MYRTLEFORD president Ian Wales says reports of Gary Ablett being imprisoned at Beechworth while playing for the Ovens and Murray club are an urban myth.
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Ablett played for the Saints in 1983 with Wales saying he lived at Buffalo Creek with his family.
"All the rumours about him being in jail and only being allowed out to play for us aren't right," Wales said.
"It's all garbage."
Wales, who was best man at Ablett's wedding, said he was certain the superstar didn't go back to jail after playing for the O and M club as "he spent most Saturday nights with mates drinking and carrying on" with the former Geelong champion in Myrtleford.
The closed Beechworth prison is open for tours with guides often referring to the times Ablett was released on Saturday afternoons to play football for Myrtleford in the Ovens Valley.
Ian Wales has coached Myrtleford's three teams, been a long-time player and is now president of the club. He spoke to The Border Mail's BRETT KOHLHAGEN this week about those times and what lies ahead.
BK: A lot of people presume you have lived in Myrtleford your entire life, but that isn't the case is it?
IW: Our family only came to Myrtleford when I was 15. Dad worked at a tobacco research farm at Gunbower and when it closed down he was transferred. I had just played in a thirds premiership and, being a typical 15-year-old, I wanted to stay with my mates. When I look back though it was probably the best thing that ever happened.
BK: You went through the grades with the Saints and now find yourself as club president. Did you see that coming?
IW: Not really, I never had any ambitions to do it. I'm not really a person who likes to be the front man. I would prefer to do things behind the scenes and get jobs done. The fact that nobody was putting their hand up was the main thing. 'Aidy' Villella and 'Quirky' (Michael) did a great job before me. I just took over at a good time.
BK: What's the biggest challenge the club is facing?
IW: If you go back over our history our biggest challenge is maintaining a reasonably competitive level. We have always had ups and downs. We would have two or three years around the mark before dropping off. Financially and at the moment player wise we are pretty well off but it's about building a good environment for everyone.
ALSO IN SPORT:
BK: Being the smallest town in the league, do you have to try and stay a step ahead of the play?
IW: I think we've always been fairly inventive. We were the first club in the O and M to have a full-time administrator when Andy Dale got the job when Ricky Rigoni was president. We were the first club to buy a hotel to try and boost our finances. There have been quite a few examples over the years. I'm not saying they have all been successful but we have certainly tried things.
BK: Myrtleford look well placed heading into its 50-year premiership anniversary season next year. Things haven't always been that rosy though have they?
IW: No, they haven't. There has been plenty of talk over the years about us going under.
BK: When was the lowest point?
IW: I think it was around 1990 when Greg Claney was president. All of us virtually played for nothing because the club was buggered. John Favier was coach at the time. The club came to us upstairs one night and said: 'Look, we can pay you, but the only way the club will survive is if you play for nothing because we are that far in debt'. Michael Quirk and Matt Crisp, who were our best players at the time, both stood up and said this is our club and we can't let than happen. Everyone thought if they were prepared to do it then so would we.
BK: Myrtleford had another really tough time from 2007 to 2011 when it lost 62 matches in a row.
IW: I wasn't around as much then as Hugh (son) was playing TAC Cup or something like that so I missed a bit of it. I remember the day at Corowa though when we won and broke the drought . That was as big a celebration as I've ever seen. You had a lot of players who went through it and there were a lot of tears. Sixty-two games is a long time. That's why I don't have a lot of sympathy for Wodonga at the moment because we've had our share of beltings over the years that's for sure.
BK: Tell us about some of the good wins
IW: I don't like to look in the rear vision mirror too much unless I'm asked but a couple against Albury stand out.
BK: I imagine this year's finals victory over the Tigers at Bunton Park is one of them?
IW: Being the team to stop them from being in 11 straight grand finals was fantastic. I remember driving home with Elijah and Loretta and I must have said half a dozen times on the trip that I couldn't believe we had beaten Albury and knocked them out of the finals. The minnow had downed Goliath. To be the first side to beat them so they couldn't win another grand final was a fair effort I thought.
BK: And the other win?
IW: Ken Holmes had been sacked in 1999 and I took over and we were coming up against Albury who were 12-0 and we were 0-12. That was a bloody good win. We beat Yarra the next week as well even though the boys celebrated the Albury win for a while.
BK: You had a lot to do with Gary Ablett coming on board in 1983 didn't you?
IW: I actually picked him up from Drouin with Clive Pigdon. I was working in a Myrtleford hotel for 30 hours a week and I had that Tuesday off work. We'd heard a bit about him and went down, picked him up and took him into Glenferrie Oval to get the clearances all signed. We brought him up to Myrtleford that afternoon to train. He didn't say much all the way up as he didn't know us or anything. I was probably one of the first blokes to get to know him. We got on pretty well.
BK: I did a tour of the Beechworth jail 12 months ago and the tour guide spoke about Ablett's time inside while playing for Myrtleford. How did that work?
IW: All the rumours about him being in jail and only being allowed out to play for us weren't right. It was all bullshit. He didn't have time to be in jail because he was always drinking too much grog with us and carrying on. The only time he might have went to jail while with us was being locked up in there for a night before going to court the next day. I can never remember a Saturday night when I wasn't with him. It's all garbage. I asked for someone at the jail to show me some papers about it and I've never heard back from them. He lived at Buffalo Creek with his family.
BK: How close were you?
IW: I was his best man and he was in my wedding party in 1985. I was living in Melbourne. We hit it off. He had a great sense of humour when you got to know him. He was hard to get to know but once you got his trust he was fine. He was no different to anyone else.
BK: Was he a hard trainer at Myrtleford?
IW: He wasn't that fit when he came here as he hadn't done a pre-season but he worked hard. He would go to the gym every morning and jog in which was about 6km. He didn't have a job. Steve Dale and JJ Garoni had taken boxing for years here and Ablett used to go to it and got fit petty quick.
BK: He could handle himself in the ring I would imagine?
IW: Steve Dale has a ring set up so there was nowhere to hide. They would throw the gloves at you and have three, two-minute rounds. Steve would spar with Ablett and Steve was only little but he could go. He fought TV ringside. Once Ablett got fit though Steve said he just hit too hard for him.
BK: That would have scared a few locals off?
IW: Bob McNamara had the gym and one day Ablett said to Geoff Mitchell we should spar for a while. Geoff said no worries and so Ablett goes out to the ring and gets ready while Geoff went down and jumped in the gym spa.
BK: Just how good a footballer was he for Myrtleford?
IW: He did some incredible things. It happens more these days but back then 6 foot 3, 95kg power players weren't in the Ovens and Murray. They were league players. Ablett was 21 or 22 while most AFL players didn't come here until they were 32 or 33 and about shagged.
BK: He didn't impress Greg Nichols straight away he?
IW: I remember his first game he was picked on a half-forward flank and Greg Nichols was coach at centre half-forward. I reckon Ablett sat on his head three times in the first quarter but never touched the ball. He'd only been training for a week or so and wasn't fit at all. Greg Nichols' speech at quarter-time was all about kicking to him and five minutes into the second quarter Ablett was sitting on his head again. Ablett hadn't taken any notice at all.
BK: He played it hard on the off the field didn't he?
IW: At North Albury one day I cleaned up this bloke in the first quarter. I got him pretty good. After a bit he got to his feet finally and, about 10 minutes later, Ablett cleaned up the bloke again. The game just stopped. He nearly killed him. I remember he ran past me and patted me on the arse and said: 'That's how you do it.' I thought bloody hell. It was fair too. Mine were never fair.
BK: What did the locals think of Ablett?
IW: Some liked him and others weren't sure. He just went and booked things up, even when he left. I remember he wanted to buy my car for $700. It was only a shit heap. He just drove off and it took me six months to get it. I had to ring the Geelong footy club to chase it up.
BK: You played with some tough players didn't you?
IW: We had a reputation for that for sure. Vic Garoni coached me in the thirds and those sort of blokes were always big on the aggressive approach. I remember talking to 'Chuck ' Hedley five or 10 years ago about it. When you played through the 80s you had to be reasonably tough. We had a motto around here among by mates which was 'Do unto others before they do it to you'. That's what footy was like then even though.
BK: Who's the toughest player you have seen?
IW: This might surprise a few people but when I look back at footy and it's the ability to put your body on the line time and time again and Geoff Mitchell did that. He was the most determined and committed player. 'Mitch' would run with the flight of the ball. He had no fear or brains.
BK: You never took a backward step either. How many times did you get reported?
IW: I reckon three or four. Or maybe five or six. It wasn't too many times though. Things were different back then and it's changed for the good. I don't condone some of the things that went on.
BK: Toughest opponent?
IW: There were a lot really. David McLeish when he came to Wodonga from league footy was good. Neville Hogan played me on him in the middle one day. All I did was chase him around. The headlines in The Border Mail on the Monday were: McLeish 42 possessions in big, black, bold letters. I was 18 or 19 and asked Neville why he did that and he just said: 'If you didn't learn anything from that, you will never f..... learn anything.'
BK: You coached Myrtleford's seniors, reserves and thirds as well as having stints with Beechworth, Whorouly, Bright and Dederang. You obviously enjoyed it?
IW: I hate public speaking as that was one of the reasons which stopped me from even thinking about being president. I get Luke Chapman to do as much talking as I can. When it comes to coaching, I can stand in front of players and talk forever. Beechworth gave me a chance and we finished second twice, then I went to Bright and we won one, then I went to Whorouly in a January and we made the finals and then Dederang got me. I was working with a bloke at Dederang and he was at me and I said I'd coach for this amount. I couldn't believe it when they said they would be able to do that deal.
BK: Finally, how has big Dawson Simpson settled into town?
IW: He's been fantastic. I only had a conversation with a bloke on Monday who is pretty hard to please and he won't stop raving about him. We had been speaking to him for three years and we couldn't match another offer he had received from another club but he just said he wanted to come here.