Remembering Jarvo's big run
Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2010 5:32 pmBy Rob McLean
One of the great things about playing football is that you get to meet a lot of characters.
Among those characters are some fantastic footballers and some not so good ones.
It has always been interesting to watch people you have played with or against go on to perform on a much bigger stage.
However, some just play a cameo in your footballing life and disappear, never to be heard from again.
John Jarvis is one of those players.
I first came across John when he was a junior at Central United.
He was one of a handful of good players they had at junior level back then, along with Matt and Adam Switala and Shane Pickering.
John was different to all of those guys though – while I have remained friends with the other three over the years, he disappeared off my radar.
I played on the same side as him for the first time in year seven SAPSASA, representing Elizabeth Districts in the South East.
And then by 1990 he was playing at Elizabeth, having transferred to the club when the Units couldn’t field an under 14 side.
His skills were good. He was a tough, hard- running, no nonsense, wiry footballer.
We all feared him but it was the opposition who feared him even more.
Sure, there were plenty of young footballers in our rugged northern suburbs competition who had the same attributes as ‘Jarvo’ but none of them had his stand out feature.
A moustache.
That moustache was a talking point among all opposition players and it helped him to build a fearful reputation.
No kid wanted to play on him. If he had that much testosterone that he already had a moe at 13, what else could he do to you?
The imagination ran wild.
For me though, Jarvo stands out for another reason.
His awesome performance in the 1990 under 14s grand final.
Elizabeth took on hot favourites Salisbury, a side that had dominated junior football through the grades.
There were some class acts in the black and white side.
Somehow, we won that game – taking out a premiership flag on the Magpies’ home ground.
Much of our success could be attributed to the wild man John Jarvis.
One particular run saw him streaming from the half back flank, past the cheering grandstand and around half a dozen or so kids, who just seemed to get out of this way to avoid being hurt.
It might not have happened that way but that’s how it seems in my memories.
We scored a crucial goal and held on to the flag – all because of Jarvo’s run.
That memory has remained with me for nearly 20 years.
From my recollections, Jarvo moved on to WA after that season and rumour has it he ended up back in SA playing senior footy at Para Hills.
I don’t know the truth of that but I do know that he will always retain legend status in my footballing memories for those feats performed all those years ago.
One of the great things about playing football is that you get to meet a lot of characters.
Among those characters are some fantastic footballers and some not so good ones.
It has always been interesting to watch people you have played with or against go on to perform on a much bigger stage.
However, some just play a cameo in your footballing life and disappear, never to be heard from again.
John Jarvis is one of those players.
I first came across John when he was a junior at Central United.
He was one of a handful of good players they had at junior level back then, along with Matt and Adam Switala and Shane Pickering.
John was different to all of those guys though – while I have remained friends with the other three over the years, he disappeared off my radar.
I played on the same side as him for the first time in year seven SAPSASA, representing Elizabeth Districts in the South East.
And then by 1990 he was playing at Elizabeth, having transferred to the club when the Units couldn’t field an under 14 side.
His skills were good. He was a tough, hard- running, no nonsense, wiry footballer.
We all feared him but it was the opposition who feared him even more.
Sure, there were plenty of young footballers in our rugged northern suburbs competition who had the same attributes as ‘Jarvo’ but none of them had his stand out feature.
A moustache.
That moustache was a talking point among all opposition players and it helped him to build a fearful reputation.
No kid wanted to play on him. If he had that much testosterone that he already had a moe at 13, what else could he do to you?
The imagination ran wild.
For me though, Jarvo stands out for another reason.
His awesome performance in the 1990 under 14s grand final.
Elizabeth took on hot favourites Salisbury, a side that had dominated junior football through the grades.
There were some class acts in the black and white side.
Somehow, we won that game – taking out a premiership flag on the Magpies’ home ground.
Much of our success could be attributed to the wild man John Jarvis.
One particular run saw him streaming from the half back flank, past the cheering grandstand and around half a dozen or so kids, who just seemed to get out of this way to avoid being hurt.
It might not have happened that way but that’s how it seems in my memories.
We scored a crucial goal and held on to the flag – all because of Jarvo’s run.
That memory has remained with me for nearly 20 years.
From my recollections, Jarvo moved on to WA after that season and rumour has it he ended up back in SA playing senior footy at Para Hills.
I don’t know the truth of that but I do know that he will always retain legend status in my footballing memories for those feats performed all those years ago.