THE country clubs continued their dominance of Bendigo footy in the early 1960s, just as they’d done as the Fifties era closed.

Rochester and Kyneton were the teams to beat early in the decade with Castlemaine around the mark as well.

The Demons unfurled their 1959 premiership pennant at home against Kyneton in Round 2, 1960 and went on to score a win in a tough game.

Clive Philp and Tigers suffered another setback in Rd. 3 when South Bendigo downed Kyneton. The Bloods’ Robin Pearse was the star of the upset, booting a 70-yard goal.

The situation was starting to look bleak for the Tigers who suffered their third loss in a row when Eaglehawk celebrated coach George Ilsley’s 200th game. The Two Blues romped home with a 25-point win.

A terrible start to the season had Kyneton languishing in second last spot, not a situation any of the pre-season pundits could have anticipated.

As Round 5 loomed the BFL was in a difficult situation. The Bendigo Goal and Boundary Umpires Association threatened to withdraw their members from the upcoming fixtures over a pay dispute.

Fortunately, the BFL and the BGBUA came to an arrangement although matters didn’t completely cool down for quite a few more weeks.

When Echuca broke their duck with a one-point win over Kyneton in that dramatic fifth round, the 1959 grand finalists were in diabolical bother.

South and the Hurst were battling it out at the top of the ladder and it seemed – at least temporarily – the city clubs had taken back control of the BFL from their country cousins.

But that illusion was shattered when bottom-of-the-table Murray Bombers toppled top-of-the-ladder South by 20 points.
And Kyneton was beginning to stir. Philp had moved himself to the spearhead and with their talented on-ball brigade starting to fire the Tigers began the long haul back into Top Four contention.

IN A four-week period from Rounds 8 to 11 Kyneton defeated Castlemaine, Rochy, South Bendigo and Golden Square and the club had dragged itself back into the Four.
It wasn’t a great season for inter-league footy, though. A VFL representative side, led by St Kilda’s Neil Roberts, thrashed the wayward kicking BFL team -- 21.16 (148) to 7.19 (61).
By the time the finals were upon the community Philp and the Tigers had resurrected their season and were sitting second behind Rochester. The Hurst and the Maine were third and fourth.
The Tigers received a timely boost on the eve of the finals with Philp winning the goal-kicking award and more importantly Kevin Parks was the Michelsen medal winner with 19 votes.
Kyneton was first into the grand final with a second semi-final win over Rochy but, led by centreman Alan Cobham, the Demons beat the Maroons in the prelim. final to snatch a grand final spot.
It was a great grand final with nothing between the two clubs. Philp was in control up forward and the Tigers held on to win a thriller in front of a massive crowd by three points: 9.8 (62) to 8.11 (59).
It was Kyneton’s first flag since 1936 and proved conclusively that Philp was a master coach.

ROCHESTER was determined to make amends in 1961. The Demons belted the Tigers in Round 2, but there were some upset results right through the first half of the season.
In Round 8 cellar dweller Echuca were too good for third-placed Castlemaine, seventh placed Eaglehawk beat Golden Square while South Bendigo (6th) beat QEO co-tenants Sandhurst.
After Round 11 five clubs looked to be real contenders for fourth spot with Rochy, Kyneton and Castlemaine putting some distance between themselves while among the chasing pack.
Square, Hurst and South were all on four wins followed by Eaglehawk and Echuca with three each.
The Caltex Country Championships, a two-season concept, was up and running. Preliminary matches were to be played in 1961 with the semi-finals and grand finals scheduled for 1962.
Under coach Noel McMahen Bendigo beat Northern District and North Central to grab a berth for the ’62 finals series.
Domestically, Round 16 was crucial. South led the Hurst by eight points late in the last term when John “Fizzle” Mulqueen booted a goal.
The Maroons came again with a point to ‘Jocka’ Keating and a vital goal to Ron Ford. But the bell sounded and the Bloods had held on by one point.
The Bloods came crashing down in Round 17 when Rochy delivered a 130-point thumping at the QEO only for South to re-group and beat the Tigers at the Kyneton Showgrounds to stay alive.
In the wash-up, however, South’s percentage had taken a mauling after the Rochester loss and Sandhurst clung to fourth and a first semi-final appearance.

EVERYONE was sure it would be a Tigers-Rochy grand final and when the Demons won the second semi-final half of the equation was realized.
Kyneton had to battle really hard in the final to beat Sandhurst by one, straight kick. Then on the eve of the grand final 35-year-old Clive Philp announced that the 1961 big dance would be his last as a player.
Rochy was in complete control early on before a determined third quarter burst against the wind of 3.4 by Kyneton, while holding the Demons to 1.1, turned the game.
Kyneton piled on five goals in the last quarter to turn a 24-point half-time deficit into an eventual 25-point grand final victory: 12.13 (85) to 9.6 (60).
Apart from Philp pulling up stumps as a player, the ’61 grand final marked Noel McMahen’s last match as Rochester coach.
He’d taken the Demons to four grand finals for their first two BFL flags, but McMahen was returning to Melbourne.
Con O’Toole took over in 1962 and he was to mastermind a rare feat – winning the premiership as an undefeated club.
But it wasn’t going to be easy as Golden Square coach John Ledwidge had been busy over summer on the recruiting trail and he’d also taken over from McMahen as BFL coach.
In the Caltex semi-final on June 2nd, the Blue and Gold downed Ovens and Murray by 14 points at the QEO while the inter-league players then saddled up for their clubs on the holiday Monday.
Before another enormous crowd, Ledwidge’s team accounted for the Wimmera at Horsham in the Caltex Championships grand final. The BFL final four ended up as Rochy, Kyneton, Castlemaine and Golden Square with a three-game gap between the Bulldogs and fifth and sixth.
Square downed the Magpies in the first semi-final before the finals were put on hold. The QEO was under water following spectacular downfalls.
Eventually O’Toole’s Demons thumped Kyneton and the Tigers surprisingly went out in straight sets when Golden Square beat them in the prelim.
It was Square’s first grand final since 1947 but the accomplished Demons were just a shade too strong in a grand final marred by atrocious kicking: Rochy 9.17 (71) to G Square 7.20 (52).

ROCHESTER, though, had to wait only until the first round of 1963 to see their unbeaten run broken. Arch-rivals Kyneton took out the honours.
The only difference to the top four in ’63 was the emergence of Echuca. All the old familiar signs were there with Rochy, Kyneton and Square, although when Murray Bombers’ star Bob Vagg won the Michelsen medal he broke a stunning sequence.
Since 1956 and in seven seasons only Kyneton and Rochester players had won the medal. Echuca’s Vagg won with 17 votes.
In their sixth, consecutive grand final appearance the Demons downed Kyneton convincingly: 16.22 (118) to the Tigers 10.14 (74).
But plaudits must go to the Tigers, as well, because the 1963 play-off was their fifth in seven seasons.
Nonetheless the landscape was shifting as Golden Square with new coach Bertie Rowe at the helm was about to up the stakes even higher for the 1964 and ’65 seasons.

FOOTNOTE: Clive Philp played 112 VFL games with Hawthorn between 1948 and 1955 and kicked 23 goals.
He wasn’t tall for a forward, measuring 178 cm or 5 ft. 10 ins. I’d regularly see Clive in the late Nineties-early Noughties at the Kyneton Showgrounds during those freezing winter months.
Like the rest of us he was well rugged up in a thick overcoat and scarf.
Clive lived until he was 81, passing away in August 2007.

Richard’s tips for 2015’s split Round 16, second weekend: Golden Square by 37 (vs. Eaglehawk, third vs. fourth) and Kyneton by 19 (vs. Castlemaine, fifth vs. seventh).

By Richard Jones