After an absence of two years due to COVID-19, the annual function for The Friends of the Hawks Museum returned. 

On Sunday, October 23^rd, the Friends were able to re-unite and enjoy gathering at Bunjil Bagora to meet and listen to stories presented by their brown and gold heroes.

This year’s event took on a very different approach. A recent visitor to the museum, Simon Anderson had made enquiries about the 1971 star forward, Bob Keddie. Anderson’s wife, who owns an antique shop, had come across a scrapbook and two South Australian guernseys.  They thought the scrapbook may have been put together by Keddie’s mother. Following a discreet phone call by the curator to Keddie, it was decided that their assumptions were correct.

With the retirement of our very popular MC, Mike Derum, Richard Allsop of ‘Footy Flashbacks’ fame and his son, Matthew made their debut as joint MCs for the Friends Function. We also welcomed three special guests from Sydney, sports historians, Michael Fahey, Lisa Kane and Matt Want who were keen to learn more about the setup of the Hawks Museum and the museum organized functions with players reminiscing about their playing days.

A very moving segment started the day. The presentation to Bob Keddie of the scrapbook that his mother had lovingly compiled and two guernseys, one a South Australian State and the other a South Adelaide FC guernsey that Keddie wore during his three years playing in South Australia.

Simon Anderson, a natural storyteller pulled several newspaper articles and photos from the scrapbook to highlight how they identified the two guersneys. Simon had the audience in fits of laughter as he explained that he had worn the South Adelaide guernsey to training at his local footy club as it had the initials SA on the front of the guernsey, which were his initials as well.

Keddie was then joined by 1971 teammate, Ken Beck and match committee member, John O’Mahony, with the MCs enquiring which John made the call for Keddie to move to full forward for the start of the last quarter – Kennedy or O’Mahony.  Needless to say, O’Mahony, in typical comic style, claimed that honour in front of a doubting audience.

The three generations of the Maginness family then took the stage, Norm (1953-58, Reserves Premiership 1958), Scott, (1988-96, Premierships 1988 & 1989) and Finn who played his first senior game in 2020.  Their accounts of the differing training regimes, and what they ate prior to playing, emphasised how much footy has changed since the 1950s.  To have a current day player participating created great interest and made for some very interesting comparisons.

Russell Greene had the audience in the palm of his hand when he related how he came to Hawthorn from St Kilda mid-season in 1981. When asked about his favourite Hawthorn memory, his answered that it was when his son, Stephen played his first senior game in 2001.

October 23 is a special date for the Allsop family, it is the date Matthew was born. A birthday cake with 15 candles suddenly appeared for the birthday boy, with a very loud rendition of the of ‘Happy Birthday’ from the audience led by Russell Greene.

In true Hawthorn style, the function ended with the popular raffle followed by cameras clicking as countless photos were being taken with the guest speakers holding their premiership cups, surrounded by their adoring fans. A big thank you goes out to Claire and Carlie from the Foundation Department for their valued assistance in organising the return of the Friends Function.