News
BFNL REWIND - BFNL attracts top administrators
News
BFNL REWIND - BFNL attracts top administrators
Published on:
23 February 2025
Football in the Bendigo district has been fortunate to attract top administrators and leading thinkers to its major off-the-field roles.
Currently we have Professor Carol McKinistry as chair of the BFNL, a position she's held with distinction for many years.
And back in the post-WW1 decades there were as well some notable presidents, as they were known at the time, with Mr. A.F. (Fred) Wood, our leader in the late 1920s.
"Since his boyhood days Fred has been a keen footy lover all his life and it had never ceased to occupy a good deal of his attention" a 1928 Bendigo Advertiser article pointed out. "He is sincere in all that he does."
So it's interesting to look back over his early years and discover how Fred Wood became an important person in our league.
He was born at Woodvale, now part of the City of Greater Bendigo, with his early education completed atvthe Sebastian Primary School.
But he left early education behind at the age of 11 to take up paid employment on the farm and also in nearby gold battery work.
When he was 19 Mr Wood went to work in the mines at Sebastian where he stayed for a year before wending his way to the reasonably close Eaglehawk mines.
But as well as heading off to work most mornings, Fred Wood attended night school before eventually enrolling at the Bendigo School of Mines.
He eventually passed his mine manager's certificate, a top effort considering he'd left school before he was even a teenager.
Mr Wood's first position as mine manager was at the Royal George at Sparrowhawk (near the present day Long Gully Recreation Reserve) and he was later promoted to managerial positions at the new Red, White and Blue and also Lansell's 180 mines.
When the 1928 Bendigo Addy story was compiled Fred was manager of the Hercules mine at Long Gully and he'd also occupied the position of steward of the Miners' Association for four years.
In 1928 Mr Wood was president of the Bendigo Mine Managers' Association and a rep. of the local mine managers on the Victorian Chamber of Mines, based in Melbourne.
So where does footy fit into Mr Wood's life?
Well, when he first came to Eaglehawk he'd held aspirations of becoming a senior footballer.
He was selected to play with the Snob's Hill team (yes, an actual name during the pre-Depression years) in the junior association. What we'd call the Twos, or Reserves, in our era.
This club counted among its senior players Fred Jinks ---- later of Carlton and an eventual member of Eaglehawk's BFL Team of the Century --- and the Trewartha brothers.
Football in this so-called junior competition exceeded the boundaries of roughness and behind-the-ball niggles. This turned Mr. Wood off staying in the code as a player and he became an ardent barracker instead.
It's interesting to look back at match reports of that late Twenties period. "It was nothing in those days for a free fight to erupt between players of the opposing teams and it often became the case of who won the fight, not the football game," the Addy reported.
"And the barrackers of the losing team were not always those who politely withdrew after the battle. They sailed into battle with the victors often leaving the field under a barrage of blue metal." What we'd call today gravel or small stones.
Apparently a common rule when playing some clubs in the then Bendigo juniors competition was: 'When you hear the final bell put your best foot forward for the cab.' The horse-drawn cab, not a modern day taxi.
"The cabs left the ground at a fast pace frequently with a number of opposition, angry barrackers in pursuit. One did not change in the comfort of the present day.
"It was a case of getting into your clothes in the cab or either changing behind a bush on a nearby hill after an exhilarating chase."
And we're not making this up. These paragraphs are from the Bendigo Addies of the late Twenties and early Thirties.
So Mr. Wood had a tough time as a top administrator looming before him. He told one reporter "a book could be written of reminiscences of the past 25 years."
He was referring to Bendigo footy during the boom mining times. Men would work thousands of feet underground in the mines until just before their games started.
They were mid-week games in the BFL back-in-the-day, so the miners would come to the surface, and be taken to their grounds without a bite to eat or even a refreshing wash.
"Those men entered into their games hard and heartily and almost without exception for the pure love of the game.
"Of course the players of today (the late Twenties) are able to reach the grounds in more comfort and, as they provide the sport for on-lookers, they are justly entitled to any privileges that we can give them."
Mr Wood was very forthright about the state of footy in his period as a top administrator.
"The standard is good, the game is played in a hard and vigorous manner and the new rules should make the game much better when they are known more," he said.
One innovation Fred Wood oversaw was the paying of expenses of delegates from the Echuca, Castlemaine and Rochester clubs, a move which he saw as a "key factor in promoting the advancement of the game in our league."
So how did Fred Wood get into the top ranks of footy administration ?
He was elected as a vice-president of the Eaglehawk club in 1922 and the following year he represented the Two Blues at the league table as its head delegate.
He held this position until 1927 as well as serving as Eaglehawk club president from 1924-26. The Hawks won the BFL flag in his first year as president.
Fred Wood was appointed BFL president in 1927, succeeding Mr. R.V. Bockholt and for his services to Eaglehawk he was installed as its very first life member.
And his interest didn't stop at the board and delegates table. Mr. Wood was manager of the Bendigo rep. teams which either played away from home or on the Upper Reserve (now the QEO) and he was also a selector for these combined sides.
In the summer months Fred Wood was a keen cricket follower. He was president of the Eaglehawk Cricket Club and a delegate to the association board.
He was also a keen lawn bowler and had won a couple of Association pairs tournaments with G. Kingsley. He'd also won Eaglehawk club singles championships and had two Leggo gold bowls at home for his wins on Bendigo club greens.
Footnote: One important fact we should not overlook.
The fairest and best player in the BFL between 1930 and 1939 was awarded the Fred Wood medal.
In the first season, 1930, there was a five-way tie: Bill Callaghan (C'maine), Mickey Crisp and Norm Le Brun (both Sandhurst), Bruce Jones (South Bendigo) and Len Major (Rochester).
The final Wood medal was taken home in 1939 by Kyneton's Elder Anderson.
