Barkly Street Uniting great Jeffrey Law celebrates game No.600

It was a special day for VTCA club Barkly Street Uniting and one of its all-time greats on Saturday as Jeffrey Law celebrated his 600th game with the Dragons.

Jeffrey Law (right) celebrates his 600th match for Barkly Street Uniting with daughter Renee and son Aaron. Picture: Marcus Curnow.

Jeffrey Law’s legendary career at Barkly Street Uniting reached a magical milestone on Saturday.

The Dragons great stepped out for his 600th game with a hand-picked team behind him to celebrate the achievement in the club’s VTCA Division 5 Second XI clash against Gellibrand.

Law’s children Aaron and Renee, Uniting stalwart and current West Coburg president Jeffrey Lally, long-time teammate Ivan Tudor and former WA Sheffield Shield batsman and current VSDCA vice-president Phil O’Meara were among the special guests.

“It was a great day, I was over the moon,” Law said.

“We had to play the top side, which was unfortunate, but Gellibrand were just brilliant, they bowed to every wish was asked and were a fantastic bunch of players, and helped make it a great day.”

“My son, Aaron, came back after some time out of the game. I played in the ones with him, which I was very fortunate to do, and I’d also played with my father and brother in the same side.

“My daughter, Renee, got on the field for an over or two as the official 12th man, she was thrilled about that, so it was a great day.”

Law debuted as a six-year-old 56 years ago and has barely missed a game since.

“We didn’t have any other grades back then, I didn’t get too many games obviously in my first few years, but that’s the way it was,” he explained.

The 61-year-old recalls he passed the previous club games record 20 years ago and has twice captained the club to a premiership.

He’s played in the Western Suburbs Churches and Community Cricket Association, Moreland Moonee Valley Cricket Association and for the past 10 years the VTCA.

Law was a mainstay of the WSCCCA representative side and earned All-Australian honours on several occasions, including the captaincy in 1994-95.

After playing Dowling Shield with North Melbourne, he was invited to train with the Kangaroos and Premier Cricket rival Footscray but decided to stick with the Dragons.

“It’s the one regret in my life that I didn’t try to see how far I could have gone,” he said.

“At the same time I’m happy to have played for so long at the same club, that’s the biggest thrill being a one club player.”

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Law says retirement is looming large and while he believes records are made to be broken it’s hard to see his mark being knocked off.

He’s determined to enjoy what’s left of his playing days.

“I’m running on fumes at the moment … I played 49 games without missing a single game, so I think I’ve done my time,” he said.

“I haven’t pulled up too bad, I try to look after myself, I can still move around in the field OK at least.”