MOST people around Greater Hamilton involved with football since the 1950s will have known Max Graham.  

Max died peacefully at the Hamilton Hospital on March 25, aged 91.

He was a legend in footy administration including as joint secretary of the Western Border Football League with Brian Hennessy from its inception in 1964 to 1978.

 Before that he served as secretary of the Western District Football League for 17 years prior to that competition being incorporated into the WBFL.

He was also secretary of Hamilton Football Club for five years.

Earlier again he played junior football but found injuries hard to recover from.

In later years Max was an occasional sports scribe for The Spec and for many years called games on Radio 3HA with Geoff Tuckett.   

When BTV6 had a football show Max was a regular panellist.

He was on radio not that many years ago reading football scores on Saturday night and doing sports interviews that morning. 

If years serving our great game in an honorary capacity was a consideration then Max should have been awarded a gong.     

What’s become clear only in recent decades is that Max must have had a crystal ball.

He foresaw where the Western Border Football League and district footy generally was heading, as outlined in the Spec in November 1979.

The interview with then sports editor Peter Lyons follows…      

Imbalance will threaten WBFL future

THERE is a danger that the four Mt Gambier clubs in the Western Border Football League could become so powerful they isolate themselves.

 That is the view of the man who, as secretary, has guided the league since its inception but has now stepped down – Mr Max Graham, of Hamilton.

 Mr Graham sees the real problems for both the league and the four Mt Gambier clubs if they continue to get financially stronger than the other teams in the league.

 “The problem is that they would be left out on a limb with nowhere to go,” he said.

 “Geographically there is just nowhere for them to go and it could well be that they will finish up with their own four-team competition.”

 Of the two other South Australian clubs, only Millicent appears to have a chance of ever matching the strength of the Mt Gambier clubs.

 “Millicent is a highly industrialised area and so could become stronger,” he said.

 “But Penola is struggling and its prospects do not look bright.”

 On this side of the border, Mr Graham considers the advent of Alcoa to Portland will strengthen both Portland and Heywood.

 “Casterton will have to do more but Coleraine will always have trouble because of its population,” he said.

 “Coleraine is existing because of its tremendous enthusiasm and strong junior set up.

 “But I do not believe there would ever be an amalgamation between Casterton and Coleraine.”

 All this may seem a rather gloomy picture that Max paints of the future of the league. But he is quick to state that he believes there is a strong future, provided the league is administered well.

 “The amalgamation of the two leagues to form WBFL in 1964 was the best thing that ever happened to football in this area,” he said.

• * *

 “Victorian umpires look on our league as one of the strongest in the State and there is no reason why it should not remain so.”

 There would not be a great many more experienced administrators in football than Max Graham who, at 47 years of age, has already spent considerably more than half his life as a football secretary.

 He started as Hamilton secretary at the tender age of 19 and by the time he was 23 years of age he had been made a life member of the Magpies.

 And why did he become a secretary at such a young age?

 “Well, an injury forced me out of playing football when I was 18 and I loved the game so much I just wanted to be involved with it,” he said.

 Max hastens to add that the injury did not put paid to what could be considered a promising career.

 “I was just an average sort of player,” he recalls.

 After four years as Hamilton secretary, Max was transferred with a bank to Melbourne for two years.

 While there, he played seconds cricket with Essendon, moving from the fourths to the seconds in his only season with the club.

 Returning to Hamilton, he went into his own sports store (which he ran for 13 years) and it was not long before he was back as Magpie secretary.

 He married Dorothy in 1958 – the year he was appointed secretary of the Western District Football League and stayed there until the 1964 amalgamation.

 Over the years, Max says football has made him many friends in various parts of Victoria.

 He has also had the pleasure of working with men whom he considers to be outstanding football administrators.

They were former WBFL presidents, the late Claude Emerson, Gordon Hutchesson and present VCFL district councillor, Bob Templeton.

 “I do not like to single out any among the many I have been associated, but these were tremendous in their job,” he said.

• * *

 Of the best footballers he has seen, he believes Shane McKew (Imperials) was the most consistent, while others to impress were Bill Barham (Hamilton) and Reg Burgess (Casterton).

 “Burgess, who won an All-Australian jumper with Essendon, was definitely one of the best players I have ever seen,” he said.

 Max, who at times in his writings in The Spectator criticised some umpires, says he has a lot of time for local umpires.

 He believes that unless the Victorian Football League is prepared to subsidise country umpiring, Western Border will have to retain local umpires.

 “And the ideal set-up in this area would be to have one umpires’ coach for the three umpiring bodies from whom the Western Border draws its men,” he said.

 “We have considered this for some time, but it is difficult to see how it can be achieved.

 “But unless some way can be found, we will not be able to get the uniformity which is so vital.”

 Max would also like to see a league official on the umpires’ selection panel, with one panel for the three bodies.

 He said at the moment umpires were selecting themselves and the general idea seems to keep as many of the umpires as possible happy.

 “But what should happen is that rather than the jobs be spread around, the best umpires should be appointed to the top games,” he said.

 “I do not think this is happening at the moment.”

 And what of Max Graham’s future in football?

 “Well, at the moment I am getting out but that is not to say I won’t be back in the game in some other capacity in a couple of years or so,” he said.

 “I really can’t see myself staying completely away from the game from now on.”

FOOTNOTE: And stay connected it was with his experience being used by the media.

The funeral service was held at the Hamilton Uniting Church after which the cortege left for the Hamilton Lawn Cemetery.