Friday, January 11, 2019

Will 2019 be Zebras' year, as was 1969?


 Photo:  Rothmans State Manager John O'Brien (right) presents cheques to Olympia captain Dick Girling (left), Croatia-Glenorchy Captain Joe Fiamengo (second from left) and Juventus skipper Joe Hanna (second from right).  Olympia received $101 for finishing second, Croatia-Glenorchy $90 for third place, and Juventus $109 for first place.

This 2019 season will be the 50th anniversary of Hobart Juventus winning their first league title.

In 1969, under coach Karl Schwesinger and captained by the late Joe Hanna, Juventus won the Southern Tasmanian title, as well as the State Championship with a 6-5 aggregate win over two legs against their sister club, Launceston Juventus.

Launceston Juventus won the first leg 4-2 at White City in Launceston, while Hobart Juventus won the second leg 4-1 at South Hobart, thus claiming the Captain W. Cottrell-Dormer Cup, which was the trophy awarded to the State champions.

Hobart Juventus scored twice in the last three minutes to clinch the State title.

Johnny Genovesi headed home Australian youth international Phil Owen’s cross to make the aggregate score level, while the unfortunate Peter Mies turned a Remo Carnevale cross into his own net to give the Southerners the State title.

Joe Hanna played an inspirational captain’s game despite a fractured wrist [take note, Tom Rogic], holding the defence together and feeding his forwards with brilliant passes.

It was the 13th year of Hobart Juventus’s existence and the Southern title was clinched on the 13th day of September with a 3-0 win over South Hobart, coached by John Kirkpatrick, at Grove Road, the goals coming from Remo Carnevale, Joe Scaramuzza and Domenic Rizzolo.

Two years later, Kirkpatrick would become the inaugural winner of the Rothmans Gold Medal for the best-and-fairest player in Tasmania.

It was Joe Hanna’s first premiership and Karl Schwesinger’s first year as Juventus coach.

The regular Hobart Juventus squad in 1969 was:  Jaegar, Howarth, Watson, Tria, Scaramuzza, Schwesinger, Hanna, Phil Owen, Genovesi, Rizzolo, Carnevale, Wood, Giusti, Richardson, Palermo, Cengia.

The Northern Juventus squad was:  Lockett, Wilson, Baird, de Paoli, Brown, Mies, Strickland, Schraeder, Whinnett, Visentin, Morosini, Streit, Van der Pols, Cook.

The Captain W. Cottrell-Dormer Cup was put on display later that week at Hobart’s Fitzgerald’s store because there was so much public interest in the State Final.

Also on display at Fitzgerald’s was the Grimwood Perpetual Trophy, awarded to the Southern champions, Juventus, and the John Clemente Top Goal-Scorer’s Cup, won by Juventus’s centre-forward, Domenic Rizzolo.

Dr Clemente, by the way, was the president of Hobart Juventus and was in his first year in office.

Action photos from games throughout the season were also part of the display at the Hobart department store.

It was the first season that Croatia played under their new name, Croatia-Glenorchy.  Rudi Hancl was their president and Frank Hesman their secretary.  Both gentlemen are still about.

Alex Sarfalvy, the doyen of local coaches, was in charge of Croatia-Glenorchy, while the renowned Peter Cagialis coached Olympia.

Croatia-Glenorchy won the State-wide Ampol Cup that year with 4-0 win against Hobart Juventus.

There was crowd trouble at South Hobart that season during the Olympia versus Northern Suburbs Caledonians game, and police reinforcements had to be called.

Referee Rodger Marlor claimed he has been kicked, struck and spat upon by spectators in a wild melee.

Things are so quiet these days and it takes the tame antics of such wannabe coaches as Gabriel Markaj to spark up some interest amongst the general populace.

Referees were paid $6 a game in the top-tier Cambridge League in the South, with linesmen earning $3 a game.  In the lower leagues, referees earned the princely sum of $4 a game.

1969 was also the year that the North (6 teams) and North-West (4 teams) got together and formed the inaugural Combined League.

Sixteen young members of the Ulverstone club, only three of whom were actually players, also embarked on a tour of Holland and the UK.

The Ulverstone club had strong links with Holland, of course, and many Dutch migrants played for the club.

I recall many years later watching the televised Olympic qualifier between Australia and the Netherlands in Holland  -  yes, the game in which Ned Zelic scored that incredible goal from an impossible angle to give Australia victory and qualification and which kick-started his career  -  and the cameras suddenly zoomed in to a section of the crowd and people were holding up a huge banner which read:  “Hello Ulverstone.”

So, there’s the challenge for you, David Smith and Nick Di Giovanni.

Can Hobart Zebras (what an underwhelming name compared to Juventus) celebrate a league title on the 50th anniversary of the club’s first such success?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Zebras have a top quality coach now which they haven't in years gone by.As good as K Morton.should be a fascinating battle along with ports coach. Just like pep klopp & pochettino.Bring it on 2019 season

Anonymous said...

As a parent of Zebras players i am just hoping for some stability at the club, back the coach in for an extended period and give him the ability to then teach and mould the team into a cohesive unit that is predictable to each other.

Unknown said...

"Johnny Genovesi headed home Australian youth international Phil Owen’s cross..." Apologies for the pedantry Walter, but it should probably be 'Australian Youth International John Genovesi' (U/23 tour of Indonesia in 1974), as Phil is an Australia Schoolboy representative, rather than youth international. Fascinating recap as always.

Walter said...

Hi Paul Thanks for your clarification. Phil Owen played for Australia's Under-16s, so I guess that's a schoolboy side. Perhaps it was the precursor to the current Joeys, Australia's Under-17s? I know John Genovesi was in the Australian Under-23 squad for the tour of Indonesia in 1974, but I thought he was injured and never actually played on that tour. I'll ask him next time I see him. Nevertheless, my article was about 1969, which was after Owen had represented Australia and before Genovesi did. Having said that, I must admit I did jump into the future when I wrote that John Kirkpatrick won the inaugural Rothmans Gold Medal two years later. Thanks for your interest and kind words. It's wonderful that such articles generate discussion. That is one of the reasons for writing them. Cheers! Walter

Anonymous said...

Beachside vs Nelson @ KGV 13/01 4pm
Beachside vs Clarence @ KGV 16/01 7pm

Ex red said...

Ned’s goal was truly amazing, thought we were deservedly gone.

Unknown said...

Under 16s is considered separate from Under 17s in official records from memory. Eduardo Castenada represented Aus U/16s a few years ago, so the age group is still going. Would be great to hear if John played in the Indonesian tour, I have found no exact team lists from the 3 matches. Always enjoy the historical recaps, makes the off season much more enjoyable.

Walter said...

Hi Paul. John played half a practice match in Sydney before the team left for Indonesia. In Indonesia, he broke down with an ankle injury at the first training session and did not play a game. He had sprained his ankle against Olympia about six weeks before joining the Australian U23 squad in Sydney. The games in Indonesia were played in Surabaya, Jakarta and Palembang. The Under-23s won all three games. Incidentally, Willy Peters (Croatia-Glenorchy) and David Smith (Metro) had also been considered for selection. Cheers! Walter

Walter said...

PS The Australians played the Indonesian U23s and a touring Danish team. They left Sydney on 28 March 1974 and returned to Australia on 9 April 1974. Half the 20-man Australian squad was born overseas. The squad played five games in all (3 games in Indonesia and two in Australia), scoring 26 goals and conceding just one.

Unknown said...

That is amazing information Walter, thank you for chasing that up. I also did not know there was a Danish team touring at that time either, nor that the matches were played in 3 different locations. Cheers, Paul