Uncovering Pieces in Knox City's History

Bruce Darnell, a great football man, has undertaken the huge endeavour of researching Knox City's history and attempting to find a result for every first team game played. Knox City were founded as Bayswater, and he now only has a few results missing for the 1954 and 1955 seasons.

For their inaugural season in VASFA competitions, Bayswater fielded a senior team in the 1954 Fourth Division Reserves league. Until now Bruce was unable to ascertain two results from that campaign.

Looking through a folder of old papers I picked up from Moorabbin City when they were preparing for a 50th anniversary celebration in the mid-1990's, I found this fixture list for that league:

1954 Division Four Reserves Fixtures

Now when I crossed-checked the known results that Knox have, here:

we uncover a few things. Firstly the game fixtured for August 28 at home to St Albans was played on the free weekend on June 12. Similarly, the game fixtured for August 14 against Heidelberg was played a week earlier on August 7.

Now the April 24 issue of Soccer News (which is one of a dozen or so I've just realised have yet to be added to the archive, by the way) has a table dated "as at April 19". This shows Bayswater as having a record of 4 games played, 3 wins, 1 loss, 11 goals for, 2 goals against and 6 points. The known results from the Knox City records give us 3 games played, 2 wins, 1 loss, 11 goals for, 2 goals against and 4 points. This means they were awarded points for a walkover in the missing game against Nunawading, as was the custom of the time (points awarded only, goals for/against not involved).

Now Soccer News on August 21 has a table listed as "as at Monday August 2".  This shows a record of 16 games played, 13 wins, 1 draw, 2 losses, 72 goals for, 18 goals against and 27 points. Add the game on August 7 to that and we get 17 games played, 14 wins, 1 draw, 2 losses, 80 goals for, 18 goals against and 29 points. Stack this up against the final table in the 1955 VASFA Yearbook which has a record of 18 games played, 15 wins, 1 draw, 2 losses, 84 goals for, 19 goals against and 31 points and we can deduce the missing result against Wilhelmina was a 4-1 win for Bayswater. This gives us a complete season record:

That only leaves a few conundrums from 1955 left to complete the record. Once again, anyone that can be of any assistance, please get in touch.

George Campbell Returns To Aberdeen

Since the beginning of the game in Melbourne, the Scots have been significant contributors to Victorian football. Many early games were drawn along Scotland v England lines, before Harry Dockerty would revive organised competitions in 1909. The importation of Scottish players throughout the 1950's and 1960's saw the standard of Australian football rise to a level which saw the Socceroos able to qualify for the 1974 World Cup Finals.

The signing of a young Scot by South Melbourne Hellas in 1978 created a stir in the football scene, as covered in Soccer Action at the time:

Soccer Action Vol.3 No.11 - Wednesday April 19, 1978

Soccer Action Vol.3 No.15 - Wednesday May 10, 1978

George Campbell had been the youngest ever player to play for Aberdeen. He came on a sixteen year old substitute against Morton in 1975 to make his First Division (current Premiership) debut. Hellas paid a record fee of $20,000 to secure the skillful, tricky youngster already dubbed "The White Pele". In five seasons at Middle Park he would score 17 goals from 104 appearances with the club reaching a best ever NSL placing to that point when Runner's-Up in 1981.

                                               George Campbell at Aberdeen


In 1983 Campbell made the move to NSL rivals Preston Makedonia where he played for three seasons before a transfer to Green Gully in 1986. During his time in the NSL the former Scottish Youth International would occasionally feature for the Victorian State Team. Some of these games included the 2-1 win over Dundee in 1978 and a thrilling 2-3 loss to a star-studded New York Cosmos in 1983.

His time in the NSL was followed by stints with Box Hill (1987-1989) and Fawkner (1989) in the VSL (current NPL). He then continued playing in the lower State League with Nunawading City, then Ringwood City, Knox City and Banyule City until 1998. After an early broken leg which scuppered plans for a return to Scottish League football he would enjoy a career spanning 20 years in Melbourne.

Since retiring as a player he has been coaching in club, academy and school capacities. As well as roles with the FFV and Xavier College he has been involved with the Youth teams at Essendon Royals, Northcote City and his current club Dandenong Thunder.

In October this year he returned to Scotland for a reunion lunch for the anniversary of Aberdeen's 1976 Scottish League Cup win. A special programme was made for the event:

                                            

It's fantastic to see a club that celebrates it's past in such a manner. Well done to George on his achievements and his continued involvement in the local game.

                                                      (Click on images to enlarge)