- Apr 4, 2006
- 5,988
- 12,395
- AFL Club
- Western Bulldogs
Too much angst on here atm, think we all need to stop and smell the roses occasionally, or as the BF regent used to advise, "have a Bex and a good lie down"... (greetings King Harold !)
Anyway, for a bit of fun, here's some family connections from the past to trawl through (triggered by my posting a stat I've memorised of Jamie Barham's entire Bulldog career on here recently!)
#1 The Barhams and the Bulldogs
Ricky Barham is a Collingwood legend, and having originated from Hamilton, was always tied to the Pies in the old zoning days. But he was preceded and succeeded by an older and younger brother who both briefly played VFL, but neither for the Pies.
Billy Barham played reserves at the Pies in the early 70s, but couldn't crack a senior gig, so headed off to a struggling Melbourne. Wearing the famous #31 jumper, he made his debut in Round 9, 1974, at Western Oval, against a Footscray team on the up and finals-bound. Footscray won easily, and fielded a 17yo Kelvin Templeton in his 6th game, an 18yo Allan 'Rocky' Stoneham in his third(!) season, and a 19yo Ian Dunstan.
Billy played another 8 games in 1974, including the return bout against the Dogs at the MCG which was a shellacking, with Peter Welsh kicking 5, and Quinlan and ex-Demon Parke 4 each for the visiting victors.
Billy played 3 more games in 1975 before his VFL career was over, the last of his 12 career games named on the bench in another poor loss to Footscray, in round 12 at Western Oval, with Templeton and Quinlan this time kicking 6 each for the Dogs. Sadly his coach, some bloke called Skilton, didn't see fit to give Billy a run at all, so he headed off to play at Woodend in 1976, and later coached Gisborne - which led to another (brief) Bulldog connection.
Meanwhile Ricky debuted in 1977, and quickly established himself as a regular at the Pies. Of course for us Bulldogs, one of his more memorable games was probably being BOG in 1984 at Western Oval in a game where Gubby Allan had a brain fade and set up Simon Beasley for a match-winning goal. R.Barham was everywhere in the last quarter, tagged somewhat unsuccessfully by Rod MacPherson - until a critical aerial contest late in the game which MacPherson outpointed Barham with a courageous mark.
Which brings us to the youngest brother, Jamie. Tied to the Pies under zoning rules being also from Hamilton, he'd headed to Gisborne in 1978, where oldest brother Billy was captain-coach. Under the zoning rules, he needed to be out of Collingwood's zone for 3 years before he could qualify for the Demons, who had Gisborne in their zone. So he subsequently made his VFL debut in 1981, for the ultimately wooden-spoon bound Demons, wearing #42. After 4 largely forgettable games (all losses), at the end of 1981, he wanted to join Ricky at the Pies. But Melbourne and Collingwood had very different opinions on his ability, and the Pies were only prepared to offer a fraction of what the Dees were asking for. So some bloke called Hart snapped up one of many rejects from other clubs to trial the youngest Barham at Footscray. While blessed with the same pace as brother Ricky, Jamie was unfortunately skinny enough to hide behind a broom handle, and Hart was gone by mid-season. So Jamie played his one and only game under new coach Bluey Hampshire, running out in the #54 at Moorabbin in round 15, 1982. The Dogs led by a couple of goals at each change up to 3/4 time, young Jamie flashed in and out of the play on the wing, occasionally in possession of the ball! But in a high-scoring affair, the Saints came from behind to win by 11 points, 131-120. Beasley kicked 6 for the Dogs, and Templeton 2, but Robert Mace (who?!) wearing #60(!!) kicked 7 for the Saints, to be the hero, ably assisted by future Bulldogs Con Gorozidis with 4 and Bruce Duperouzel with 3. Saints that day also featured future Footscray football manager Paul Armstrong, future Bulldog Mark Kellett, some bloke who could wield a willow and bowl a Kookaburra named O'Donnell, and a smarmy CHB called Grant Thomas, while the Footscray team featured noted stud breeders Terry De Koning and Bruce Reid!
So Jamie Barham's entire Bulldog career consisted of 1 game, comprising 5 kicks, 1 mark, 1 handball and 1 behind, and lots of flashy running on a relatively dry Moorabbin ground. He was dropped the next week, unfortunately for a game where the struggling Bulldogs smashed Geelong at Western Oval, kicking 10 goals in the last quarter, and Simon Beasley kicking the first of his double figure goal tallies (12 in that game), and Jamie's VFL career was over. (But not before, for some bizarre reason, I've committed his career Footscray stats to life-long memory!)
He does occupy a foot note in VFL/AFL history though - as one of a handful of players to play with different wooden spoon clubs in consecutive seasons (Melbourne 1981, and Footscray 1982).
And in a well-worn classification system on this forum, he was not the dud brother, but more the dud-dud brother! (Sorry Jamie, just a forum in-joke.)
Anyway, for a bit of fun, here's some family connections from the past to trawl through (triggered by my posting a stat I've memorised of Jamie Barham's entire Bulldog career on here recently!)
#1 The Barhams and the Bulldogs
Ricky Barham is a Collingwood legend, and having originated from Hamilton, was always tied to the Pies in the old zoning days. But he was preceded and succeeded by an older and younger brother who both briefly played VFL, but neither for the Pies.
Billy Barham played reserves at the Pies in the early 70s, but couldn't crack a senior gig, so headed off to a struggling Melbourne. Wearing the famous #31 jumper, he made his debut in Round 9, 1974, at Western Oval, against a Footscray team on the up and finals-bound. Footscray won easily, and fielded a 17yo Kelvin Templeton in his 6th game, an 18yo Allan 'Rocky' Stoneham in his third(!) season, and a 19yo Ian Dunstan.
Billy played another 8 games in 1974, including the return bout against the Dogs at the MCG which was a shellacking, with Peter Welsh kicking 5, and Quinlan and ex-Demon Parke 4 each for the visiting victors.
Billy played 3 more games in 1975 before his VFL career was over, the last of his 12 career games named on the bench in another poor loss to Footscray, in round 12 at Western Oval, with Templeton and Quinlan this time kicking 6 each for the Dogs. Sadly his coach, some bloke called Skilton, didn't see fit to give Billy a run at all, so he headed off to play at Woodend in 1976, and later coached Gisborne - which led to another (brief) Bulldog connection.
Meanwhile Ricky debuted in 1977, and quickly established himself as a regular at the Pies. Of course for us Bulldogs, one of his more memorable games was probably being BOG in 1984 at Western Oval in a game where Gubby Allan had a brain fade and set up Simon Beasley for a match-winning goal. R.Barham was everywhere in the last quarter, tagged somewhat unsuccessfully by Rod MacPherson - until a critical aerial contest late in the game which MacPherson outpointed Barham with a courageous mark.
Which brings us to the youngest brother, Jamie. Tied to the Pies under zoning rules being also from Hamilton, he'd headed to Gisborne in 1978, where oldest brother Billy was captain-coach. Under the zoning rules, he needed to be out of Collingwood's zone for 3 years before he could qualify for the Demons, who had Gisborne in their zone. So he subsequently made his VFL debut in 1981, for the ultimately wooden-spoon bound Demons, wearing #42. After 4 largely forgettable games (all losses), at the end of 1981, he wanted to join Ricky at the Pies. But Melbourne and Collingwood had very different opinions on his ability, and the Pies were only prepared to offer a fraction of what the Dees were asking for. So some bloke called Hart snapped up one of many rejects from other clubs to trial the youngest Barham at Footscray. While blessed with the same pace as brother Ricky, Jamie was unfortunately skinny enough to hide behind a broom handle, and Hart was gone by mid-season. So Jamie played his one and only game under new coach Bluey Hampshire, running out in the #54 at Moorabbin in round 15, 1982. The Dogs led by a couple of goals at each change up to 3/4 time, young Jamie flashed in and out of the play on the wing, occasionally in possession of the ball! But in a high-scoring affair, the Saints came from behind to win by 11 points, 131-120. Beasley kicked 6 for the Dogs, and Templeton 2, but Robert Mace (who?!) wearing #60(!!) kicked 7 for the Saints, to be the hero, ably assisted by future Bulldogs Con Gorozidis with 4 and Bruce Duperouzel with 3. Saints that day also featured future Footscray football manager Paul Armstrong, future Bulldog Mark Kellett, some bloke who could wield a willow and bowl a Kookaburra named O'Donnell, and a smarmy CHB called Grant Thomas, while the Footscray team featured noted stud breeders Terry De Koning and Bruce Reid!
So Jamie Barham's entire Bulldog career consisted of 1 game, comprising 5 kicks, 1 mark, 1 handball and 1 behind, and lots of flashy running on a relatively dry Moorabbin ground. He was dropped the next week, unfortunately for a game where the struggling Bulldogs smashed Geelong at Western Oval, kicking 10 goals in the last quarter, and Simon Beasley kicking the first of his double figure goal tallies (12 in that game), and Jamie's VFL career was over. (But not before, for some bizarre reason, I've committed his career Footscray stats to life-long memory!)
He does occupy a foot note in VFL/AFL history though - as one of a handful of players to play with different wooden spoon clubs in consecutive seasons (Melbourne 1981, and Footscray 1982).
And in a well-worn classification system on this forum, he was not the dud brother, but more the dud-dud brother! (Sorry Jamie, just a forum in-joke.)