IF Sandhurst had ruled the roost in the BFL world of the 1930s, it was QEO neighbour South Bendigo who usurped the mantle in the Fifties.

Five grand finals in a seven-year stretch for five flags: you can't get better than a 100 per cent strike rate!

And that's what the Bloods did under another legendary BFL playing coach in Alan 'The Fox' McDonald.

It was also the decade when yet another league best and fairest medal was brought in --- the enduring Michelsen Medal in 1952 --- and also the decade when Castlemaine broke a 26-year premiership drought by taking out the '52 flag.

With the circus in town folklore has it that on grand final night some of the victorious Magpie players triumphantly rode elephants down the Maine's main streets. The truth is slightly different so the urban myth makes for better reading this far distant from the actual events.

Nonetheless it was the Bloods which every other rival club had to beat. Early in 1950 it was clear Reg Ford's Sandhurst was nothing like the McCaskill Maroons of earlier times.

The country clubs were the big improvers. After Rd. 13 Castlemaine and Echuca were locked on 10 wins apiece with South and Kyneton making up the Top Four.

Those were the days when top VFL players could make more money coaching and playing in regional leagues. And the BFL along with other big leagues flourished with top name players.
Hurst weren't completely gone as the finals approached. They massacred South by 99 points in Rd. 17 and took the Bloods' fourth spot.

McDonald's men then came out and halted Kyneton's winning run to sneak back into the Four. Full-on controversy was to wind up the 1950 season when Echuca protested an Eaglehawk free kick which ended up ensuring a winning score for the Two Blues.

The protest was dismissed midweek meaning the Murray Bombers had to play Kyneton in the first semi. Echuca put the losing protest behind it and overcame a slow start to beat the Tigers by 11 points.

TOP club Castlemaine met second-placed South in the second semi, but despite huge anticipation the match was a fizzer.
The Bloods kicked poorly but still won comfortably: 15.20 (110) to the Magpies 11.12 (78). The Maine went out in straight sets with Echuca winning the final to set up a grand final showdown with the Bloods.

Neither club had tasted premiership success since the 1920s: South had won in 1925 and Echuca in 1928.

Six grand final losses over the preceding decades spurred on McDonald's men.

The Fox was tactically superior and the Bloods won 10.12 (72) to Echuca's 6.10 (46). And he had a young playing list so there was apprehension among rival coaches that the Bloods could be in for a long run of successes.

They were right. Kyneton dropped from the Top Four to last in 1951 although South was in danger of missing the finals right up to the very last home-and-away round.
They just hung onto fourth place while Rochester and Echuca swapped places with the Murray Bombers missing the 1951 finals.
The first semi saw the Bloods take on the Harry Hickey-coached Rochy and they managed to win.

Then in the second semi, Eaglehawk overcame a three-goal three-quarter time deficit against the Maine with a final stanza burst of six goals.

The Hawks downed the Maine by four points to be first into the grand final.

And then when South won the final, the Magpies departed in straight sets: a repeat of the 1950 scenario.

That set up the South-Eaglehawk clash, a grand final which was to be one of the finest ever played in the BFL.
It was a shoot-out in contemporary terms (although that term wasn't in journalistic usage in the Fifties) with 44 goals landed.

South booted 10.3 in the first term and seemed to everyone to be in complete control. The Hawks responded with a seven goal-to-one second quarter to bounce back into contention.

And even though champion full-forward Harry Morgan kicked nine goals from 10 shots, Eaglehawk went down: 20.8 (128) to the Bloods 24.12 (156).
South had won the flag from fourth spot, a tough assignment in any decade.

WALLY Culpitt took over the coaching duties at Castlemaine for the 1952 season.

Once more the Magpies had a strong season. They sat in second spot as the season drew to a close just behind a resurgent Hurst under new coach, former Hawthorn strongman Kevin Curran.

South was again down the ladder fighting for finals survival with Square and Echuca. An uncharacteristic concluding home-and-away round loss by Echuca saw the Murray Bombers miss out completely.

The Bloods and Square fought out an unlikely draw in the first semi-final. Alan McDonald's tactical genius once more saw South home --- this time in the first semi replay.

As Sandhurst and Castlemaine ran out onto the Upper Reserve for the delayed second semi-final, every supporter was aware of Curran's brilliance.

Even though he was now 31, the big man had won the very first Michelsen medal with 23 votes. Nonetheless, in front of 12,000 fans the Magpies established a match-winning lead in the third quarter and held on to win from the late-charging Curran-led Maroons by 11 points.

It was a huge relief for everyone from Castlemaine. The players had reversed their trend of exiting the finals in straight sets and there was a grand final to look forward to.

Curran got his men over the line in the final against South and an even bigger crowd than second semi-final day turned out for the Maine-Hurst grand final.

A massive crowd of 15,000 people paid a record gate to watch the Magpies break the game open in the third term.

Castlemaine booted 5.4 and held the Maroons to just five behinds on their way to a 15.9 (99) to 9.16 (70) victory.
It was bedlam in Castlemaine that night as the Magpies celebrated their first BFL flag since 1926.

When things had subsided a little, the Castlemaine Football Club staged a premiership dinner for the "players, ladies committee and patrons" in the Town Hall on October 24th, 1952.

EAGLEHAWK'S scouts worked hard over the summer months of 1952-53 to assemble a strong core of players. The Borough had been without a flag since 1946 and supporters, not to mention committee members, were a trifle edgy.

The 1953 season saw a terrible tragedy unfold when young Castlemaine player Ian Brown died from injuries sustained during the inter-league game against Ballarat.

The league and the football community overall was galvanized into action, raising funds for Brown's young family.

Nevertheless, the season went ahead. Going into the finals the Hawks, Hurst, Castlemaine and South Bendigo made up the Four.

The final round, Round 19, was a memorable one. It was during the game between Eaglehawk and Rochester at Canterbury Park that Harry Morgan equalled the league goal-kicking record of 24.

The burly Hawks' spearhead sat out the last quarter on the bench but his 24 majors put him at the top of the BFL's individual honours along with Dave Mahoney of Bendigo City. Mahoney had drilled 24 goals out of his side's 30 against California Gully at the Upper Reserve in 1913.

South didn't make the grand final in 1953. Eaglehawk and Sandhurst played off in a match which saw nothing between the teams until the last term.

Even though Curran amassed 25 kicks for the Hurst, Eaglehawk's George Ennor took 10 marks for the match as the Two Blues downed the Maroons: 12.13 (85) to 9.12 (66).

More on the concluding years of the Fifties in a later article, including South's hat-trick in 1954, 1955 (by a kick over Sandhurst) and 1956.
NOTE: South master coach Alan McDonald (born 1918) played 49 games with Richmond from 1939-43.

He'd married a Bendigo girl hence his move to central Victoria after the war.

After five flags with South (1950-51 and 1954-55-56) 'The Fox' took over as coach of the VFL Tigers. He was in charge at Punt Road from 1957-1960.

But the fourth and final year was a disaster as the Tiges collected the 1960 Wooden Spoon. McDonald was relieved of the coaching duties and he and his family moved back to Bendigo --– permanently.

Richard's tips for Round 8: Eaglehawk by 79 (vs. Maryborough), Strath Storm by 94 (vs. Gisborne), Kyneton by 21 (vs. Kang. Flat, the battle for 5th spot), Sandhurst by 14 (vs. G. Square) and South Bendigo by 30 (vs. C'maine, at QEO).
Tipping total for 2015: 30. Total possible: 35.

By Richard Jones