John Arno Halbert (born 5 September 1937) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the

Sturt Football Club The Sturt Football Club, nicknamed The Double Blues, is a semi-professional Australian rules football club based in the suburb of Unley, South Australia, which plays in the South Australian National Football League. Founded in 1901 by the S ...

in the

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport. Originally formed as th ...

(SANFL). A member of the

Australian Football Hall of Fame The Australian Football Hall of Fame was established in 1996, the Centenary year of the Australian Football League, to help recognise the contributions made to the sport of Australian rules football by players, umpires, media personalities, co ...

, Halbert has had a long involvement in Australian rules football in South Australia, as a player, coach and administrator. Halbert was also a Bradman Medalist in the 1961/62 & 1964/65 seasons, denoting the greatest domestic cricketer in the State for that season. He is the only person in history to claim the title of Magarey Medalist and Bradman Medalist.

Playing career

Halbert was a centreman and first played for Sturt in 1955. In his debut season he finished second in the

Magarey Medal The Magarey Medal is an Australian rules football honour awarded annually since 1898 to the fairest and most brilliant player in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL), as judged by field umpires. The award was created by Will ...

count to

Lindsay Head Lindsay Hudson Head MBE (born 16 September 1935 in North Adelaide, South Australia) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with West Torrens in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). He was awarded three Magarey ...

and in 1958 was again the runner up with Head winning another Medal. He also polled well in 1960 but again finished second, this time losing to

Barrie Barbary Barrie Barbary (10 February 1939 – 11 February 2023) was an Australian rules footballer who played 213 games for North Adelaide and Woodville in the SANFL between 1957 – 1970. He was the 1960 Magarey Medalist and had a 14-year SANFL career ...

. The Medal was finally his in 1961, his 20 votes enough to hold off the challengers. Sturt had actually finished with the wooden spoon that season but it was a good year for Halbert, as well as winning that elusive Magarey Medal he was also picked in the

All Australian The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perf ...

team after his performances for the South Australians at the Brisbane Carnival. He represented South Australia at interstate football at total of 17 times during his career. In 1962 he was made captain of Sturt and led them to a premiership in 1966, their first flag since 1940. Injuries prevented Halbert from playing in Sturt's 1967 and 1968 premiership sides, and he was forced to retire. He finished with a then club record 251 SANFL games. In 1979 he became coach of Glenelg, leading them to the 1981 and 1982 SANFL Grand Finals where they were beaten by

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the ...

and Norwood respectively. He left The Bay after the '82 Grand Final and replaced the legendary coach of Sturt,

Jack Oatey Jack Oatey (29 August 1920 – 26 February 1994) was an Australian rules football player and coach. Playing career Oatey played 181 games for the Norwood Football Club between 1940 and 1952 and acted as playing-coach from 1945 to 1952. Whi ...

in 1983. Halbert would lead the Double Blues to his third Grand Final appearance in three years but again luck was against him when Sturt were defeated by West Adelaide. After the Double Blues could win only eight matches in 1984 and finished seventh, Halbert was replaced as coach by

Mervyn Keane Mervyn Keane (pronounced: "cane") (born 29 July 1953), commonly known as Merv Keane, is a former Australian rules football player and coach who played in the VFL between 1972 and 1984 for the Richmond Football Club. Predominantly a back poc ...

. It was his last senior coaching position in the SANFL, although he became a state selector during the late 80s and through the 90s. Halbert was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2017. He also played two

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officia ...

matches for

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

in the 1961–62 season.

References

External links

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CricketArchive page for John Halbert
{{DEFAULTSORT:Halbert, John 1937 births Living people Sturt Football Club players Glenelg Football Club coaches Sturt Football Club coaches Magarey Medal winners All-Australians (1953–1988) Australian cricketers South Australia cricketers Australian rules footballers from Adelaide Cricketers from Adelaide South Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Members of the Order of Australia Australian Members of the Order of the British Empire