By James Bresnehan - Mercury
GEORGE Viney's football career ended when he was four.
That is why Viney, now 78, worked as a trainer for more than half a century, a tireless role that has earned him induction into the inaugural Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame.
"It's very nice to get my name in the Hall of Fame. It will give the family something to think about,'' Viney said yesterday.
An inquisitive youngster, Viney, of Launceston, once got too close to a flooded creek, fell in and almost drowned.
"I was taken to the doctor and I had a lot of water on my ears,''
he said.
"They put the wrong stuff in my ears and it burned out my eardrums.
I've been near deaf ever since.''
Viney has 55 per cent hearing in one ear and ``bugger all'' in the other.
He had four games with the now defunct amateur club Waverley but decided the risk of total and permanent deafness was too great.
"I couldn't take a knock to my ears otherwise they would bleed and maybe burst out my eardrums,'' Viney said.
It had its advantages.
"Not even my mother could give me a whack under the ears,'' he said.
A friend convinced him to become a trainer at City Football Club in
1946 and that's where he stayed for 56 years while the club changed names to City-South and then South Launceston.
"I've only ever played four games of footy in my life,'' Viney said.
"When I couldn't play, I became a trainer and that's what I did until 2002.''
Viney hung up his trainer's whites because the demands of the job and long hours became a bit too much.
"If you're going to Smithton for a game, you had to get up at 4am and get down to the club to get the gear ready. And by the time you got home it was 10 at night,'' he said.
Over the years, Viney had helped some great players.
"Frankie Jordan was the toughest player I've ever seen. He was from Bracknell,'' Viney said.
"The best players I've seen would be blokes like Geoff Long, Billy Linger, Berkley Cox, Laurie Moir and Billy Spearman.''
AFL Tasmania plans to make 130 individual inductions into the inaugural hall of fame - 100 players, plus coaches, umpires and media representatives.
The induction will take place at a gala dinner at Wrest Point on July 15.
Last Modified on 01/07/2005 10:02