FOOTBALL identity Peter Ey will be honoured with a merit award by the South Australian National Football League.
The authorities have accepted the nomination of Ey which was made by the Mid South East Football League (MSEFL) president Peter Mitchell.
He said the award would be presented to Ey at a gala ceremony at Adelaide Oval on October 6.
Ey is a MSEFL life member, past president, player and coach of Tantanoola, Kalangadoo and Glencoe, Mail Medallist, leading league goal kicker, interleague representative and captain, past host
of the Radio 5SE Thursday night football show and a former panellist on the WIN-TV football show.
Ey is regarded as an all-time great of the MSEFL and won the league’s highest individual honour with his home club Tantanoola in 1963.
It is not surprising that he created headaches for defenders and opposition ruckmen as he stood almost 195cm tall and had a fine mark and kick.
In all, Ey played 330 senior games and booted over 1000 goals.
His first game of A Grade had been for Tantanoola at the age of 16 in 1959.
Like Nangwarry and Robe’s Michael Timms, Ey won the MSEFL leading goalkicking award in four seasons.
His success came in 1969 (94 goals with Glencoe), 1970 (85, Glencoe), 1971 (100, Tantanoola) and 1974 (90, Kalangadoo).
One of Ey’s greatest triumphs came in 1966 when he was captain-coach of the Murphies who defeated Kongorong 14.14 (98) to 14.6 (90) at Kalangadoo to win the senior premiership.
He was in his second year in the position and was the runner-up in the Mail Medal.
It was definitely a proud moment for the 23-year-old as the team included seven teenage players – Roley Auld, Phil Scanlon, Brad Bignell, Dale Matthews, Ken Maloney, Laurie Menzies and Mort Frost.
Ey was playing in his first A Grade grand final but Peter “Steam” Mitchell was in his ninth, Arthur “Tommy” Medhurst and Max Childs their 11th and Jerry Phelan was in his 14th.
While at the helm of the MSEFL from 1985-87, Ey was also a player and president of the Millicent and District Cricket Association.
Known for his talent and determination on the sporting field and his good humour off-the-ground, Ey was a member of a renowned sporting family.
His late father A.H. “Jim” Ey was also a ruckman and a member of Tantanoola’s post-war premiership teams.
A long-time resident of Queensland, Ey returned briefly to Glencoe in 2014 to officially launch Mort Frost’s new history book of the MSEFL.
Now aged in his 70s, Ey is a past president of the Bundaberg Golf Club and is in his fourth term as president of the East Bundaberg Bowls Club.
