Australian Football

Born in Germany to a Russian mother and a Ukrainian father it is doubtful if anyone could have predicted that Bohdan Jaworskyj would go on to excel at the only genuinely Australian sport ever invented. The Jaworskyj family emigrated to Australia in 1950, when Bohdan was three, and eventually settled in Adelaide. 

His natural sporting talent initially found outlets in soccer and cricket, but when his school established a football team, the young Bohdan quickly found his feet in the unfamiliar game. After an exceptional career as a junior he joined local league side North Adelaide, where he progressed steadily through the ranks before eventually making his senior debut in 1965. The following season saw him struggle with injury before finally and firmly establishing himself in North's league team in 1967 as a hard-hitting, no-nonsense half back flanker, in which position he would play out the majority of his fourteen-season, 275-game league career in two states. He also represented South Australia four times.

All of his SANFL senior games - 208 in all - were played with the Roosters, for whom he was a key player in the 1971 and 1972 premiership wins and the 1972 Championship of Australia triumph. Solid and efficient rather than spectacular, he was almost certainly one of the first names pencilled in each Saturday by coach Mike Patterson throughout what was arguably the most illustrious era in the entire history of the club.

Between 1973 and 1975, the blond-haired, chunkily-built Jaworskyj played for Hawthorn, where his imperturbability, aggression and indefatigable determination helped him to blend in seamlessly. The last of his 67 VFL games for the Hawks was the losing grand final of 1975 against North Melbourne. He returned to North Adelaide in 1976 in order to rack up 200 league games and qualify for SANFL life membership.

In 2001, Bohdan Jaworskyj was selected on a half back flank in North Adelaide's official 'Team of the Twentieth Century'.

Author - John Devaney