Football in Melbourne was less than two years old when an official notice appeared in the Bendigo Advertiser on 3 June 1861. It called for a “meeting of gentlemen (notice, no women mentioned), desirous of establishing a Sandhurst Football Club.”
The man behind the meeting was James Bogne (JB) Thompson who deserves a much higher rating in Aussie Rules footy history than he’s received to date. Thompson was the inaugural secretary of the Melbourne Football Club, founded in 1858, a Victorian state cricketer and perhaps most significantly a journalist with The Age in Melbourne. He’d moved to Bendigo after devising the very first set of footy rules with WJ Hammersmith, TH Smith and the man on whose shoulders sits the title ‘the father of football’, TW (Tom) Wills.
This is how the 1861 ad ran (notice the emphasis on capital letters) : Gentlemen interested in the Formation of a Sandhurst Football Club are invited to Meet at the Criterion Hotel at Seven o’Clock this evening. J.B. Thompson.
Directly below the footy ad was one for canaries: Canaries, splendid singers, at Bridge Street next to Clare Restaurant. Prime German Birds.
And then The Hair-Cutting and Shaving Shop of Kangaroo Flat was featured while above the Sandhurst FC advertisement Wood and Dicker’s stock and share broking firm of Pall Mall, Sandhurst was advertising their business skills. They also dabbled as agents for mining.
Remember, the name ‘Bendigo’ for our city did not come into force until 1891. So Sandhurst was not only the name for the new footy club but also the city’s name.
So how did the footy meeting unfold?
Well, John Hasker was elected as the inaugural president, busy Thompson was picked as secretary while a Mr Bayne became the club treasurer.
And here’s the interesting part. Members whether playing or non-playing had to fork out five shillings. Yes, in 2020s terminology five shillings (a quarter of £1) is only the equivalent of 50 cents but 160 years ago it was a significant membership fee. So the Hurst was up and running and its first match was played on what is now known as Rosalind Park – then called the Camp, or Lower, Reserve.
Sandhurst’s opponents were the Volunteers side from the Army and the home club wore a white strip. The famous maroon and blue colours came later. The first goal wasn’t booted until two hours had elapsed. The Hurst’s Drought – perhaps an appropriate surname – scored the inaugural major in Bendigo footy.
Although Wills, Thompson and Co had drafted the first rules of the new footy code there was still no set time for a match. And so Sandhurst vs Volunteers dragged on for a touch more than four hours.
Next up for the Hurst was a challenge match against Kangaroo Flat. This was played at was known for decades as the Back Street Ground. Of course it’s now the Harry Trott Oval in Neale Street and home to South Bendigo footballers and netballers. In the 1860s the ground owner Bendigo United Cricket Club – a private owner – agreed that a footy match could be played there. The Hurst continued to use the Back Creek Cricket Ground as its home base, stretching into 1863, with another couple of games arranged.
Unfortunately footy back in the day wasn’t a favourite of the 1860s sports-going public.
Many letters to the editor complained that the game was played by louts with others penning phrases such as the game encourages unsociable behaviour from the City’s youth. Still by 1867 the City Council sent its workers to expand the playing area in Rosalind Park which was the area of land between the Bendigo Creek and Pall Mall. It was known as the Camp Reserve.
There was another important piece of land, adjacent and higher up. The mining company which had churned through the soil above and below ground for 15 years since the discovery of gold in late 1851 ceded ownership to the city. It wasn’t a simple arrangement. Arguments raged among councillors before the recreation area which was then called the Upper Reserve came into being.
Councillors, footy officials and many members of the general public saw this space as the better option and, of course, we now know the Upper Reserve as the Queen Elizabeth Oval.
So from the early 1870s onwards footy was played on a semi-regular basis as can be seen from an Advertiser article of early May 1872.
The Hurst played the Bankers and Brokers of the city at the Camp Reserve (Rosalind Park) with a large crowd of spectators present. This how the Advertiser of the period reported on the game: A fine game was played and we are happy to report that no bones were broken and that, beyond sundry bruises, no serious damage was sustained.
Not long afterwards Sandhurst hosted the Foundry Football Club from Castlemaine and after three hours of play the match was declared a draw. Next our BFNL foundation club travelled to Kyneton, The scheduled match was played against the local mines side down there and, despite favouritism, Sandhurst was beaten: two goals to nil. One of the Hurst players was badly hurt in a clash.
Patience was attacking the ball when he stumbled and fell into a small hole, breaking his collar bone, the Advertiser reported.
Although there wasn’t a report or an analysis on the suitability of ground surfaces in the Addy, it’s clear that the ‘ovals’ of the day were pretty rough and ready. However, the Advertiser conceded in that 1872 write-up that Sandhurst had been unable to take their best team down to Kyneton. They were super-keen for a re-match at home and in early 1873 that event took place. The Hurst had played some scratch matches early in ’73 and then they hosted Kyneton at the Kangaroo Flat ground with the match starting at 2 pm. It drew on and on until it got too dark to continue but just before closure Sandhurst skipper Liddle booted the winning goal.
After the match the two teams dined at Meader’s Exchange Hotel before they went their separate ways, the Advertiser noted.
And on 15 July club members voted on the club uniform. It was to be “blue jersey, stockings, white cap with red band and white knickerbockers (shorts).”
It’s likely I’ve reported down the years on some of the background history of Sandhurst in earlier Reflections columns in the Bendigo Football Netball League Record. Nevertheless it’s a magnificent history and well worth not just re-reporting but re-reading, also.
And incidentally footy founding father Thompson, who had also been involved in the formation of the Castlemaine FNC, did not live a long life.
He died on 18 July, 1877, aged just 48, from a combination of alcoholism (he was a large consumer, apparently) and broncho-pneumonia.
With thanks to the 2012 Sandhurst FNC 150th anniversary committee and the All-Stars player selection body (of which I was a member) chaired by Shane Hartney with input from Darren Lewis, Danny Ellis and other Dragon luminaries.
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