By DANIEL PAPROTH: dpaproth@the weeklyreview.com.au
PICTURE GALLERY: Check out Michael Reid’s 500th game
MICHAEL Reid plays his 500th match for Dandenong West this Saturday, July 27, but he grew up hating the side.
“I’m from Scotland and the Borough [Port Melbourne] were my
favourite team,” he says. “When we came to Australia, Port Melbourne is
where we got off the boat. So being a Port Melbourne boy and living in
the suburb, I hated Dandenong.”
Port Melbourne and the Dandendong Redlegs, footy heads will
recall, had a fierce rivalry in the Victorian Football Association and
Reid recalls going to watch them play.
“The old man and me would go down there and obviously there were
no cameras or footage and only ever one umpire, so there was a lot of
biffo going on. Who’d wanna play a game like that?” he says with a
chuckle.
Soon though, the family moved to Dandenong and Reid joined Dandenong West.
“They [Dandenong West] were our rivals back then but I bit the
bullet and went down and played a couple of under-18s games. But I
couldn’t get a regular spot so I left.
“Two days later, the reserves coach asked me to come down and play a few games and I’ve been there ever since.”
Ironically, Dandenong West is now known as the Dandenong Redlegs, after the VFA team folded in 1994.
Such is the passion Reid has for the club, he tried to play in a
1995 reserves grand final with a broken arm. “I broke my arm in the last home-and-away game, meaning I’d miss
the final,” he said. “The league called me up and invited me to the
vote count and I won the league reserves best-and-fairest and then on
the Saturday we played Doveton Eagles in the grand final and won.
“I got changed to go out and play but they soon cottoned on to my injury when they saw plaster on my arm.”
It took until 2003 for Reid to play in a premiership for the club, winning a reserves flag and backing it up the next season.
Reid was honoured with selection on the wing in the club’s Team of
50 Years, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Dandenong West’s
founding. And even at 46, one game a weekend has rarely been enough. He often backs up on Sundays playing for Hallam in the Superules.
Reid plays his 500th game for Dandenong West against Hallam, then
plays with Hallam the following day. “There’s about four or five blokes
who play for different clubs. You play against them on the Saturday and
then with them on the Sunday,” Reid says, laughing.
As for retirement? “I dare say this year could probably be it for
me. But everyone will tell you I’ve retired that many times it’s, ‘Oh,
look, John Farnham’s come to training’.”
