Film - Malcolm McKinnon, 'Rekindled Rivalry', 2007

It’s all right; the time has finally arrived for Hepburn and Daylesford to go head to head. With both sides once again back in the same footy league, locals can’t wait for the big clash.

Oh well, they don’t have a lot going for them down there in Hepburn. They’re always a poor man’s version of Daylesford but we should be right….Come on there...

Been around the Club, I suppose, from when I was…I don’t know…from when they could carry me to the ground. I’ve been connected with Hepburn ever since, and I don’t know, the rivalry was there before my time, it was always…I think every town that is close has the rivalry in the footy sides. When they put the sewage line down through Hepburn, well there were people in Daylesford said “Oh great, we been waiting years to shit on Hepburn”. Well I suppose if you want to call that rivalry.

I think it’s always been there. Even when I was at Daylesford I must admit that I poached some Hepburn players, Hepburn Football Club’s poached Daylesford players. That tends to set a bit of rivalry off the field in a sense that while there having a beer together they’re actually sledging each other, an it’s got to a stage where the rivalry’s rebuilt but in a stronger situation because of ,uh, playing in the same league and the closeness of the towns.

The only thing that probably eats at me a little bit about Hepburn is I don’t think they give our footy club enough respect, you know. A few things in the paper this week they’ve said and you just see that there’s not much respect there and it does eat at you a little bit, but I’ve go no doubt, with my boys, the only way you’re goin’ ta get respect off a club like that is to have the win on the board Saturday afternoon. So that’s what we’re setting out to do.

Player game calls.

Don’t want Winda’s controlin…kick behind play…James Newton was paddling here, get back with him.

…you have to hit the target when you come back in the middle…the ball in the middle of the ground went sideways again to no one really aright…50 meter penalty…

Player game calls

You must do the job…you must do the job…OK…I don’t want to see you ten metres off the contest…we must hit it hard…

Siren

Cheers, whistles…sing…Red white and blue…should old acquaintance be forgot.

Film - Malcolm McKinnon, 'The Goal Umpire's Assistant', 2007, State Library Victoria

Arthur was interested in footy all his life and decided to take up Goal Umpiring. Enjoyed, I think, getting yelled at and all that stuff.

We acquired this little pup, a little brown curly retriever, which is a breed of dog mainly used for duck shooting and all that sort of stuff. An’ they’re renowned for carrying things in their mouth and that’s their biggest ambition to carry things around, and ah, she started to go to the football with Arthur and she decided she’d become a working member too, and um, she used to… because we lived quite close to the football ground she knew when there was football on and she was always very excited until he made a move and um, she would carry the flags over too the ground an’ when the captains and what-have-you went out to the centre to throw the coin up she would go, as soon as the coin had been thrown and the winning Captain pointed she would just automatically pick up the flags and race down to that end.

She got tripped over a few times but she would generally just sit in front of the car and just wait and wait and wait and then at half time she would head off and they’d both go and have a drink some where and she’d repeat the project and just carry the flags back to the other end that’s about there was to it, but she was very keen on that little job. But she became, like, quite an icon, everyone knew her. She died and so that was the end of her.

She is buried in the football ground, or under a pine tree in the football ground, not in the middle of the ground, but she is buried under a pine tree. You don’t really see much of dogs doing the right thing at the football, they’re usually knocking off pies or doing something else or chasing footballers, annoying them. She didn’t do that sort of stuff, she was quite a lady.

Film - Malcolm McKinnon, 'Fiercely Independent', 2007, State Library Victoria

I was fifteen when I started playing for Lindenow South an’ have played with both teams…played for Lindenow, played with Lindenow South an’ it seemed a shame that the people in the towns dislike each other so much, as far as the Football goes. But it stems back to years and years ago, Lindenow were the rich an’ the mighty sort of thing an’ they decided they wanted to amalgamate with our Club an’ we didn’t want to an’ they’ve been tryin’ now for about twenty odd years, tryin’ to get us together but never the twain should meet, sort of thing.

They’ve tried everything…they tried there a few years back they put a dummy President and Sec’etary in an’ took our coach an’ several of our players. But there’s one thing they couldn’t take an’ never will take from the “Swampies” an’ that’s the Swamp Hawks spirit. They’ll never get it.

I don’t know whether there’s really that much rivalry, I guess we perhaps don’t like ‘em much. It’s been just the way it is, like…even my grandma, she used to follow the footy, she actually died at the footy, like she took a bit of heart attack, she was barracking for her grandson playing and she was real keen, very keen. We had some good supporters over the years and especially some of the ladies with their bloody umbrellas, their pointy umbrellas…good weapons.

It’s the hub of the town. See, we’ve got Netball, which is connected with Football an’ we’ve got Tennis, Cricket, all going on, but if your Football Club goes all those other Clubs will just die.

We loose our Football team, we loose our identity…no Lindenow South and that’s how the cookie crumbles.

Film - Malcolm McKinnon, 'The Big Brawl of '36', 2007, State Library Victoria

My first game in 1936 we had to go to Benambra and apparently there were very, very hard feelings between Swifts Creek and Benambra. It came over from the Grand Final the year before, which Swifts Creek won. I came here in September ’35 and they’re still celebrating their win against Benambra and apparently Benambra weren’t happy about it. So, I thought next year, first game next year was out at Benambra and it was sort of an evening up job…

Got to nearly half time an’ developed into a general brawl. I was playing on the wing and I was lucky, my opponent he wasn’t too keen to go in and neither was I, so we looked on. And I thought “By Jesus, they play fair dinkum over ‘ere”. I think there were over ten blokes rubbed out and I think the umpire was alto rubbed out and scrubbed. He happened to be a local bloke here, an’ he’s a great mate of mine but I’d say is the worst umpire I ever seen in my life. He completely lost control of the game altogether. One bloke got rubbed out for life, he was reported for kicking the umpire, somebody kicked the umpire and quite candidly I think he needed kicking meself. And it was in the days of the Depression and there’s a lot of Sustenance workers, Susso’s we used to call ‘em, working on the roads and that’s probably why the standard of football was very good because we had a lot of people came out into the country, poor fellows you know, that were willing to work for their keep an’ their tucker and that sort of thing…an’ they had a big Sustenance worker camp out doing up the Corryong Road and this fellow that got rubbed out for life he was one of them.

But nowadays Benambra an’ the Creek are quite good mates, we get on very well I think, don’t we?

Swifts Creek had a little Rover and apparently he had an enemy at Benambra, he was also a Rover and he said, all of a sudden there’s this bloke he’s down, see, an’ he said I was just gunna race in and slip the boot in and some dirty bugger hit me from behind.

Film - Malcolm McKinnon, 'Changing Religion', 2007, State Library Victoria

[INTERPOSING VOICES] PETER JENKINS:  I think from background-- well, the Snowy Rovers have always been very much a working-class team. A lot of the guys worked out in the bush, worked in the mills, you know, that line of work, physical hard, physical work, sort of went and played at the Snowy Rovers, whereas the bank people, the accountants and schoolteachers, all tended to come to the Orbost footy club. And it was pretty full-on rivalry.

[MEN SHOUTING]

[WHISTLE BLOWS]

EDNA TOWNS:  Friday nights, I think you would have found that Rovers went up to the top hotel and the Orbost boys went down to the bottom hotel. You probably went to one butcher if he was a member of the Rovers, or a member of the Orbost, say, you went to him.

But it was really one eyed football, wasn't it? But then once football was over, we were all friends again, because we all live in the same town, after all, don't we? And we all have to live here.

[MEN SHOUTING]

RITA BAKER: Saturdays, your friends became your enemies.

EDNA TOWNS: Yes.

RITA BAKER: And the barracking at the football, Orbost used to be down one end, and the Rovers would be at the other end of the ground, and never the twain should meet. Otherwise it was on.

[HORNS HONKING]

EDNA TOWNS: They started to talk about amalgamation. Some agreed. Some didn't. At first, I was against it, because you don't like giving up your main team. But eventually we had to, because we knew if we didn't join, we wouldn't have a team.

Mainly because young ones were going away for employment, going to college, university, and getting jobs. There was no jobs here. Everything was closing down in the town. So that's why we sort of had to join up .

PETER JENKINS: Prior to the merger, the only times both clubs had full numbers was when we were playing each other. We would go away and play advanced, and kids would end up playing thirds. Under-17s and them would play reserves. And there'd be reserves players played reserves, and then played seniors, because you really struggled. And you know, it was becoming quite embarrassing.

EDNA TOWNS: A little bit like a religion. You know, you change your religion, more or less, when you're closing down one club and going to something different. And that's how it felt. And probably Rita felt the same. You know, you're losing all those years that you were with one club.

It was hard at first. It was hard for me to go down into the Orbost sheds. But we've got over that.

[MEN SHOUTING]

-We just sort of assembled down at the club rooms on a Saturday morning, and we're given a choice of picking out our new shirt.

-T-shirt.

-T-shirt with the new emblem and that on.

[APPLAUSE]

EDNA TOWNS: We walked out arm in arm, and they took our photos, and everybody cheered us, said we'd done the right thing.  And I thought, well, you know, everything must be going to be all right.

[LAUGHTER]

PETER JENKINS: All the mates that used to play against each other are all starting to come back and actually playing together, and they're loving it. From a playing perspective, things are really positive. And I'd love to be part of the first part of success here, and I'm hoping that comes sooner rather than later.

Film - Malcolm McKinnon, 'Girls can Kick', 2007, State Library Victoria

[PEOPLE SHOUTING] DOROTHY BRIGGS:    That must've been the team, because they were all there and had their photo taken. We all worked here at the Holmes' Mill. We were weavers and all those sorts of thing.

We got together and we-- we did a bit of training. And they went up to the park and trained, just like the footballers do, and then played this team from over the big mill. My gosh, there were some big girls amongst them, of course.

[LAUGHTER]

[WHISTLE BLOWS]

[MEN SHOUTING]

The first team that played Daylesford, nobody wanted to walk out first. And I had number 9, so they turned around and said I had to go first. So they gave me number 1 and pushed me at the door to go through, yeah. Because once one went out, then the rest followed, of course.

[LAUGHTER]

I was brought up with five brothers, so you learned to kick the football. It was a lot of fun. Put it that way. A lot of fun. It was-- some of the girls had never been in a pair of shorts, and ... As you can imagine what it was like when they got out on the-- and some of them had never kicked a football, so you could imagine what that was like..

[PEOPLE SHOUTING]

The first time we played, there must've been some footballers up in Daylesford at the time. And I remember them taking up a collection. And I got half the money and June Jeffries-- I think it was June Jeffries-- got the other half, because they reckoned we were the best on the ground.

And it was surprising was in the people would go to see-- well, I think most of the men just went to see the girls in their shorts, I think, and see how they'd kick a football.

[WHISTLE BLOWS]

[PEOPLE SHOUTING]

They were all good friends. Oh, a jovial lot. When you look at that now, I can count up the ones that's not there, that's not with us anymore. It's sad, really, that there's so many of 'ems gone. But then when you look at it now and see the girls that's out kicking football on the ground, there's just as many as there is boys.

And some of the girls can kick. Over at Newland last week, there was a little tot, and she was left-footed. And she could kick that ball. Oh, I watched her and watched her. Yes, I thought she was very good.

Film - Malcolm McKinnon, 'Strange Paddocks', 2007, State Library Victoria

[SHEEP BLEATING]

BILL MALONE:  I can remember playing at Korweinguboora. We used to get dressed in the Spargo hotel. Had to wade across through the creek, which you can see down the bottom there, get our feet nice and wet. If you were up there playing fullback or full-forward, and the ball was down this end, you could not see which side had the ball.

There was a big hump in the middle of the ground, and the only way you could fathom it out was which direction the ball was travelling. And on one wing, we used to have to wade through ferns to get the ball.

There was rabbits all around the area at those times, and it was often when we were crossing the creek, there'd be rabbits running around everywhere. [LAUGHS] And well, as you can see, the ground has not changed.

[SHEEP BLEATING]

There were a lot of grounds that were in pretty ordinary condition in those days.

[MEN SHOUTING]

I remember on the Chewton football ground in the Castlemaine league, that electric light was running through the ground about the center half forward position. And often the ball would hit that, and if you were standing on the wire, you were surprised when you found yourself you had the ball.

[MEN SHOUTING]

DON DUUS: I don't know whether the Chewton fullback knew he could hit the lines, but he hit them very, very regular. And of course, the opposing teams wouldn't have a clue what was going on. And of course, if the umpire told us that we could play on if the power lines were hit, we used to play on and kick goals, much to the annoyance of the opposing team.

[MEN SHOUTING]

The Harcourt was pretty bad. It had a big creek running down one side of it. And many a player's disappeared down the creek. Kyneton was a little bit difficult. You would always walk off the Kyneton ground four to six inches taller, because the black turfy ground from here used to build up on your boots.

[MEN SHOUTING]

Trenton and Woodend weren't too bad when we played out with them. But the biggest trouble there was the snow. We played on Woodend, I think it was, at one stage on about 6 inches of snow.

And I remember one of the players, real tough, hard player, come out. He says, Duusy, I'm gonna kill you, with a smile on his face. So during the game I thought I'd get even with him.

I bent  down, picked up a handful of snow, squeezed it up hard in a ball, and let him have it behind the ear-- not knowing that it had gone to ice. It nearly knocked him out. It was great fun. He just turned around and said, will you buy me a beer afterwards? And that was the way it was.

[MEN SHOUTING]

If you meet up with some of the old players of those days, you still stop and have a talk about it. The subject is always football. You always get back to when we played. Wasn't it good when we played? Wasn't it different when we played?

Film - Malcolm McKinnon, 'Chronicling the Game', 2007, State Library Victoria

ROBIN LETTS:  I came out of the Navy towards the end of 1947 and came straight back into the office. And one of the first things I had to do was to start reporting local football. So I think I'd written my first footy report in 1947, so I-- I had to count back, but I think that might be 60 years come next year.

It never becomes boring because my wife and I go to a different game every week. Shirley gets out of the car in the freezing cold to take action shots of footballers, and I sit in the warmth, taking notes. And up to date, she hasn't complained too much. So we'll see what happens.

What we try to do is to cover it based on word and pictures and not to leave anybody out, if we can possibly help it. All the details, right down to the best players in the under-13 netballs and whatever.

[TYPING]

SHANE O'SHEA:  Robin needed a bit of a hand, so he said, do you want to cover a game? I started off in the reserves, and it wasn't long before he had me in the seniors. It's the closest I've ever got to senior football, I must admit. But it's sort of grown from there. I'm at a game each Saturday, taking photos and just doing a report on that game.

[TYPING]

We're recording the history of the leagues and associations as it happens. And it's vital that we keep presenting that and recording that and covering their achievements and promoting the sports as long as we can.

ROBIN LETTS: We've found that, particularly at times like this, when we've had practically a 10-year drought and things have been so tough, that football and its allied sports are so important that they would be the only activity in our lives that, particularly at finals times, has the ability to virtually lift up the population of one town and shift it to another, and then bring it home again. And there's nothing else in our lives quite like that.

And it's the conversation, going up the street every week. It's the thing until next Saturday, and then you start again.

If I were to retire, I know what would happen. Shirley would have me straight into the garden. And that would be a fate worse than death.

Film - Malcolm McKinnon, 'Drop Kick Eulogy', 2007, State Library Victoria

[MEN SHOUTING]

[WHISTLES BLOWING]

[CROWD CHEERING]

BOB BAKER:  I'd say it was about 1950, I started. And in those days, it was either a dropkick or a torp. And of course, the high-mark blokes always went crook if you weren't kicking a dropkick, because they'd have a lark making torpedo kicks.

The blokes who kicked good dropkicks were worth watching, but a lot of us, myself included, weren't good dropkicks. And dropkicks were a problem because the ground, the surface changed. And OK, the natural base could always get away. But all the same, every now and again, you'd go to a different ground. Like you'd go up to the sandy ground up at Jeparit and even our best fellows would kick a grounder occasionally.

[CROWD CHEERING]

JACK DUNLOP:  I loved it, actually. We were always doing it, from the time we first went to school. Because the drop punt had never been thought of when I gave it away. So we fancied it as a distance kick, on fine days. You didn't do it on a wind day.

Mainly the biggest thing with dropkicking was timing. If you didn't time it, it didn't go anywhere. But no, in later years, we had some pretty good big men, good high marks here. And your ambition was to get it as far as you could. They had a fair idea how far you could kick it, and you would kick to a contest. Not like today, where they won't kick to a contest at all.

[MEN SHOUTING]

[CROWD CHEERING]

Those days, when they really used it, they all took their marks, went back and had their shots at goal and that. And they'd take up here but top it behind the head like this. Nobody ever does that these days.

When you take a mark, you've got the ball. You're got to have your ball in your hand ready, because there might be a handball or something. And those sort of things went out in the early '50s.

ONLOOKER:  Let fly, Richie!

BOB BAKER: Well, every coach I had tried to teach me how to kick dropkicks, and I never really mastered dropkicks. I remember playing one day and Jim Gulley was coaching, and I was playing center halfback. And Gulley didn't mind me kicking them, because everyone else thought I'd kick them further than I did. And Gulley would lead up the ground and the center halfback wouldn't follow him, because he thought he was getting too close to me. But that's as far as I could kick the jolly things.

[MEN SHOUTING]

[CROWD CHEERING]

Nowadays with the drop punt, everyone kicks a drop punt and the balls so easy to handle. It doesn't matter which leg you're kicking. You've still got the ball in the same position to kick it. And it's made a lot of difference to football, the drop punt, has. It's one of the biggest challenges in the whole lot, I'd say.

Film - Malcolm McKinnon, 'Looking for a Game at Lake Tyers', 2007, State Library Victoria

In the ‘30s and the late ‘50s as well Lake Tyres had a very good side, you know, me Uncle played an’ me grand-Uncle. In 1996 was when we affiliated with the Omeo and District Football League. We ‘ad the Seniors an’ the Juniors, we ‘ad the Junior Netball all the way through to the Senior Netball for the girls, we drafted quite a few players from other Clubs around the East Gippie an’ the Omeo League as well…there were Kooris playing in but they wished to play for Lake Tyers. I coached the Juniors in ’96 to the Grand Final. The following year I coached the Seniors to the Grand Final as well. The moral of Lake Tyers lifted through sport, kids were attending school on a regular basis, the health issues at Lake Tyers lifted an’ the Elders had somewhere to go on Saturdays where they could sit there an’ watch the boys and girls play Netball an’ Football. During those two years some of our issues were some of the players we drafted from other areas became angry on the ground. It sort of sounded like as if they wanted to be black versus white. During my coaching of those years I tried to talk to players not to be like that, that it wasn’t a racial issue. The other thing was, there was only probably four to six people running a Football Club, which wasn’t enough numbers to run a Football Club.

Got time…got time…Pass…pass…pass…play on…go…go…go…

When we were asked to leave the Omeo League, the moral of Lake Tyers went backwards. It’s pretty sad, you know when I get up in the morning, or go to work, you know, you see these young players that were playing footy in…some of the Senior players that haven’t played now for five or six years, I mean, they’re walking around with their heads down…um…they’re finding it hard to get out and play Football with other Clubs at the present time. Our kids become bored…there’s nothing to do for ‘em out at Lake Tyers at the moment, so certainly vandalism comes into it…you know, when kids don’t have nothing more to do than break windows or throw stones at street lights. These are sorts of issues that…um…I’d like to see change an’ the only way we can do that is through sport.

Film - Malcolm McKinnon, 'Backbone of the Club', 2007, State Library Victoria

[PLATES CLATTERING]

VAL DOMINELLI:  I joined the ladies' committee in 1956. I was a very quiet, shy, retiring girl, and my mum brought me along to join the ladies' committee. We both joined at the same time. And I've been on the committee ever since.

[PLATES CLATTERING]

The ladies' committee is the main fundraiser for the club. We do a lot of catering. Over the years, we've done lots of weddings, and we'll do anything to raise money, any sort of function that we can run in this room.

[PLATES CLATTERING]

We raise about $26,000 to $28,000, depending on what functions we have through the years. And the club, you know, they just couldn't survive without that money.

We have tea every Thursday night in the football season. We usually start the pre-season. All the players come in. Committees, supporters-- anybody's welcome. And home games, we just run the canteens. And I start early, about quarter past 7:00, every Saturday, and the others come in about 8:00.

[PLATES CLATTERING]

JAN ENDERS:  I've had three sons play over the years. And I get on well with the ladies, so I'll turn up and help. We never miss the footy. We like away games because we can watch. Home games, I have most to do with the lolly stall and keeping the drinks in the fridge and backing up in the kitchen. We sometimes see the last quarter. Don't see much else.

[SEWING MACHINE WHIRRING]

I do all the sewing, and if there's any repairs, I take them home, bring them back Saturday morning. Our thirds and reserves won last year, and we've always let them have their jumpers. So you order your jumpers very early and you don't know what players you're going to have in sizes. So I've probably sewed on 100 numbers prior to the start of the season.

ROE HARRAP:  I started off going with a guy who played here, ended up marrying him, and now my children are playing here. So yeah, it really is a family affair.

[LAUGHTER]

Women are at backbone s of the football club here. I believe that women play a huge role in country football. And particularly here, if he didn't have the women behind the club, they wouldn't be where they are now.

[PLATES CLATTERING]

VAL DOMINELLI:  Oh, I love the club, and I love all the people. We're all good friends. Actually, last week we were very short in the seconds. I got named as an emergency on the bench.

[LAUGHTER]

But this way, I think I got more players back. I said, well, just get me some boots and I'll be right.

Film - Malcolm McKinnon, 'Hamilton '59', 2007, State Library Victoria

[CROWD CHEERING]

DARYL PITMAN:  I do have vivid memories of the 1959 Grand Final. I was only seven years old. My father had retired from playing and was a trainer.

But there were as many mascots as there were players on the day. There were sort of two teams run out for that Grand Final in Hamilton colors. And one of them was all mascots, and then there was the senior team. We all got our photo taken in front of the team before the game, in front of a huge crowd.

[CROWD CHEERING]

It was a huge event in the town, and I think everything else stopped. I don't think many cows were milked. I don't think any other jobs were done that day, because the whole town was there.

And if you look in the photograph, you'll see the very, very big crowd there, up the stairs of the grandstand, the Noble Oval grandstand. The whole stand was packed. Right round the ground was five or six deep, and you just couldn't get in anywhere.

[CROWD CHEERING]

The rivalry was pretty intense in Hamilton. You were either in the Hamilton camp or the Imps camp, and never the twain shall meet. I believe that's changed a little bit in recent times, but it's always been a pretty fierce rivalry.

Our next door neighbors were Imperial supporters. We were Hamilton supporters. And it was a friendly rivalry, but by gee, it was fair dinkum. And when we played each other, whichever team won, well, the other family was in for a rough time for the next nine weeks until they met again.

[CROWD CHEERING]

I sort of didn't have much choice other than to be passionate about local football, given my family's history. One of my very, very favorite photographs is of the 1912 North Hamilton Football Club. My grandfather was the captain of that side, and he's holding the footy in that photo.

But I think there are something like seven or eight Pitmans in it. His father is at the back. That's my great-grandfather at the back as a committee man. I think he might have been president. And one of the mascots is in fact my grandfather's younger brother.

But there were quite a few brothers in that side. And they were renowned early in the 1910s, 1920s, and being a champion football family.

[CROWD CHEERING]

I left Hamilton when I was just eight years old, when we came down to Melbourne. I've been here ever since. But still have a passion for Hamilton. Still look up every week to see how they went.

Would love to have gone back and played football for Hamilton. It was a dream I had as a kid, was just going back and playing one game on the Noble Oval in the black and white like my dad did and like my granddad did. But it never happened. But it has never dimmed my passion for Hamilton Footy Club, and I follow their fortunes with great interest.

[CROWD CHEERING]

Film - Malcolm McKinnon, 'Men in White', 2007, State Library Victoria

[WHISTLE]

-The idea of having a green shirt is to signify that we're a learner umpire and just to give us a fair go, I guess. And just like if you're in a car, you see a learner driver, you know to just be patient with them. And just to understand that they are still learning and that it's an important part of their career.

[WHISTLE]

I played one season of, like, under-twelves football. And I'm a bit of a wimp, so I don't, just not cut out for football, so I've decided to come up and umpire. Over four years that I've been here, I've just decided that I love it, and I love football, and that's why I stayed.

-When I first walked into the umpire fraternity, the track supervisor at the stage, he firstly said, come on, young fellow, here's the ball. Took me over to the point pace, and he said, showed me the basics of hanging on and holding the ball. And he said, now, I want you to bounce this ball up and down at this point pace. It's gotta be straight up and down it, and it's also got to reach the top of it.

So for two weeks or so I practiced and I practiced. After a couple of weeks, I, yeah, I mastered it. And so I went over to the track supervisor Roy. And I said, Roy, I've done it, where do I go next?

He says, no son, come here. We've moved to the goal post now. And I said, what? And he said, now I want you to do it up and down the goal post and to the height of the goal post.

It's a skill, and we've lost it in the country because we throw the ball up. But for the young fellas, my mentees, it's a case that will be taught, and I hope to pass that skill onto them.

-Well, I'll have to learn how to bounce it one day for I want to go to the AFL, which I do. It'd be a dream one day walking around the MCG with all the 100,000 people roaring. But yeah, I'll just let it take me and enjoy the ride, I reckon.

-It's put another spring in my step doing this mentoring program, because these young fellas, I can see that possibility that I'd hope one will make it to AFL.

[WHISTLE]

-Basically, he works with me and pass on his knowledge of how to umpire and how to treat players, which is a fundamental aspect of being an umpire. I'm nervous every single game just because the fellas there, they're another foot taller than me and just, I don't know, there's a lot of expectations of me to perform.

[WHISTLE]

I just do it because I love it, and it's a great game.

Film - Malcolm McKinnon, 'Tough as Old Boots', 2007, State Library Victoria

Well I’ve been noted to be a toughie. A lot of blokes reckon I was dirty but I wasn’t dirty, it was the way I played it. I played it rough. The ball was the object, I’ll tell you that now…an’ later years…people don’t believe this…I had a habit of singin’ out “Look out, look out look out!” an’ I’d be goin’ through…there’d be eight or ten blokes in front, an’ they’d…I’m not boasting about it…but they parted…they got out of the road…ha…ha. I was a pretty good drop kick but not accurate enough, that was me trouble. The bloody ole toes bent up now from kicking it barefooted. I was quicker on me feet with no boots on ‘en with ‘em on. I could turn, twist…it was only when I went to turn it was a little bit slipperier because I had no grip…but straight through, nobody could get near me.

Rainin’ cats an’ dogs an’ I’d ‘ad a broken thumb for six weeks an’ it stood out an’ Healey said if you train Thursday, you’ll be in the side…so I did. I strapped it up with adhesive tape an’ I played. I went to the Doctor a week ago an’ he seen me hands…a new Doctor I never went to before…an’ he ended up sending me to get ‘em X-rayed…but if the old Doctor ‘ad of seen me playin’ with this broken finger, he’d of took a bloody fit…ha….ha….but I tell you I played a rattlin’ game too that day. We ‘ad no showers, no nuthin’, just rooms to get dressed…an’ we ‘ad a big pine tree at the gate…an’ of a Sund’y, the whole lot of us ‘ud turn up again an’ we’d get down there an’ wrestle with one another an’ fight with one another an’ kick with one another…that went on all the time with members. Granya was always noted for a top team, a tough team, but they loved playin’ good Football…an’ I’ve seen ‘em playing here, tough, never give in…that’s what Granya was…they never give in. It’s a great game, I’ll say that about it…I loved it…it was hard for me to knock off.

Trapping rabbits made you fitter’n ever. You could run, trot, walk, kneelin’ down…that’s why me knees are buggered!

Film - Malcolm McKinnon, 'The Law According to Fizz', 2007, State Library Victoria

[MEN SHOUTING]

[WHISTLE BLOWS]

LEON HOLT:  I got to meet Fizz through junior football. Fizz used to cart me around everywhere and play footy. And then one thing led to another and I developed into seniors, and Fizz was a senior umpire in the North Central League. And so Fizz umpired quite a few games when I was a young fellow playing.

[WHISTLE BLOWS]

[MEN SHOUTING]

I didn't actually get to see Fizz play. But if you listen to the storytellers around Wedderburn, they say Fizz didn't mind dishing a little bit out, being a rover and being small, got that small man syndrome.

[MEN SHOUTING]

IAN "FIZZ" JACKSON:  Yeah, I was a very fiery player. I was very tough and very fiery. But when I give it up, I thought, I went back and I just changed the attitude all over. And I thought, well, I've got to be a lot different from what I was as a player.

I started in 1974, 28 years of umpiring. I umpired 560 games, and I've done at least 20 Grand Finals.

[MAN SHOUTING]

[WHISTLE BLOWS]

I've done all those games without any reports. I've sent people off and I've warned people. I'd rather give them a 50-meter or talk to them than things like that. Because I thought that was a lot easier. Because well, I got more respect by doing that than reporting. That's the way I looked at it.

[MEN SHOUTING]

LEON HOLT: Fizz was always on the side of the bloke that hit second, because he thought the bloke that hit second had a reason to hit. So the bloke that hit first was always in trouble with Fizz. Never be the instigator, but it was OK to be the retaliater.

[MEN SHOUTING]

Fizz was one of the very first of the idea of just get the play going, you know? If there was biffo or something happening, Fizz wasn't going to run in and try and be authoritarian. He'd just throw the ball up, or bounce the ball, and just get on with it, you know? And if there was 10 blokes belting the heebie-jeebies out of each other down the road, well, eventually they'd stop, because the footy'd come into their area. And that was a-- and it was a great philosophy, and a lot of blokes sort of-- I suppose he's a pioneer in that area, of getting the game going.

[MEN SHOUTING]

[WHISTLE BLOWS]

IAN "FIZZ" JACKSON:  You've got to be fit. You've got to try very hard to make yourself fit. And I was happy to be ready to play. And you main thing, I've found, is to get in position. Make sure you've got in position. And make the effort to get in position would make it a lot easier. And the players, if you've done that, you've got a lot more respect back. That's the way I look at it.

[MEN SHOUTING]

I enjoyed every bit of what I done. Use to just look for Saturday. Used to train every night and just look for Saturdays to come.

Film - Malcolm McKinnon, 'The Money Game', 2007, State Library Victoria

[YELL]

[FAINT WHISTLE]

[CHATTER]

[LOUD WHISTLE]

[CHATTER]

BILL PEDRETTI: If you're going to win premierships, you've got to run The Forty Club like a business. And you've got to work hard at it. We used to have a lot of fun, but we never won many games.

[HORN BLOWING]

So we turned it around. And that's why in the last 20 years we've won premierships. In the '80s, the cash was $2,000. That was big money. And we could rise up with-- we took raffles and dinner dances and things like that. And then in the '90s when we were just struggling, we realized we had no money. We have to do something better. And that's when we first started wrestling the Harley Davidsons. Four of the committee rang up together and all put in, and we brought a motorbike. And from then on, it was just full steam ahead.

[MOTOR RUNNING]

KATE COMMINS: I see our biggest challenge as being fundraising, because we have a pretty clear idea of what we are going to get from a go at the Canteen and the bar. And that's enough to cover our expenses. But it's not enough to do anything with new buildings. It's not enough to repair our fairly basic amenities. We can't send players on trips and things like that. We cannot afford to pay our player's memberships. We have to ask them to pay, that sort of thing. I've really got to watch all the costs.

[CHATTER]

DERRY MONAGHAN: They certainly all pick [INAUDIBLE] stumps. And not for a while they haven't, but we did that at [INAUDIBLE] just to try and get a couple of extra players each year. And the local boys here cut wood to source money for the football trip.

[CHATTER]

The main source of income is the Vic Grain Bunkers. We have the contract to empty them the [INAUDIBLE] Bunkers. And when we get enough trucks, we can make a lot of money. And that's how we source the money to run the club. Now it's one in, all in, and from me, down to the players.

[CHATTER]

KATE COMMINS: Really, the things that keep small country towns going are your pub, your football team, and your primary school. Well, all of those things are kind of in part of our football club. And I think that most people are prepared to come and be part of it, put in that extra bit, do those few extra jobs. Or we might well lose it.

[CROWD CHEERING]

MAN: Everyone on our committee are very successful businessmen in the town in their own right. And they all got kids playing. And that's where this all stems from. And I think nearly every country footy club would be the same.

Film - Malcolm McKinnon, 'Time on for Chiltern', 2007, State Library Victoria

[CLOCK TICKING]

[WHISTLES BLOWING]

DON STEPHENSON:  I came to Chiltern in 1950. And in the famous '54 Grand Final, I was the center half forward. The next year, we made the Grand Final and lost to Greta after 43 minutes elapsed in the last quarter. That sounds unbelievable, but it's a fact.

[CLOCK TICKING]

KEVIN MAYHEW:  At three-quarter time, we held a fairly comfortable lead. However, something happened in the timekeeper's box. And something that even to this day, we're not too sure, whether it was a Bermuda triangle or a vortex that come over the timekeeper's box at Tarrawingee, we can't say.

But as the game unfolded in the final quarter, Chiltern maintained their lead. And as legend would have it, at the end of full time, the Swans were actually in front on the scoreboard. The siren didn't sound at the end of full time. It actually went into overtime. And at the end of time on, Chiltern were still in front on the scoreboard.

[CLOCK TICKING]

DON STEPHENSON: My immediate oponent, Ernie Ford, said to me around that time, he said, well, you've done us to a bloody frazzle Don, so good on you. And we just kept going, and I laughed, and I said, oh, it's going to go any second. But it just failed to go.

After 35 minutes, cars were leaving the ground in droves and we were four goals in front. And I blame ourselves, up to a point. I think we sort of relaxed, thinking the game was won.

And one bloke by the name of Gordon Byron drove into Wangaratta, through he'd switch on the wireless and see what the final score was. And to his amazement, the game was still going. Which he couldn't believe. And at the final siren, we had the ball in our forward line, of but we lost the game by four points.

[BUZZER]

[WHISTLES BLOWING]

KEVIN MAYHEW: There are many theories-- and some, you would suggest, might be conspiracy theories-- as to why the final quarter went for almost as long as the previous three quarters in total.

[CLOCK TICKING]

Over the next 39 years, Chiltern and Greta would be known as traditional rivals, all because of what happened on the Grand Final day in 1954.

[BUZZER]

[CROWD CHEERING]

DON STEPHENSON: We even made up a little ditty on Greta, you know? We had, Greta in the morning, Greta in the evening, Greta at suppertime. We'll eat those purple people. We'll eat them any old time. It's a good story, and it's true.

Film - Malcolm McKinnon, 'Mick Cleeland's Ticket to Immortality', 2007, State Library Victoria

[CROWD CHEERING]

MICK CLEELAND:  Well, that's the situation. We were five points down. We had a boundary throw-in over here. Ball gets thrown in, gets knocked down, gets tapped back towards me.

Miraculously enough, I'd been paid a free kick for too high. I'm not sure that the free kick was there. To this day, we still haven't worked out what happened there. A Blighty player, after he hears the whistle for the free kick, slams the ball on the ground, 50 meters.

[SIREN BLARES]

Siren goes. Everything erupts. Opposition, Blighty, come tearing out of here. They think they've won the game. The scores were 15-18 to 18-5 at that stage, so they had every right to think they were-- with 18 goals on the board that they'd won the game.

[CROWD CHEERING]

I've still got the ball in me hand. Umpire comes over and says, you can take your kick. Couple of my teammates were rushing in, saying, if you kick this, we can still win.

And right here-- you know, the people were rushing onto the ground now. At this stage, everyone's everywhere. It's just-- you sort of had to break through people to get to where you were going.

And the umpire's going up to the 50-meter line. And of course, they're all celebrating. So there's only-- I think there might have been one player or two players out of their side realized what was going on.

And he'd made it to the goal line, basically. And there was no one on the mark, because no one was interested in what was going on. [CHUCKLES] So right through here-- I never stopped once. I got to here. I just kept jogging until he pointed on the mark, and I never stopped. Just jogged in and like a torpedo. And the rest was history, I suppose.

[FANS CHEERING]

[OTHER SIDE BOOING]

And then if you thought that was erupting over there, well, the display when I was over other side of game was something to behold. I thought I was going to be choked to death, actually. There was that many people all over there. And yeah, pretty exciting stuff.

[SIREN BLARES]

[CROWD CHEERING]

I guess I played all my junior footy at Waaia. And my dream as a young bloke was always to kick a goal like that after the siren. And to do that for your own town and win a Grand Final-- I mean, just to win a game is normally pretty exciting, but to do it in a Grand Final, every now and then, you relive the moment, and it's an amazing feeling. Sort of get a chill up your spine now even still.

Yeah, but just to-- I suppose to win a Grand Final off your own boot, in that respect, with one kick-- I was just lucky to have that opportunity, I suppose. I feel very grateful for it.

[CROWD CHEERING]

Film - Malcolm McKinnon, 'Slip Plays On', 2007, State Library Victoria

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

RAY "SLIPPERY" ALBERT:  You got to keep the club going, and I just love playing the games there. Just love going out there with the boys and kicking a few goals. That's about all it is.

[CROWD CHEERING]

I get called some funny names. You know, great old bastard, and fossil, and things like that. But it doesn't worry me. You get a hard time when your lining up for a goal or something. And you like to bloody kick the goal and say, well, there you go, smart-ass. Get that up ya. [LAUGHS]

Me wife's had a few digs at me about giving the game away, but I don't think she was real serious about it.

[MEN SHOUTING]

[WHISTLE BLOWS]

BEV ALBERT:  From the very start, it was football. Football's just part of your life. Yeah. I often say he'd give  up me before he'd give up sport. [CHUCKLES] I hope not.

He'll keep doing this for as long as he wants to. And I'm happy with that, I guess.

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

[CROWD CHEERING]

RAY "SLIPPERY" ALBERT:  I'm 50, and the youngest blokes playing in the seconds would be about 16, I think. So you just try and teach the young fellows some of the tricks of the trade, I suppose. And go back yourself and just have a go.

[PLAYER TALKING TO TEAM IN LOCKER ROOM]

Basically doing the same things I was doing when I was 15 or 16. Just try and get in front and lead hard and try and get the ball. And you know, I can't kick any further than 40 meters. I never could. And start in the 10-yard square, and soon as you see an opening, just go. And if they deliberately hit you on the chest, well and good. You'll get it for yourself.

BEV ALBERT: I have nagged at times. But my main worry is injury. I worry that he might have an injury that's not going to get better. That's my basic concern, really. It's the only reason why I'd like him to stop. But still, he wants to keep going, so if that makes him happy, it makes me happy.

[CROWD CHEERING]

It's getting the side out on the ground and just enjoying the game the footy. Helping one another out. That's most of it, I think.

And there's a few blokes playing in the seconds that say, well, Slippery's still playing? Well, I'll keep playing meself.

[CROWD CHEERING]

You're a long time retired.

Film - Malcolm McKinnon, 'The Perfect Mallee Trophy', 2007, State Library Victoria

CHRIS BROWN:  Given that we're the Mallee Football League, the perfect thing to make any trophies out of would have to be the Mallee stump. The local postmaster, who was a woodturner in his spare time, decided to commemorate the 1975 Grand Final with a trophy that was truly unique.

He got a good Mallee stump, and he had to try and find one that was well-dried and wouldn't crack too much as it dried out. It took him a heck of a long time to turn it. And then he made the lines down for the seams in the football, put the laces on, and then had a little plaque of every player, trainers, coaches, president secretary, and the whole lot, just to commemorate what happened in 1975.

[CROWD CHEERING]

1975 was just an amazing year. It doesn't matter where you go. And I went coaching and won a number of other premierships, but your first is always something special. And with your own mates and with your own club, especially to go from a club that was pretty well down and took a lot of beatings, to be able to get up and win a premiership was just always the best feeling. It always has been. And yeah, always will be.

[CROWD CHEERING]

Because we didn't have any social club rooms at the time to store any of our memorabilia, everything was stored at the pub. And as different publicans come and go, some don't like the memorabilia that apparently collects dust, and so he decided he'd clean the place out. And I went past one day and he was heading out to the tip with all of this football memorabilia in the back of his Ute.

And so I quickly went in and grabbed the lot. And I've still got a fair bit of it, but it's all there for the football club, for the future. And it's interesting how some people just don't value these things that others really think are fairly precious.

[MEN SHOUTING]

I just think, mainly because of where we live, in the middle of the Mallee, it was called the Mallee Footy League, and we end up with a trophy made out of a Mallee stump, you can't get much more significant than that. And to remember a premiership in the town for a standalone team at the time, I think it's pretty magic, the way it's been remembered.

[CROWD CHEERING]

Film - Malcolm McKinnon, 'The Value of Winning', 2007, State Library Victoria

[CROWD CHEERING]

GRAHAM "JOCK" CAMPBELL:  We've won three premierships. And really, it looks like it's a cycle of about every 10 years that someone decides, well, it's time that we had another go, so. I've been involved in the three premierships that we have won and involved again at the moment. Balranald's a town of 1,400 people. Virtually impossible to keep the young people here. So it makes it pretty hard that way.

[CROWD CHEERING]

-To get the success-- and I mean, the great form of success-- you've got to bring some players in. And I'm not being derogative to our boys, but we just haven't got the overall talent and the numbers of talented players to win a flag.

[CROWD CHEERING]

All Central Murray clubs would be spending, at the moment-- the majority of them, anyway, the successful ones, say, 6 or 8 of the top 12, would spend in excess of $100,000 a year on players alone.

[CROWD CHEERING]

GRAHAM "JOCK" CAMPBELL:  It's not unreasonable to pay players, $700, $800, $900, or $1,000 a game to be competitive. I have contributed large sums of money. But we've certainly done our homework. We've gone around metro Melbourne and Mildura and hand-picked the players that we reckoned wood do the job.

[PLAYERS SHOUTING]

MERV NEAGLE:  I think after the '94 Premiership, this club won 14 games in 10 years. You know, I mean, and you get sick of it. You don't want to go along and the players get sick of it. The all the supporters get sick of it.

So when all of a sudden, they decided, OK let's have another crack at it, it's just like a breath of fresh air, isn't it? OK, we've got a good side. We're going to win. Let's go to the footy.

And the whole town on a Saturday when the team plays away-- like we went to Tooleybuc on Saturday. You could have fired a gun up the Main Street of this town and you wouldn't have hit anyone. There's just a different hype around the place when your football side's winning. That's how important it is to the town, you know?

So at the moment, all's-- well, we were runners-up last year. And hopefully we have a side good enough to go one step better this year.

[CROWD CHEERING]

ROB BARRETT: A lot of people don't like what we do. And I mean, that's the jealousy thing comes into it. And yeah, each time that we've one a premiership, there's been money involved. So you do tend to get that. Oh, well, they bought a premiership. Yeah, there's a fair bit of feeling comes about. I mean, yeah, you talk about these country teams and country footy clubs, money's a big thing.

[CROWD CHEERING]