Football South Australia is saddened to hear of the passing of Adelaide City legend and Football SA Hall of Fame inductee, Charlie Di Bartolo.
Charlie contributed hugely to the game in SA as a player, a coach and a Life Member of the SASF and Adelaide City SC.
He represented Australia as a player and played for South Australia on 24 occasions between 1956 and 1963. Charlie also played for Juventus SC and was captain of the club and State for many years.
A statement on the Adelaide City Facebook page read:
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We are saddened to hear of the passing of former player Charlie Di Bartolo.
Charlie migrated to Australia from Calatabiano, Sicily in 1950 and made his senior appearance for Juventus in the winning Cup Final of 1953. Charlie was instrumental in the club’s ‘Golden Years’ in his position as right fullback. During this period Juventus claimed the League Championships in 1953, 1954, 1956, 1957, 1958, and 1959.
Charlie retired from playing in 1966, 13 years after his senior debut. Within those 13 years, he played alongside (and formed many special relationships) with players including Johnny Chiappin, Chic Caudo, Jack Mather, Max Lucchesi, Fulvio Pagani, Johnny Moriarty, and Nilo Rusalen. His entire senior career was spent at Juventus, where he amassed 600 games. He also represented Australia and South Australia on numerous occasions, and captained both Juventus and the State team.
His talent and renown was widely recognised, and consequently was lured by opposition clubs: “At the end of 1954, I had a visit from Lion, asking if I would come and play for them” he recalls. “I said I wasn’t interested. Then they opened a bag and took out 400 pounds in cash and put it right in front of me, 400 pounds! That was a lot of money in 1954! I gazed at it one more time, looked up, and said no thank you.”
Charlie was inducted into the SA Soccer Hall of Fame in 2003 as a member of meritorious performance.
Vale Charlie.
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The football community extends its condolences to the Di Bartolo family at this time.
