1. SA Country Football Guide, March 24, 2013 23
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24.3.13 Country Footy 2013 23
It’s all about the team for long-serving legend
Local hero: Dairy farmer Barry Clarke just can’t bring himself to hang up the boots. Picture: Roger Wyman
Clear as
mud for
ClarkeDUANE SCHULTZ
Legend: Barry after winning the
1984 premiership (above) and
playing his 400th game in 1999
R
ETIREMENT is not a word
Great Southern Football
League legend Barry Clarke
has in his vocabulary.
The Myponga/Sellicks Hall of Famer
tried to quit in 2006 after a league
record 558 A-grade matches but could
not bring himself to hang up the boots.
Such is the 52-year-old’s love of the
game, he pulled on the Mudlarks’
guernsey for a handful of B-grade
matches last year at the tender age of
52. And when he is not playing, chances
are Clarke is running water or donning
the fluro T-shirt to deliver the coach’s
messages. He also co-ordinates the
juniors and is often the first to arrive
at the club on a Saturday morning.
‘‘I will do anything or nothing,
whatever is needed,’’ Clarke says.
‘‘If the boys need someone to run
water, I’ll do it. If the club needs a
runner or coach, I will do it.
‘‘I was on the committee for a
number of years but I didn’t have a
burning desire to do that kind of stuff.
I just did it because the club couldn’t
find anyone else.’’
Saturday afternoons at Myponga are
a family affair, with Clarke’s daughters
Lauren, 20, and Casey, 14, playing
netball, while son Brad, 17, made his
senior debut for Mudlarks last season.
‘‘Sport in general in a small country
town, especially for someone of my
(era), that’s all you did. It is how you
connected,’’ Clarke says.
‘‘There is no pub in Myponga, so if
you are not involved in sport it is hard
to meet people.
‘‘Football, netball, tennis that’s where
it is all at and where all the people are.
‘‘You can go to any club in the league
and feel welcome. There’s nothing
better than having a battle on the field
and then going back into the oppo-
sition’s clubrooms and having a beer
– that’s what it’s about.’’
Clarke’s first registered match in the
GSFL was in 1970 as a junior colt for
the Mudlarks. He played football in the
mornings before helping his dad milk
the cows in the afternoon at the family
dairy in Myponga.
He also played junior football in
Murray Bridge when the family
relocated but returned to Myponga in
1979 to make his A-grade debut, aged
18.
Now a dairy farmer in his own right,
he co-founded Fleurieu Milk in 2003
which is based at his Myponga farm,
a decent drop punt from the footy club.
Back in 1983, the A-grade side was
made up of about 10-12 dairy farmers.
Last year not one dairy farmer played
senior footy.
Clarke said it was a sign of the times
as more and more farmers sold up and
moved into the towns but he said footy
clubs still remained the lifeblood of
communities down south.
‘‘Back in the day we had 10 or 12
dairy farmers running around but now
there are a lot less dairies around. But
that’s life and you have to learn to
move with it,’’ he says.
‘‘Sport is central to everything – it
is how you meet people and build
character.’’
In his heyday, Clarke, a hard-hitting
midfielder, was part of the all-
conquering Mudlarks’ back-to-back
premiership sides of 1983-84. He also
played eight seasons with Mount
Compass from 1987-95, winning seven
best-and-fairest awards and playing in
the club’s last grand final appearance
in 1990.
Clarke returned to Myponga in 1996
and was instrumental in changing the
club’s name to Myponga/Sellicks in
2003 to cater for new families settling
in nearby Sellicks Beach.
It followed a dark period in juniors
where the side struggled to field an
under-17 side for a few seasons.
‘‘Clubs are about people and putting
the Sellicks bit in the name, it gave the
people something to belong to that was
theirs,’’ Clarke says.
Although it has been a lean period
for the Mudlarks in recent seasons –
they finished bottom last season –
Clarke hopes the tide is about to turn.
The club’s senior colts (under-17) won
the premiership in 2008 and finished
third last season.
‘‘We’ve got good numbers of kids
now and we’re starting to get some
through to make the nucleus of the
senior team. When I played we made
finals every year but it has been a
struggle lately.’’
» The veteran
Name: Barry Clarke
Age: 52
A-grade games: 558 (Myponga
1979-1986, Mount Compass
1987-1995, Myponga 1995-2003,
Myponga/Sellicks 2004-present)
Premierships: 1983-84
(Myponga)
Best and Fairests: 1987-1994
(Mount Compass), 2009
(Myponga/Sellicks Reserves)