The Ryan family roots run as deep as oil into the soil at Tatura Football Netball Club.
In fact, the Bulldogs must’ve felt as though they’d struck liquid gold when Betty and Charles Ryan first settled down in the town.
Since then, the salt-of-the-earth Ryan clan has created a dynasty stretching decades — and it’s not going anywhere, any time soon, either.
John Ryan, an icon of Tatura, can’t even count the number of club life members hailing from his family on two hands.
He should know. He’s one of them.
John Ryan — or “JR” as he’s affectionately known around the traps — lives just a few long bombs of the footy away from Tatura Park, the hallowed home of football and netball within the town.
For him, it’s where life may well have begun.
“Back all those years, I think some of us were conceived at the footy club,” he said with a laugh.
“Mum was there four or five days a week and I think the love for the club just stemmed from Mum and Dad.
“If you look through the netball and the footy, they used to call the whole family the Ryan dynasty.
“There’s not just hundreds — there’s thousands of games of football and netball between all the family. It’s just been a fantastic club, we’ve always treated it like a home for us.
“We just love the place and we always have; it’s been something we’ve been very proud of.”
Charles and Betty Ryan first arrived at Tatura from Gippsland and made an immediate and lasting impression on the town.
Betty became president of the Tatura Ladies Committee, but the dedicated doyenne’s true devotion lay in Tatura Football Club, where she served for more than 60 years and earned status as a hall of fame legend, life patron and life member.
Charles made a name as a trainer, board member and president of the footy club, also gaining life membership with 50-odd years of service beneath his belt.
Nowadays, the Charles Ryan Memorial Trophy goes to the club’s Volunteer of the Year.
Charles’ eponymously named gong ties into his and Betty’s ethos perfectly: work hard, enjoy the spoils and stay close.
John Ryan has followed in his parents’ footsteps and shares a similarly burning passion for the Bulldogs and, now, he too practices what they preached.
“I think it was just the way we were brought up by Mum and Dad; Mum was just one of the best people you’d ever want to meet and my dad was exactly the same,” he said.
“It was just bred in us; the footy club was our second home and, from that day on, the whole family have been so entrenched in the Tat footy club.
“There’s nowhere else, it’s just a magnificent place to be around. The people over there are just magnificent.”
You’d be hard-pressed to find a better club man than JR, or any quite as decorated, given he’s been involved in seven premierships at Tatura.
He shot up through the ranks, progressing from thirds to seconds to firsts.
After his playing days, John coached on three occasions in 1986, 1987 and 1990 as well as assisting and selecting for five separate coaches at the club during his tenure to add to his duties as a trainer.
His late wife, Nola, was the club secretary for years and the first woman on the Goulburn Valley League board.
She was a gun netballer, too.
But while John and Nola were fierce sportspeople in their own right, their son Travis went on to carve a reputation as one of the most prolific players the league had witnessed.
In close to 300 games, Travis kicked almost 900 goals in Bulldogs’ blue.
He played in six grand finals and was a premiership captain and Team of the Century member at Tatura, while also coaching the GVL interleague side to number one on the Victoria Country Championship leaderboard.
“We’ve got one sort of unique thing,” John said.
“I can only come up with three fathers and sons that have ever coached the same club: Brad Campbell and Des Campbell at Tonny, Dick O’Bree and Paul O’Bree at Euroa and Travis and myself at Tat.”
As for John’s daughter Karlie, her netball reputation speaks for itself.
She played well clear of 300 GVL games for Tatura and Echuca and was an interleague representative, while her husband, Garry Stevens, played a handful of games for Sydney in the AFL.
Garry was the last Morrish medallist in the 1991 AFL under-19 competition and went on to play in five grand finals at Tatura, winning four club best-and-fairest awards as well as a Team of the Century nod to name but a few of his accolades.
Already, with John, Nola, Travis, Karlie and Garry, you’re looking at a four-figure game tally for Tatura.
Add in John’s brother Kevin, and there are another 300-plus games.
Count his wife Lorraine and their children and grandchildren and it easily doubles that.
Kath and Eileen, John’s sisters, played countless games for Tatura and so did their kids, and the same can be said for his other brothers Tony, Gavin and Peter “Bugs” Ryan.
But the million-dollar question is, who is the most famous one?
“Without a doubt, me,” John said with a cheeky chuckle.
In the Goulburn Valley, at least, John might be right.
But in a few years, Australia might know a little more about a couple of Ryans currently making waves in the AFL world.
Tony’s grandsons Jakob and Bodie Ryan were drafted by Collingwood and Hawthorn respectively in 2022 and 2023, furthering the family name at the game’s top level.
Closer to home, Chris Ryan is still running the ball despite it being a tough old year on the track for the Bulldogs.
However, while times are hard on the football front in 2024, John remembers the golden years at Tatura as ones he’ll never forget.
“Those premiership years; you go back as far as players like Johnny Greenwood who went into the hall of fame, he was just a super player,” he said.
“But I think the biggest thing is the friends we’ve made over the years as in the whole family.
“The people and the imports we’ve brought into the club and, being a small club, it’s been a very successful club for a small club. It’s an amazing environment.”
One man who copped the full brunt of Tatura’s club environment was 1995 Morrison medallist Ty Esler.
Not long finished with his Richmond career, Esler landed in the Bulldogs’ lap.
And to say he got off to a less-than-spectacular start would be a severe understatement.
“When he first started, we thought he’s not doing the right thing here, he’s probably one of the best beer drinkers I’d ever seen,’’ John said.
“We went and paid him one night after a home game and we gave him his pay. He opened it up and it was monopoly money.
“He started laughing and said ‘what’s this?’ and we said, well, when you play real footy we’ll give you real money.
“He actually went on and won the league medal that year.”
Through good times and bad, John — like many of his kin — has stuck by Tatura Football Netball Club.
But why?
For him, it’s not only about a life lived, but a legacy left to be continued.
On the footy field, netball court, canteen or physio room, whether it’s for 60 years or 60 minutes, you can bet a Ryan is at the coalface doing dogged work for the Bulldogs.
“I’ve stuck around just because of the enjoyment of the club and then you’ve got your own kids coming through,” John said.
“To watch my son and daughter play at the highest level and be very good players at it ... at one stage Trav was a bit of a chance to be drafted at Hawthorn, so there was a bit of excitement there.
“He’s had very good career as Karlie’s had with the netball.
“Without a shadow of a doubt, I think one of the greatest things that has come into footy is the netball component of it.
“The old saying, happy wife happy life, and to see netball being incorporated with the footy now, I think it’s great for country football.”