When AJAX under 10s won the premiership in 1974
This victory was foundational to the mythology of our childhoods.
When we were kids all we thought about was footy.
My cousin Maurice and I must have kicked footballs backwards and forwards hundreds of thousands of times in my backyard or the park opposite his house.
He was a fearless left footer; I was a skinny kid who shirked the packs but had pretty good hands.
We were part of the AJAX under 10s, famous for winning the club’s first junior premiership in 1974.
This victory was foundational to the mythology of our childhoods.
Perry Burstin somehow pulled most of us together for a 50-year reunion the other night.
Our lives were rich and varied. Most of the boys went to Mount Scopus. We played footy at recess, footy at lunchtime, and footy after school. Then we went to footy training. On the weekend, we watched our teams play footy on the Saturday afternoon, and we played our games for AJAX on Sunday mornings. At night we dreamt about footy.
Leon Burstin was the captain.He was a gun: talented, quick, and tough, he seemed like Leigh Matthews to me. The vice-captain was Greg Pinkus, a wiry wingman with silky skills, think Keith Grieg meets Gary Wilson. The rover was practical joker Stevie Ajzenberg.
Stevie was small but super courageous, always under the packs, laying tackles on burly red-headed kids from Frankston or Carrum. Dan Poll was first ruck, tall and steady as his name suggests.
My father Raymond was the coach. He was larger than life, loved being the centre of attention, loved the boys. He loved being the coach, and even more loved telling people he was the coach of AJAX under 10s.
His coaching methods were not sophisticated. As far as I can recall he only ever had one strategy, and I never really understood what it meant. “Back each other up boys!” he would yell into the winter wind.
Somehow he willed us to win. It used to rain in those days, and my mother Barbara, as well as cutting the oranges for three-quarter time, took home 20 muddy jumpers each week and washed them.
It was also pretty tough at times. Dave Jagoda (Jug) remembered his father John and Raymond getting into a fight with some antisemitic fathers of opposition players at Notting Hill one day. One of the guys also remembered that after the grand final Raymond insisted that we all got to keep our jumpers as mementos. Someone at the club was not happy so Raymond bought a new set. That’s what he was like.
A few of the fellas still have those jumpers, and there were a couple present at the reunion, light blue and white, Israeli colours.
The reunion, in a noisy pub in Prahran with Carlton smashing West Coast on six TV screens was a lot of fun. Everyone had a story, marriages, divorces, more marriages, kids, illnesses, business and professional successes and failures. Connections were remembered and remade.
Three degrees of separation. One of the guys has re-partnered with my best mate’s ex-wife’s best friend. Another guy does the books for a shop owned by a son of one of the guys. A few of the boys play golf together and all told lies about their handicaps.
Leon went on to be a star player for AJAX seniors. A few of us played a bit, and several of the guys have sons who have been solid contributors to the seniors including Nick Lewis (son of Ronnie), Brandon Efron (son of Maurice), Bradley and Ayden Carp (sons of Brandon).
At the reunion we were all unreliable narrators trading blurred memories. Tumbling in and out of each other’s homes, childhood pranks, unrequited crushes on each other’s older sisters.
Stories of our parents were shared. Some died tragically young. One is 98 and still plays golf.
We cannot be certain who we beat in the grand final, but a few of the guys insisted it was Braeside.
No one had any idea of the score, but we all seemed to recall that Geoff Goldman kicked the winning goal, possibly the only goal of the game. A wobbly punt apparently.
Dave Shapiro (Shep) brought along a new footy, which we all signed, and those who claimed they remember their number proudly wrote them next to their signatures. #3. #14.
We gave the ball to Stevie, the most popular player on our team.
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