"For a short Time" - 2023 Starter Series Episode # 2

This episode is titled, “For a short time” – and we reflect on two stories from 2022 where a person entered the lives of each of our guests for just a short period yet made a momentous impact.

Firstly, there’s Simon White, someone who has been a successful journo in newspapers and online … for many years … all around Australia.

He spent some of this journey in South Australia, working as the racing writer for the Adelaide Advertiser, and it was during his time there he got to meet … and become friends with, a particularly colourful horse racing identity.

Following a suggestion from an editor at the paper and since it was the 25th anniversary of the “Fine Cotton” affair … the infamous horse substitution ring-in, at Eagle Farm Racecourse in Queensland, Simon started to look for one of the key characters in this ‘affair’, Hayden Haitana. The trainer of Fine Cotton was now living in and around the fringes of Adelaide, and leading quite a mysterious life.

This story is one of genuine connection and friendship that ends with Simon being able to do for Hayden, something that no-one else was able to in the previous 25 years … And that was to get him legally back onto a race course.

Then there’s Dean Margetts, who at 21 years of age, responded to an advertisement in the local paper … to become an umpire.

This began a speedy journey to the AFL, where he eventually umpired 377 games (and that’s after 110 league games in the WAFL), across a career spanning more than 20 seasons. He featured in 12 finals (2 Prelim’s) and is an AFL Life Member.

During his time umpiring, whilst still based in the west, he travelled well over 200 times to the east coast of Australia to umpire games. This weekly traverse across the country was just in a day’s work for a self defined footy-head who saw umpiring as ‘his sport’.

It was on one of these trips back from the east when a dramatic mid air incident occurred. If it wasn’t for a chance meeting with someone on board, his life could have changed forever. A decision made by a doctor on board that flight … someone who was in his life for just a short moment in time … probably saved his life.