Mud, Tents and Gumboots

In the year that the OYCFC played its first official game the Oakleigh City Council went on a fact-finding mission to the Hobart Cemetery for ideas on “how to make a lawn cemetery”.  And the burning issue was whether or not “ Mr Whippy” should be allowed to broadcast music in the street which apparently contravened by-law 106 and could lead to prosecution (refer footnote-6).

The newly formed Oakleigh Youth Club Football Club was effectively a sub-committee of the Oakleigh Youth Club and was led by Gordon Mattson with Mr. Ted Rodgers and Mr Les Langridge handling the secretarial side of things (refer footnote-7). The original committee consisted of these three and Mr Finn, Mr A Mattson, Mr Pound, Ray Chapman and Eric Hall.   

This committee must have worked very hard to develop a football club with limited resources, even managing to convince Richmond Football Club to donate two footballs in 1965. Although it must be said that Richmond has had the better of the relationship over the years with Jack Malcomson penning the great “We’re from Tigerland” anthem and the OYCFC providing a number of players to Richmond, including David and Gary Miller, Shane Williams, Corey Young and Stuart Maxfield.

In 1966 Richmond also helped support the OYCFC with a joint raffle that raised over 50 pounds - no small amount in 1966. The Richmond Football Club in the same year had also tried to provide a coach for the OYCFC but was unable to do so. The record also suggests that a promise was made to donate a further 6 footballs and it is not clear if these arrived or not – if not an invoice for the 6 footballs with 40 years interest may find its way to Punt Road (refer footnote-8). That makes about 240 brand new Sherrins for season 2006!  

The club fielded three teams in its inaugural year, under 13’s, under 15’s and under 17’s. The under 15’s and 17’s continued playing in the Melbourne Boys League and the 13’s appeared in the Southern Junior League, who donated the clubs best and fairest for that age group to the winner Neil Mattson (13’s).  Kerry Finn (15’s) and Doug D’Oliver[1][1] (refer footnote-9) (17’s) won the Best and Fairest trophies in the first year for their respective teams.

In 1965 the Under 13’s were coached by Mr A Mattson, and Gordon Mattson coached the under 15’s to a premiership that year, assisted by Mr Pound as his Team Manager. Coach of the under 17’s was Ray Chapman with his Team Manager being Eric Hall.

Gordon Mattson had an incredibly busy year that year, doubling or rather tripling up as Team Manager for the fledgling under 13’s -not easy combining the roles of President, Premiership Coach and Team Manager. After the under 15’s premiership win Mattson was described in The Acorn as the,   “Happiest man on the ground, probably the weariest and certainly the hardest worked was Coach Gordon Mattson.”
(refer footnote-10)

The winning of the 1965 Under 15 Melbourne Boys League Grand Final was hailed as a huge success for the City of Oakleigh Youth Club Team (refer footnote-11). By beating Balwyn in the Grand Final, whose best player was one B Goudge, the OYCFC team also became champions as they went through the season undefeated. Best players on the day were Richard Allen, Dennis Wright, Trevor Mattson, Wayne Hoskins and Kerry Finn. Final scores were 10.17 to 7.6, and who said bad kicking was bad football?

The one surviving photograph of Gordon Mattson is in a team photograph from either 1964 or 1965, possibly the 1964 South Oakleigh Methodist Under 16’s team with his hat and scarf. A number of the boys in that team photo including Richard Allen, Wayne Hoskins, Kerry Finn and Greg Pound played in the 1965 premiership. Greg Wells who went on to play with Melbourne and Carlton is also suspected to be in this photograph.

1965 Premiership Trophy

On the issue of club colours some people think that the club started with Collingwood colours borrowed from Clayton but this appears to be unlikely as the photograph of the under 16’s of 1964/5 clearly shows the team all wearing the green and gold jumpers. The green and gold were the South Oakleigh Methodists colours. They possibly wore a green jumper with a gold yoke as well. A photo taken in 1962 of the Oakleigh Technical School teachers versus students game features what appears to be a green jumper with a gold vee and an M monogram. It is also known that at some stage one or more of their teams wore St Kilda colours.

The under 13’s also wore the green and gold in 1965 as player Ray Chapman Jnr donated back to the club his green with a gold sashed No. 13 jumper from the original set. Possibly a black and white set was borrowed for a stop gap period or for the under 15’s to start with until a third green and gold set arrived but the intention was always to go with the green and gold. A photograph of the senior boys at training in April 1965 also supports this with green and gold sashed jumpers clearly being worn by most of the boys. A black and white set was lent to the club from Holy Redeemer Primary School to help kick off the under 9 team in 1976.

Ray Chapman in his playing days at Maryborough. The most likely origin of the OYCFC jumper design

Ray Chapman senior is the key to the origin of the jumper. Born and bred in country Victoria, Ray played football in his formative years for Maryborough in central Victoria. The jumper worn by Maryborough coincidently is a green jumper with a gold sash. Ray was a premiership player for the Maryborough under 18 team in 1948. He would have had a big say in the design of the jumper that eventually became the jumper for the OYCFC in 1964.

A move of home grounds away from the Oakleigh Technical school ground, at least for the under 17’s, was also made in 1965. The new home ground for a short period was the ground at Caloola Reserve more commonly known as Cotters with a move to Edwards Street not long after.

In April of 1965 both the under 15’s and under 17’s played their first home games as the OYCFC at Caloola Reserve. Although they used Scammell Reserve as a training ground and probably used it on occasion for official matches, it is unlikely that the club had an official home ground in the first couple of seasons.

Under 17 1965 fixture for the Melbourne Boys League

“The Acorn” in what was effectively the football club’s first annual report stated that the club experienced difficulties throughout the season with the lack of grounds and facilities for their matches and sometimes teams had to play on away grounds regardless of the draw (refer footnote-13).

Access to grounds was also complicated as in many areas football couldn’t be played on Sundays and it took some pressure over the early years of the 1960’s to enable clubs and suburban leagues access to sporting ovals on the Sabbath. No doubt junior clubs would be given second preference by councils in those days.

Season 1965 also saw the first player from the club selected in a representative team. Clive Dunstan was selected to play in the Melbourne Boys League (MBL) under 17 team against Geelong on 19 June. This was no mean feat given the quality of the opposition sides in the Melbourne Boys League.

Another challenge for the club was getting to away games as there were barely enough cars to travel in. At one stage the Youth Club warned that more parents were needed to transport the children as it was unsafe. Doreen Chapman confirms this and said that it wasn’t unusual for 6 children to travel in one car. Ron Howard who was involved in the South Oakleigh Methodists remembers the car seats being covered with Briquette bags so the kids muddy boots wouldn’t make a mess. The bags were empty of course!

The club managed to field three teams in the same age groups in 1966 but could only manage two teams in 1967, under 13’s and 15’s. The remaining years of the 1960’s however saw some growth in the lower age groups with teams for the first time in under 11’s (1968) and under 10’s (1969). It is believed that one of these teams won a premiership but unlike the 1965 under 15’s no record survives.

1968. News clips

A couple of surviving newspaper clippings from 1968 indicates that the OYCFC was competitive in the late sixties. The under 15 side did play in a lightning premiership held at Waverley in the Waverley and District Junior Football Association that year. They defeated Hillside Syndal but were knocked out in the second round by 4 goals by Tally-Ho (refer footnote-14). A little over 3 three weeks later the tables were reversed with an 18 point victory to the OYCFC but this time not for a flag. (refer footnote-15)

Numbers were quite strong in the under 11’s of 1969 as 27 boys lined up for the team photograph at Edwards Street that clearly shows the railway line in the background. Oakleigh Youth Club jumpers were either limited or some of the boys including a young Steven Miller and Phillip Mitchell had stronger allegiances to other teams like Essendon and Collingwood, given the clubs finances probably the former.

1969. Under 11’s		1969. Under 15’s

Yvonne Lemmens recalls that on some of the more wintry and muddy days the boys were hosed down on the ground to remove as much mud as possible before they entered the “ canvas shed”. Which makes the infamous cold showers at St Kilda’s Moorabbin ground seem like a run under the garden sprinkler in summer!

Most of the grounds played on including Edwards St had poor drainage, if any, which made the wearing of gumboots by most parents and officials almost mandatory. Even in the early seventies Pat Rhys-Jones can recall many supporters still wearing gumboots as the ground was a “mudhole”. Ironically in the late seventies the ground needed to be watered with a more sophisticated watering system than rain. Snowy Rhys-Jones is said to have discovered the underground pipes using divining rods! (refer footnote-16)

Original under 13 jumper  donated back to the club by Ray Chapman Jnr

As well, the thick woollen jumpers used by the players were a nightmare to wash as the mud became solidly embedded in the thick fibres. Wilma Hall, Yvonne Lemmens and Doreen Chapman, among others all willingly undertook the often-thankless task of washing the jumper sets each week, no doubt assisted marginally by the first hosing down after the game.

Another tent was used for the canteen, however unlike the well-stocked canteens we have become used to, Hot Dogs were the only fare available as there were limited gas bottles and burners.

Physical hardships aside, the club at the close of the sixties was starting to grow into an important part of the Oakleigh community. Looking at the faces of the 1969 trophy winners for the under 11’s, or those around the under 11’s players David Rhys-Jones and Paul Bailey (including the boy on the brand new Malvern Star Dragster) as he burst through the homemade banner you can only detect a group of children enjoying their sport.

1969. Under 11’s trophy winners Stuart Marshall, Stuart Lemmens & Bruce Chapman		1969. David Rhys-Jones, Paul Bailey and two other Under 11's running through the banner

The club had made some strong steps forward from 1965 to 1970, from a club struggling for resources to a structured organisation with strong local community and parent support. It is true that “a number of important decisions were made” (refer footnote-17) during the period 1965 to 1970 and that almost no documentation remains, however the subsequent growth of the club during the seventies is testament to the people who founded and guided the club during the early years.

The last word on this period of the clubs history should really go to Doreen Chapman. Doreen, apart from declaring, “ we must have been mad” when referring to the jumper washing situation, also said that,
“ It was a great investment for boys to be taught to help as a group, to bring them into a happy environment and to respect those around them”.

These principles, established by the founders of the OYCFC, of participation and enjoyment by all, and shared responsibility and rewards, remain embedded in the club today.

1969. Under 11 team before final at Albert Park. Includes David Rhys-Jones and Phillip Mitchell holding Mr Blanche the poodle!

Related

footnote-6
Keeley, May. One Hundred Good Years: A story of Oakleigh Council. Oakleigh & District Historical Publication Series. Oakleigh. 1991. p 183

footnote-7
The Acorn. Vol.1 No.3. April,1965. p. 27

footnote-8
The Acorn . January. 1966. p. 21

footnote-9
The Honour Board credits K Collins for the 1965 under 17 B&F however “The Acorn “, the journal of the Youth Club gives voting details for all three age groups and records Doug D’Oliver winning with 8 votes from Clive Dunstan on 6. K Collins recorded one vote.

footnote-10
The Acorn. Vol. 2 No. 1. October, 1965. p. 21.

footnote-11
Ibid. p. 21.

footnote-12
The Acorn. Vol. 2 No. 1. October, 1965. p. 22.

footnote-13
The Acorn. Vol. 2 No. 1. October, 1965. p.21

footnote-14
The Standard Times. Wednesday, June 26,1968. P 22.

footnote-15
The Standard Times. Wednesday, July 10, 1968. P.4.

footnote-16
The authors suspect he had access to a map somewhere.

footnote-17
Watson, Cheryl. Oakleigh Youth Club football Club History 1965-1990. OYCFC. Oakleigh. 1991 p. 10