The sixties - a drought breaking decade
• Scottsdale – NTFA Premiers 1965. L-R: B Donohoe (captain-coach), L Ranson, C Mellors, S Wilson, D Millwood (vice-captain), K Lette, B Whish-Wilson, R Hall, R Richman, M Hadley, R Knight, L Whish-Wilson, M Millwood, R Lethborg, T Allanby, M Goninon, K Beattie, G Shearer, T Walker, K Symons. Mascots: G Elphinstone, C Ackerley, J Farquhar, S Symons.
• Captain-coach Brian Donohoe taking a big mark in the 1965 state preliminary final won by Scottsdale.
By Peter Fish
May 13, 2020
Controversy surrounded the appointment of Scottsdale’s senior coach for 1960.
North Launceston player Hugh Boyd was appointed but the club had not sought North's permission and two club officials, J. C Glen and L. A. Hope were suspended by the NTFA for 12 months.
The period of suspension was later reduced.
Kamona born Percy Cooper who had played for Scottsdale before heading to North Hobart was then appointed but his contract was suspended in March of 1960, and the club went back to local Max Lethborg, a member of a family with a long association with the club.
In 1941 Lethborg had been accidentally shot through the leg while shooting and played for years with 92 pellets still in the leg.
His father Les captained Springfield for years, and brothers Rex, Don and Ron all played for Scottsdale.
The club failed to make the finals, but with Lethborg's support the club went back to Victoria in search of a coach for 1961.
Ex-Essendon ruckman Brian Donohoe was appointed and he was to have a huge impact on the club over the next five years.
An Under 19s team was admitted to the NTFA and many of these young players were to become part of premiership teams over the next 10 years.
Donohoe played only seven games in his first year after breaking his arm in April, but the team made the first semi-final only to bow out of the finals again.
Donohoe was one of the key men behind the new clubrooms which were opened in 1962. Ken Lette who was to go on and play 316 games made his debut as did Max Hadley.
Gerald Rawnsley was recruited from Longford and Terry Allanby made the Tasmanian team.
Karl Beattie won the best and fairest for a second time as well as Examiner and Mercury awards.
The team lost the preliminary final to Longford by eight points but the Under 19s took all the glory.
Under shrewd coach Gordon Aulich the team went through the season undefeated winning the NTFA flag by 79 points and then beating Ulverstone in the state final.
After three years in the job Donohoe had a good idea what the club needed for the elusive senior premiership.
Kevin Symons and Mannie Goninon were recruited from Burnie.
The team won the first semi-final, then beat North Launceston in the preliminary final before facing City-South in the grand final.
It had been 12 years since the club's last senior grand final and the town came alive in the lead up to the big game.
In a hard fought and low-scoring encounter, the Magpies prevailed 8.15 (63) to 6.7 (43).
The victorious team, Scottsdale's first NTFA premiers, was welcomed back to the town like royalty. And on the way home the Sideling was lit up like a Christmas tree with cars bumper to bumper.
The team then headed to Hobart to meet hot favourites Sandy Bay in the state preliminary final and after trailing by 20 points at three quarter time, the Magpies went on to win by nine points.
However against Cooee in the state final, they went down by eight points to complete the best year in the club's history.
Not content with breaking the ice in 1964, the team went back to back with another premiership in 1965.
With Donohoe at the helm again they thrashed North Launceston by 56 points.
They beat Cooee in the state preliminary final but lost to Glenorchy in the state final.
Successes in 1964 and 1965 had put the Scottsdale club firmly on the Tasmanian football map, and the future appeared bright as the Under 19s went through 1965 undefeated winning the NTFA premiership.
Donohoe was coach again in 1966 but brilliant rover Kevin Symons returned to Burnie and Max Hadley was on national service duty in Vietnam.
However the club was not resting on its laurels and recruited Jim Leitch from the Melbourne club. Leitch was to become a key player and is a life member of the club.
The senior team finished in third place on the ladder in 1966 but won the first semi-final and preliminary final to qualify for their third grand final in three years.
However they went down to City/South, although once again the Under 19s were successful.
At the end of the season Brian Donohoe retired and returned to Melbourne where he was later to become a key member of Essendon’s match committee when the Bombers won premierships in eighties under Kevin Sheedy.
As the club’s first premiership coach, Donohoe is held in high regard.
He was an inspirational leader both on and off the field and was a prominent member of the committee which built the clubrooms.
Scottsdale remains one of the very few clubs in Tasmania which owns its clubrooms.
In 1967 the club appointed former Richmond defender Graeme Gahan as senior coach.
He had played 91 games with the VFL Tigers and was a Victorian representative player.
Despite high expectations the Magpies missed the finals for the first time in six years.
Gahan remained as coach in 1968.
In March ruckman/forward Ken Lette had four toes amputated while loading a bulldozer at Springfield and was not expected to play again. Incredibly, Lette was back on the playing field in July.
The team finished on top of the ladder but lost the second semi-final to Launceston. However they defeated Longford by two points in the preliminary final.
In the grand final the Magpies turned the tables on Launceston hanging on to win by a goal and claim their third NTFA premiership.
They went on to defeat East Devonport in the state preliminary final but again fell short in the state final losing to country cousins New Norfolk.
Coaching a team to a premiership would normally see the coach reappointed but Gahan and the club could not agree on a contract and president Cyril Hall announced that Gahan would not agree to the club’s conditions and coach and club parted ways.
Gahan was then appointed as coach of Glenorchy in the TFL.
The club then appointed former Essendon (VFL) and Brunswick (VFA) player Bob Wilson as coach, a decision the club would not regret. Wilson went on to become the club’s most successful senior coach.
The 60s had produced three senior premierships and three Under 19 premierships, and the club had firmly announced itself as a dominant force in the Tasmanian football landscape.