We need you! Can you spend a couple of hours this Sunday, 27 September? We have quite a few jobs that need to be done and as the saying goes – ‘Many hands make light work’. Be that person to stand up and help out your club.
Thanks in advance.
It is with much sadness that we share the loss of another much-admired Premiership player and Junior Coach from Heathfield Aldgate United in the passing of Andy Fletcher. Andy has fought ill health for many years after having to leave his daughter Esther (Essie) and his many friends in Papua New Guinea almost 20 years ago.
Cairns became his home which enabled him to be close by for Kidney Dialysis treatment from a tropical disease many years ago. Numerous serious illnesses struck Andy throughout that time and he fought these challenges with the same incredible determination that he was known for in his career, both and on the football field.
Andy was twice a Premiership player in the 1967 and 1968 HA United A Grade sides, made even more special having his late brother Jim as a teammate. His influence on the club also extended to development of junior players as a very good coach of Under 13 sides and including Premierships in 1968 and 1969.
Off the field Andy completed an apprenticeship in Automotive Engineering with the only Porsche agency in Adelaide. In 1970 he left for Papua New Guinea in 1970 initially working in the Bouganville Copper Mine Pit Workshop. He then went on to become an incredible contributor to the community of PNG moving from automotive engineering to becoming a Senior Lecturer in Vocational Training Centres, Agricultural and Fisheries Colleges. Andy also rose to the level of College Principal!
36 years in PNG saw Andy’s deep love of the people and culture in the form of becoming an author. He wrote five books, with his first a fictional story based around the Japanese occupation of Rabaul. Later on he set about writing fictional books set in Australia and introduced some local characters in the form of his mates from his wonderful years he spent in the Adelaide Hills. These books are a great read and show a larrikin side of Andy…all fiction of course!
• A Dimdim in Paradise
• Tibu and Tovaira Defy the Rising Sun
• Tibu and Tovaira & The Sorcerer’s Time Travel
• Meat Pies & Russian Spies
• Reds Under Our Beds
Andys love of Heathfield Aldgate United saw him go to incredible lengths to juggle dialysis, so he could attend several reunions captured in the attached photos. This is where he caught up with old teammates, regaled in legendary tales of that “fictional” quality and enjoyed re-connecting with junior players who admired him so much as their coach.
And so it seems, another legend with a solid connection to our clubs history, has joined the clubrooms in the sky. Please join us in sending condolences to his daughter Essie and many close friends Andy had to leave behind in Papua New Guinea.
A private cremation will be carried out for Andy in line with his wishes.
Wishing Josh Hone and Lochie Rawlinson all the very best as they represent the Mt Lofty Football Club in this weekend’s SANFL Grand Final for Sturt against Norwood.
The entire Devils family is incredibly proud of your achievements and the dedication, commitment, and hard work that have brought you to this opportunity. Enjoy every moment, back yourselves, and leave it all out on the field.
Good luck Josh and Lochie. We’re behind you all the way and can’t wait to see you both shine on the big stage. ❤️🤍👹
Go well, boys!
What a weekend of footy!!
** FINALS FOOTY **
U16 BOYS | HFL – Semi Final
Mt Barker 10.11 – 71 def Mt Lofty 4.6 – 30
It is with great sadness we share with you the passing of Ian “Slasher” O’Reily on the 30 August 2026.
Slasher played for Aldgate Football Club and became a Premiership player 2 years after the amalgamation with Heathfield. 1968 saw Ian play in the Heathfield Aldgate United B Grade Premiership, the year in which United won 4 Premierships – A’s, B’s, Senior Colts and Junior Colts.
While a very determined footballer, Slasher had an even larger reputation as a Cricketer where he was the Aldgate A Grade Captain with his incredible record winning him that distinctive nick name. Service to the game combined, with his cricketing prowess, saw him recognised with Life Membership of both the Aldgate Cricket Club and the Hills Cricket Association
To many of us, the names ‘Slasher’ and ‘O’Riley and Smart’ played a large part of life in the local area through Ian’s sporting prowess. Of course the business partnership with past Stirling Footballer, Nick Smart, will always be remember when the pair ran the very successful woodyard for many years on Mt Barker Road Stirling.
On behalf of Mt Lofty District Football Club and the Lofty Legends Group, I would like to pass on our sincere condolences to Bett and her family on the loss of Ian.
2018 Reunion of the 1968 HA United B Grade Premiership.
L to R: Peter Hunt, Lew Malzard, the late Richard Symons, Haydn Cutting, the late Ian “Slasher” O’Riley, Kym “Doug” Radbone and the late David Fuller.
2018 Reunion: Richard Symons, Ian O’Riley and Rhonda Gill