“Some people don’t get involved, but I’m afraid for us that wasn’t an option.” – Val Pratt.
People like Val and Adie Pratt are the beating heart of country footy clubs all over Australia. Well, not exactly like Val and Adie. There’s no-one quite like them, as RUSSELL BENNETT discovers.
THE highs and lows, the agony and ecstasy, and joy and despair – Val and Adrian Pratt have seen it all.
Now, after a combined 135 years of dedicated service to their beloved Ellinbank Football and Netball Club, it’s finally time for them to take a step back and smell the roses. God knows they’ve earned it.
Val, 83, has been involved at Ellinbank for 65 years – the same amount of time she’s been married to Adrian, or ‘Adie’ as he’s more commonly known. His service to the club spans a staggering 70 years.
The Eagles’ last home game of the year – their Round 17 fixture with Nilma Darnum on 22 August – also marked the end of Val and Adie’s official game day involvement.
Throughout his 70 years at Ellinbank, Adie – 86 – has served in just about every position from secretary, to treasurer, property steward, footy guernsey washer, and league and club historian.
It’s his incredibly detailed records though, which highlight just how astonishing his contribution to the club has been.
Adie is the youngest of 10 children, including seven older brothers, and is the only one still alive.
In 1995, Ellinbank’s last senior premiership, six players with the Pratt surname took to the field for the side. All told, there have been 34 Pratts take to the field for the club, including Adie who is himself a three-time premiership player in 1953, ’54 and ’55.
“My biggest trouble in my playing days was that I started wearing glasses when I first started school – I was short-sighted,” Adie explained.
“I didn’t see too well, and I didn’t get too many kicks at the best of times.”
Adie jokes that, in his playing days, he lined up in every position on the ground … “but I was no good in any of them!”
“I don’t remember when I first played,” he said.
“I didn’t play in the ’46 flag because all qualified players got a pennant and I didn’t get one, so I certainly never played four matches. I can’t remember playing in any match specifically except the ’53 grand final.”
Adie’s brother ‘Snowy’ played in the 1939 premiership, and another five to follow and is one of only three players in the history of the club to win six flags.
While Adie can’t remember much about his playing days, he knows when he first took on the secretary’s job – in 1949.
He wasn’t even 21 before he was presented with his second ‘Best Clubman’ award.
Of the 34 Pratts who have had that blue and gold jumper on, Adie said “some of them were fairly small.
“But I think 18 or 19 have played seniors – I could write out quite a good Pratt team!”
By the mid-1960s, Adie was practically doing it all.
“I was secretary, treasurer, property steward, drink carrier, you name it, and I still ran the boundary and played in the seconds,” he said.
All told, Ellinbank has won 40 flags – including 15 at senior level. It’s been a while since the firsts have experienced that sweet taste of premiership glory, but Adie has kept track of all of them.
“We really retired five years ago!” Val said with a laugh – sitting right next to Adie at their kitchen table with three of their five children recently.
“They even gave us a presentation and everything.”
Val and Adie’s only son, Bruce, then chimed in with his family’s trademark quick wit – “The club wouldn’t take the hint!”
Val’s role at the club has been just as pivotal – washing guernseys, preparing meals and refreshments, keeping the club history book up to date, working in the canteen and driving herself and Adie around on game days. She’s also a life member and the driving force behind this heart-and-soul tandem.
“We did have the odd holiday, but in the last few years we haven’t missed anything much,” Val said, with more than a hint of modesty.
“We haven’t gone anywhere for seven or eight years so we’ve never missed a day.”
In actual fact, as Bruce estimates, Val and Adie would have likely only missed a season combined since 1946. Each of their five children – Bruce in footy; and Rhonda, Sheryl, Alison and Lynda in netball – have also represented the club.
“Some people don’t get involved, but I’m afraid for us that wasn’t an option,” Val said.
“I think if you belong to clubs and you’ve got children playing it’s up to you to be part of it and help. Nowadays you hear people say ‘I work’, well I don’t know what they think I did. I still milked cows and was still there.”
They worked long, arduous hours on their dairy farm but the club was their social hub and more.
“There was no option,” Bruce said.
“Sport was our life.”
But now it’s time for Val and Adie to take a step back.
“I do the history book and he does all the other game things,” Val said.
“I just really struggled this past year and knew it was time for me to stop. I spoke to Adrian about it three times to make sure the answer was still yes, and then I approached Steve (club president Steve Pratt). Those wet days really knocked me around a bit. I asked him (Adie) if he was sure that he was happy with the decision, and he said yes.”
Bruce said his father might’ve been getting too top-heavy with all his badges.
“He’s about to tip over!” he laughed.
As well as being the gatekeeper for 22 years, Adie has recorded the games played by every player at Ellinbank for the past four decades.
In fact, in his early years as secretary the club didn’t have septic toilets, so before home matches Adie would go down with a shovel, buckets of hot water and a bottle of phenyl, dig a hole and empty the can. There’s nothing he wouldn’t do for the club.
He was made a life member in 1973, was awarded a 50 years’ service badge to the VCFL, 50 years’ continuous service to the Ellinbank Football Club in 1996, a 50 years’ voluntary service medallion by the AFL in 2002, was made a life member of the EDFL in 2008 and was presented a 65-year service award in 2010.
“There’s near enough to 1450 players who’ve had that blue and gold guernsey on,” Adie said proudly, his memory still razor sharp.
“Before 1964, with different things we’ve had, there’s probably the odd one that played pre-war that I haven’t thought of but I don’t think there’d be a heck of a lot.”
Adie said Ellinbank’s Round 17 game against Nilma Darnum was the 1317th senior game in the history of the club.
“And we’ve won 783 of them!” he said proudly.
