Where did your involvement with the sport start?

I suppose it all goes back to growing up on a farm at South Ecklin and then going to South Ecklin Primary School.

I'll never forget Kevin Barr was the only teacher at the school at that time – I'm talking about the mid-1950s here.

There were 17 students at the school, there was a great big garden around the school where garden parties were held and the kids had a footy ground.

My siblings were always outside playing footy on the farm.

We moved to the Heytesbury settlement in 1960 where my parents took over a farm at Simpson.

I was 12 years old when I started playing in Port Campbell's under-17 team when the former top Geelong player Alistair Lord was our coach.

I thought my footy career was over when I was 13 years old.

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Can you tell me why you thought your footy career was over when you were 13?

I had an eye condition – I continually had blood vessels at the back of my eyes which would burst.

I ended up seeing an eye surgeon called Edward    Ryan in Collins Street, Melbourne.

He used to put injections into my eyes to fix the problem (both eyes were affected).

I left school when I was 16 to work on the family farm, but football was never far away.

I did a lot of skills work with the footy and ended up making my senior debut with Simpson when I was 22 years old.

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How did you perform in your debut game with Simpson?

We played against Timboon. They were a powerhouse club back in that era.

I was 19th man for that game and I only got the one kick, a scrubby kick to the full forward.

I played for Simpson in 1974 when we lost the grand final to Princetown.

Simpson's grand final fortunes turned around in 1975 when we beat Port Campbell by three points to win the flag.

We beat Port Campbell again in 1976 to take out the premiership and I played in those two grand final victories.

I was president of the     club in 1974 and 1975 after filling various positions     like treasurer, committeeman, secretary and gate keeper.

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Which path did your footy career go down in 1977?

I was at teachers’ college in Ballarat, so I played for Buninyong in the old Ballarat Bacchus March league for the 1977 and 1978 seasons.

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Where was your first posting as a teacher?

I taught at Warrnambool's Our Lady Help Of Christians for 20 years, teaching grade five and six students in various roles.

I had a break from teaching and took up mowing lawns for seven years before going back as a relief teacher.

I did relief teaching for 10 years across the district, mainly teaching in primary schools.

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Let's get back to your eyes for a minute.

Do you still suffer with the same problems of blood vessels bursting at the back of your eyes?

No. Edward Ryan passed away and now I go to Vincent Lee in Warrnambool.

My eyes are pretty good at this stage, but I go in for regular check-ups.

The condition I've suffered from is not hereditary, as we had our three children checked-out for the same problem and the result came back all clear.

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What's your involvement in footy now?

I work very closely with Alan Thompson, who is the Western District Region development manager.

I started working with Alan back in 1989 when we introduced a Vickick program for kids at Warrnambool Primary School.

The program ran for 10 years and taught the kids the basics of footy.

I help co-ordinate various footy programs for schools in the area and then that developed into having junior clinics at footy clubs.

We now operate more than 30 clinics across the district as well as doing      promotional days and Auskick.

I find it relaxing and rewarding working with the young children as it is healthy for them to be outdoors doing sport.

Ten years ago, AFL 9s was introduced, which is a modified game for children in grade 3 and 4.

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Are you involved with the junior girls local program for footy?

Yes. Five years ago, a program was started for young girls.  We've modified the game for them.

Our numbers are heathy as more girls want to get involved just having a kick of the footy and a run around with their friends – again, it's just great to see young people outside playing sport.

It really does not matter which sport people play as long as they are exercising.

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I suppose being raised on a farm with a lot of siblings, you would have played cricket. Did you play cricket at a competitive level?

Yes. I played at Simpson.

I was lucky to have played in three premierships with Simpson before going over to play with Redan.

I also played at Nestles where I’m a life member of the club.