A 67-year-old Huon Valley soccer player has celebrated an extraordinary milestone, notching up 600 games for the club he helped create nearly three decades ago.
John O’Toole, a semi-retired builder from Mountain River, reached the milestone playing for Huon Valley Soccer Club, which he helped establish in 1996 at the age of 37.
O’Toole said the attention he has received was “a little bit embarrassing really” and he did not even realise the landmark was approaching until a clubmate who tracks the numbers pointed it out.
“I wouldn’t have known I was playing my 600th game,” he told Pulse.
“I’m just happy I’m still allowed to get out there and have a kick.”
The milestone match proved a memorable one, with Huon Valley coming from behind to beat South Hobart 3-2 for just their second win of the season.
O’Toole, who usually plays as a sweeper or fullback, said his teammates urged him to go up for a corner and try to score.
“But the ball never came near me, so I didn’t get a goal,” he said.
The club began after O’Toole and a few other fathers decided to form a team while kicking the ball around with their sons at training.
They scraped together just 11 players and relied on under-16s to fill out the squad each week.
“It was just a simple start,” O’Toole said.
From those humble beginnings, the club has grown to now field four men’s teams and around 80 junior players, with new change rooms and a clubhouse built three years ago.
O’Toole has served as player, captain, coach and president over the years, and used his building skills to convert old hockey rooms into the club’s first proper change rooms.
The milestone was made even more special when O’Toole lined up alongside three of his sons Solomon, Tobias and Reuben.
He has nine children, five boys and four girls, and eight of them have played for the club.
He also travels to the masters games in Brisbane every two years, playing in the over-60s competition with a group he calls “Dad’s Army.”
O’Toole said his knees were getting “a bit funny” but he hoped to keep playing until he turns 70.
