Shinboner number: 460
Guernsey numbers: 44, 23
Born: August 23, 1951
North Melbourne games: 275 (1969-84)
Goals: 29
Captain: 1972, 1977 (acting)
North Melbourne Hall of Fame inductee: 2003
Elevated to Legend status: 2009

As a boy, John Dugdale used to dig under the fence at the north‑western end of Arden Street, so that he could sneak in and watch North Melbourne play. That, and the lure of a free hotdog. “You’d go around and collect lemonade bottles; you got a half‑penny for every lemonade bottle you found,” Dugdale recalled. “By the end of the day you would get about 10 pence, then you could buy yourself a hotdog.”

Growing up in the shadows of North’s home ground, every Saturday Dugdale would hear the roars of the crowd; his dream was to one day play a game in the same blue and white colours as his heroes, such as Les Foote, Sel Murray, Sid Dyer and Jock Spencer. “I lived in Canning Street, North Melbourne, only about 300 metres from the ground,” Dugdale recalled. “One of my mates, Bill Liddy, was the secretary of the North Melbourne fourths, the Colts (under‑17s), so a mate suggested we go down and have a game of football in the Colts. We just turned up one Monday night and said to Bill, ‘Can we have a training run?’ That’s how I finished up going to North Melbourne.”

By his second season, Dugdale was invited to train with the senior side, under coach Jock McCorkell. “The seniors were having end‑to‑end kicking, and I couldn’t get a kick. Eventually I got one, and I slipped over and put my hand down and immediately thought, ‘Gee, I’ve done something here.’ I had to tell Jock that I had just hurt my wrist—I hadn’t even started training yet! The head trainer put me under a heat lamp, and it turned out that I’d broken my arm.”

Despite the early setback, Dugdale’s football talents quickly impressed North’s selectors; he made his debut as a 19‑year‑old, in Round 4, 1955, against Melbourne at Arden Street. If that wasn’t thrilling enough, he was chosen in the same forward line as Spencer, North’s star forward. “When I went into the seniors, Jock Spencer was the full‑forward, and he was a really good player,” Dugdale said. “Before we went out on the ground, he’s grabbed me by the jersey, jumper‑punching me, and he said, ‘Don’t let any so‑and‑so stand over you!’ I never forgot him telling me that before my first game.”

Football in the VFL during the 1950s was no place for the timid and, heeding Spencer’s advice, the teenaged Dugdale quickly learned to give as good as he got. “They did test you out in those days, but if they knew you were going to have a go back at them they would leave you alone,” he said. “It was a game of bluff in those days. You made sure you got them back, and then they’d lay off you.”

Dugdale played six games in his first season, and then did not miss a game over the next two years as he cemented his place in North’s forward line. By 1957, he had made full‑forward his home, replacing Spencer, and winning the first of seven club‑leading goalkicker awards that season. “How I came to go to full‑forward was that Jock got the ‘flu one week, so they put me to full‑forward,” Dugdale explained. “I kicked about six goals, but he came back the next week. This was in 1956. Then, in ’57 he started to struggle for form, so they put me in there again; I did all right, and he never really got back into the side after that.”

At 182cm, Dugdale was not tall for a key position player. What set him apart was his ability to not only lead and mark, but to also be able to jump high over an opponent to take a spectacular grab. If the ball hit the deck, he was nimble enough to scout it on the ground. “I was always a very good mark,” he said. “I had reasonable pace, too. I was pretty natural in that sense.” He was versatile too, playing in most positions on the field throughout his career, including full‑back. “I went down there to full‑back during a game at Coburg, in 1965, and it gave me a whole new lease of life. At full‑back, I was amazed how the forwards didn’t chase you, so I found it rather easy to adjust to being a defender. But I always wanted to play in the centre, because I was always playing short for a key forward or key back. It was only because I could take a mark that I could compete with those taller guys. When Keith McKenzie became coach (1967–70), he played me in the centre.”

In 1958, North returned to the finals for just the second time since 1950. It was Dugdale’s only taste of finals football. “We beat Fitzroy in the first semi‑final (by four points), after ruckman Noel Teasdale kicked the winning goal. It was a terrific thrill to be a part of a winning final.”

Having beaten their preliminary final opponent, Collingwood, in the last home and away round, the Kangaroos entered the cut‑throat final confident that they could, again, prevail against the Magpies. However, they were jumped at the start, trailing by 28 points at quarter‑time. It was a margin North was unable to bridge, falling 20 points shy of the eventual premier.

Despite the disappointment at missing out on a Grand Final, Dugdale—along with skipper Allen Aylett—had top‑scored with three goals, taking his season tally to 57. It was the best output of his career, earning him a second club‑leading goalkicker award. In all, Dugdale’s seven goalkicking trophies would equal Spencer’s haul.

Midway through 1959, with Dugdale struggling to push off for a lead, and incapable of jumping for high marks, an x‑ray on his groin and hip showed an unexpected growth. He was told that not only would he never play football again, but that there were fears for his life. President, Jack Adams, was in tears as a likely cancer diagnosis was explained to the 23‑year‑old.

Dugdale recalled: “I couldn’t push off like I used to be able to. They had done x‑rays but couldn’t find anything. I was getting worse and worse, and Dr John Grant was our vice‑president, and he x‑rayed me again. That night, he came over to me at training, and he had president Jack Adams with him. He said, ‘Look, you’ve got a problem … you’ve got a growth.’ I said, ‘What’s a growth?’ and he said, ‘It could be cancerous.’ Jack was crying his eyes out, so it was pretty full‑on and a lot to take in.”

In a State game in 1958, Dugdale had been kicked in the pelvis, but had managed to play the remainder of the season. He was even named All‑Australian for the first, and only, time. Dugdale then played the opening 13 rounds of 1959, before the injury became more than just a niggling complaint, and he was unable to run. “Jack was tremendous to me through that period,” Dugdale said. “I went to the footy the next Saturday and he said, ‘You’ve got to be at the Melbourne Radiology Clinic on Monday, we’ll get another opinion.’”¹ It was a wise decision. The second x‑ray showed that a piece of Dugdale’s pelvis bone had broken away, and that with rest the alien piece would eventually dissolve. “I never had any trouble after that, which was a relief.”

He would return to his best in 1960, winning the first of four consecutive goalkicking awards, but North never threatened the top four. In 1968, Dugdale was elected captain of the club, a role he revelled in, winning his sole Syd Barker Medal that season. “I mainly tried to lead by example,” he said. “If I performed, they would follow me, that was my theory. I wouldn’t give big speeches or anything. If I had to say something socially, though, I would.”

Indeed, after each home game, Dugdale would select a local watering hole for the players to all converge. The captain knew how important it was to build and maintain a united playing group, particularly when victories on the field were few and far between. “Before we had the social club at Arden Street, I would pick a pub in North Melbourne and say, ‘We’re going there tonight.’ That’s how I’d get us all together. We would all have to get up and sing a song, things like that. We made our own entertainment in those days.”

By the time Dugdale retired after managing just two games in the 1970 season, he held the record for most club games (248) and was third behind Spencer (475 goals), and Sel Murray (411), for most goals in a North jersey (358). The games‑played record would last until David Dench played game 249, in Round 19, 1982.

After coaching VFA club, Coburg, Dugdale returned to Arden Street to serve on the North Melbourne match committee for 16 years, including the 1977 premiership season. In 2001, he was selected in a forward‑pocket in North’s Team of the Century, alongside Spencer at full‑forward. The ultimate honour came two years later, when he was elevated to Legend status in the club’s Hall of Fame. Considering he suffered from both asthma and eczema, it was one heck of a career.