Les Burgett: A lasting influence on Tenterfield Sport

By Terry Kneipp

Some people contribute to community sport through the runs they score, the wickets they take or the teams they represent. Others leave something much greater behind: generations of young people who were given an opportunity, encouragement and belief because somebody took the time to help them.

For Tenterfield, one of those people was Les Burgett.

Image - Les Burgett on the left with Terry Kneipp

A primary school teacher in Tenterfield during the 1960s and 1970s, Les became one of the town’s most recognised and respected sporting figures. He was a very capable cricketer in his own right, but his lasting contribution came from what he did for others, particularly the young sportsmen and sportswomen of the district.

Les belonged to a generation of teachers for whom involvement in a young person’s life didn’t necessarily finish when the school bell rang at 3.30pm.

Sport was an important part of that involvement.

He gave countless hours to coaching, organising and encouraging young people across several sports. Whether it was cricket, soccer or athletics, Les had an eye for young people with enthusiasm and ability and, importantly, was prepared to invest his own time in helping them develop it.

In soccer, Les coached a remarkably successful young Tenterfield team which competed strongly in regional competitions. In cricket, he helped establish and support opportunities for youngsters to play the game, including assisting with the organisation and supervision of Saturday morning junior cricket.

For a country town, those opportunities mattered.

Young players needed more than somewhere to play. They needed adults prepared to organise teams, teach skills, provide encouragement and create an environment in which they could improve.

Les was one of those people.

Among the many young sportsmen he encouraged was Neil Johnson, a talented fast bowler who progressed from Tenterfield cricket to play in Armidale while attending Teachers College. Johnson's ability eventually took him further, representing New South Wales in a Colts series in Perth in a team captained by future Australian Test cricketer Dirk Welham.

Les spent countless hours helping Neil develop his bowling and cricket skills.

Another youngster whose sporting journey was strongly influenced by Les was Tony Adam.

Tony was an exceptional all-round sportsman. He was a talented middle-distance runner, an outstanding cricketer and also excelled in rugby league.

Les recognised Tony's athletic ability and became much more than someone offering occasional advice from the sidelines. He regularly ran alongside Tony as his training partner, helping the young athlete develop the fitness, discipline and confidence required to make the most of his ability.

Tony's sporting journey would eventually extend well beyond Tenterfield.

He became a successful rugby league player and coach, coached a successful Canberra Raiders junior team and later coached the Australian Schoolboys Rugby League team.

For a young sportsman from Tenterfield to progress to that level is a considerable achievement. Like many others who benefited from Les's guidance, Tony's sporting foundations were laid in his hometown with the assistance of a teacher prepared to give his time well beyond the classroom.

Les himself was also an accomplished and respected local cricketer.

Those who played alongside him remember a player of above-average ability who competed with a tremendous sense of sportsmanship. He enjoyed the game, played it the right way and demonstrated through his own actions many of the qualities he sought to encourage in younger players.

But sport was only one part of his contribution to Tenterfield's young people and community life.

Les was also heavily involved in school musicals, directing performances and even playing drums in the band. It paints a picture of the type of teacher and community member he was: involved, enthusiastic and willing to contribute wherever young people were being given an opportunity to participate.

There were no professional development programs, participation strategies or sophisticated sporting pathways behind much of what people like Les did.

There was simply a willingness to help.

Saturday mornings were given to junior cricket. Afternoons were spent coaching. Training sessions meant running alongside a promising young athlete. Soccer teams needed someone to teach, organise and encourage them.

And Les kept turning up.

The real measure of that contribution isn't found in a scorebook.

It can be found in people such as Neil Johnson and Tony Adam, who took the opportunities they were given and went on to achieve at higher levels. It can also be found in the many other Tenterfield youngsters who may never have represented their state or coached an Australian team but enjoyed sport, developed friendships and gained confidence because people like Les made those opportunities possible.

Decades later, Les Burgett is still remembered with enormous affection in Tenterfield.

Now long retired and living in Lismore, his connection to the town remains through the people he taught, coached, played alongside and encouraged.

Community sport has always depended on people prepared to give something of themselves without expecting recognition in return.

For a generation of young people growing up in Tenterfield, Les Burgett was one of those people.

And that is a contribution worth remembering.