EFL 2019: Vermont manager Lee Bidstrup brings up 50 years in local football administration
Vermont manager Lee Bidstrup remains a one of a kind in local football and will this year celebrate half a century at the Eastern Football League powerhouse.
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Where to attribute Vermont’s success?
The Eagles have had a cavalcade of champions — from multiple premiership players, Chandler medallists and league representatives.
They boast one of the biggest junior clubs in the Eastern Football League — most of their underage teams sit near the top of the ladder.
Or perhaps it’s off the field.
Lee ‘Mr Vermont’ Bidstrup has been involved with the powerhouse club for longer than he has been married.
And the Eagles will this year mark his 50 years in local football administration.
Bidstrup remains a one of a kind: this season marks his 28th as a full-time employee of the club.
It’s largely why Vermont is one of the powerhouse clubs of suburban football, as evidenced by its 20 Eastern Football League premierships.
His office could easily be mistaken for an Eagles museum.
Premiership photos adorn the walls, trophies sit proudly atop a bookshelf and there’s all matter of yearbooks, newspaper clippings and annual reports.
He’s also responsible for player spending, sorting clearances, writing the weekly newsletter and monitoring the bank accounts.
The player points system and salary cap have added more paperwork in recent years.
Attention will also soon turn to organising the club’s 100th anniversary next year.
Bidstrup joined the club’s juniors in 1962 and went on to play in the 1969 and 1971 premierships in 221 senior games.
But it’s off the field where he’s made his greatest mark.
Bidstrup came on as treasurer in 1969 when he started at the bank.
“My dad was president in 1968 and the next year he must have said, ‘you’re in the bank, you must be able to count so do you want to be treasurer?’,” Bidstrup said.
“I said, ‘oh yeah’ thinking it wasn’t going to be that long.”
Half a century later and Bidstrup remains in the role.
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President Michael Rennie said a “huge amount of our success is certainly attributed to Lee”.
“He’s very highly regarded around the club,” Rennie said.
“He’s been at the club for most of his life. He’s obviously got to know a lot of players, a lot of coaches and a lot of people around the club over the years.
“His organisation skills are absolutely sensational.”
Little happens at Vermont without the 72-year-old knowing about it.
He jokes his day-to-day work involves “mostly dealing with problems”.
“I’m turning the computer on and looking at emails coming in. There might be things there that suddenly you didn’t know you were doing before you stepped in,” he said.
“There’s a million things that are happening, then people are ringing up … there’s a whole lot of stuff where people are asking you to look for something.
“The money is what I’m primarily doing to make sure we’ve got enough, so you’re constantly monitoring how we’re travelling with that.
“I’m satisfied if we’ve paid our bills and I’m satisfied if we win.”
Not often Bidstrup has had to deal with losing. The Eagles have made 34 of the past 38 finals series and watched many clubs come and go.
East Burwood set the benchmark in the 1960s, East Ringwood was a long-time rival, Noble Park and Balwyn remain a fierce opponents and South Croydon has risen in recent years.
“To maintain that level of being competitive is a huge achievement because it isn’t normal for a footy club to be where we’ve been,” Bidstrup said.
“It’s because we are well organised from this end … and we’ve had some wonderful people come from our junior club.
“Vermont’s been successful because of the good people that have been there and we attract other good people.
“I’ve had people come to me and say, ‘can we see your structure, why is Vermont so successful?’
“I go, ‘it’s got nothing to do with structure, mate, it’s to do with people’.
“If people don’t get involved, clubs can go down the drain … once the spiral starts going down, it is bloody hard to get people back on board until it’s really critical.”
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