When Frank James Leydecker moved north to Pyrmont from Prahran in 1886, following in the footsteps of his half brother Bill, he not only moved states, but crossed codes, stepping from the world of Victorian Rules to Association football.
Bill, living in the Granville district was already enmeshed in the game they played there, becoming a stalwart of the famed Granville Waratah club. It naturally followed that after moving to Granville, when Frank Junior, born in 1897, was old enough he too would follow suit. Frank Jr signed up with the local Rechabites team.
Frank’s football career would have appeared to end though when he rode to Casula to sign-up to protect King and Country on 15 November, 1915. Frank’s uncle Bill, too old to serve, would hold various roles within the game locally for the rest of his life including President of the Granville Association.
Frank Jr was assigned to the 20th Infantry Battalion of the AIF and embarked for the front in March the following year with the Battle of Pozieres his likely first and last taste of the action. A little over a year later Frank was discharged, the medics deciding that his flat feet provided more hindrance than help. A probable cause also of his failure to appear in the football records post war.
Frank would live a full life working as an electrician after returning. He married in 1920, fathered a daughter and eventually retired to Budgewoi on the NSW Central Coast. His wife Millie died in 1968 and Frank soldiered on until 1975 when died of natural causes at the Concord Repat Hospital in Sydney.
Frank is remembered as one of the 49 members of the Rechabites club who served in WWI his photo appearing on the wonderful honour roll which sadly, is now lost.