70 Years in SA Footy – John Halbert
The Magarey Medal presentation ceremony at Adelaide Oval on grand final day 1961 as John Halbert receives the prestigious award from SA Governor Sir Edric Bastyan. SANFL chairman Stanley H. Lewis is on the right.
By NEIL SMITH
In a remarkable achievement, John Halbert AM, MBE continues to make his mark with 70 years of continuous involvement in South Australian football.
He was just 17 in 1955 when he played his first league game for Sturt against North Adelaide. He made an immediate impression in that first season, being selected to play for SA against WA in Perth. The rivals clashed twice, SA winning by 10 points and three points – a most satisfying start to his career.
John tells the story of an evening in September 1955 when he set off on his bicycle from Edwardstown to meet a young woman living in Prospect to go to the pictures in the city. When he rode home later that night, he arrived to find his mother still up, waiting for him…he feared the worst. But she had good news for him: “You’ve come runner-up to Lindsay Head in the Magarey Medal, beaten by one vote!”
That so-near-yet-so-far result was to happen on two more occasions – in 1958 again to West Torrens’ Head and in 1960 to North Adelaide’s Barrie Barbary.
John Halbert’s expertise is always sought at the SANFL History centre in Bowden. He is reminiscing looking through scrapbooks with Gavin Pearce.
The 1961 season was a stellar one for Halbert, who earned selection as the All-Australian centreman after starring with SA at the Brisbane national carnival. And he won the Magarey Medal as SANFL’s fairest and most brilliant player, beating Glenelg’s Hayden Linke by two votes, even though Sturt won only three games and finished last.
He also shone in district cricket with Sturt that year, winning the first of his two Bradman Medals, topping the competition’s batting aggregate and average. He played for the State against New Zealand, Tasmania and Victoria and went on to play more than 200 district cricket matches – a unique ‘double’, with his 251 SANFL games and winning medals in both sports.
He represented SA in football 17 times and he captained Sturt for seven seasons, the highlight coming in 1966 when the Double Blues won their first premiership in 26 years, thumping Port Adelaide 16.16 to 8.8 in the grand final.
Later he coached Glenelg (1979-82) and Sturt (1983-84), reaching grand finals in 1981-83, only to be beaten at the last hurdle.
SA football great John Halbert makes people’s day delivering Meals on Wheels.
His association with football has been continuous, from 1955 into 2025, currently serving on numerous SANFL committees.
He was chairman of selectors at the Adelaide Crows from 1992-94 and for SA State-of-Origin clashes from 1992-98. He chaired the SANFL Football Foundation and served on the umpires’ board, the SA Football Hall of Fame and life members’ committees. He also was a member of the SANFL Commission from 1996-2008. He sat on the AFL Football Foundation and the AFL laws committee.
John was deservedly inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2017.
These days, the great of SA sport joins the volunteers at the SANFL History Centre, where he shares his unique knowledge of the game. He volunteers as a tour guide at Adelaide Oval and also gives back doing weekly deliveries for Meals on Wheels.
