The Rushworth Tigers began to roar in the 1920s, an era when a succession of VFL players had an association with the club. For the first few years after the end of WW1, the Stockdale boys had a huge impact on Rushworth’s fortunes. Brothers Charles and Leo both coached the club, with another brother Greg playing from 1919-22, before he went to play for Essendon.
Greg had played a handful of games for the Bombers from 1920-22, before becoming a regular player in 1923. Straight from Rushworth, he topped the VFL goalkicking with 64 goals, played for Victoria and was a member of the
1923 and 1924 Essendon premiership sides. This tends to reinforce the view that, at the time, the GVFA was a very strong competition. Only a slight player by today’s standards (173 cm and 73 kg or 5’8" and 11 st 7 lb), Greg went on to play 106 games for the Bombers, wearing the No 25 guernsey and kicking 189 goals.
Alf Raglus’ centenary history of Rushworth Football Club mentions that 1920s coaches "Chick" Drummond and Merv Summers both played for Carlton, but they are not listed on www.stats.afl.com.au Perhaps they had only played in the reserves. Another coach mentioned by Alf – Ted Burns – appears to have played a couple of games for St Kilda.
Frank Huggard played for Richmond from 1919-20 and 1922-25, a total of 33 games in all. Alf Raglus credits him with coming to Rushworth from Richmond as a coach, and convincing the club to switch to the Tiger colours.
Frank and his brother Dick had both been born in Toolamba and fought in WW1 with the 37th Battalion. A number of Rushy lads, including Benjamin Jones (buried in the Rushworth cemetery after dying of war-related injuries), fought with the same battalion. The Huggard boys were brave: Frank won the Military Medal and Dick was Mentioned in Despatches for rescuing a wounded soldier in No-Man’s Land. Frank was gassed by the Germans, and eventually discharged in 1919 with "asthma – not war-related". (Yeah…right) It did not seem to hinder his later football career too much.
During the 1920s, club legend "Tim" Hawking also played four league games for Carlton. Fortunately for Rushworth, he opted to play most of his career with the Tigers, becoming an inspirational leader in the 1930s. Rushworth showed steady improvement in the 1920s, culminating in them playing off for the 1929 flag against Shepparton. Although they lost that game, the scene was set for the glory days to come.
