John Beaton

John ‘Bones’ Beaton was born in Mount Gambier and played all of his football for West Gambier. This was except for a brief stint with South Adelaide where he played one league game. John decided to cut short his league career when the weekly travel to Adelaide became too difficult.

John played colts football for West Gambier and played his first senior game in 1963 with the seconds. It was a double celebration as John’s father Doug was playing his final game with West Gambier. Doug Beaton had played 49 games with West Adelaide and was a member of their 1947 premiership team. In a case of history repeating itself, John would later play his final senior game with his son Gary who was also making his senior debut.

John played 370 A Grade games for West Gambier from 1964 to 1985 and was the first Western Border Football League player to play 300 games. John was a West Gambier captain and one of his career highlights was being captain of his team for the first game played on the new Malseed Park oval in 1974. West unfortunately lost that game to North Gambier which was umpired by renowned VFL umpire, Glen James.

John was a member of West Gambier’s 1971 premiership team which was the clubs first in the Western Border Football League and he won the Western Border League Medal in 1981 . John won the West Gambier best and fairest in 1980 and is a life member of both the Western Border Football League and West Gambier Football Club. John is still an avid supporter of the club and can still be seen supporting his beloved ‘Roos’ each weekend.