Australian Football

The red and black Redenbach

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August 26th marked the 35th anniversary of Mike Redenbach's last game of senior VFL football. In a largely unremarkable game Redenbach managed to get his hands on the footy seven times, his five kicks and two handpasses not being enough to stop the powerhouse team of the day, Ron Barassi's reigning premiers North Melbourne, from jumping out to a 51-point lead at half time.

The Bombers, with favourite son Barry Davis in his first season at the coaching helm, showed some fight in the second half to bring the final margin down to 26 points. But it was too little, too late for Mike Redenbach. His seven touches were not enough for him to escape the selectors' wrath and he was summarily dropped.

At the tender age of 19 years and 84 days, Redenbach played his third and final game of senior VFL footy. A couple of weeks later his stint with the Bombers, comprising three senior matches and 32 reserves games, was over. By the time season 1979 rolled around, Redenbach's number 3 jumper had been given to boom recruit Barry Day, a centreman from West Perth of whom big things were expected. Day never quite lived up to those expectations, but that was cold comfort to Mike Redenbach. (Day's time at Essendon is another story - one that could well grace the pages of AustralianFootball.com in the not too distant future.)

In 1979 Redenbach, who had been recruited from Burnie in Tasmania's Northern Western Football Union, joined City-South in the Northern Tasmanian Football League and his name disappeared quickly from the annals of big league footy.

Fast forward 35 years. An email arrives on the desk of AustralianFootball.com, a website dedicated to "celebrating the history of the great Australian game”. The email is from none other than Redenbach himself, respectfully pointing out that we had got it wrong when it came to documenting his career. Mike's email explains that he was not the only Redenbach to have played football at the highest level. In fact he was not even the only Michael Redenbach! (The other one, a first cousin, had played 59 games for North Melbourne between 1967 and 1973.) And that was the reason he was making contact. Australian Football's behind the scenes database had inadvertently made the assumption that Michael Redenbach, three-game player for Essendon in 1978 and Michael Redenbach, who played 59 games for North Melbourne 1967 and 1973 were one and the same man. But as Essendon's Mike explained to us, they are not.

It's an understandable error. Redenbach, after all, isn't a particularly common surname. A quick search of the White Pages online reveals only 60 current entries across the entire continent. And as it transpires, the two Michaels are the only Redenbachs to have taken the field in anger in VFL/AFL history.

I gratefully accepted his clarification and updated the Australian Football database to reflect the true state of affairs. But the story was not to end there. There was a further twist in the tale of Mike Redenbach's three-game career. Because I was at Windy Hill on that day, when Mike's VFL career came to an abrupt halt.

Those who have known me through my adult years know me as just about as passionate a fan of the Western Bulldogs as one can be. But as a kid, I was a Bomber fan, and was there in round 21, 1978 to see Mike's last game. And as a man who comes from a long line of hoarders, it just so happens that I still have the Footy Record from that day.

Thinking that Mike might be interested, I took a photo of the part of the team page that contained his name and emailed it off to him. Some players are not particularly interested in reliving the past and for them, such memorabilia can mean little. But Mike was extremely pleased to receive a record of his final moment in the big time. His sons, he said, were very excited to see a photo of their Dad's name in The Record and asked if they could see the rest of the team list to see who else had played in the match. (Further photos have now been forwarded to Mike.)

As well as correcting our error, Mike was only too keen to have a chat over the phone and provide further details regarding his career before and after his two-year stint at Windy Hill. He may have only played the three senior games at Essendon but, by any measure, his career record is impressive.

Redenbach, whose father had played at the highest level in the Apple Isle, represented Tasmania as a centreman in Brisbane at the National Schoolboys Under-16 Championships in 1974. It was at that time that he first came to the attention of Essendon recruiting manager Jack Greenwood, and he soon after signed a "Form 4", tying him to the Dons.

Still seen as too young to make the leap to the VFL, Redenbach played his first game of senior football in 1974 for Smithton in Tasmania's Circular Head Football Association at the age of just 15 years and one month. The following year he played the entire season in the Smithton firsts, before stepping up to play a full season with the Burnie Tigers (known these days as the Burnie Dockers) in 1976. The next year saw him make the move to Essendon.

“I probably should have stayed in Tassie for another year. I was half way through my HSC (which in those days in Tasmania was spread across years 11 and 12) but Dad was really keen for me to have a crack at VFL level", he said.

(Redenbach says his dad had most of what it takes to make it at the highest level, but his kicking skills let him down.)

He played reserves football under Bomber legend Ken Fraser during 1977 and finally cracked it for a senior match in round 14, 1978. His eight possessions were not enough to see him retained the next week but he returned in round 16 and collected 13 touches. This still wasn't seen as enough and Redenbach was dropped again before returning for his third and final match in round 21.

Though he couldn't cement a place in Essendon's senior side, Redenbach has fond memories of his time in the reserves.

“In those days the reserves and seniors trained as separate groups. I didn't have much to do with [senior coaches] Bill Stephen in 1977 or Barry Davis in 1978. But Ken Fraser was great, and so was [ex-coach] Jack Clarke. He was always down at the club.”

With his stint with Essendon over, Redenbach spent the early part of the next pre-season training with Collingwood. He impressed, but when it came to a choice between Redenbach and a young angry ant named Tony Shaw for the last spot on the senior list, it was Shaw who won out. Shaw, who had played a handful of games for the Pies in 1978, went on to play 313 games for Collingwood and captained the club to its drought-breaking 1990 flag, winning the Norm Smith Medal. Redenbach certainly isn't willing to argue that the Magpies made the wrong choice!

There were still three weeks left before the start of the 1979 season when Redenbach was cut from the Magpies list, so he made a call to another first cousin, Greg Hutchinson, who was playing with Melbourne. Redenbach trained with the Demons but again missed the cut when the list was finalised.

Redenbach continued to live in Melbourne but his football career for the next two seasons was played out back in his home state. Training with VFA team Preston (then coached by local legend Harold Martin) during the week, he flew to Launceston each Friday to play for City-South and took out the club's best and fairest award in 1979 despite not having played in the first six games that season. In 1980 (still training with Preston) he crossed to East Launceston as part of a complicated trade deal that saw Carlton's Tony Pickett return to Tasmania.

In 1981, Redenbach was lured to Werribee by ex-Essendon teammate (and former Carlton player) Brian Walsh, who was appointed playing coach in that season. He was runner-up to ex-Essendon and Richmond player Gary Parkes in the 1983 best and fairest and, under John Murphy in 1984 and Ian Dunstan 1985, Redenbach served as club captain. He spent three years in Queensland after finishing with Werribee, but didn't play any football in the Sunshine State. "It was too bloody hot!"

Redenbach returned to Melbourne and renewed ties with Werribee, spending two years as a board member in 2005-06. Though he played mainly in the centre, Redenbach earned selection as a wingman in Werribee's Silver Anniversary Team 1965 –1989.

Redenbach is sad at the recent dramas that have unfolded at his old club, and is glad a settlement has finally been reached. Is he surprised to see such events and their effects on the players? "Not really. Even in my day there was a huge amount of peer group pressure. As a young kid, if you saw that the older blokes were doing this or that in order to get an edge, then there was huge pressure on you to do it too. And the battle to get a place in the senior team was cut-throat."

These days Redenbach lives with his family in Sanctuary Lakes and when he gets time off from his building industry job, enjoys working on keeping his golf handicap down and watching his kids develop through AFL Auskick. Redenbach believes at least one of his sons has the wherewithal to take him a long way if he works hard and the breaks come his way.

Who knows, the Redenbach name might one day again grace the team list of the Footy Record.