SEVENTY years ago as the world settled back down after six years of war Rochester rejoined the BFL and Elmore also became part of the league structure.

But it was a short sojourn for Elmore as the club was not re-admitted when Kyneton returned to the BFL ranks in 1947.

Nonetheless the ’46 season will always be remembered as the year Elmore’s captain Bob Dawson won the BFL medal. It was known as the Arthur Cook Medal seven decades ago --- and for that one season only --- and Dawson took it home.

The other newsworthy story about the 1946 season was the switch by Forties superstar Reg Ford --– although the word ‘superstar’ hadn’t actually been coined then --- from Golden Square back to his home club Sandhurst.
It was a big move as Ford finished out his footy career with the Hurst. And it must have a been a relief for him not to spend Friday nights or Saturday mornings being driven back to Bendigo from Murchison where he’d been stationed in 1945 as an Army camp guard.

Square’s 1945 coach Bonnie Hargreaves had sent a car up to Murchison every weekend to collect Ford. The legendary footballer was a guard at the camp housing what were then termed ‘illegal aliens’, or people from countries such as Italy or Germany with whom the Allies had been at war.
We can only guess at what the roads between the Goulburn Valley area and Bendigo were like during Ford’s frequent trips. And also petrol would have been in short supply following rationing during the six years of conflict.
The BFL in 1946 comprised six clubs: the four city teams (Sandhurst, South Bendigo, Eaglehawk and Golden Square) plus Rochester and Elmore.
Kyneton didn’t rejoin until 1947 the season another great man of footy, South’s Alan ‘The Fox’ McDonald became a fixture in the BFL.

SO what had happened in Round 1 back on May 11th 1946.
Well, two of the three games resulted in winning margins of less than a goal: Rochy over new club Elmore by a point and Eaglehawk by four points over South.

In a low scoring affair at Rochester Elmore conceded a big start but fell just short by the final bell.

At the start of the last term Koch scored full points for the new club, followed by a major score from skipper Dawson. A third goal to Hayes and a single from the boot of Job levelled the scores.
Sharp goaled for Rochester and then another single to the home side gave Rochy a slender advantage. Then Koch again goaled for Elmore and after another single to the visitors the scores were level once more.

Shortly before the final bell Rochester coach Ernie Vine broke through and his behind gave Rochester the win.

Eaglehawk had moved out to a nice break in the first half against Golden Square and this break helped the Hawks to victory over the previous season’s premiers.

Sandy Herbert (5) and Hussey (3) nailed eight of the Hurst’s 12 goals against South. Herbert was noted by the Advertiser footy writer as ‘one of the favourites for the BFL goalkicking’.
Hussey had served in the Navy during the war and in ’46 was training as a teacher.

Flags were flown at half-mast at all grounds out of respect to the late Councillor T.R. Davies: the former BFL president.
Final scores: Sandhurst 12.19 def. South Bendigo 9.9; Rochester 7.9 def. Elmore 7.8 and Eaglehawk 12.9 def. G. Square 11.11.
Gate takings: Upper Reserve £64, Rochester £28 and Golden Square £38.

ROUND 2 in 1946 was played on Saturday, May 18th.
Coach Vine had called for extra training for his Rochester players saying ‘extra stamina will be required from what we showed against Elmore last weekend’.
The draw was: South Bendigo vs. Golden Square, Eaglehawk vs. Rochester and Elmore vs. Sandhurst.
In the Bendigo Football Association it was Provincial vs. Kangaroo Flat, Huntly vs. Kennington, Kamarooka vs. North Bendigo and Neilborough vs. Axedale (at Sebastian).
Conditions were poor for footy that May weekend following heavy rain on Friday and high winds blowing hard at all three BFL venues on the Saturday.
The Addy scribe noted that at Canterbury Park 13 goals were ‘obtained with the wind before one was kicked against it, up to half-time’.
Rochester actually posted more scoring shots and despite the strong wind the footy was described as “of a high standard”.
“South Bendigo gave another disappointing performance and finished with a big deficiency against the fast-improving Golden Square with Sandhurst and Eaglehawk the only teams undefeated,” he penned.
“Displaying more understanding and purpose Golden Square routed South at the Upper Reserve. Jumping into stride smartly Square took a handy lead in the first quarter and was not seriously challenged until the third quarter.
“At that period South Bendigo played more steadily and for a time looked as if it was going to make a fight of it with last season’s premier.
“South got to within 11 points of Golden Square and enthusiasm was high.
“But quickly the South effort died away and Golden Square started scoring goals and finished 12 goals to the good,” the main match report read.

DESPITE the best efforts of Rochester defenders Williams, Moore and Kirchhofer Eaglehawk banged home seven goals from 10 first quarter scoring shots against Rochester.
Hicks, who finished with five majors, was Eaglehawk’s main forward and having seen what their opponents could do with the wind Rochester profited by direct advances to goal in the second quarter.
The lightly built Chappel earned full points with a hefty kick, Gundry broke through for another while McKenzie had started it all with a goal in the first minute.
But the Addy man at the ground noted one serious flaw in Rochester’s play. “The mistake they made was the long period they retained the ball after marking it or receiving a free kick.
“This oversight penalized the team,” he wrote.
Vines and Sharp combined for goals leaving the visitors only two points down. But only seconds from half-time Tupper got an Eaglehawk goal at the southern end, the first for the game, with Eaglehawk leading by eight points at the half-time interval.
With the velocity of the wind dropping considerably as the third quarter opened, Eaglehawk added five goals to two. Pascoe, Turner and Tupper scored goals for Eaglehawk with Sharp, who rose high above three players in a pack to mark, scoring a Rochester goal.
But the visiting forwards’ inability to find the goal hindered the side’s progress. Three Rochester scoring shots yielded points only and when Walsh’s shot hit a goal post Eaglehawk led by four goals at three-quarter time.
Hicks got his fifth goal for the home club after a spirited bid by Rochester in the fourth quarter but when Toomey kicked wide with a hurried snap shot Rochester’s chances had gone.

SANDHURST led by three goals at half-time against Elmore and assumed control early in the third quarter. “They kept up a constant barrage on the opponent’s goal,” the Advertiser report noted.
Elmore’s defenders worked hard and held the Maroons to only two goals from 10 third quarter scoring shots while the alertness and experience of Sandhurst’s backmen, with Trahair outstanding, checked Elmore from scoring at all.
“Elmore pleased by the resolute manner in which it finished the game,” the report said. “They tried to make up the deficiency in the last quarter but were nullified by the superiority of Sandhurst’s defenders over their forwards.”
Koch and Murnane booted two goals each for Elmore while Herbert, also with two majors, was Sandhurst’s only multiple goalkicker.
Apart from Trahair McGregor, Bolger, Fawcett, Ford and McHugh were named in Sandhurst’s best. Jack, McNamara, J. Hayes, Koch and G. Roulston were named in Elmore’s best.
Round 2 scores
Sandhurst 4.5 7.6 9.14 10.15 (75)
Elmore 1.0 4.3 4.3 5.4 (34)

Golden Square 4.5 5.7 11.9 17.10 (112)
South Bendigo 1.2 3.2 5.3 6.4 (40)

Eaglehawk 7.3 8.3 13.5 16.6 (102)
Rochester 0.1 6.7 8.11 11.16 (82)

Gate takings: Upper Reserve £64, Eaglehawk £32 and Elmore just £14.
Ladder: Eaglehawk and Sandhurst 2 wins, 0 losses, 8 premiership points; Golden Square and Rochester 1 win, 1 loss, 4 points; Elmore and South Bendigo 0 wins, 2 losses, 0 points.
Leading goalkickers: F. Hicks (Eaglehawk) 8, C. Rohde (G. Square), R. Sharp (Rochester) and H. Herbert (Sandhurst) all 7.
BFL seconds: G. Square 10.8 def. South Bendigo 4.2 and Rochester 5.10 def. Eaglehawk 3.8. Round 3 fixture: South Bendigo vs. Eaglehawk, Rochester vs. Sandhurst and Elmore vs. Golden Square.
Looking further through the 1946 Advertisers and closing in on the end of June Elmore was still winless and in the BFL cellar.
All this after such a promising start back in Round 1.
They were 12 premiership points behind fifth-placed Rochy which was on 3 wins-4 losses [12 prem. points] with the Top Four: Sandhurst 5 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss, 22 points; Eaglehawk 4-1-2, 18; Golden Square 4 wins-3 losses, 16 and South Bendigo 4-3, 16 points.

Richard’s tips for Round 2, Anzac weekend: Eaglehawk by 17 points, Kyneton by 20, Sandhurst by 76, Golden Square by 31 (Gardiner Reserve, Monday twilight) and Strathfieldsaye by 34 (Camp Reserve, Monday night).
Tips tally for 2016: 4.

By Richard Jones