Collingwood Forever

Keith Beckwith might only have played half a game of senior League football – but he couldn’t have picked a much better time to do it.

His one senior appearance, off the bench, came during Collingwood’s 1958 season, ensuring him a place in football immortality amongst the Premiership team photos from that year.

Which seems a decent reward for someone who gave five years of service to the footy club, albeit mostly in the under-19s and reserves.

He came to the club as a 16-year-old in 1955 from Preston Wanderers and started with the under-19s. He settled in quickly as a goalkicking rover, playing 13 games and kicking 10 goals and finishing runner-up in the team’s best and fairest award. It was a similar return in his second season – 12 more games, another 10 goals and third place in the under-19s B&F. But still no elevation to the seconds.

That eventually came in 1957, when he scored four reserves games on top of another dozen in the thirds (and another third place B&F finish, as well as finishing third in the VFL’s Morrish Medal). Clearly, Keith’s career was something of a slow burn. There was no doubting his endeavour: indeed, he was perhaps best known for being a tough, in-and-under type player and who strong at the footy. But he stood only 163cm tall, and that was small by any standards.

Nevertheless, things came together better in 1958, with 14 reserves games to go with his solitary senior appearance. That appearance came in the last home-and-away game of the season, against North Melbourne (the team we would face just a few weeks later in the preliminary final). Named as 20^th man, he came on at half-time to replace the injured Bill Twomey, and even managed to kick a goal.

But that didn’t help him in the weeks that followed. He was left out for the second semi against Melbourne two weeks later, and didn’t get a spot in either of the last two finals. Injuries affected his 1959 campaign and he managed only nine more reserves games before heading to Cooee in Tasmania, where he would play in the club’s first Premiership in 1961. He would play in another Premiership with fierce rivals Burnie in 1966, having spent three years with Tooleybuc in the mid-Murray League in between.

Keith loved it in Tasmania and ended up settling there, before later moving to the Gold Coast. But he never forgot his time at Collingwood. Although there wasn’t much senior exposure, he still played 37 under-19s games and 27 with the reserves, kicking 49 goals in all. It’s a good record at the lower levels: unfortunately the cards just didn’t fall his way when it came to senior opportunities.

– Michael Roberts