Mike de Bruyckere
During a period when football in Victoria welcomed migrants from all parts of Europe, few had the footballing pedigree of Mike de Bruyckere. A Dutch international and two-time Championship winner with Willem II, he arrived in Melbourne in 1956 aged 28, his football prowess having preceded him.
Within weeks, de Bruyckere had joined Ringwood City Wilhelmina, played an instrumental role in the club’s promotion to the top tier and debuted for Victoria against arch-rivals New South Wales. A tough no-nonsense forward, his class shone through in successive home victories, scoring in the second leg at the South Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Few have had such an impact on the local football scene in such a short period of time. He excelled in the post-season Laidlaw World Cup Series, aiding Holland to the trophy as they trounced Italy 5-1, the Italians largely represented by the record-breaking Juventus squad which had just claimed a fifth successive Championship. Capping off a remarkable twelve months in Australia, de Bruyckere represented Australia against the touring Hong Kong
club side Eastern Athletic in 1957, scoring the game-winning goal in a 2-1 win at Olympic Park in Melbourne.
At club level, after finishing runners-up in 1958, he netted seven goals as Wilhelmina claimed the ultimate success, winning its first and only State League Championship in 1959. He scored several times as the Dutch finished finalists in what proved to be the last ever
Laidlaw World Cup.
In all, he represented Victoria on 18 occasions between 1956 and 1961, taking on the role of Head Coach during his time as a player as Victoria welcomed Scotland’s Heart of Midlothian in 1959. He famously reprised this role later the following decade, as Victoria played out a famous 1-1 draw with Manchester United in front of a bumper crowd at Olympic Park.
Along with Wilhelmina, he coached a host of top-flight clubs, including USC Lions, Polonia, George Cross and Preston Makedonia, where he enjoyed a period on the national stage during its early foray in the National Soccer League in the 1980s.
He was part of the inaugural intake into the Football Australia Hall of Fame in 1999.
Mike de Bruyckere passed away in 2011 aged 83, leaving an everlasting imprint on Victoria’s football landscape during a period of immense change.