VINCE WOVODICH

Vince came to Broome from Perth in 1949 and left at the end of 1950 to work on Glenroy Station. He laboured with the slaughtering team at Farrells Meatworks. He was the Union Rep.and he can remember processing 100 bullocks a day and over 10 500 cattle during 1950. Vince had previously played in two premiership teams in the goldfields. After an unsuccessful year of footy in 1949 when they lost every game, Vince approached Farrell to ask if the he could form a team on a more regular basis than the previous year. It was understood that there would be no question of compensation for injuries and no 'sickies' taken on the Monday after a hard game. Farrell agreed and supplied the team with blue singlets and black shorts. Vince had a son in that year and people in Broome know him as "Brolga" (Rodney - previous attendant at the Broome Aquatic Centre and presently working at the Prison here in town).

(Photo taken in Broome July 1999)

Vince recalls a time when Ricky Mills (a member of the Commonwealth team, rolled him over on the gravel section of the oval during a fiercely contested game. "If you weren't a copper I"d hit ya" he yelled. He also recalled Tom Brown the captain of Commonwealth. "He was a linesman in Broome then and was a great bloke". Vince remembers speaking to him a couple of years ago in a hotel that Tom managed in East Perth. 'Broome was a great place in the 50's, the Bay was full of fish and many were caught in the fish traps. Vince was part of the Premiership team of 1950 and has been coming to Broome each year since 1981 to escape the southern winter and renew old friendships.