SHE has experienced 29 Port Adelaide Premierships and witnessed countless greats grace Alberton Oval, but for centenarian Mary Bampton no player comes close to Russell Ebert.
Mary celebrated her 100th birthday last month with a special party hosted at the Port Club - and Ebert was there to present her with a gift.
The only player to have won four Magarey Medals had been to Mary’s 80th and 90th birthdays and a decade ago told the life-long Port supporter he expected an invitation when she reached the century mark.
“She’s an Ebert fan because as far as she’s concerned he’s God,” said Mary’s son John Bampton.
“She’s seen Bob Quinn, Allan “Bull” Reval and that era in the 50s when we won all the Premierships.
“Scott Hodges was one of her favourites because she remembers him kicking a goal from the pocket to beat Norwood in the Grand Final one year – she was right behind it.
“Ollie Wines and Robbie Gray are her current favourites, but especially Ollie because she reckons he plays the old style Port Adelaide football.”
Ebert even took the time to visit Mary when she reluctantly moved into the Mt Carmel Residential Care facility at Rosewater to make her feel at home.
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Mary’s love of Port Adelaide sometimes caused a split in the family.
John said one of the key reasons was that his wife’s nephew was Norwood great Garry McIntosh.
“She hated Norwood but our nephew played for Norwood, and we wanted to support him,” John recalled.
“She said but you barrack for Port don’t you? And we said not on days like today, when they played in the Grand Final.”
“So we’d always have hate sessions with my brother-in-law because you know the Port-Norwood rivalry.”
Mary says she was born a Port Adelaide supporter and started following the Magpies properly from about the age of ten.
Her father played for South Adelaide and hated Port, but her mother was just as passionate about the Magpies and would take her and her sister on the train from Kilkenny to Alberton to watch each match.
Apart from a brief hiatus when she had children, Mary attended most matches at Alberton and even Football Park when the Power came in.
She would go with two friends and fill out the statistics pages in the budget or record – with stacks of them found when she moved into care.
“She reckoned if it rained they’d stay out there and the others who left were soft,” said John of his passionate mother.
“When she watches the game now she still tries to keep score on a piece of paper.
“When we go to a game I get a budget and fill in every score and take the budget to her.”
The Alberton Oval scoreboard with a special message for Mary |
Mary only stopped attending matches about ten years ago when her mobility became a problem.
Now mostly using a wheelchair to get around, Mary continues to do footy tipping and watches every game on television.
“She gets pretty aggro and will call out the players if she thinks they’ve been soft,” John said.
“She always says they’re not like the old Fos Williams era when they’d just about run through brick walls.
“She just goes back to that because that’s the way she liked the game.”
Mary is part of the Port Adelaide Football Club Bequest Society and a valued member of the Port Adelaide Football Club community.
The Club congratulates Mary on reaching her milestone.
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