Milestone for stats man
Ian Stebbings notched up his 500th game as statistician for Scottsdale Football Club on Saturday with a guard of honour and a message from his favourite player John Longmire a highlight.
July 17 2024
Scottsdale Football Club statistician Ian “Stebbo” Stebbings marked a major milestone on Saturday, notching up his 500th game of senior footy.
Magpies players and the visiting South Launceston senior and reserves teams formed a guard of honour for the numbers man who has been a staple at the club for 30 years.
While technology has come a long way over the journey and you can get a phone applicaton for just about everything, Stebbo takes pride in his old-fashioned compilation method developed over the decades, including time with the Tasmanian Devils in the VFL.
Each week he rules up a number of large paper sheets with 30 columns covering all manner of stats, from kicks and handballs to assists mand ineffective tackles.
“It doesn’t tell you exactly what goes on, but it gives you a guide. A lot of teams do it but probably don’t record as much as I do,” he said.
“To me it’s the one percenters like your smothers and your shepherds and your effective tackles that are most important.
“You can have 50 kicks but have six missed tackles and if the opposition gets six goals from them, that can be the game.”
Concentration is key when you are dealing with an average 600-700 stats a game.
He has help from an offsider each week to assist collating player tallies, with Lucy Partridge in the hot seat this season.
“The amount I do it does take a lot of work so I should have two or three people helping me but getting volunteers is hard,” he said.
“As you get older because I am concentrating so hard you get a bit tired.
“I am here to do a good job. I want to do it to the best of my ability, but I am human and I sometimes make mistakes.
“Sometimes at different grounds you have to sit at ground level which is not good when you have cars going past and you can’t see.
“Some days I will go home and say ‘geez I could have done that better’. I am always learning.”
Stebbo’s career began at Bracknell when he went to watch a few mates play and he showed an interest in how many kicks they got.
He was convinced by work mates Paul Reinmuth and Darren Lunt to head to the North-East in 1995.
“I played three reserves games with Scottsdale and used to train with the boys but it got to the stage that I couldn’t keep up,” he recalled.
But he stuck with the stats - at the time he committed to two seasons in the role. Now he has a new record in his sights.
“Once you get to know the people it is good to be involved in the club,” he said.
“I love getting involved with the different people and meeting new people, especially getting to know all the young people and getting to know their interests.
“I’d like to get to 535 games and the reason for the 35 is I’m a North Melbourne fan and John Longmire fan and he wore the 35 so I always though 535 would be a good number to bow out on, as long as the club wants me – I don’t take it for granted.”
A message from Longmire was organised by the club to celebrate the milestone and was played to him after the game.