Feature Profiles
15 January, 2026
SUMMER READING - MAN OF ALL SEASONS
Loddon Herald’s Gary Walsh chats with Cats’ tragic Alister McDougal
AT THE age of 11, Alister McDougal was running out in front of 50,000 fans at the MCG at half-time as part of the first season of Little League in the VFL.
He was in Geelong’s squad, and they faced Richmond at the ‘G at the main break as the grown-ups battled out a rehearsal for that season’s grand final.
It was the beginning of a handy football career for the youngster from suburban Geelong who later branched out into other sports.
(As an aside, he and your correspondent worked out that we played against each other in that 1967 Little League season when North Melbourne travelled to Kardinia Park.)
These days, McDougal, 69, is known as Boort’s man for all sporting seasons, either playing or helping to run tennis, golf, bowls and croquet in the town.
But in his early days it was all about footy after he convinced his parents to let him play.
“I got home and was thrilled with playing a game at school,” McDougal said.
“Mum said, ‘How many goals did you kick?’
“I said I didn’t get a touch, and it was great.”
At the same time as he was pulling on a Cats jumper in Little League, he was a quality hurdler at Little Athletics, finishing third in the state titles in 1968.
And while football was an early focus, cricket was less appealing.
“My only cricket was at primary school, we used to play at lunchtime,” McDougal said.
“Then at Geelong High School in form one, batting in the nets, these huge, massive form sixers would bowl at you full pelt.
“That bloody cricket ball is too bloody hard!”
So, tennis became McDougal’s summer sport, one that he said was his first and greatest sporting love – and one he chose over athletics.
He started playing junior tennis in 1967 and kept playing until a couple of years ago when he injured his shoulder.
That’s when croquet came along.
“I dabbled in it eight years ago, a couple of hits in the summertime, and then when I met Denise (his wife) in 2021-22 I started playing on Friday night,” he said.
Since then, he has represented the Murray Valley region at statewide tournaments in Melbourne and won club championships at his local club Boort Lakeside.
McDougal is a classic sporting natural, able to take up any activity and play it to a high level.
Football took him to Geelong Under-19s … by taxi.
He had played in a preliminary final for local Geelong area side St Albans’ junior team back in 1972.
“I kicked eight goals, and the fellow up the other end kicked nine – and we got beaten by a goal.
“Then both of us were put in a taxi and sat on the bench for the Geelong Under-19s.”
It was an eventful few weeks for the young player, who a fortnight earlier had played in another preliminary final for St Arnaud reserves.
“I had a chance to win the game with a kick after the siren,” McDougal said. “The kick gets longer every year. I was about 40 metres out, but it’s probably 80 metres now.”
The next year he was playing with the Cats Under-19s when he suffered a severe hit in the midriff.
McDougal spent the next two weeks in hospital recovering from a burst blood vessel to the bowel and a bruised kidney.
“The next season, 1974, I was a bit hesitant, a bit nervous, cautious, tentative,” he admitted, with mental rather than physical demons ending his ambitions of playing VFL for Geelong.
He was now living and teaching at Lismore but still training at playing with St Albans, until he was convinced to join the local club.
“I was getting $30 a game at Lismore, and I got kicked in the calf early on and struggled – I was embarrassed that I wasn’t playing well.
“So, I said to the coach that we should halve it to $15 and I will be happy. The next season I played at full-back and finished runner-up in the best-and-fairest.”
McDougal’s football career ran parallel to his teaching placements. After Lismore came Pyramid Hill, where he played tennis and football for four seasons, apart from a stint in 1983 as captain-coach of Macorna: “Don’t ask me our winning percentage because it wasn’t very high.”
Following the Pyramid and Macorna appearances, work took him to Heywood, where he quit footy after a few head knocks and concentrated on tennis.
From 1986-91 he played pennant tennis with Inglewood and Bridgewater, and in 1992 teaching brought him to Boort, where he has been ever since.
As McDougal’s playing commitments eased, he took on more and more administrative roles – as treasurer and secretary of the town’s tennis, golf and indoor bias bowls clubs.
For more than 30 years he has managed Boort’s Easter tennis tournament, an event that has attracted up to 400 players.
And as for croquet?
“I’m just a player,” he said, with a certain sense of wonderment.