Gary Sidebottom

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Had some great stories to tell

In 1980, Sidebottom, while playing for St Kilda in a match against Hawthorn at Moorabbin, he was dazed when he was hit across his right eye by a flying beer can. He required medical attention before he was able to continue in the match.
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Sidebottom entered football folklore when he missed the Geelong team bus to play in the 1981 Preliminary Final against Collingwood due to a breakdown in communications. His team-mate Peter Johnston took his place at the last minute, despite being told earlier he had not been selected, and went on to play despite having half a chicken and a bucket of chips along with a strawberry thickshake for lunch, and having smoked half a pack of Winfield Blue cigarettes on the way to VFL Park.
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RIP Gary.
 

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Very sad. As a young man i bumped into him down moorabbin way when he was at the saints. He was a monster size and i recall thinking ill never ever be big enough to compete with someone like him, and soon after i stopped playing footy! He was of course a nice chap and very talented.

I also recall super phil headbutting him 1 day and thought phil a tad lucky gary didnt seek retribution. RIP Gary Sidebottom.
 
I'd totally forgotten about his brother playing at Stkilda until reading the articles today.
Still seems like yesterday Garry was playing.
 
He was a very good footballer. R.I.P.

The first time I saw him play was in the 1975 WAFL Reserves Grand Final which Swan Districts won over Perth but apparently Perth were awarded the win on protest. Anyway I only saw a bit of the last quarter and at the end of the match it seemed that every Perth player chased Sidebottom off the ground. I don't know what happened! It was amazing. I didn't read anything about what happened because my team West Perth blitzed South Fremantle by 104 points in the main game.
 
I was saddened to hear of Gary's passing.

Played a few games against the Sidebottom brothers and they were all hard tough bastards but once the siren went to finish the game, they were terrific blokes.

I have fond memories of Garry playing in the WA State of Origin sides where I think he actually played his best football, he seemed to lift his intensity a notch when he represented his State.

A favourite son at Bassendean Oval , where there is nothing more parochial and passionate in WA football than the McDonald Stand, screaming at full throttle.

Great contributor to WA and Australian Football.

Taken way to early, RIP Big Fella.
 
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Had a fantastic little career at Fitzroy where he played 43 games between 1982 to 1984.

Not much was expected of him when he left Geelong at the end of 1981. He came to St Kilda in 1978 amid a blaze of publicity & big expectations. I think that Geelong recruited him to be the saviour of their forward line back then too.

But he certainly made a big impression at Fitzroy & fitted in extremely well there.

With Sidey at CHF & Bernie Quinlan at FF, the Roys had a great combo going there, especially in 83 & 84.

He protected the little blokes like Gary Wilson, Bernie & Leon Harris, Brad Gotch etc.

But he wasn't just a tough guy. He could really play!

I still remember Sidey playing his first Fitzroy game against Collingwood at VFL Park Waverley in 1982. He took this juggling, contested mark in one hand in the goal square. Was probably his first goal for us too!

RIP Sidey. Gone way too soon!
 
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Remember big Gary playing state of origin - as someone else said always gave his all in this games. I remember watching him as a kid - I think he rucked with big Ronny Boucher for swans - 2 big intimidating units thats for sure. i remember being in the members stand at Leederville oval and some smart @rse member gave Ron a serve as he walked off. Thought he was going to wring the blokes neck. RIP Sidey
 
blackus said:
Remember big Gary playing state of origin - as someone else said always gave his all in this games. I remember watching him as a kid - I think he rucked with big Ronny Boucher for swans - 2 big intimidating units thats for sure. i remember being in the members stand at Leederville oval and some smart @rse member gave Ron a serve as he walked off. Thought he was going to wring the blokes neck. RIP Sidey
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Only people with a death wish give Boucher & Sidebottom a bit of lip.
 

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arfadunger said:
He certainly was a legend. With his brothers Allan and Wally, they really were a big part of footy in that region. Sad news....
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They were a family of characters, the dad jumped the fence one day when one of the boys got into a blue playing for Swans, might have been Wally I think. I also seem to recall Gary getting reported for kicking John Duckworth, gets up at the tribunal and sez " I kicked him like I'd kick a mangy dog" or words to that effect, all a long time ago, characters like that don't survive now.
 
Seadog said:
They were a family of characters, the dad jumped the fence one day when one of the boys got into a blue playing for Swans, might have been Wally I think. I also seem to recall Gary getting reported for kicking John Duckworth, gets up at the tribunal and sez " I kicked him like I'd kick a mangy dog" or words to that effect, all a long time ago, characters like that don't survive now.
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That was Gary laying face down on the ground for several minutes. What the heck was that about. Still to this day one of the weirdest things I've ever seen in a serious game of football. As soon as they got out there he jumped up on his feet like nothing had ever happened, although for a moment people were wondering if he was still alive.

I do remember it was against South Fremantle at Bassendean and I'm thinking Mark Jackson was playing in that game too and was up to some shenanigans winding up the opposition crowd. Think it was 1979 when Gary was temporarily between clubs in the VFL and had come back to play some games with Swans.

I only remember him as an opposition WAFL player when I was at the age where I thought all the good players only played for my team.

He was huge. You'd see him play full forward against Victoria in State of Origin and he was bigger than their blokes. He kicked 5 in one midweek game at Subiaco in the early 80's.
 
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My first memory of Sidebottom was him getting hit in the face with a full can of beer while contesting a boundary throw in front of the Animal Enclosure at Moorabbin Oval. He had a knack for riling up the opposition fans, but that might've been friendly fire from a drunk Saints feral who was aiming for the umpire. Not sure.

My last memory was the 1983 Qualifying Final when Sidebottom and Quinlan both kicked 60m bombs (from inside the centre square) in the opening minute of the last quarter to spark a Fitzroy comeback vs Hawthorn. The Roys kicked 8 goals for the quarter, but the Hawks kicked a couple of late goals to scrape home by a couple of points. The Lions were the best team for most of that year - unlucky not to win the flag. Very good team: Quinlan, Sidebottom, Conlan, Rendell, Wilson, Harris, McMahon, Osborne, Roos, Pert, Serafini, Parish, Lokan, Clayton, Carlson, Lawrie, Thornton...

RIP Sidey
 
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Back One Out said:
My first memory of Sidebottom was him getting hit in the face with a full can of beer while contesting a boundary throw in front of the Animal Enclosure at Moorabbin Oval. He had a knack for riling up the opposition fans, but that might've been friendly fire from a drunk Saints feral who was aiming for the umpire. Not sure.
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The beer can incident can be seen here:
 
I remember seeing him in his first practice match for St.Kilda at Moorabbin in 1978 and he kicked a goal from the center square, it was a massive kick and thought how good is this guy going to be if he can do that.

R.I.P Gary
 
stax on the mull said:
That was Gary laying face down on the ground for several minutes. What the heck was that about. Still to this day one of the weirdest things I've ever seen in a serious game of football. As soon as they got out there he jumped up on his feet like nothing had ever happened, although for a moment people were wondering if he was still alive.

I do remember it was against South Fremantle at Bassendean and I'm thinking Mark Jackson was playing in that game too and was up to some shenanigans winding up the opposition crowd. Think it was 1979 when Gary was temporarily between clubs in the VFL and had come back to play some games with Swans.

I only remember him as an opposition WAFL player when I was at the age where I thought all the good players only played for my team.

He was huge. You'd see him play full forward against Victoria in State of Origin and he was bigger than their blokes. He kicked 5 in one midweek game at Subiaco in the early 80's.
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Remember the game with Jackson. The Bassendean crowd was up and about and in no mood for Jackson's antics. Sidey being back probably added to the festivities. (That was a great Souths team - played in the next three GFs, winning one of them.)
 

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Gary Sidebottom

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