East Devonport(Tasmania) football supporters still talk of the goal that was kicked at the Girdlestone Park ground in 1974.Local legend Graeme “Gypsy” Lee, who played with St Kilda, and was captain coach of the East Devonport Swans at the time, still maintains  it was one of the biggest one-off kicks he ever saw."We recruited a ruckman from Essendon by the name of Len Halley and I can clearly remember one day he kicked a goal at the sea end from where the interchange gate is these days," he said. Taking a mark on the wing of a not small oval, Halley drilled a torpedo through the goals at post height and it ended up in a nearby paddock. Halley had arrived at Girdlestone Park after  playing forty eight games with Essendon. Known as “chickenman” because of the chicken farm his parents owned, he was as far removed from his nickname as you could possibly get. The six foot four ruckman/defender had left the Bombers after being one of several, including John Cassin, Ken Roberts, Alan Noonan, and Ray Smith, to leave the club after disagreements with coach Des Tuddenham. Denied a clearance to a persistent Collingwood, it was the Pies who set up a meeting for Halley with the president of the East Devonport Football Club, and it resulted in Len becoming a fly in fly out footballer for the 1974 season. Len Halley was a product of the Healesville juniors, and he showed enough ability playing in the Yarra Valley Boys Club competition to attract the attention of the Essendon Football Club. Official Alan Hird, an inspector with the Education Department, saw the young Halley playing one day, and organized a trial with the Bombers. In 1967 he was best and fairest in the thirds, following that up with a similar award in the seconds in 1968, a year in which he was also a member of the seconds premiership team. A booming kick, dependable mark, and possessing good spring, Halley was a strong man, developed from working on the farm with cattle and swimming. Halfway through the 1969 season he made his league debut as a reserve against St Kilda. At centre half forward, opposed to Barry Lawrence after half time, he kicked a goal with his first kick at the top level. Playing eleven games over the rest of the season, Halley received a setback early in the 1970 season, when a calf injury put him out after a couple of appearances. Recurrences were to dog him throughout that year, and the arrival of Graham Moss the following season sent him into a back pocket. The arrangements for the Tasmanian venture weren’t greeted with a lot of delight by his future wife, Judy, and it was a meeting at Essendon Football Club with Alan McConnell, after just one year playing in the Apple Isle, that led to an introduction to West Perth’s Kevin Bradley. “Kevin and West Perth couldn’t do enough for us,” he said, “They organised our honeymoon, and were tremendous.” Meanwhile, East Devonport were just as keen on keeping the ruckman, with tempting financial inducements accompanied by a coaching position. The West won out, however, and it turned out to be a wise decision.Cellar dwellers the previous year, the Cardinals staged a last to first reversal under new coach Graeme Campbell and capped it with a record breaking victory over South Fremantle in the grand final. “It was a sensational season,” Len said. “The people there were great, they really looked after me well.” The fiery Halley made acquaintances with Swan Districts big man Gary Sidebottom, and they enjoyed many clashes. “I recall the day at Leederville Oval that Sidey had an altercation with one of our players, and I raced to the scene, but not as quickly as the much smaller Graham Heal, who proceeded to send the Swans ruckman over the fence.”“ I missed out on that one.”  Halley enjoyed the on field company of Bill Dempsey. “Bill was great to play with,” he said. “He would take the ruck at the start of the game, then when he’d had enough call me in, and he’d become a damaging backman or forward.” It was a personal matter that sent him back to Victoria. “Judy’s folks were going through a tough time, and she wanted to be over there for them,” he said. Len played with Brunswick in the Victorian Football Association that year, but was back at West Perth in 1978. “It was an anti climax after 1975,” he recalled. “Percy Johnson was coach, and he and I never saw eye to eye.” Midway through the season, when Johnson dropped Halley to the reserves, Claremont coach Graham Moss contacted the disgruntled Victorian, asking him to transfer to the Tigers. But Len preferred a return home, and in 1979 was appointed captain coach of Tatura, where he stayed for two seasons, before taking on the same role at Benalla. By now the Halleys numbered four, so Len made a life decision. A jack of all trades during his football days, he went to Mayfield Medical College as a mature age student and became an operating theatre technician. He has since been employed at the Osborne Hospital for twenty seven years. In 1983, at the age of thirty two, he played with Warrandyte for just the one season, a knee injury forcing him out early the following year, and had the honour of later being named in the club’s team of the eighties. Halley’s swan song was a year as captain coach of Montmorency in the Diamond Valley League. These days he has two replacement knees, enjoys swimming, and follows the Bombers. His son, Jarrad, played with Northern Knights under eighteens, but he reckons the competitive sportsperson of the family is daughter Alana, who plays netball like her Dad played football. A trip to Las Vegas is high on Len and Judy’s agenda. Carlton’s John Nicholls was his toughest opponent, while he opted for Barry Davis, Bill Dempsey, Mel Whinnen, and Alan Watling as best he’d played with. Len Halley played fifty eight games with West Perth, and holds many great memories of his time in the West, particularly his first stint, and his efforts were instrumental in the 1975 premiership win. At Girdlestone Park in Tasmania, they are still arguing over how long that bloody kick was.