KEITH KANE
Keith was one of only three players who were in all five Rushworth premiership teams in the 1930s – the other two being Tim Hawking and Bill Corner. Generally, he featured in the best players whenever Rushworth contested finals. For example, in the 1939 grand final against hot favourites Nagambie, the Shepparton News reported that Keith was "setting an inspiring example" in the extremely tense final quarter. Characteristically, he ended up BOG in the game, which the Tigers lost by a kick inside the last minute.
Keith has been one of the few players to win consecutive Morrison Medals, awarded to the best and fairest player in the GVFL (then the GVFA). He achieved this feat in 1938 and 1939. In those days, the medal was presented at half-time on grand final day. Rushworth were participants in the 1939 final, so the Nagambie and Rushworth players duly lined up on the ground during the break while Keith received his medal. The only other Morrison Medal winners for the club were in the 1950s, when Bill Cruz, Con O’Toole and Lindsay Turnbull all won the coveted prize. Gerald Sexton received a retrospectively awarded Morrison Medal for tying the 1948 medal count, which he had lost on a countback.
In 1938, Keith also won the club’s best and fairest, the Colliver Cup, which was named in honour of his recently deceased teammate Keith Colliver.
Despite the fact that Keith won the Morrison Medal again in 1939, Wilfred Wootton won the Colliver Cup, while Keith received the Criterion Cup for being the "most serviceable player" for the season.
Keith Kane played in several representative sides for the GVFL. For example, in 1935, he was a member of the side that defeated the Waranga North-East League by 5 points. In those sides, he would have played with the three men he held in the highest regard for their outstanding football ability – Wilf Cox (Kyabram), "Bub" James (Shepp) and "Nedsy" Dwyer (Murchison).
By early 1940, Keith was serving his country in the second world war. He joined up at Wangaratta in February and was attached to the 2/8th Battalion.
He and several other Rushy lads – the first from the area to enlist – were given a public farewell in March 1940, so Keith had to forego his involvement in the football club for the 1940 season.
The 2/8th is a famous battalion in Australian military history. It was involved in taking Tobruk from the Italians in north Africa, before taking part in the unsuccessful defence of Greece, then Crete in the face of German invasions. Ironically, some of the many Italian POWs that Keith’s battalion had captured may have finished up in Camp 13 near Rushworth. Moving back to the south-west Pacific theatre of war, the 2/8th was heavily involved in mopping up operations against the Japanese in the Solomon Islands, Bougainville and PNG. In PNG it successfully took Mt Shiburangu in June 1945, as the war in the south-west Pacific slowly ground to a halt. VX19818 Corporal John Keith Kane was the sort of bloke you would like to have alongside you in a scrap. His brother Basil made the ultimate sacrifice, losing his life in 1941. Sadly, Basil’s grave in the Gaza war cemetery is still in a war zone. He is also commemorated on the Rushworth war memorial.
After the war, Keith returned to Rushworth, working as a labourer on farms and in the bush. He was coach of the club in 1949 at the age of 37, and apparently he was still playing. The club finished 10th in the GVFL that year. The club’s glory days in the GVFL were effectively over, with the club only making one post-war finals series in 1957 before eventually moving to a minor league in 1965.
Keith Kane never married, and is buried in the Roman Catholic section of the Rushworth cemetery. He was only 55 when he died in December 1966. The Kane family donated Keith’s trophies and medals to Rushworth Football Club, where they were displayed in the clubrooms. Much to the disgust of the club, this cherished memorabilia was subsequently stolen. The club would relish the chance to again share this important part of the club’s heritage with its members and visitors to the club. If the person(s) who have the items have a shred of honour left, they might consider returning them to their spiritual home.
