BCAE Football Club
Tales Of Old
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"Nothing says 'new sport' like the time some blokes started to dismantle the goal while the we were playing a match. Can’t recall who we were playing but it must’ve been very late in the season." Trish Shanahan. - BCAE Ladies team.
Extreme commitment
When the Bendigo Amateur Soccer League decided it was time to enter a team in the Melbourne Provisional League I felt very privileged to be asked to be part of the program. I had played in a number of very successful Bendigo representative teams over the years and was rather chuffed that the League selection committee thought I was capable enough to take on the role of both coach and playing captain.
But I soon realised how much of my time playing recreational football was going to take up. I travelled 60miles each day to East Loddon P12 School as a teacher which meant I was home late but then had to turn around and go to the training ground 3 times a week to take training for College and Bendigo teams.
Every second weekend we would travel in a cavalcade of vehicles to a suburb in Melbourne to play away games. The furtherest away games were to eastern bayside suburbs meaning we had to travel around the CBD, adding 30-60mins to the already long trip.
One of my most lingering memories was when the League paid for both teams (firsts and reserves) to travel in the one bus with me as the driver - I had a bus licence. Our game was at Rosebud. Getting up at 5.30 to pick up the bus was bad enough but then having to drive to 4 different pickup points around Bendigo was annoying. A number of players were late. The 3hrs trip to Rosebud and then to play part of the reserves match (due to injuries) before playing a full 90mins game at full tilt was very tiring. Everyone had after match-drinks except the driver. A long 3hr drive home to drop players off at 4 different Bendigo points before dropping off the bus and getting home at 10.30pm.
The next day (Sunday game) for College was at Deniliquin - 2 hours driving. I picked up the same bus up at 7am, picked up College players at 3 different locations in Bendigo and then drove on for the games - reserves and firsts. Filling in again due to an absence of players I played a first half for reserves and then a full game for the firsts. No celebratory drinks for the driver again. Eventually, after a long slow 2hrs driving a bus full of testosterone filled individuals (and wives/partners) we arrived back in Bendigo, getting home at 8pm. Buggered. 60miles to work the next morning.
Two weeks later I drove my car towards Sunbury for our Provisional League match. On board I had my two little kids and Heather, my best supporter who followed me everywhere. The car broke down in the middle of nowhere with a petrol blockage. It took almost 4 hours for the RACV to arrive and obviously too late for me to drive on to the ground to play. The kids drove us mad - cooped up for 4 hours. We eventually arrived back home somewhat annoyed at our bad luck and a waste of a day.
At the next training session on the Tuesday the League president met me at the ground. “If you don’t want to make the effort to come play could you please at least show us some courtesy and let us know so that we can make other plans” he exclaimed. I told him to go fook himself, and walked away and never played provisional league again.
Glory run
His runs out of the back line and down the touch line were legendary. Every week he would hone his attacking skills with at least one ball busting deep probing run - something that opposition teams dreaded. Max Beever was the epitomy of an attacking full back. We can witness this skill in players in the modern era but Max would like you to believe that it all eminated from what he did all those years ago. The process was simple. Max would either win the ball or find a wayward opposition pass and then push the ball forward away from his own goal mouth, following it at a very fast pace (or at least at a faster pace than the opposition forwards or mid fielders could run). Running at high speed with the ball at his feet beside the touch line meant not only being egged on by the spectators but the run would highlight to everyone watching how nuanced Max’s football mind was - the further away from anyone you were, the further opposition players would have to run to catch you. And so it went. People would scream in delight watching “Twinkle Toes” on each foray. But then, sadly, every time Max got into the opposition half, there would be a shout - “pass the ball, Max!!” Being the team player he was, Max would always oblige, and another ball busting run would come to an end. Roche or Nowak would then take the ball, make that final incisive pass and bang - a goal would be duly scored - usually by gun forward Chris Ricketts. And the press would go mad!! What a glorious goal!!! Best play in the game!! No mention of Max nor his amazing run down the line!! No mention of the man with the “twinkle toes!” And so Max would stroll quietly back to his position in the back corner pocket and reflect on his vital play that he never, ever got recognised for. He still, to this very day, vividly re-experiences every friggen deep-probing run down the wing he ever made. And there were lots of them!! He will willingly tell you all about each individual one, again and again, even if no-one recollects any of them!!
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Warts and all
Players normally have a hot shower after a match. Its the only way to warm up because driving home wet and muddy can be most uncomfortable. The floors in dressing room communal showers were freezing cold concrete but very few of us wore flip flops.
I noticed a couple of warts growing on the sole of my right foot and went to see the doctor. They were sore when I played. He diagnosed plantar warts (papiloma virus) and told me to stop playing for a while - something which I did not want to do. I played through the pain for a couple of games but the pain got too much. I went back to him and he injected a pain killer into each wart which hurt something awful. The pain subsided for only a day and then came back. I returned to the doc and he tried to freeze them out unsuccessfully with dry ice. I sought specialist advice and was eventually booked into hospital to get them cut out.
A week after my operation the Bendigo Representative side was playing in the State Amateur Football Championships. I was the captain and was not going to miss the tournament for anything in the world. I taped up my foot, took a pain killer and don’t remember much of the first half. When I came into the dressing room at half time I took my boot off and poured the blood out. The look on all the player’s faces was priceless. They refused to allow me to play the second half.
It took a few weeks to recover because every scab that formed was knocked off each time I played. The scars still remain.
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Brevity
The Bendigo Football League hosted a radio show every Saturday. The role of the program host was to lead as lively a discussion as possible by inviting a number of players in to the microphone to chat about up-coming matches, past performances and players to watch out for. The banter usually lasted 10 minutes (or more if there was time). The program was always very popular, made especially so by the hugely charismatic host.
Mick Roche, the host, took sick at the last minute one day and asked Rolly Sowerby to take charge. Now Rolly was a man of few words so he asked Siggy to be the program’s special guest. Rolly admitted later that he turned up to the program with little preparation and only a list of teams/games playing that week. Siggy was given 20 mins warning to get to the studio and “perform".
Rolly started the progam with “Hi, I’m Rolly. Here's Siggy. Welcome. What do you reckon Siggy - who’s going to win this week? College?” Siggy’s response was just as brief. “Yea, I think College should win this week against Colts because they have more skilful players.” Rolly then concluded “Thank’s Siggy for your insight. There are other matches but the College/Colts match is the only one that counts. So lets wrap it all up for this week. Thank you all for listening!!”
The silence that followed was deafening. A record was well and truely beaten that day and Rolly’s shock jock potential was never tested again.
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Head on the ball
A little known, and quite useless fact (known only to Mick himself), was Michael Roche's last goal for College just happened to be a header from a pin point cross by Siggy Nowak against Kyneton in the Reserves played at Edwards Road. Reserves? Why were these two skilled players playing in the reserves you ask?
There is some conjecture as to the year this all happened and why Mick was filling in in the reserves along with Siggy but it is believed that Mick was occasionally roped in to make up the numbers due to the shortage of reserves players. If you were the coach and saw Mick on the sidelines you too would quickly rope in the player considered to have been the best mid fielder seen in the Bendigo league for many years.
Siggy, on the other hand, may have just returned from a long tortuous 7 months tour travelling around Europe with his family. The fact that College won comfortably that day really pissed the Kyneton boys off. They claimed unfairness (like they did all the time about any little anomalies they saw) because “everyone" knew that Mick and Siggy had always played in the College 1sts team (who incidentally lost later that day).
Two further interesting facts were that any goals that Mick Roche claimed he scored with his head were always by sheer accident. And the last (and only) goal Mick Roche ever scored for the Bendigo Representative side was with a header - made more ironic by the fact that he was quite a short arse.
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Foul throw
Peter Hill “the mouth" from Kyneton used dirty tactics every game he played - his ploy was tight marking and never allowing key opposition players to settle. He was loud and complained ALL the time. It drove everyone mad including his own team mates.
Now I have never been sent off in all my long football career - ever - except once.
The ball went out of play and Hall, as was his way, immediately claimed it was Kyneton’s throw. But the referee, Fotis Pikoulas, said it was ours. I grabbed the ball and threw it quickly in to play deliberately aiming at “Mr Big Mouth" who had his the back to me as he was remonstrating with the ref!! It was a king hit on the back of his head. The arsehole went down like a bag of spuds, much to my glee. But the bloody ref immedicately sent me off for "undue rough play". Hall could not stop laughing. I still remember his nasty grin.
I fronted the tribunal on the Tuesday expecting a 3 week suspension. Bob Seviour was there to be my character witness as was, believe it or not, Merv Samuel, the captain of Kyneton, who thought my sending off was unfair. Ted Ellinghouse (high profile Bendigo barrister) was one of the tribunal adjudicators. He asked Fotis if my throw-in was legal. Fotis smiled and said it was indeed legal and, on reflection, that player Hall had deliberately gotten in the way!! Needless to say I got off!! No need for character witness pleadings by Bob or Merv. We went to the local pub afterwards and celebrated. My body has always been an "alcohol free zone" but that night was one of the only times that I shouted anyone a drink.
Now Fotis Pikolas ran the best fish and chip shop in Bendigo. He still does. We went there often. My kids found lollies inside the wrapping every time we bought fish and chips. Fotis and I became good friends. Every time I saw him he would ask me: “show me how you throw the ball in."
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Skin in the game
It was one of the most important games of the 1981 season - against Colts - but when Stewart counted our numbers we were one player short - and there was no shirts!! We had stupidly entrusted Sandy to wash the kit the game before and he was always late. Referee Spider Webb (Webbie) popped his head in and warned he was going to book the whole team for not having shirts just as Sandy came racing into the changing room - right on 3pm kick off time.
We quickly threw on our shirts and raced outside having to sidestep Sandy’s dog Chester, who had just dropped a big shit on the now even slipperier path out. The stink was really really bad. Spider yelled at us to hurry up so we had no time to stop and listen to Mick's much anticipated pre match strategy outline. We ran on to the field all laughing and went on to eventually win late in the game with a wonderful goal scored by Michael Moore.
The win enabled us to top the League and win the Championship Cup (to add to our Knock Out Cup and 5-A-Side-Indoor trophy haul that year).
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One eyed
Everyone knew Lebbink was as blind as a bat. Albert's motto was “if it moved, kick it!! If it did’nt, kick it anyway!” The day he turned up with expensive contact lenses would go down in history. He could finally see the ball!!
Fast forward to the second half of a wet boggy match against Eaglehawk at home. The corner kick came sailing in and Albert won the header but missed the goal. Next second there was a blood curling scream. “Stop!!! My right contact lens is gone!! Like all good refs Webbie quickly took control, halted the game, organised all players (and spectators) into a long conga line and then marched the 30 or so people slowly forward towards the penalty box all peering down into the mud. The local constabulary happened to be passing by and they came over to see what the hell was going on. They even joined the line but we found nothing. We eventually continued the game which we won by one goal. Albert played a blinder as usual despite having only one “eye.” At the end of the game he went back over to search the penalty spot mud once more and to our surprise he found his contact lens in less than a minute.
Needless to say Albert went on to play some great games from then on. So much better when you can actually see not just the opposing players and fellow players, but the ball as well!!
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A dog’s life
Our dog attended every BCAE home match. Most people will remember throwing a ball or stick and that rapid slimey retrieval. Unlike us humans, Sondi never got sick of the fetch game.
I do remember coming home after one game and sitting down to relax with a drink before starting to think about making dinner. As is our habit we first put the dog food out and called her name. Some time later we both realised our dog was not there. We called out and started to worry. She loved her food. Then, after a bit of deduction, stark realisation that we had left our dog at the ground. Given that some hours had passed Sondi would probably have tried to walk home. We imagined our dog would be lost forever!!
I remember jumping into the car and driving at breakneck speed. It was drizzling rain but thankfully we could just make out our dog sitting patiently beside the goal waiting for us asking “where the bloody hell have you been?". Total relief. Never again!!!
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