Bingham (nee Meehan), a four-time A-grade premiership coach with Kangaroo Flat and a BFNL Hall of Fame inductee, died on September 20, aged 72.

She is survived by her loving husband of nearly 50 years Maurice and children Paul, Dehne and Karly, also a Kangaroo Flat netball legend.

Bingham leaves behind an unmatched legacy in North Central netball.

A life-long journey in netball began when she joined a group of her primary schoolmates in a local junior competition.

She never looked back.

Bingham, a standout defender in those early years, was just 15 when she was selected in Golden City Netball Association's open representative side for the first time.

For the next 15 or so years, she would be a regular fixture in the team during a period of supreme dominance for Golden City, highlighted by numerous Country Week A-grade titles.

She was twice selected in a Victorian Country all-star line-up.

A knee injury in her early-40s ended Bingham's on-court career, but fortunately for netballers and administrators across the region, she had long since turned her attention to coaching.

In fact, her first foray into coaching came at about age 15, when she agreed to take charge of her sister's team.

She later coached school teams with her usual success at Bendigo East Primary, where her children attended.

Following Karly's move to secondary school, Bingham formed BKs or Bingham Kids club for her daughter and her friends, playing for several years at Golden City.

In a shock move, Bingham became one of the first Golden City identities to make the move to the newly formed BFL and Kangaroo Flat, doing so in time for the league's third year.

It was the start of a period of rich success for both her and the Roos.

From 1999 to 2009, Bingham led the club to an ultra-impressive four A grade and four A-reserve premierships and one B-grade premiership.

She spent many of those years coaching up to four teams each weekend up until her retirement at the end of 2009.

She coached 33 teams during her tenure at Dower Park, compiling an extraordinary 72 per cent winning record.

Throughout her career, Bingham was synonymous with representative netball, devoting countless years to association, league, North Central region and Country Cup campaigns as both a coach, selector and administrator.

Her service to netball can be gauged through the long list of honours bestowed upon her and the even longer list of achievements.

Among them life memberships of the Golden City association and Kangaroo Flat Football Netball Club, the Roos A-grade best and fairest award being named the Bingham Medal in honour of both Carol and Karly, a Bendigo Married Ladies Netball service award and elevation into the BFNL Hall of Fame in 2019.

Even longer is the list of tributes from friends, respected rivals and players and coaches whose lives she so heavily and positively influenced.

Golden City Netball Association life member and former secretary Bev O'Shea said Bingham 'set the standard' in netball and gave 'the girls something to aspire to'.

"She was involved in all aspects of netball, from playing to selecting to coaching and she was always on committees - junior, primary, selection committees," she said

"It's a wonder she fit anything else in besides netball.

"She was always just there. Even after she stopped coaching she was very much involved at Kangaroo Flat.

"From a personal viewpoint, she was great to work with, so very knowledgeable about netball and a great friend, actually quite funny at times.

"She was firm but fair with her players and I'm sure all the kids would say that.

"I don't think you find any player without a kind word to say about her, she was so very caring."

Testament to Bingham's abilities to get the best out of people, she has inspired countless of her former players into coaching.

Now A-grade coach of one of the Roos' rivals Golden Square, Benita Swatton played more than 15 seasons under Bingham, starting as a 12-year-old in Bingham's Kids and continuing on at Kangaroo Flat and in BFNL and North Central representative and Country Cup teams.

She described her long-time mentor as 'a lot more than just a coach'.

"She was always there for us as players," she said.

"When we used to travel down to Melbourne for a 10pm game, she would drive me an hour out of her way to drop me home, so my parents wouldn't have to come and get me at one or two o'clock in the morning.

"Things like that stick with you forever. As much as it's all about netball and the coaching, it was what she did off the court. She looked after us.

"She was more like a netball mum - I probably saw her a lot more than my own mum on Saturdays."

Remarkably, as someone who spent so many years under the one coach, Swatton said Bingham's influence over her players had never waned.

"She would always call you out on things you needed to be called out on and wasn't afraid to pull you into line when you needed to be," she said.

"My sister-in-law (Lauren Swatton) made the comment that there were three things she always used to say: walk it off; focus, and Benita no more. No more throwing the long bombs in.

"She definitely helped inspire me to get into coaching. When I hurt my knee at Kangaroo Flat and couldn't play for 12 months, she took me under her wing

"That for me was when I really started to get serious about wanting to coach.

"She was an amazing coach and an amazing person."

A decades-long friend and Netball Victoria northern region manager Pam Ferrari said Bingham's loss would be felt beyond her beloved netball community.

"Carol was a friend to everybody and always made herself available to people," she said.

"She was only too happy to pass on the knowledge she had.

"She had a fantastic run at Kangaroo Flat and she will be missed by the entire netball community, not just at Kangaroo Flat and her friends.

"She was heavily involved at North Central region and back in the old days Golden City, where she played all her primary and junior netball and then went on to become a member of the committee and a life member in 1993.

"Carol coached our regional teams and even played in our first Masters team at the state titles."

"Betty Thompson, who was in charge of the region at that time, was really annoyed with us because she had no coach and umpires - everyone who was in that age group wanted to play rather than coach and umpire."

At times great rivals on the court and sidelines, but trusty team-mates in the 1970s at Golden City and great friends until the end, Eaglehawk great Wendy Ryan said there would simply never be another Carol Bingham.

"She was an amazing person, even without considering netball," she said.

"When we stepped over that line it was netball, but when we stepped back off the court it was us (as people), and it was Carol.

"She was the same when it came to coaching. She put everything into it, but when it was over it was over and that's what we all respected.

"We could be enemies during the game, but once it was done, the line in the sand went. She was competitive to the hilt, but she left it out there.

"She was just an amazing friend and an amazing team-mate and an amazing fellow coach."

Ryan, who moved to the BFNL one season before Bingham, said her friend was revered every bit as much as a player as she was a coach.

"When playing against Carol, you just knew you had to move onto the ball extremely hard as she was always reading the play and always in a position to intercept," she said.

"And she did that on a regular basis.

"As a team, we always tried to avoid putting the ball into an area where she was because she could create turnovers and was deceivingly quick.

"Carol had a pass that was fierce and when it was coming there were times you had to brace yourself for the impact."

Current Kangaroo Flat A-grade coach Jayden Cowling said Bingham had been one of his earliest role models in netball.

"Growing up as a kid, Carol was someone I always looked up to as did a lot of people," he said

"She was always very supportive of me. Back then I was forever on the sidelines helping her or doing the scoring.

"She's always been a role model for me, especially since taking over the coaching at Kangaroo Flat.

"It's really heartbreaking and a sad day for Bendigo netball.

"In Karly's funeral speech, she said Carol has been a part of everyone in Bendigo netball's life, not just the players she has coached, but the players who played against her and the coaches who coached against her.

"It will be very sad next year at finals. Carol always had her one spot at the QEO where she sat every single year. It will be sad not seeing her there."

A private service for Bingham was held last Tuesday.

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