By popular demand, we’re back with another edition of our Past Player Profile series, and today we’re taking a look at the late John Mahomet, an integral figure in both our history & also the history of the Mount Barker Football Club.
John joined the Echidnas somewhat later in life when his sons, Terry & Peter, had commenced playing U16’s, which was simply known as Colts at that time, and John would become our Inaugural U16’s Premiership Coach in 1978/79 (together with Brian “Sting” Nettle), with Peter also playing in the side which defeated Onkaparinga in the GF.
John’s playing career, during which he played exclusively in A’s, lasted from 1975/76 until the conclusion of the 1982/83 season, before filling in for a solitary match in 1986. A polished wicketkeeper & aggressive middle/lower order batter, John made a great 1st impression, scoring 32, 43 & 37 in his 1st three (3) innings for the club on his way to 215 runs @ 21.5 in his debut season, together with 12 catches & 3 stumpings.
John was even better the next season with 270 runs @ 30 & 10 catches, before having a career season in 1977/78, when he scored 373 runs @ 41.44 including scores of 85, 77*, 65* & 56 (finishing runner up for the club’s batting aggregate & average trophies) whilst also having an outstanding season with the gloves, finishing with 17 catches & 4 stumpings.
As referred to above, in addition to his exploits with the Echidnas, John is also a critical figure in the history of the Barkeroos, serving as their Head Coach from 1977 until the mid-1980s. When John took over, the Barkeroos were in a serious rut, having missed the finals for five (5) straight years only a few years removed from having won back-to-back Premierships in 1969 & 1970 (under Player-Coach Ian Slade, another former Echidna). He immediately turned their fortunes around by blooding a number of homegrown youngsters, coaching Mt Barker to the Grand Final in each of 1977, 1979 & 1980, only for the Barkeroos to lose on each occasion. At that point being perhaps one of the more tragic figures in the Barkeroos’ history, John stuck with it, eventually coaching the Barkeroos to back-to-back Premierships in 1982 & 1983, when they went undefeated & fellow longtime Echidna, Mark Paech, took home the Central Division Mail Medal. Son Terry was also part of the 1982 Premiership team as one of four (4) Echidnas to feature in the side.
John’s fortunes as the Barkeroos coach bear a significant similarity to his A Grade career with the Echidnas, as John was part of three (3) Grand Final losses (all to Lenswood Ranges) in 1978/79, 1979/80 & 1981/82 before the Echidnas broke through to win the flag in 1982/83 in what was John’s final season as a regular player.
John also had the honour during his career of playing A’s with both his sons, with Terry playing senior cricket briefly from 1978 to 1979, during which time he played 14 matches (4 in A’s), whilst Peter would go on to become one of our best players of the 1980s & early 1990s, playing over 90 matches between 1978 & 1996, the majority of which were in A’s, whilst scoring over 2,250 runs & taking over 140 wickets, including two (2) centuries & four (4) 5FAs (Peter is likely to feature in his own Past Player Profile in due course).
For his Echidnas career, John ultimately played a total of 67 matches, scoring 1,384 runs @ 21.97 & compiling 68 catches & 10 stumpings (8th most in WCC history). For more photographs of John be sure to check out the post on our Facebook page.
