Hailed on receiving his Life Membership in 1974 for being ‘a tireless worker on our behalf, nothing has been a trouble for Dudley to perform, and his loyalty and assistance to our cause fully entitles him to this honour’, Dudley is one of the most prominent of a long line of dedicated servants behind the scenes who have contributed over the entire existence of the Melbourne Football Club.
One of Dudley’s forerunners was undoubtedly a gentleman called Ned Keyburn.
Awarded a retrospective Life Membership in 2005, Keyburn was an assistant at games between 1872 until the time of his death in 1912.
It was written of him in the Victorian Football Follower that ‘An old Melbourne Football Club identity, in Ned Keyburn, known in the old days as ‘Bendigo Ned’, has passed away.
For the last 40 years he made it his business to carry out the oranges to the players at three-quarter time ...’
Such dedication saw Keyburn recognised alongside J.O. Smith, whose involvement started in 1886, and continued to around the 1930s.
In the 1926 Annual Report, it was written that Smith (no first name known) ‘who has been a supporter of the Club for 40 years’, presented the team with mementos of the premiership team.
Smith also helped to create the Club song, making an impact that lasts to this day.
The longevity of the likes of Phillips - his tenure reaching from the 1950s to nearly the current day - alongside Keyburn, Smith and others like them, makes for amazing contributions.
Other greats from yesteryear include the likes of timekeeper Wally Spry, who would be succeeded by his son, in an impressive six decade stretch across generations. At the end of 1927, Spry Snr had been in the post for more than forty years, and carried the fitting nickname of ‘Father Time’. He was presented with a stop watch for his efforts.
A later successor to the timekeeping role would be the great and much admired George Bell, continuing the time related puns into a new era.
The role of many individuals and groups on a voluntary or seasonal basis makes for a wonderful population of contributors such as those named above.
The Social Committee, along with Honorary Officials, provided the main platforms for being part of the Club, and such can be seen on an increasing basis from the 1930s onwards.
It was then that the Social Committee played an invaluable role in difficult economic and social times to hold picnics, ‘the usual Saturday night Dances, the Annual Ball, two Smoke Nights and several Dinners.’
The roles of the Committee members give a great insight into the structure of the Club, with gratitude being expressed in 1936 ‘particularly [to] the lady members of the Committee, who rendered wonderful service in catering for the Saturday night dances.’
Wonderful service is a common thread across roles and eras, from Phillips to Keyburn, and even further to individuals such as W. Watson, ‘Press Representative’ of the 1930s, who appears to have concentrated on the statistical side of the business, as he recorded ‘every free-kick, and the points scored for and against the team, and forwards a complete and correct record to the Committee for its meeting on the Monday following.’
The dedication of these and many others like them is what shines through, and continues to this day.
From Joe Cardamone continuing the lore of ‘Dudley’s Raffle’ each match day, to Barry King and Arthur Wilkinson on the door as they have been for decades past, and through to the many volunteers who continue to make a contribution in the same vein as Phillips, Watson, Keyburn et al did so long ago, it is a uniting thread that helps to make the Melbourne Football Club a community, quietly flourishing behind the scenes as well as working for the ultimate success on the field.
