Premierships are why you play. Clubs are why you stay.
You’d think it would be difficult to sum up why someone would devote almost 20 years to playing football with one club, but not in the case of Leigh Fulford.
On Saturday, June 3, in Round 8 of East Gippsland Football, 37-year-old Leigh Fulford, widely known as Fulf, donned his black and red guernsey, proudly representing Boisdale-Briagolong Football-Netball Club on the field for the 300th time.
The Bombers made it a milestone to remember, winning the reserves game 10.8 (68) to 4.2 (26) over local rivals Stratford.
Fulford was chaired from Stratford Recreation Reserve, walking off in celebration and victory alongside teammates.
To top it all off, Fulf was voted one of the Bombers’ best on ground.
300 games …
Assuming time spent on the bench cancels out the accumulative overtime from each of Fulford’s games played, 300 games equates to 24,000 minutes of football. That is 400 hours, just shy of 17 days.
Not many can say they have played 300 games with the same club, begging the question of how and why, which for Fulford, takes us back to the early 2000s.
“I started [playing football with Boisdale-Briagolong] in 2004,” Fulford said.
“I would have been 18 at the time, and yeah, I’ve played there ever since.
“It’s been a long journey, but it’s been a good one though; I haven’t won any premierships as of yet but taking that out of it, it has been definitely worthwhile.
“I have loved every minute of it and have made some lifelong friends there; I would never take it back. There are so many good people at the club; it’s unreal.
“When I first started premierships is why you play, but as years went on, my love for the club grew, and you sort of look past that stuff.
“Ultimately, premierships are why you play, but without them, do you still love what you’re doing? And yeah, I do, and I love the people that I met trying to do that; we all had a common goal of wanting to win a premiership, but in my time it wasn’t meant to be, and I’m not regretting anything because it has been one pretty good ride.”
While Fulf has yet to claim a premiership with the Bombers in his 19 years of playing, the dedicated club man has come close on two occasions; when Boisdale-Briagolong made the 2019 senior Grand Final and last year when the Bombers made the reserves decider.
“I played in the senior 2019 Grand Final against Lindenow, we didn’t win, but that was probably the highlight of my career, actually making it to a Grand Final in the seniors,” Fulford said.
“It would have been nice to win won, but obviously, it wasn’t to be, but it’s still been an enjoyable journey.
“Still hopefully got a chance this year to maybe get one in reserves, but if it’s not to be, it’s not to be. I’m not going to regret anything; it’s been good.”
A lot has changed since an 18-year-old Leigh Fulford decided to leave Stratford following his first year of football, playing in the thirds, to join his mates at Boisdale-Briagolong.
Twice the Bombers changed leagues, from the Riviera League to the North Gippsland Football-Netball League, before settling in the East Gippsland League.
One of Fulford’s fondest memories from his 300-game career came from the time Boisdale-Briagolong played in the NGFNL.
“Many years ago, we played Heyfield, and at the time, they were a very strong side, had some very big names playing,” Fulford said.
“We were still developing in the league, we’d come out of the Rivera Football League, and we were in the North Gippy League for a few years, but we finally beat them in a game that was played at Maffra, and that kind of changed the club from that day onwards, people started to take notice of us a little bit.”
Fulford only recently retired from senior football, opting to play in the reserves this season as joints become increasingly troubling the closer he gets to 40.
After gaining many years of experience, Fulf decided to share his wisdom with the club’s youth, taking on a role as the Under 13s coach; he is also a leading assistant at Boisdale-Briagolong’s junior club.
Among the plethora of changes within the club, league and the sport, the most significant change in Fulford’s 300-game (and counting) career has been the inception and increasing popularity of female football.
“We’ve now got the youth girls and the women’s football side at Briag,” Fulford said.
“Those youth girls will go play with the women, so there is a pathway for them now, which is important; they don’t have to change clubs to do it, which is even better.
“While I didn’t play junior footy, back in my day, you would only ever see one or two in a side; in my Under 13 side, it’s almost half girls and boys, so female football is definitely becoming more popular.
“A couple of my girls who are in my Under 13s, they’re aspiring to play in the Youth Girls, and good on ’em; I will try and give them all the knowledge I can to hopefully go in with their best foot forward when they are ready to step up into that age group.
“[Female football] definitely has been one of the biggest in my career, and it’s a good thing, too; if they have a club that’s inclusive of both genders, that’s pretty important.”
While Fulf has made many a friend and seen many great club members come and go, it was near impossible to name just one person who stood out above the rest.
“I couldn’t really pinpoint anyone … actually, I could,” Fulford said.
“The current [Boisdale-Briagolong FNC] president Ryan Evans.
“I played football with him, but it hasn’t been the football side of things that has so much grown on me. He’s been the president for quite a number of years now. Just the amount of work and care he puts in towards the footy club, I just think it goes unnoticed a lot, and a bloke like himself that drives the engine of the footy club, there is a lot of behind the scene stuff that even players and spectators wouldn’t know about.
“I’m on the committee, so I see a lot of it first hand and a lot of his work goes unnoticed. So yeah, I would honestly say Ryan has been a big influence on me; his passion and commitment towards the club has been huge.”
Fulford’s admiration for the Boisdale-Briagolong FNC president does not go unreciprocated, as Evans shared praise for the club’s life member, painting Leigh Fulford as a highly commendable and integral part of the football-netball club’s community.
“Fulf has been a much-respected member of the Boisdale Briagolong Football-Netball Club since 2004; after debuting in the seniors that year, he became a regular member of the team’s backline over the next 17 years,” Evans said.
“After a particularly good season in 2007, where he won the seniors best and fairest, Fulf played an integral role for Boisdale-Briagolong in the 2008 and 2009 seasons at full-back with the senior team that went deep into the North Gippsland FNL finals.
“After those couple of years of playing finals, he continued to play in the seniors for another 10 years, and, despite the club experiencing little success over that time, he remained a committed and loyal club member.
“Fulf’s last year of playing in the seniors, in 2019, saw him finally get the opportunity to play in his first Grand Final.
“More recently, over the last two seasons, Fulf has relished a new role in the midfield in the reserves team, and he’s playing some extremely good football in his 21st season at the club.
Evans emphasised Fulford’s achievements on the field were not the only thing he has brought to the club over the years, with the 300-gamer highly active in and around the club.
“He has been a member of the committee for a number of years, worked many hours behind the bar and is a regular attendee at club working bees,” Evans said.
“He also recently took up a coaching stint at the junior club where, by all reports, is doing a fantastic job with the kids.
“You will never meet a more loyal and dedicated club member.
“Fulf is the type of bloke that other blokes play for, and one of the reasons that I, and others around the club, do what we do – to be able to see him, one day, with a premiership medal around his neck, which we’re hoping will be this year.
“Over my years at the club, Fulf has been a fantastic teammate to play with, a great player to watch and a champion bloke to have around the club. It was very gratifying to have seen him be able to run out for his 300th club game on the weekend.”
Fulf is the eighth player to play 300 games for Boisdale-Briagolong FNC behind Kenny Marshall (429 games), Malcolm McGuiness (421), Donnie McInnes (350), Brian Neilson (339), Danny Pratt (315), Mark Landy (313) and Darren Renooy (300).
