We would like to thank John Bowes who is a Life Member of Mt Lofty, and did us the honour of tossing the commemorative Life Member coin for our match against the Iron Raiders Saturday July 1.
After starting his junior football at Sturt Street Primary School John progressed to reserves football at West Adelaide and in 1977 his brother Gary encouraged him join Heathfield Aldgate United and together, they played in that years A grade premiership team. Another A grade premiership came in SAFA in 1981 and he also won the SAFA Medal in that year. B Grade premierships came in 1986, 1988, 1989 and 1990. John then continued playing until the year 2000.
John also gave back to the club with Junior team coaching and loved his Junior Colts premiership victory of 1999. A dedicated club man had him volunteering for umpiring duties in the Juniors and B Grade, helping with fund raising, ground preparation and sitting on the management committee and is a past winner of our Club Person of the Year Award. John also spent time coaching junior interleague representative sides.
John was awarded Life Membership to Mount Lofty in 1990
We were proud to be joined at Arkaba Oval this week, by Richard ‘Dicky’ Symons, to do us the honour of tossing the commemorative Life Member coin for our match against Mt Barker.
Richard Symons who is a Life Member of one our Heritage Club’s, Heathfield Aldgate United Football Club, known affectionately over the years as “Dicky” was is excited to by joined on the oval his grandsons from Mt Barker FC, Alex playing and Jordan as runner, with wife Betty watching from the stands.
Dicky played some footy at Plympton High School but until he met his now wife, Betty, at work in 1968, he had not considered playing until she told him of the Heathfield Aldgate United Football Club of which her late father Sid Magor also became a Life Member. Until then he had been happy to follow the Sturt Football Club which was in its run of 5 successive Premierships. What a resumption of a career it was, with Dicky playing on the wing in the first of 7 B Grade Premierships and in his very first year.
Not many people can claim to have played in so many Premierships, but his record is even more impressive with an eighth GF win and not one loss. This followed the rare feet of playing in two Premierships within one week where he played in a C Grade Premiership and then, the next Saturday, backed that up with another B Grade Premiership. Over the years Dicky both Captained and Coached the B Grade, winning the 1977 and 1978 Premierships as coach, the 1978 success being the last of HAU’s 30 Premierships.
An amazing career for sure, but Dicky jokingly refers to his record at A Grade level as well, where he has a 100% disposal record – one game, one kick and one goal on Coach Warren “Sherg” Foster putting him on the ground late in the match when there was no interchange.
Like quite a few of their close HAU friends, Dicky and Betty were very active Committee members and Dicky went on to become a key member of a four-person subcommittee which undertook the myriad of tasks required to set up the Mount Lofty club between 1978 and 1979. He relates the legendary story that the Devils would have been the Hawks, had it not been for the fact that the then SAFA competition which it joined, already had a club with the colours of brown and yellow.
Dicky and Betty’s work with Mt Lofty came to an end after Dicky’s career in finance took him to Darwin and later Mt Gambier, before eventually returning to the Adelaide Hills as a resident of Mt Barker. He is long retired, but is still a very active lawn bowler and volunteer and is a proud follower of his two Grandson’s, Jordan and Alex Houlahan, playing with Mt Barker. Alex will shortly take his position with Mt Barker in this important game, while Jordan, who was drafted by Essendon in 2017, is unfortunately recovering from shoulder surgery.
Thank you for everything Dicky, to our clubs, and in the community.
Richard ‘Dicky’ Symons tosses his new life member commemorative coinCaptain Alex wins the toss and elects to go down hill change rooms end v Mt BarkerRichard ‘Dicky’ Symons with Grandsons Alex Houlahan (left) and Jordan Houlahan (right)
We were proud to be joined at Arkaba Oval this week, by Owen Bevan, to do us the honour of tossing the commemorative Life Member coin for our match against Uraidla.
Until recent years Owen was a lifelong Stirling resident who played for Stirling in the 1950’s and through to the 70’s. A very fair but determined player, Owen was a ruckman in Stirling’s 1960 Premiership side, runner up Mail Medalist in 1965 and the inaugural chairman of the Mt. Lofty District Football club in 1979.
Owen juggled his sport with life as a Police Officer and he retired as Chief Superintendant after decades of service to South Australia – for which he was recognised in the Australia Day Honours List with an Australian Police Medal.
Years of service also saw Owen recognised with Life Membership of the Stirling Football Club. He continued his voluntary service on the formation of Mt Lofty Football Club and was our inaugural President in 1979, holding that position until 1981 when Mt Lofty won its very first A Grade Premiership playing in the then SAFA competition. He has continued to stay in touch and was one of a good number of 1960 Stirling Premiership players who attended the 2021 reunion.
Owen’s son Mark is with him today, with Mark being a member of our 1990 A Grade premiership side, and four of Owens Grandsons have gone on to play junior and senior football with the devils
We sincerely thank you Owen.
It was great to see Owen and his son Mark on Saturday, and thanks to Hadyn Cutting and the LLG for these great photos from the archives.
We were proud to be joined at Arkaba Oval this week, by Rob Bonython to do us the honour of tossing the commemorative Life Member coin for our match against Nairne Bremer.
We would like to thank Rob Bonython who is a Life Member of one of our Heritage Club’s Stirling Football Club and who is doing us the honour having tossed the commemorative Life Member coin for our match against Nairne-Bremer Saturday May 13 2023.
Rob started playing football at the Crafers Primary School in 1956 and then began his career with the Stirling Football Club, being a premiership player in the 1960 Colts side.
Advancing to senior football with Stirling, his career was put on hold while he served 2 years in the Army from 1966 to mid-1968. On return to Stirling, he went on to play Finals and Grand Finals and he earned the reputation as a “dour defender” at CHB and FB in the A Grade
He was noted as having a hard approach at the ball, possessing a long kick and was good overhead. Unfortunately, a knee injury saw Rob’s early retirement from playing in 1972 but he went on to assist the club by helping run the canteen, cabarets at Aldgate and Crafers Halls, raffles and sat as a member of the club’s social committee. Rob was awarded Life Membership in 1976 and continued the fund-raising service with Stirling until its amalgamation and formation of the Mt Lofty District Football Club.
The same dedication shown throughout his Stirling days has seen Rob support our broader community and is a very committed member of the Stirling RSL where he has been involved for nearly 50 years. Such dedication led to him being “awarded the highest award made by the RSL – the RSL Meritorious Service Medal in 2011.”
We were proud to be joined at Arkaba Oval this week, by Rick Smith to do us the honour of tossing the commemorative Life Member coin for our match against Onka Valley.
A long-term supporter of the Devil’s, Rick was awarded Mt. Lofty life membership in 2000.
Rick started with the club in the Andrew Downes era and in his first year supporting the club he was part of the team that experienced the Grand Final draw.
Rick spent time on the Club Committee while working with many teams during his involvement and he actively supported us as Property Steward and game day manager for many years. Cooking tonnes of chips at the Scout Jamboree was one highlight for Rick, and the light towers around the ground became possible from the efforts of people such as Rick.
He was a great support to his dear wife Joan as she served the head trainer role at the club, and no one has ever left an opposition change rooms as clean as Rick – he certainly made a difference to the expected standards at our club.
It’s always been a family affair for the Smiths, and Rick is accompanied today by sons Matt and Dan who both played for many seasons at the Devils.
Rick notes that he is pleased to see that the club has grown to its current position, and he feels that his family had a role in developing this.
Thanks for all you have given to our community Rick.
