Physical description

AGOS INFO, Bendigo. Australian Gallery of Sport. Information Pamphlet No. 1 April 1987. Photo of cup awarded to the Sanhurst Football Club for their victory over Bendigo Football Club, 4th July 1883. (Purchased 1987). Extract from Bendigo Advertiser, 4th July 1883 advertising Match between Sandhurst and Bendigo. Admission - Sixpence. Members of Sanhurst & Bendigo Football Clubs and BUCC admitted free on production of tickets. Extract of Bendigo Advertiser, 5th July 1883, FOOTBALL Sandhurst v. Bendigo. (remainder of print too small to read. Sandhurst. Bendigo July 4th 1883 The match played between Sandhurst and Bendigo provides a rare insight into the Australian game at a crucial stage of its development.. . Trophy presented by local jeweler, Mr Joseph Moody. .. Football was relatively weaker in Bendigo than in the comparable city of Ballarat. This can be explained by the high migrant proportion of the Bendigo population, its economic difficulties in the 1880s and by its distance from Melbourne. .. Football overtook cricket by the end of the decade as the most popular sport. .. A regular Saturday competition was played, with matches also played on Wednesdays. These matches were a legacy of the earliest ''scratch'' matches, suggesting a relatively strong union movement which had won concessions for weekend work. Matches started at 3pm. ..The best player on the ground was a contractor and the captain an accountant. .. Transition. The predominance of the ''little mark'' the participation of sometimes frightened junior teams against adults and the division of the game into halves rather than quarters represents an era that has disappeared. Complaints of rough play, poor losers, the problems posed by children. .. An issue, was seen as a blight on the game in 1883. The greatest offender, alleged by ''Drop-Kick'' in The Bendigo Advertiser, was Sheldon of Sandhurst, an ancestor of current day player Ken Sheldon of St Kilda. .. Fundamental issue about the place of sport in society. .. The reason for this is that the Bendigo club was in dispute with the Bendgio Union Cricket Club over control of the Back Creek Ground. If they had been refused the ground, as it was feared, then the whole association would have been forced to disband. Only last minute negotiations resolved the dispute. .. Reflects the values of society, .. Broader conflicts about power and the control of resources within that society. 2000 turned out. The crowd cheered lustily and the players exhibited similar excitement and were urged on by their captains to play up and kick the ball. In the eventual Sanhurst victory, amongst the best players was Edward Cordner, a forerunner of the renowned Cordner family of the Melbourne Football Clubs. Shane Cahill. Sources: Fahey, James C. Wealth and Social Mobility In Bendigo and North Central Victoria, 1868-1891. Mackay, G. The Annals of Bendigo 1868-1891 (Bendigo 1914). Mackay, G. Bendigo The Golden City of the South (Bendigo 1893) Mackay, G. The History of Bendigo (Melbourne 1891). Sandercock, L.. And Turner, I. Up Where Cazaly? The Great Australian Game (St Albans Herts. 1981) Sanhurst Districts' Directory for 1875-6 (Sandhurst 1875) Wise's Victoria Post Office Directory 1884-5 (Melbourne 1886). Australian Gallery Of Sport at the MCG, cnr Joliment St. & Joliment Trc. East Melbourne, Phone 654 8922.