Garry O'Connell: Tributes flow for a legend of country football

The former Osborne president, who passed away peacefully on Sunday at the age of 95, has been remembered not only as a colossus of his club but a force for good across the broader sporting landscape.

O'Connell, president of the Hume League from 1983-1999, was universally respected and was granted life membership of AFL NSW/ACT before being awarded the Order of Australia Medal in 2011.

He is survived by his eight children, 23 grandchildren and 26 great-grandchildren, with a requiem mass to be held at St Mary's Catholic Church in Lockhart at 2pm on Friday, February 3.

"Dad was one in a million," son Nobby said.

"Whether you were from the top end of town or the bottom end of town, he treated everyone the same and he would connect with the younger generation, that was one of his biggest attributes.

"Football was everything to Dad.

"It was more than a game to him, it was a community and that's why Osborne's been so good.

"Dad had a great bunch of people behind him but he was the driver, he was a natural leader."

O'Connell, the second of four brothers, played all of his football at Osborne after the Second World War.

He served the club as secretary from 1945-50 and was captain-coach in 1952-53 but his real calling came in the world of administration after retiring in 1958.

Voted in as club president in 1979, he began to put the framework in place which would underpin an era of sustained dominance, with the recruitment of coaches a key factor.

"I was at Wagga Tigers in 1983, we played in the final and Garry and his son Nobby went along to watch," Phil Cox recalled.

"They were looking for a coach, they saw me having a runaround and thought I was maybe the type of bloke they wanted.

"But I nearly didn't take the job.

"I started to have second thoughts and the reason I went was Garry O'Connell.

"The bloke was genuine, he had a plan and he had a passion for his club and his community."

Cox coached Osborne for two years, leading them to the premiership in 1985.

"Garry welcomed everybody and if you had a player that was getting a couple of bucks to play, he never bagged them, he supported them," Cox said.

"I played in front of 50,000 people in Adelaide but I still have, in my man cave, a photo of Garry and I standing there with me holding the trophy and him standing next to me.

"I cherish that moment and that time he was there.

"He couldn't show much joy and satisfaction (given he was also the league president) but he was the type of bloke, you could see through his face that inside he was overwhelmed with the result and winning a final that he probably orchestrated."

Cox phoned O'Connell on Christmas Day every year, a tradition which ran all the way to 2022.

"Sometimes he would be at his family's place so I'd leave a message on his phone, just to see how he was travelling," Cox said.

"Every year, my family would say 'have you rung Garry yet?'

"I went back to Wagga for Wimpy Barber's funeral in 2018 and my wife said 'how about we go back through Lockhart and catch up with Garry?'

"He didn't know we were coming so we pulled up outside his house and I knocked on the front door.

"My wife and I went in and had a good chat for an hour or so.

"As I left, he gave my wife a hug and said 'how do you ever put up with him?' and then Garry and I had a hug and I gave him a peck on the forehead, a man kiss.

"I looked at him and he had a little tear running down his cheek and I had a tear running down mine.

"That was the moment I realised the love and respect I had for him, he had for me."

Neil Pleming picked up the baton, coaching Osborne to grand final glory in 1991 and 1992 as O'Connell's golden era gathered pace.

"As a family person and a friend, Garry was such a genuine, fantastic person," Pleming said.

"He was a legend in the way he went about things, whether it be football, family or just a general conversation.

"It didn't matter if he was talking to me, the senior coach of the football club, or a young under-17s kid who was just coming through.

"He was such a people person and gave everyone the time of day.

"At so many clubs, the up-and-coming fellas are the ones who don't get paid any attention but Garry was very big on that.

"Whether they were young or just battling, he'd have a cackle at some blokes that were having a real crack and he'd admire their desire."

Pleming, playing for Coolamon at the time, had been a long-term target of O'Connell's.

"He was very persistent," Pleming smiled.

"From when he first approached me to the time I eventually went out there, I think he pestered me 120 times.

"That's one thing he was very good at; if he thought he was onto something, he did attack things hard.

"But he was just such a great bloke to work with and talk to.

"He was not only the president but he was also on a recruiting committee and his big focus was not to recruit people who would distract or cause issues at the club.

"He really had the whole community in mind and you've only got to look back at the success Osborne's achieved over so many years and the way they conduct themselves, year in, year out, and an enormous amount of what Garry did for so many years is what Osborne's developed into.

"He was such a smart, respectful bloke who wanted to be in an environment which had the same values he had and that's where they've ended up."

True to form, O'Connell wouldn't take no for an answer when he identified Shayne Weidemann as Osborne's next coach in late 2001.

"I got married that year," Weidemann explained.

"On my honeymoon, Garry rang me every single day trying to get a decision.

"That was the way Garry worked. If he wanted someone, he did his best to get them.

"The day I first went to Osborne, it would have been 40 degrees and I couldn't see Garry when I parked the car.

"When I found him, he was six foot down a hole, cleaning it out for our new towers, so he was a worker - and that was in his seventies.

"He would drive from Lockhart with the drink bottles, full of ice, making sure they were cold.

"Whatever you wanted, you asked Garry and he'd get it for you.

"He's the pinnacle of Osborne and he's left a legacy that no-one can follow really.

"He was an incredible man and I think you'll find out on Friday how many lives he touched.

"He's got yellow and black running through his veins and always will have.

"He'll never be forgotten."

O'Connell's influence reached far beyond the paddocks of Osborne, however.

"Garry had an absolute love and passion for Osborne but he also had a lot of foresight," Holbrook legend Robbie Mackinlay said.

"When he was the Hume League president, he played a significant role in Holbrook eventually getting admitted into the competition.

"He could see that a club like Holbrook would be an advantage to the league so he threw away his Osborne hat and he put the hat of the league on.

"At that time, clubs like Walbundrie, Brocklesby, Burrumbuttock, Rand, Walla and Coreen were all on their own and he had the foresight to know that eventually there would be amalgamations.

"He played a massive part in that.

"Garry would be a great role model for any aspiring young administrator or club person.

"He always conducted himself in a great manner, he was highly respected, highly regarded and no-one has contributed more to community sport, particularly to his club and his league, than Garry O'Connell."

Merv Wegener was O'Connell's vice-president for every one of his 17 years at the helm of the Hume League.

"We had a wonderful working relationship and we got on well together," Wegener said.

"He was a guy who said 'we must make sure we get this done.'

"If there was a good idea to help the league, he was certainly a driving force behind that.

"He was forward-thinking, always keen to see what we could do to improve the presentation of the league.

"He was a very astute man and he was fair.

"He loved Osborne but he also could see the bigger picture that we needed to have a well-run league which gave opportunity for our young folk to enjoy their sport.

"Garry was a lot of fun too.

"He enjoyed a good chat and enjoyed what was going on around about him, which made him good company.

"We enjoyed good times together not only through football but as friends."

Brendan I'Anson followed in O'Connell's footsteps by taking on the Hume League presidency.

"He was a very good leader and loved country sport," I'Anson said.

"Even in his older days, he came out to watch the footy, never got out of the car, so it wasn't about talking to people or being the boss of everything, he just wanted football to continue in the bush.

"He especially loved watching the kids play footy.

"He liked winning premierships, don't worry about that, but he had country footy at heart and that's what it was all about with Garry.

"Whatever was best for the game, he did it.

"With him and Merv at the helm for a long time, the league progressed.

"Garry was a big part of getting big-name players into the league, him and Merv told everyone that if you got a good player, people would come to watch them.

"No-one really believed them at the time but it worked!

"He spoke his opinions but he always listened as well.

"If you had a good idea, he'd run with it.

"I found him very easy to talk to.

"If you loved the game and loved what sport did in the bush, Garry O'Connell was always your friend."

Two great passions fuelled a remarkable life.

"Nearly everything came back to Osborne but his family always came first," grandson Ben O'Connell said.

"Right around the club, he had this absolute respect and I was always very proud to call him my grandfather.

"I'll really miss spending time with him, going out to the football.

"Even this year, we used to see him there most weeks.

"I remember when Brocklesby knocked us off in 2002.

"Garry went into the sheds after the game and absolutely tore it off them.

"He was a very kind-hearted person but when people needed a rocket or a bit of a rev-up, it absolutely came.

"He got stuck into people but once he'd said it, it was done. He'd say his piece and then it was over.

"When Osborne lost the grand final in 2004 to Holbrook, the following Monday he was already sitting around the table with a group of players asking 'what do we need to do to win next year?'

"That's when they put in a process to recruit ruckman Cal McClay to the club, to help rectify things, and in 2005, we won three grades.

"One thing I will miss is the amount of people that used to say g'day to him when he was sitting in the car.

"It just showed the high regard he was held in."

Vale Garry O'Connell. We may never see his like again.

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