When Kevin Sheedy once quipped, “Garry Foulds could go to the toilet and find the ball”, few would believe it was more than just another vintage one-liner from the legendary coach.
But Foulds – Essendon’s Bomber Legend for its round seven match against Hawthorn – has revealed that there is unlikely truth behind the statement.
Over 16 years at Windy Hill, Foulds was a model of consistency. From 300 games he booted 140 goals and displayed his versatility with stints in all parts of the ground.
He played under four different senior coaches, but it was Sheedy that brought him the ultimate glory in 1984 and ’85, a just reward for Foulds’ persistence after joining the club in 1974.
But it is in the small town of Warracknabeal north-west of Melbourne that one of Foulds’ best memories took place before a pre-season match.
“Sheeds was talking to the players and we did our little meeting and then we had time before we went out on the ground,” Foulds said on Bomber TV’s Bomber Legend series.
“I actually went to the toilet (and) sat down, they didn’t have any doors on them and players were warming up with the balls.
“One came down and actually bounced up into my hands, so it did have some truth to it.”
Getting back to the big stage, many Bombers fans think of Terry Daniher when they recall the final siren of the club’s breakthrough premiership in 1984, but Foulds also cleared up that story.
“He actually handballed to me and (then) the siren went. Another side story, a bit of trivia, is I had the ball in my hands the following year in ’85 when the siren went too.
“Unfortunately I didn’t keep them, I kicked them both into the crowd; one where I thought the wives and girlfriends were sitting on the first level that fell short, so someone’s got that and someone’s got the other one too.”
Foulds also revealed his toughest opponents in one of football’s most competitive and star-studded eras.
“When I was playing on the wing I played on some really good players like Mick Turner from Geelong and Dipper (Robert DiPierdomenico),” he said.
“Sometimes (at) half-back I’d have to play sort of a negating role on players like Wayne Johnson.
“When I played down back early days there was a guy called George Young from “St Kilda, he was very slippery and I played on him two or three times and had some good duels.
“He’s not as well known, but he was a really good player.”
Looking back fondly on his illustrious career in another world of football in which he could happily light up a cigarette after the game, Foulds frankly and modestly summed up his time in the sport.
“I grew up in Essendon as a local boy, (so it was) a bit of a dream come true,” he said.
“Things for the most part worked out as well as I could have expected.”
The Bomber Legend will be honoured in the pre-game entertainment ahead of Essendon’s clash with Hawthorn on Saturday. CLICK HERE to buy tickets to the match at the MCG.
To hear more of the Foulds’ Essendon journey, watch his Bomber TV interview with Rohan Connolly above, or listen to the interview in full via the podcast below.
