Eddie Elms played for Rosebells in the Ipswich and West Moreton league and was club secretary in 1912. Rosebells was based at Bergin’s Hill, Bundamba where Elms lived, working as an engine driver.
He enlisted in 1915 and went on to serve with the 5th, 6th and 3rd Field Company Engineers progressively. Elms was wounded in September 1917, and did not return to his unit until January. His war was ended after being gassed in May 1918, which necessitated evacuation to England and a return to Australia in early 1919.
His return, along with three other soldiers, was greeted with a homecoming by the Bundanba Patriotic League, chaired by Ipswich soccer pioneer and state MP Dave Gleeson. Elms married Henriette George in 1919 and continued to live at Bergin’s Hill throughout the 1930s and 40s, continuing to work as an engine driver.
His relationship with the sport immediately after the war is largely unknown, though he likely was the E. Elms who was a linesman for a Bundamba Rovers junior minor match in 1919. References to an E. Elms playing for Blackstone Rovers in the 1920s appear to be a misidentification of younger Blackstone miner Clifford Elms who played for that club. Elms did return to Rosebells by the late 1920s. He held the position of club President in 1929, appearing in a team photo which celebrated winning the Second Division Premiership, and runners up in the Tristam Shield.Â