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.
