In the late afternoon of Saturday, July 20, 1974, those words, made immortal by England’s wartime Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, echoed across Warrnambool’s Reid Oval.

Against the mighty Hampden League, and all the odds – and after a two-year series involving all major leagues – North-Central had won the Victorian Country Football Championship.

And the League’s legendary secretary, Des Darcy, was making sure the world knew about it.

Coached by former Collingwood captain, Frank Tuck, and captained by former North Melbourne star Maurie Wood, the North-Central team included a number of players from the Mallee League, all of whom excelled in the rain-soaked conditions.

Over the next two issues, the “Times” will recall some of the highlights of that historic weekend. But first, a team photograph, and comments on the performance of individual players.

From the backline, this was the North-Central team which astonished the football world at Warrnambool last Saturday:

Positions

• KEVIN ADAMS: The measure of this young player’s worth in the back pocket was the number of goals the opposition DIDN’T kick. The goal scored by former Collingwood player Richard Wearmouth was the only one managed by any Hampden rover.
• JEFF CONNELLY: One of the BIG influences on North-Central’s two-year quest for the 1974 championship. On Saturday he was a positive, confident and effective full-back. His kicking, like that of Hampden’s full-back Bob. Mallett, turned defence into attack almost every time he laid hands on the ball.
• LEON GROSE: This was a “different” player from the one who represented North-Central last season. Whether or not it was the added responsibility of vice-captaincy, or the extra challenge of a grand final, Grose was judgement personified in defence. His was the game of a master footballer.
• JOHN FORSTER: The capabilities of this player were almost as great a revelation to North-Central followers as they were to Hampden’s. His powerful presence on the half-back line gave the opposing half-forwards little chance for cohesive action. Forster’s performance was, in fact, one of the “gems” of the day.
• MURRAY GILMOUR: A player now fit to wear the mantle shed first by Jim Brennan and then by Darryl Campbell. No greater compliment could be paid to any country footballer. Out in that championship arena he looked a giant even among the big men.
• JOHN WHITE: All the tough, unyielding efficiency we remember from Mildura last year identified this flanker’s game, especially in that testing last quarter.
• RUSSELL EVANS: One of the quickest to adapt to the foreign conditions. In the first half particularly, his contribution on the wing was of real value.
• JOHN VALLANCE: Switched early from centre to the forward line, he was quickly among the goals, and was a constant worry to Hampden’s defence.
• ALLAN WILLS: Winner of three trophies. A brilliant winger in the Ken Stronach mould. His handling of the greasy ball and slippery conditions was incredible.
• MAURIE WOOD and BARRY GNIEL: Their’s was the task of finding a way through a half-back line that had stopped Latrobe Valley in its tracks. Wood scored one of the first two goals that sparked North-Central into life. Gniel’s elusiveness repeatedly embarrassed a defence that had looked so assured in the semi-final a month before. (At the ripe old age of 26, Barry Gniel is, incidentally, the “Elder Statesman” of the North-Central side, having been in the team when Mallee League players first made their appearance in championship football at Cohuna in 1969. On that day, he kicked 7 goals when moved to full-forward.)
• HUGH DELAHUNTY: One of the busiest men afield. He began at centre half-forward, transferred into the ruck, and then to full-forward. He was prepared at all times to accept any kind of physical pressure, and capped a valuable contribution with two goals.
• KEITH RAYNOR: It wasn’t only the rugby-style head-gear that made this player one of the personalities of the final. At no stage did Hampden know what he was likely to do next. He marked from in front, from the side and from behind. He kicked one goal with a torpedo from 70 yards out, another with his boot off, and covered the ground as if it were dry. (Having already been a member of Bendigo League’s winning championship side in 1972, Keith Raynor had now established an individual record never likely to be equalled.)
• JIM JESS: After being completely blanketed at full-forward, this player became one of the most prominent figures afield in the vital last quarter. In the ruck he was the one man to outreach Hampden’s captain, Terry Alexander, and gave North-Central a new lease of life when it was needed most.
• GREG ROBERTSON: His uncanny skill was such that even the “unplayable” cricket pitch failed to stop him. Time and again his moves from the centre found their way into scoring range.
• RON GREEN: Saturday’s final confirmed his rating as one of the most “complete” players in country football. His ability to mark with the tallest ruck men and keep pace with the fastest wingers place him in a class of his own.
• DES HINDSON: The mobility, stamina and size of this young player made him an essential member of North-Central’s ruck force.
• KEVIN SAIT: It made not the slightest difference that he was the smallest and youngest player afield. His brilliant ball-getting in trying conditions demonstrated again that there’s no substitute for class, regardless of the size of the player.
• BOB LATTA: As expected, this talented championship campaigner began to collect kicks the moment he went on in the last quarter.
• CHRIS BROWN: Maybe it’s just as well that the simultaneous “cramping” of three North-Central players prevented his being sent on in the final term. A fit Chris. Brown among a tired opposition would hardly have been a “fair go”!

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