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Ryan Barthelson’s football journey started at a watering hole out west.
“I was born in Australia and was 10 years old when our family moved to B.C.,” the Western Mustangs linebacker and special teams standout said. “I never played high school football. I was into hockey and some soccer. Then, my dad was at a bar and that’s where he met Chad Henderson, a local football coach.”
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Henderson, part of the Langley Rams junior pigskin powerhouse, told Ryan’s father to forget about soccer. Bring him and his two younger brothers out to test the gridiron.
While Ryan tries to help Western beat Queen’s in the Homecoming game Saturday (1 p.m.) at Alumni Stadium, the Barthelson clan will be rooting from as far away from London as you can possibly get. They have returned to the Land Down Under and will tune in at what will be, for them, Sunday morning.
“My family full-on moved back to Australia last year,” Ryan said. “It’s just me out here now. I’m the last one with a Canadian accent. My parents still have the Australian one and my brothers are slowly getting it back. My brothers are playing Aussie rules football now. It’s the craziest sport that’s a mixture of about 20 different ones. It’s wicked.”
Barthelson’s route to Western is unique, too.
He played for Simon Fraser University until the NCAA Div. II program folded in 2022. The Mustangs picked up him and defensive back Antonio Cusati last year.
“After that debacle, it was like, ‘Where are we going to play?’,” Barthelson recalled. “We had some great experiences there. We would go to Texas and play in front of 15,000 fans with the marching bands and everything. It was full-on.”
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He wants to finish up strong with Western. At six-foot, 179 pounds, he is slight for a linebacker but brings a special set of skills.
“He has been a playmaker,” Mustangs head coach Greg Marshall said. “He’s an athlete. He makes plays, hustles and is a good physical talent. He’s a really good pickup for us and we expect him to have a bigger role on our defence.”
He plans on visiting family back in Australia after the season in January. The dream is to show up there as a Vanier Cup champion.
“I love the beach,” he said. “We live 20 minutes north of Brisbane and two minutes from Surfers Paradise, one of the best surf beaches there is. It’s beautiful. I miss that.”
For now, he wants Western to start riding a winning wave again. The Mustangs were sunk in a 43-28 loss two weeks ago by Wilfrid Laurier.
“It was a slap in the face,” Barthelson said. “We can use that as a good thing and come back hungrier.
“This will be a good week to get our feet back going and hopefully trend in the right direction.”
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