A drop of ‘Bundy' can work wonders especially at wind-swept Warrnambool when your side needs a lift....There's nothing like a drop of ‘Bundy' to combat the chilling Warrnambool wind and inspire a famous act or two. Ask Stewart Lord, captain-coach of Camperdown's two thrilling Hampden League premierships in 1968 and 1970.
His trump forward Graeme Langsworth, a 70 goal a season man who had played at Essendon reserves, had gone virtually kickless in the first three quarters of the '68 Grand Final.
At the final break with the premiership in the balance, Camperdown president Alan McIntyre passed a small bottle of rum in a brown bag to Langsworth. ‘Here Langer,' he said, ‘have a swig of this. It might do you some good.'
Suitably warmed, Langsworth kicked three inspiring goals in the last quarter, including the clinchers from opposite boundary edges as Camperdown kicked clear of a tenacious Terang to win their first flag since another ex-Cat Norman Sharp had triumphed against arch rivals Cobden in 1951.
‘I just got lucky,' said Langsworth, who normally drank only beer. ‘I'd hardly touched the ball in the lead-up. It was a freezing day. I just couldn't get warm.'
Two Grand Finals later, Camperdown was clinging to the narrowest of three quarter time leads against hot fancies Mortlake, Lord in shut down mentality as his team was kicking into a brisk four goal wind.
‘No-one thought we could win that year,' said Lord. ‘We'd come from fourth. Peter Lyon was coaching Mortlake and he had a champion side. (Twin brother) Alistair had beaten them in the previous grannie (in 1969) by a point. They were cherry ripe for the flag they'd gone so close to winning the year before.
‘We had a very young side who were good listeners and tried to put into practice everything I said. The wind always blew from Port Fairy to Warrnambool, but this day it was coming from the east (the opposition direction). We were four points up at the last change and kicking to the City end against this big breeze.
I dropped our two ruckmen and myself across the half-back line and see if we could keep them out.
The South Warrnambool ground had a slope of six or seven feet with a bike track going right around it. It was easy to box sides out if you knew what pockets to keep them in.
Gathering his players in close, Lord said: ‘We can win this... if you do as I tell you and play as I want you to play and kick where I want you to kick.'
Just as the huddle was breaking up, he motioned Langsworth over and said he'd won one Grand Final for the club. He could do it again.
Legend has it that Langsworth had another swig of rum, to put a bit more pep into his step, but he truly can't remember.
Within minutes, Mortlake had forged to the front. It was looking black for Camperdown coming into time-on when the ball finally crossed its centre line and Langsworth, virtually kickless all day, bravely split a pack like he was Alan ‘Bull' Richardson, Matty's Dad, and kicked a magnificent running goal to re-wrest the lead, triggering a joyous volley of car horns from the Leura Oval embankments.
‘The game was on the line. We were behind. Stewart had moved himself back into defence. Someone had to do something,' said Langsworth, a Collingwood six-footer. ‘The ball was there. I saw it and just went for it. It's one of those favorite moments you live and re-live.'
At Essendon John Coleman had tried to turn the lightly-built Langsworth into a defender but with the half-back line of Barry Davis, Ian Shelton and Alec Epis, one of the greatest ever, he couldn't crack it into the senior side. Only once in his two years at Windy Hill was he ever made an emergency for the firsts. On return to Hampden football, opposing full-backs like Koroit potato farmer Des Keane and Coragulac's equally-tough Graham Kerr were always looking to make mincemeat of him.
It was a heart-stopping finish. The quarter went 34 minutes. There was stoppage after stoppage and finally the siren sounded, with Camperdown two points ahead. Lord was engulfed. His tactics had won the day. Only two goals were kicked all quarter. Lord cherishes his two Camperdown flags alongside his brother's Brownlow in 1962 and Geelong's famous ‘63 premiership.
Asked about the judicious use of rum every now and again to gee up his players, Lord said: ‘When it got very cold, the trainers at Geelong used to slip a nip of the doings into the bottles at three quarter time. You read history and the boys in the trenches would sometimes have a nip before they went over the top. Graeme wasn't a drinker. He told me at our last reunion he didn't know at the time what he'd had, but it certainly did the trick for us. He's a big part of our history.'
Prolific sports writer KEN PIESSE's new book FOOTBALL LEGENDS OF THE BUSH has just been published. It features home town heroes and those who came and conquered. An ‘A to Z' town by town list of every important player to play at VFL/AFL level is also included. For more, visit Ken's website www.cricketbooks.com.au
• Excerpts from Football Legends of the Bush, Ken Piesse's 64th book, just published by Penguin.
Article first appeared www.vcfl.com.au August 17, 2011