Aussie Rules Football by Max Mathers My involvement in Aussie Rules goes back to early schooldays. Aussie Rules is Australia’s own football game and in fairness to the other three codes, is by far the most spectacular and skilful game of all the world’s football codes. It was developed in the early 1800’s and because cricket grounds were the major sporting venues in our early years of development, the game evolved and developed around grounds the size of cricket grounds. As youngsters growing up in the great depression years, actual footballs were few and far between. Balls were mainly held for the main part at schools, and therefore other means had to be developed so that we could play at home in the off school hours. My mind goes back to the “pretending” footballs made of rolled up newspapers which served us well in our backyards and in the street, and many hours were spent developing our skills and interest in our great game. Of course at school, we were able at lunchtime to kick the ball (actual footballs) and further develop our ball handling and associated skills. At weekends we would go over to the local football ground and watch the local team (Kew) playing their opponents. At half time and after the game, we would search the playing area to see if we could find any “stops” which may have come out of the players boots. If we were lucky enough to find a stop or two, we would take them home and knock them into an old pair of shoes and think we were “Christmas”. From playing in teams at both primary and secondary school, we graduated to the Church Team – “West Hawthorn United” which played in the “Eastern Suburban Churches League”. When I say we, I mean the three Mathers brothers – Max, Bruce and Ian. Wartime of course interrupted our playing careers. I was at sea in the Merchant Navy for three and a half years and didn’t play again until after the war. Initially, I was back working at 3UZ and often my duties took me to the VFL Football as we used to broadcast the Game of the Day. However, as time passed, I still played fairly regularly and in 1949 we won the Premiership. Our coach was Jack McLeod, a star halfback with Hawthorn and that was the only team with which I played that won the Premiership. By this time I was married with a daughter Robyn and we were now living in our home at Parkdale, a bayside suburb of Melbourne situated between Mentone and Mordialloc. Jack McLeod encouraged Ian to train at Hawthorn (the “Hawks”) and wanted me to do likewise, but at 23-4 I reckoned I was too old to break into top football. Ian did well and played for Hawthorn for a number of years. Instead of going to Hawthorn I decided to play for Parkdale (our local team). Parkdale played in the amateur competition and we did reasonably well over the next few years. As luck would have it at this time, I had been elected as a Councillor to the local Municipal Council (City of Mordialloc) at 25 years of age, and was the only councillor in Victoria playing football at that time. One of my local associates of the time was Bruce Andrew. Bruce was a former Vice Captain of Collingwood and a top player. He was also a returned soldier and belonged to our local RSL, the Mentone/Parkdale RSL. Bruce became the Secretary of the Australian National Football Council, and was initially responsible for taking two teams to America to play exhibition games. He also was the instigator of turning the game into an Australian wide game in the fullness of the meaning AUSTRALIA WIDE. In 1953, we sold our home at Parkdale and with a close friend of those days Cyril Molyneaux, went into a business partnership at Officer in the local country store. Both Cyril and I joined the local Sporting Activities, Cyril with cricket and myself with football. The Officer Football Team was one of eight clubs which formed the South West Gippsland Football League and as well as playing I took a substantial interest in the administration of the League. In 1957, my fourth year at Officer, I captained and coached the team and that year we finished fifth, just outside the final four. That year also became the last year at Officer. We sold the business and on the advice of our doctors, moved from Victoria to Queensland for the sake of Andrew our eldest son who needed a warm climate. Initially we settled at Currumbin Beach on the Gold Coast the nearest suburb to Tugun where Muriel’s Mum and Dad had moved a couple of years earlier following Dad’s retirement from the Caulfield City Council due to ill health. Dad was an original ANZAC, had fought at Gallipoli and France during World War 1 and they had bought a small block of flats at Tugun to sustain them in retirement. We settled at Currumbin Beach as I mentioned above and at 33 had “hung up” my footy boots after leaving Officer. Also at that time there was no Australian Rules Football on the Coast, it was Rugby League Country. One day in 1958 whilst talking with a neighbour Roly Daniels, the subject came round to football and to my surprise Roly (a builder by profession) had played Australian Rules Football in Brisbane where there was a pretty good Competition, the QAFL (Queensland Australian Football League). Roly and I decided that with the number of former southerners on the Coast, Aussie Rules should do well. So we decided to call a public meeting and endeavour to establish the game on the Coast. To that end, we placed an advertisement in the Gold Coast Bulletin, and called a meeting, which resulted in two clubs being formed. To assist our endeavours, we were able to make contact with a Mr Joe Grant, the then Secretary of the Q.A.F.L. and the two clubs (1) Palm Beach - Currumbin and (2) Southport became active. You can’t of course start a competition with only two clubs, and we made contact with Mr Bob Gear, a Kedron Club (Brisbane) member and also a very active Life-Safer on the Gold Coast. Bob played for Kedron with his brother Tom and was considerably helpful to the two fledgling clubs on the Coast. Palm Beach – Currumbin adopted the club colours purple and gold as we had been materially helped by the local LIONS club to become established, whilst Southport adopted black & white (Magpie colours). Both clubs set to work and attracted local chaps to their ranks to play Aussie Rules. Some were converts from Rugby League and it took some persistence to develop the skills of Aussie Rules so that we could play some games – initially social games. Our first game was played at Labrador on the northern end of the Coast one Sunday in 1959 on the Labrador Cricket Ground, and it was of course between the two newly formed local clubs, Southport and Palm Beach – Currumbin. Initially I had decided not to play again and was acting Boundary Umpire in this initial game. Roly Daniels was Captaining Palm Beach – Currumbin and Ken McDonald was the Southport Skipper. Joe Grant had arranged for a central umpire from Brisbane to assist us. Unfortunately during the second quarter, Roly Daniels badly injured a hamstring, so yours truly took over his role and I was back into the game at 35. In that season, largely with the help of Joe Grant and Bob Gear, we played a number of social games with teams that came down from Brisbane for the day. Apart from the necessity to attract players and potential players it was essential that additional clubs be formed and that we obtain grounds on which to play, in particular in the locality where the clubs were formed. Also during Exhibition time in Brisbane (Annual Royal Show) the R.A.N. had at least one warship visit at that time of year. We were able to arrange with the Navy to send an Aussie Rules team from the visiting ship down the Coast and play us in a social game. A very excellent help in getting the game established on the Gold Coast. Regarding grounds, as I related herein, we played our initial match at Labrador on the cricket ground. Then the hard work started as we began to create more than the two initial clubs. The initial Executive of the New Aussie Rules League on the Gold Coast consisted of the following personnel: Roly Daniels A builder by profession Max Mathers A representative with Golden Fleece John McCann A Fire Brigade Officer Frank Forest A builder “Bink” Hawker A Flat Owner Rob Alsop Profession N/A Bob Gear Service Station Proprietor. There were others who joined the movement as time progressed and new clubs were formed. As my duties with Golden Fleece Petroleum required me to travel throughout southwest Queensland during the week, I was able to attend meetings of the Q.A.F.L. in Brisbane usually on Monday nights as a Delegate from the Gold Coast League. Palm Beach - Currumbin Club were able to develop the Salk Oval at Currumbin with the considerable help of the Lions Club through “Bink” Hawkers assistance. Southport were able to develop an oval at Southport Showgrounds with the help of the Gold Coast Show Society. As time passed, clubs at Broadbeach, Labrador, Burleigh Heads, Surfers Paradise and Coolangatta came into being.