboriginal players ever to grace the Goulburn Valley League ovals.
They were in their prime in well-performed Kyabram sides in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Jeff’s football career commenced in 1955 in the Mid Murray League, with Woorinen, where he played his first senior game as a 16-year-old.
He was immediately seen as a future star and the next year was selected to represent the Mid (now Central) Murray League against Carlton.
In 1957 he transferred to play with Mathoura in the Echuca District League and won the league’s best and fairest award.
In 1958 Jeff found himself at Kyabram playing with the bombers under legendary coach Tony Bull and became an instant sensation in GVL football.
He won the GVL Morrison Medal in his first year with Kyabram in its premiership season of 1958 and repeated the feat again in 1961. He was also runner-up for the medal in 1962, third in 1963 and fourth in 1964. He also won club best and fairest awards in 1958 and 1960.
He was a player well ahead of his time for that era with his pace, running, bouncing the ball and handball (often back to himself on a sustained run) constantly cutting the best sides in the league to threads.
Many pundits still rate him the best or right up with the best players ever to grace the Kyabram and Goulburn Valley League grounds.
Jeff’s rover son Lenny also played many senior games with the Kyabram and also represented the GVL. Len’s sons Leonard and Brady also pulled on the Kyabram jumper early in their careers.
At the same time Jeff Cooper was displaying his fantastic kit of football skills to GVL fans his brother John was also making a name for himself with the Bombers.
He had a ‘‘seconds player’’ label on him when he first arrived but didn’t take long to shrug that tag and quickly show when he got the chance his worth as a senior player with impact.
He was a tough-as-teak midfielder-onballer who won the club’s senior best and fairest award in 1962 after winning the same award in the reserves in 1958 in his first year when his brother Geoff won the Morrison Medal.
Legendary Shepparton and coach Tom Hafey had run-ins with John and quickly found he wasn’t into taking backward steps.
Hafey often mentioned John as one of his toughest ever rivals, and that included his AFL days.
When the Cooper brothers careers were over one of John’s sons, Gary Cooper, continued the family’s proud tradition as players of rare ilk, claiming three Morrison Medals (with Tatura 1976, Mooroopna 1983 and 1985) in an illustrious career.
Also in the Cooper era at Kyabram there was another Aboriginal with sublime skills — and awe — who demanded headlines.
Charlie Stewart, who helped Kyabram win the 1958 GVL flag when barely out of his teens, also hoisted his names among the best First Nation players to treat GVL fans to his spacious kit of football skills.
A powerful midfielder with a raking left foot Stewart went on to play at the elite level with the Footscray (Western Bulldogs), returning to coach Kyabram to grand final appearances in 1964, 1964 and 1965, winning the GVL’s Morrison Medal in 1963.
After the Cooper brothers and Stewart era Kyabram was again blessed to have several prominent Aboriginal players back in its rank in the 1980s.
Shane McLennan was a reliable back pocket and Kevin Williams, Gilbert Wanganeen and Claudy Jackson, Ricky Green and Harrison Day were other players who pulled on the Kyabram jumper. In 1991 Kyabram boasted another talented Aboriginal player in Ian Bloomfield, recruited from Narrandera by Kyabram footy legend Lawrie Casey who had coached Bloomfield’s Riverina club.
Bloomfield was an instant hit in his one season with the Bombers, winning the club’s best and fairest award playing on a wing.
Other Aboriginal players who came through the Kyabram junior ranks included Scott Hearn, the Kent brothers Mick, Daniel and Andrew, the McCormack brothers — Alby, Troy, Jason (JJ) and Damon — Scott Hearn, Damian Goodall, Wally Charles, Corey Harlen-Atkinson, Barry Peters and current Bombers president John Guinan. John’s son Archer is currently showing a lot of promise playing with the Kyabram thirds while Breon Nolan, a son of Wally Charles, is playing with the Bomber reserves.
Now a Salvation Army stalwart and award winner Vince Ross also played with Kyabram reserves in the late 1960s.
There is no doubt Kyabram and the GVL football ranks have been greatly enriched by all these players, who have provided immense enjoyment for their club and supporters in general down the years.
Mac Harness dies
Kyabram Football Netball Club players lost one its most popular players from the 1960s era with the passing at the weekend of Mac Harkness.
A bubbly character Mac, 81, was one of several schoolteachers who came to the town in that period and played with the Bombers.
Although not robust in stature Mac was a very determined defender who was a consistent performer in his years with the club.
In recent year he has suffered Alzheimer’s and has been in a Frankston nursing home for the past few months.