Players and officials from Myrtelford's one and only Ovens and Murray league senior football premiership defied last year's COVID showdown to gather for a huge celebration of the famous flag on Saturday.
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Fifteen players and three committee members from the Saints' 1970 team made the trip back to McNamara Reserve for a day of reminiscing and catch-ups ending with a sold out reunion function in the evening.
The Saints beat Wangaratta Rovers in the 1970 grand final by 17 points after trailing by the same margin at three quarter time with opposing coaches, Myrtleford's Martin Cross and the Hawks' Neville Hogan, providing some fascinating insights into the season.
Some of the players, including the youngest member of the team, John Pelos, aged 17, also had a chance to recall the famous win.
Pelos, the son of parents with Slovenian and Polish heritage who came to Myrtleford to grow tobacco, kicked three goals in the grand final.
"The town was so hyped up and just so electric on the day of the grand final," he said.
"They were thrilled to bits we were there."
Another schoolboy member of the team, David Radford, said he hung off every word Cross said in 1970.
"If Marty said go through a brick wall, I would go through a brick wall, I had so much respect for him," Radford said.
Dual best and fairest winner Graeme Ward came to Myrtleford as a stock and station agent after previously playing in the O and M for Albury under the late Jack Jones.
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He said his family's time in the town was loaded with great memories.
"In those days tobacco was really firing, so were the hops and the cattle business, people made a lot of money, but they also worked very hard for it," he said.
He said the arrival of Cross ensured the Saints would be competitive with other strong teams of the era, the Rovers and Wodonga.
"He turned up looking like Brad Pitt and showed he had a big future as a coach," Ward said.
Deric Taylor made the trip from near Newcastle for the reunion with his two sons and made special mention of the four deceased members of the 1970 team, Kevin Smith, Pat Quirk, Terry Burgess and Bob Crisp.
"They were great legends of our club and our families all grew up together," Taylor said.
"It's not being sad for them, but respect for the great people they were."
The Saints flag team's links still run deep today with an estimated 3800 games of football and netball played for the club by children and grand children of premiership players.
They include a Morris medallist in Terry Burgess Junior and the first netballer inducted into the O and M Hall of Fame, Burgess' sister Lindy.
The three 1970 committee members at the function were Ken "Kanga" Johnston, Jim Matassoni and Keith Cundy.
Current co-coaches Jake Sharp and Dawson Simpson also spoke at the reunion function on behalf of the modern day playing group.
The Saints lost to Wodonga Raiders on Saturday.
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