Chris "the (Melton) Kid" Freeman

Melton – one of the fastest growing urban areas in Melbourne's Western Region.

Melton – a vibrant, rapidly growing community providing an urban/rural lifestyle with close access to Melbourne, major transport routes and an extensive range of services for the community, visitors and local businesses.

Melton – home of Australia's first indoor wave pool and some of Australia's best equestrian facilities.

Such world class statistics fade to insignificance for a shire of 50,000 people whose proudest claim to fame for their beloved city is –

Melton – Home of Chris "The Kid" Freeman.

On a late September afternoon in 1980, Collingwood had just lost their third Grand Final in four years, and in the backyard of 11 Bryan Court, K&J Freeman were handing their four year old son Chris a red oval shaped ball for the first time. A defining moment that would change the life of that young boy (and the lives of many others)…forever.

Over the ensuing years Aussie Rules Football became an obsession to the young Chris Freeman. Recalls "the Kid"… "To be honest, I don’t remember a time growing up when I didn’t have a footy in me hand. Whilst some of me mates would be playing in the street with their GI-Joes or Lego Kits, I’d be running up and down, bouncing me footy and trying to kick it through some tree for a goal."

On more than one occasion, his obsession lead to some severe accidents, uncommon even for a growing boy. "The Kid’s" mother remembers all too well. "I know boys will be boys, but for heaven’s sake, the number of times I tried to get that football off him…I tell you. I don’t know how many times he fell off his bike because he always had one arm wrapped around a football. His nose has been crooked ever since he was seven from one nasty fall he had, when he dropped the footy and it went between his wheel spokes. The only time we managed to get a football out of his hand was when we took him to hospital with suspected leather poisoning from over exposure to the Sherrin…of course when the doctor gave the all clear, the football went straight back under his arm. It was like a little security blanket for him."

Despite his mum's concerns, the tests for leather poisoning proved negative

"The Kid’s" father Kenny Freeman remembers things a bit differently. "There was nothing wrong with young Chris’s love of the footy. His over exposure of the oval ball gave him phenomenal skills from an early age. From all accounts he would dominate the kick-to-kick sessions on the playgrounds at Melton South Primary and later on at Melton High. Then...when I got him into the local underage leagues…well…the opposition coaches protested so much, that Chris had to always play an age group or two above his age so he wouldn’t dominate too much. He would still gather 30 odd possessions a game regardless. He was so small compared to the guys he was playing against. It wasn’t long before they dubbed him - "the Kid"."

Former Coach, Leigh Matthews, "Mesmerized"

Despite his dominance in the local underage leagues in and around Melton, it was a freakish incident that lead to "the Kid’s" amazing skills being noticed from a higher source. Said former Coach "Lethal Leigh" Matthews. "It was dumb luck I guess. Big Al McAllister and I were on the way back to Melbourne after a pre-season promotional tour in Ballarat. Big Al had forgotten to put enough petrol in the tank for the journey home, so we pulled over into a servo in Melton to top up the tank. As we were filling up, we both gazed across High Street and into the local High School playground. We became instantly mesmerized."

"There was this young kid of about 13 playing a scrimmage game against some kids who looked at least 3 years older than him. He was so quick, weaving through packs, doing freakish baulks, diving into packs… We didn’t need to see the boy in an actual game, what Big Al and I were witnessing was enough to immediately convince us that "The Kid" was good enough to play football at the highest level. Big Al ran across that street so fast to sign the boy up; I’ve never seen such a large frame move that quickly. Year’s later we would always look back and wonder how "The Kid" had gone unnoticed until then."

Within the month, young Chris was down at the training track and only a few short months later was lining up for the Pies in the first game of season 1991. He also did it as the youngest player ever at 14 years, 9 months.

Leading up to that first game, the pre-season hype surrounding "The Kid’s" selection to the Pies was not lost on the numerous prospective sponsor’s clamoring to sign "the Kid". Without having even set foot on the field for the Pies, in early 1991 Puma signed him up to a lucrative 3 year $100,000 per year contract. Such money seemed almost obscene to the 14 year old, and in his hometown of Melton, $100,000 literally made "The Kid" a "Melton Millionaire" overnight.

Prior to the 1991 season "The kid" signed a lucrative contract with sports giant, Puma, making him the first "Melton Millionaire".

"Mateee, the money. Shit. In me first year, I spent most of it on a nice 10 bedroom, 5 bathroom, 2 poolroom house next to me Mum and Dad’s in Bryan Court. I wanted to keep close to the family…let’s face it, I’d never cleaned a pair of my own jocks in me life…actually, now that I think of it, that stills holds true today. "

"The clothes I bought as well, such quality - the Levis acid wash denim (pants and jacket), the studded leather jacket, and let’s not forget the Ug Boots– I had a $500 pair with the finest Mohair wool lining that money could buy."

Despite winning the flag the previous year, the Pies as a team had a bad year in 1991, missing the final six by slumping to 7th. The one shining light in that season was their young superstar Chris "the Kid" Freeman. He constantly averaged 30 touches a game and romped home in the Copeland Trophy, beating his "veteran" 19 year old teammate (and previous idol) Tony Francis.
The story was no different in 1992 when despite finishing a disappointing 5th (after losing to St.Kilda in the elimination final), a dominate "Kid" won his second Copeland on the trot.

Nothing it seemed could go wrong for "The Kid". Said David Dywer on the Bacchus Marsh/Melton Express Telegraph…"It was amazing. "Kidmania" swept through Melton faster than a plague of flies on their way to Werribee. I heard that during the period of 1991/92, Collingwood memberships doubled virtually overnight as it seemed like every Melton resident wanted to see their beloved son play in the Black & White."

Despite his success, "The Kid" would always return home to his luxury villa in Melton between games and the local drinking establishment’s even turned a blind eye to the underage "Kid" venturing into their establishments.

Owner of local hot spot – Pure Nightclub– J.C Jackson, still remembers those halcyon days as if they were yesterday. "We loved "The Kid" down here at the Pure. During the 90’s, Saturday night here was the biggest thing outside of Melbourne. I created a drink called "The Kid" which consisted of a shot each of vodka, tequila, bundy rum, scotch, and of course Chris’s favorite - peach schnapps. We’d mix all the spirits together, shake it up and then serve it in a baby’s bottle chilled to minus 3 degrees. It was only available on Saturday nights, and the promotion was out of control man. People would come from Ballarat, Bacchus Marsh, Geelong – you name it. We’d have a queue all the way down McKenzie Street back up Station Street, on to High Street and then back down Palmerston Street. Two full city blocks!! ...and if "The Kid" showed up after a big game – well you can just imagine the pandemonium."

"The Kid’s" dominance soon rubbed off onto his teammates, and a miraculous stretch of victories at the start of the 1993 saw the Pies atop the ladder mid way through the year.
That is of course until that tragic day, June 27th, 1993. A date forever labeled a day of mourning in Melton.

The great Bruce McEvaney made the call on Channel 7 that day. "Freeman gets the ball from Russell; "the Kid" has been so ssssspppeeeeeecciiaalllll today...he takes a bounce... and another bounce...oh dear...oh that is shocking…that really is sickening… "The Kid" is reeling... he's down, he’s clearly in a lot of pain…the blood is flowing. "The Kid" has beaten Worsfold all day and it looks like Worsfold knew exactly where to take it out on "The Kid"...right on that enormous proboscis...I don’t know if that blood is ever going to stop, there must be a fair sized vein up there... "

In fact, with a vicious elbow, Worsfold had indeed shattered "The Kid’s" nose and fractured it in five places. On arrival at St.Vincents hospital, just a five minute drive from the MCG, before Doctor’s would even contemplate working on "The Kid’s" nose, an immediate blood transfusion was called for to replace the two pints of blood that had already flowed out of his shattered schnozz.

The devastating injury required extensive re-hab and kept "The Kid" out of the remaining nine home and away games - a run that saw the team go 2-7 (with their only wins against the Tigers and Carlton) and slip from 1st to 8th on the ladder. Despite his injury, "The Kid" was determined to play the last game of the season for the Pies in an attempt to sneak them into the final six. Unfortunately club doctors could not manufacture a suitable facemask in time to meet the AFL’s stringent requirements on facial protection. In the end, lacking their young champion, the Pies went down by less than a goal as an inconsolable "Kid" sat on the sidelines.

As 1994 drifted by, "The Kid’s" nose would not heal properly despite 5 separate metal plates inserted into various positions. The setback hit "The Kid" hard and his fitness lapsed. Unable to take the field, his time soon began to be dominated by his new passion – gambling. Despite still being underage, if he wasn’t down at his local tracks in Ballarat, Werribee, or Geelong "The Kid" would make the trek into Melbourne to hang out at the Kew Junction TAB with the rest of his Collingwood teammates for a weekend punt.

His career at Collingwood came to a screeching halt after the now infamous night on his 18th birthday. Despite not playing for the first half of the year, a gala invitation only event held at the Golden Fleece Hotel in Melton was packed with 2000 friends, teammates and family crammed into the Pub and the surrounding side streets. Egged on by his teammates, "The Kid" celebrated his coming of age by downing drink after drink after drink.

It was only the next morning when "The Kid" awoke in the gutter outside a local news agency (after a lengthy snooze on the street) that he became fully aware of the very hazy events of the night before. There on the front page of the Herald-Sun newspaper was a photo of "The Kid" standing in the middle of the Golden Fleece bar, his pants around his ankles, with a cigarette in one hand an empty bottle of Jim Bean in the other. Evidently a photographer from the paper had snuck past security and into the festivities.

The photos and accompanying story caused outrage in the community. Under pressure from the AFL Players Association, the League, and the fact that he hadn’t yet played a game in season 1994, the Magpies regretfully had to cut their ties with "the Kid".

"The Kid's" life was at rock bottom. Still, despite this, there was one thing that kept a smile on his face – his expansive collection of "adult themed" videos. They certainly kept him popular with his ex-Collingwood teammates who would always just "happen to be in the neighborhood" during one of "The Kid’s" regular Friday night showings.

After only a couple of weeks away from the Pies, "The Kid’s" career was quickly resurrected when local side Melton won the battle to secure his services. It was a move they would live to love! The locals of course loved him, and the struggling Melton team’s crowd numbers for home games went through the roof. They were so glad to have him home, they even allowed "The Kid" to wear both the number 33 - for home games and 37 – for away games (Melton’s postcode - "The Kid's" own unique homage to his hometown).

Struggling at the bottle of the ladder half way through the 1994 season, Melton’s fortunes were turned around overnight as "The Kid" took them on an unbeaten run of 10 straight games and into the Riddell League Grand Final against arch rivals – Melton South.

Said Golden Fleece Bar owner, Donald "The Dodger" Johnson, "Look, sure we were disappointed with "The Kid’s" behavior at his 18th birthday party earlier in the year, but he was always a favorite in our hearts. When he played down here, my wife Merryl and I would be down at Blackwood Drive Reserve at 9 a.m on the dot when the gates opened to reserve our spot at the front of the stand. We wanted the best view in the house to watch "the Kid’s" magic."

"Merryl still has a piece of turf she took from the field during "The Kid’s" last game…Actually, to be honest, our backyard is filled with clumps of grass from every game "The Kid" played. We didn’t know if he’d get himself into trouble again and never knew when he would play his last game "again" - We had to make sure we were covered."

"He was a phenomenon around here. The party would never stop after a fine performance by "The Kid". After each game, we’d all come back to the Fleece and from 33 to 37 past each hour (in honour of "the Kid’s number’s) we’d have 2 for 1 drinks…always popular with the local yobs."

Donald "The Dodger" Johnson and wife Merryl were only too happy to ear-bash the locals down at The Golden Fleece about another senasational performance by "The Kid".

However, the fairytale comeback was not to be completed that year as arch rivals, Melton South, dispatched of Melton convincingly in the final despite yet another 40+ possession game from "The Kid".

That final was an ominous sign to come for the young champion. Despite dominating nearly every game he played, "The Kid" suffered yet more finals tragedy with Melton when they lost to Darley in the 1995 final and then went down again in the 1996 Grand Final.

If the finals’ debacle wasn't enough for "The Kid" his gambling problem certainly was! Still living largely off his compensation from his massive Puma contract, "The Kid" was known to think nothing of $1,000 - $2,000 bets at a time down at the track. It all ended in 1995 when "The Kid" announced to all and sundry in Melton that "Nothing Leica Dane" in the Melbourne Cup at 20/1 was a sure thing. "The Kid" bet the house on it - literally. Only a few hours after his horse went down narrowly to "Doriemus", "The Kid" was onto his real estate agent.

"It was a tough time - a tough time - I had to sell me house after that bet. Left with only about $50,000 after I’d paid off me booky, I had to downgrade from the 10 bedroom palace to a simple 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house. I also checked meself into Gambler’s Anonymous to cure me of me little "problem", "The Kid" later recalled.

The best cure it seemed, was football, and a move to the Ballarat Football League got "The Kid" upbeat for better fortune. This however did not last long as once again, in the 1998 Grand Final - Melton tragically went down to Sunbury.

Despite his personal crisis, the 90s were a boom time for football in Melton and the surrounding area’s. "The Kid" may no longer have been playing AFL, but his legend was spreading far and wide.

Alan Comrie – Mayor of Bacchus Marsh. "Quite frankly I never liked "The Kid" at all. He single handedly destroyed the fabric that made Bacchus Marsh the magnificent town it once was. For 100 years we were the 2nd fastest growing exurban area in Victoria. In 1990 our population was 50,000. Then... "The Kid" came along. From 1991 to 2001, we progressively became a shattered town of only 23,500 struggling farmers as a mass exodus has seen more than half our community depart south down the Western Freeway. I thought when he finished at Collingwood, thing’s would change, but he was so dominate in the Riddell and then Ballarat League’s, people around here just couldn’t get enough of him. He’s not a favorite around here, that’s for sure. In fact, I’m quite proud of the fact that I recently got approval from the Morrabool Shire Council to form the "We hate Chris "The Kid" Freeman fan club". It’s proved extremely popular and we already have exactly 23,500 members."

The one thing that "The Kid" longed for was a premiership medal. After a 3rd and 4th finish in 1999 and 2000, "The Kid" became disillusioned with football and decided to take the summer holiday period off for a jaunt around Canada. It didn’t take him long to be a hit at the local nightspots. It was on one of those nights’s that he spied a nice young Canadian girl – Mel deRosa. She was quickly pulled in by "The Kid’s" obvious charm, however, with his Visa fast running out (editor's note: this refers to his immigration visa, as all credit cards had been suspended due to "The Kid's" prior gambling problems), "the Kid" had to pull some swift moves to convince his new love to follow him back to Melton.

On arrival back home in Australia, "The Kid" found his voicemail filled with messages from new Pies coach Mick Malthouse. After a disappointing last place finish for the Pies in 1999 under Tony Shaw, new coach Malthouse was desperate to turn the Pies fortunes around and set about recruiting the finest talent available to bolster the Pies lineup. He didn’t have to look far.

As it turns out, Mick’s brother had a house in downtown Melton and had been singing the praises of a "rejuvenated" Kid Freeman to his brother for the entire summer.

Melton were unhappy to see him go, but ‘The Kid" longed for his old life back down at Vic Park again. His happiness didn’t last long though. In only his first training session back at the club, Magpie hard man Jaroyd Molloy accidentally ploughed into "The Kid". His shoulder crunched into "The Kids" weakened schnoz, almost splitting it in two. A broken hearted "Kid" bled profusely. He was summoned to the Magpie match committee that night, who believing the schnoz could not handle the highest level, released "The Kid" back to Melton.

In anticipation of "The Kid's" comeback, Collingwood Football Club printed a commemorative poster which, despite the shortlived comeback, is still considered a collector's item.

A broken man, "The Kid" was not out of the headlines for long when he made the controversial switch to arch rivals Melton South. The move not only sent a shockwave around Melton, but the entire football world. "The Kid" wanted desperately to play in a winning Grand Final side. Yet "The Kid’s curse would not lift, as later that year, his new club Melton South was crushed by 138 points by none other than…his old side Melton.

His football life in tatters, and disillusioned with life, soon to be wife Mel convinced "The Kid" to make the move across the Pacific to Vancouver.The move however, wasn’t an easy one. Wife Mel recalls the early days…"I knew from the start I’d have to go out of my way to make Christian feel at home here in Vancouver. I did everything I could to make the transition easier for him… I stuck Collingwood team posters on the walls,…I’d wash his Collingwood jumper after every wear, whether it was dirty or not,… I cooked him meat pies and sausage rolls for dinner,… I even got Fox Sports on the Cable so he could watch the footy highlights each week. To be honest though, that last one nearly backfired on me. I could never get him to come to bed at night because he used to tape the games and then watch them over and over again. Eventually I had a masterstroke. Each night around 10 p.m. I’d make a big paper machee banner and tape it to the bedroom door with "Go Chris, Go" written on it. Without fail, he just couldn’t resist the urge to get up off the couch and run straight through it."

Mel's tender tribute to another scoring milestone by her husband, "The Kid". Inset: Having completed the nightly "run-through", Mel dons the grease paint in traditional Collingwood colours - a sure bet for a big night!

Still, despite Mel’s best efforts, "The Kid" still had a strong desire to play the game he loved. "Finally I’d had enough of Chris’s constant whining about not being able to play footy anymore…and I certainly did not enjoy the trips down to the park for "kick to kick" where Chris would basically bomb a footy at me from 50 metres away and expect me to try and grab it and kick it back. Quite frankly, I don’t find being hit in the face with a hard ball time and time again very funny…and then there was the crazy talk about "going home on the next plane to Melbourne" to get a bit of footy action. So finally I got on the web, hit "Vancouver Footy", and thank god, there was the Cougars website."

"The Kid" was besotted and spent the next two days at his local North Shore internet café reading every scrap of word on the Cougars website. "Mate, I was like a kid in a candy store. You wouldn’t have believed the size of the smile on me face. I was as giddy as a schoolgirl."

Indeed, the next day "The Kid" was on the training track for the Cougars and despite being out of action for over a year, walked straight into the victorious NWPAFL Grand Final side,… a sweet reward for a man who had suffered so much Grand Final heartache playing in Melton.
"I love playing with the Cougars. It’s not the AFL, but it’s just as good a feeling streaming out of the centre and hitting Vargo with a bullet pass as it was doing it for Sav Rocca in the early 90s."

Life it seemed was finally going the right way for "The Kid". "There was of course a brief hiccough. To be honest it’s not something I like to talk about too much anymore, but the relationship with Melissa was almost over a few month’s before the big wedding day. I was happy with her to organize all the details, but I insisted on one thing – that the wedding ceremony be held in the middle of Victoria Park. Why was that such an unreasonable request? Mel was a converted Collingwood fan, I thought she’d love the idea. Evidentially not. We didn’t speak for about 3 weeks. I was determined I was not going to budge, but I have to concede that marriage’s are all about compromises. Finally we reached an agreement. If I agreed to get married in Canada, Mel would let me have "good old Collingwood forever" as our wedding march and first dance. A win-win situation for both of us."

With their first real tiff over, the rest as they say…is history. So now, just over a year on from his arrival to Vancouver, "The Kid’s" life finally seems to have settled into some sort of a normalcy.

"Mate, no regrets. The move hasn’t been so bad. Sure I miss me mates back home, but Mel’s a great missus - super cook, easy on the eye, and she certainly puts up with most of me crap. I’m happy to be here in Vancouver, that’s for sure. I guess if you were to put me on the spot though and ask me, who’s the more important aspect in me life at the moment - the Cougars or Mel… I’d have to say Mel for sure…but still, I’ve only been with the Cougars for less than a year now, so further down the track, who knows…"

So, with his base now firmly in Canada, "The Kid" might be lost to Australia, but one thing’s for sure, he’ll never be lost to Melton. So the next time you’re flying down the Western Highway on the way back to Melbourne, take the time to admire the enormous sign erected just to the left of the smaller Tidy Town 2000 sign, which says: Melton – the spiritual home of our favourite son – Chris "The Kid" Freeman.