Barry Chittleborough can boast the unique record of playing in a grand final in each of his four years of league football.  Recruited from Brookton, the third generation farmer led the Perth ruck in three consecutive premierships in 1966, 7, and 8, before a year's break due to farming commitments, but returned to play in the 1970 grand final.  The six foot four and a half Chittleborough was a rover at Northam High before a growth spurt at fifteen added over a half a foot to his height, resulting in the midfielder becoming a full back, before settling into a rucking role with Brookton seniors, coached by brother Russell. It was former Perth player and Pingelly coach Reg Cribb who instigated an approach from the Demons to the young Chittleborough.

“I went to Lathlain in 1965 without any training and ran around in a couple of scratch matches,” Barry recalled. “I hadn't done anywhere near enough work, no one seemed impressed, so I went back to the farm.”

“In 1966, I gave it another crack, this time a bit more prepared,” he continued. “Mal Atwell had just taken over, and I was immediately impressed with his approach. He was a man's man, said it like it was, his style resounded well with a boy from the bush.”

A typical Atwell admonishment came one day after Chittleborough had tired in the late stages of a tough match. “You ain't fit, son, you need to work on that,”was the greeting from the coach. “I wore that,” the ruckman said. “Little did he know that I'd been catching lambs for tailing from dawn to dusk the previous day. But that wasn't an isolated occurrence for a bloke from the bush.”Playing in the first game of the season, against South Fremantle, Chittleborough didn't take long to cement himself in the Perth side, quickly building a rapour with Paddy Astone and Barry Cable, to form a matchwinning onball brigade. An outstanding first year was rewarded with a premiership, and Barry looked forward to the 1967 season. The high leaping, long kicking Chittleborough complimented his aerial work with the use of deft handball, and looked set for a successful career.

“Looking back, I think I lost the plot a bit in 67,” he commented. “I felt the newspapers were having a bit of a crack at us after our flag, and I was hell bent on proving them wrong. The result was that I ran around like a kangaroo dog trying to prove myself.” But the proof of Perth's class was provided when they completed a hat trick of flags, as the Perth stars of the sixties asserted themselves on Western Australian football. Players like Cable, Brehaut, Page, Shields, Dalton, Mills, Millson, and Astone emerged on the scene. The work of Chittleborough in the ruck complimented the smaller brigade of the Demons, but the presence of John McIntosh, Scott, Litterick, Casserley, Slater, Dempsey, Farmer, and Boyanich in the ranks of ruckmen plying their trade in the WANFL hindered his chances of recognition at State level.

The Perth club was shattered when Chittleborough opted to stay on the farm in 1969.

“ There was a lot of pressure on my father at the time, and I was needed to help out,” he said. After spending the year coaching and playing at Brookton, Chittleborough was back at Perth in 1970, when his form was good enough to gain selection in the State squad, only to be left out of the final list. After a disappointing loss in the grand final to South Fremantle, Barry pulled the pin on league football at the age of twenty five. Spending two more years with Brookton, Chittleborough retired in 1972, only to make a surprise comeback eleven years later. “I felt like playing again,” was the rationale, and he played in the ruck and at full back for four years, finally calling it quits at forty three.

These days Barry Chittleborough is a busy man, with two businesses and an interest in the farm keeping him well and truly occupied. He is Executive Chairman of Black Earth Resources Limited.Understanding the needs of farmers both in SE Asia and Australia, Barry has achieved profitable, sustainable, organic farming practices, creating a robust low cost mechanised process to handle large volume, varied waste streams. This process produces high quality organic products with applications in agriculture horticulture and aquaculture. Business travel with Black Earth to Indonesia and the Philippines takes up much of his time, but he manages to keep in touch with some old team mates, including good mate Paddy Astone.

He regards East Perth's Eddie Pitter as toughest to beat, “great leaper, clean tapper,”along, of course, with “Polly” Farmer and Bill Dempsey, and had no hesitation in naming Barry Cable as best he'd played with. He also paid tribute to another country boy, Tommy Davis. “Tom was a great help to me when I first arrived at Lathlain. He also taught me a lot about the art of ruckwork..”

Barry Chittleborough was a fine ruckman for Perth in the sixties, and a vital cog in three premierships. Unfortunate not to have been accorded State honours, he was nevertheless one of the leading big men of his time in the WANFL.