▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ About This Book ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

This book began life after attended a function Currency that launched 1963 Cats in Command, the story of Geelong’s 1963 premiership win by Bruce Kennedy and To preserve the atmosphere of the time and retain the Bruce Coe. He mentioned it to and it was integrity of quoted sources, money amounts are presented agreed that a similar volume about the 195152 premier in imperial currency units in this book. Australia used the ship era should be written. The invitation was readily Imperial (British) system of pound, shillings and pence embraced. (The demands of a Doctoral thesis however until February 1966. meant that Bruce Coe had to retire from the project.) The pound sign (£) is used throughout. One pound The authors chose to develop the book free of external (£1) = Two dollars. Shillings (20 per pound) are written editorial control. Much of the material researched is new 1/, 2/, and so on. One shilling = Ten cents. Pence (12 per to readers of other VFL/AFL and Geelong history shilling) are used together with higher denominations publications. when writing money amounts. For instance two pounds In addition to archived and recent interviews with twelve shillings and six pence is written £2/12/6. This surviving premiership players, the main sources are converts to $5.25. Pennies are mentioned occasionally and contemporary newspaper reports and illustrations, penny values appear in illustrations as ‘6d’. The penny enhanced by access to the cuttings faithfully collected by coin is shown actual size below. Bill Gowty and pasted into his Scrapbook. The process of As a guide to the equivalent value of money at the obtaining material was made easier by online access to time, the adult male basic (minimum) weekly wage for sources. During the writing, the State Library of Victoria Victoria in April 1951 was £8/17/6 ($17.75). The basic progressively placed The Football Record on line and this adult female wage was set at 75 percent of the male wage. was utilised strongly in our work. At that time, VFL player match payments were raised to The book is in two parts. The early narrative traces the £5 ($10.00). Adult admission to the football was 2/ (20 resuscitation of the club following the time it was out of cents) in 1951. the VFL in the Second World War. This period has received negligible attention from historians. Coverage of the premiership seasons is quite detailed in places and is in part a celebration of success and the innovative style the team played.

Some of the coverage of the 1951 and 1952 seasons is designed to take the reader into the Australian world of the time. Contemporary news items are glimpsed in the sidebars that accompany Weights and measures the 1951 and 1952 stories. These are selected to give a feel for the issues and an appreciation of These measures are retained in the main text to help life 60 years ago. They were not necessarily headlines, the reader stay in 1951 and 1952 but they have been though some were. There is repetition of some issues converted to metric where they appear. because those didn’t go away. The linear distance, miles, is used a number of times and not converted. 1 mile = 1.6km. There are also sidebars with other football news not necessarily concerning Geelong War or the VFL.

The text refers to two wars. World War One 1914 1918, and World War Two 19391945 We have chosen to include statistical items – club records broken and set, club milestones and so on, because the authors thrive on them. Many of these were not acknowledged at the time. Readers can gloss over them without losing the thread of the story if they wish.

Contents

Foreword by Frank Costa, OAM 5

Introduction: Country Team in a Metropolitan 7 Competition

1940s: Journey to Oblivion and Back 11 Kardinia Park History 16 43 Field Positions 52 The First Ruck Rover 54 The Opponents 55

1951 The Jubilee Premiership 61 What Did Matches Look Like? 119 Football and the Media 121 Recruitment, Transfers and Payments 130

1952 Back to Back 135 The Geelong Flier Goes Flying 148 The National Round 156 Why was Geelong So Successful? 200

Aftermath: 204

Appendices Premiership Player Profiles by Bruce Coe 208 Records and Statistics 213 Schoolboy Memories by Ross Williams 217 How I Became a Geelong Supporter by the 219 Authors Sources and Acknowledgements 220 Index of Geelong Players and Officials 222 Notes 223

36 Classic Cats

▬▬▬▬ Football 1946: Foundation Stones Laid for Success ▬▬▬▬▬

Geelong’s business community increasingly supported the 12.1587. Geelong produced a sensational burst at the club, though in today’s terms it was modest. Business was outset, piling on seven goals before the Dons registered a still finding its feet following the war and before that, the score. The Football Record wrote: 1930s depression. Local government also helped put the club on a firm What a gasp went up from the crowds on all footing. The city councils of Geelong and Newtown and metropolitan grounds when the ‘Record’ Chilwell helped develop Kardinia Park to improve its boards posted the quarter time scores from facilities and increase its capacity. Without the councils’ Geelong! The locals had rattled up 86 to 1 positive support, the club would have struggled to gain 1! Many wouldn't believe the accuracy of the momentum. figures. They reckoned it must be the other Attendances were to improve later in the decade due way round. to increasing success on the field and because more of the work force were being granted a fiveday week. A free This was a glimpse of what was to come. For a quarter of Saturday meant increased leisure time to attend football football, the team showed what was possible. The Cats matches. People could arrive at the ground well in time maintained control to record an extraordinary upset, and for the main match, rather than make haste and get to the this was by far their most significant success since ground after the start. The fiveday working week for resuming in the VFL. some workers was introduced from 1948. Geelong’s membership rose to 4,000, well behind Carlton’s record 9,000, but a substantial improvement on immediate prewar levels. Behind the improvement lay a sound support staff. Ivo Gibson was chosen to manage the Victorian State team to play South Australia in both Melbourne and Adelaide. Geelong’s veteran head trainer Ernie Davey and ambulance officer Jim Doyle were selected to perform the same duties for the State side. Geelong appointed its third coach in three seasons, 1930s great and member of the 1937 premiership team, Tommy Quinn, who stayed for three years. Match reports for his period of coaching point to the style he aimed for, pace and playon tactics. This season the club recruited the first of the players who would bring home the premiership pennant in five years time. Newcomers included key forward , utility/follower Russell Renfrey, defender and later ruckman Tom Morrow, and halfback flanker Norm Scott. All were quality people and quality footballers. This quartet formed a small but strong core around which an effective team could be built. All were extremely durable players who played over 100 games at a time when playing 50 games was an admirable milestone. Geelong’s talent scouting was more successful than at other League clubs. It is possible that Melbourne clubs either didn’t pay as much attention to rural Victoria or didn’t have as good a network of scouts to identify possible recruits. There is strong anecdotal evidence that country players were more attracted to try their luck at the VFL’s only country club rather than face the challenges associated with living in metropolitan Melbourne. The first half of the season was more or less business as usual. The club won its Round 2 match against Hawthorn, Geelong’s third successive home victory against the Hawks. However, the team suffered a run of Fred Flanagan in his 7th game battles Collingwood’s decisive defeats, leaving it sitting just off the bottom of legendary fullback, Jack Regan in his 194th game. the ladder on 18 after Round 9, with the future looking bleak. Out of the blue, the Cats at home stunned second By Round 13 Geelong was holding up the ladder, having placed and eventual premier, Essendon, 18.18126 to not won again. Then they upset ninthplaced Fitzroy in a knifeedge encounter. But further heavy away defeats to

Oblivion and Back – 37

St Kilda and Collingwood by in excess of 70 points desperate to avoid another last place finish they may have suggested that the side was only capable of winning at faced a dilemma by handing the double chance to their old home, and even then, not regularly. An article in The enemy, Collingwood, should the Cats upset the Bulldogs. Football Record urged Cats supporters to withhold Geelong made life hard for Footscray in the first half, criticism and allow the side to develop over two or three the teams separated by just three points at the long years. interval. The Cats continued to attack in the third term and Entering the final round, Geelong was still in pole only inaccuracy (4.7 to 3.0) stopped them taking a match position for the wooden spoon, trailing Hawthorn on winning lead into the final term. But that didn’t matter as percentage narrowly, with St Kilda a game ahead of both they pulled away in the final term to triumph by 43 points, in 10th spot. The Cats hosted Footscray, who were within their biggest winning margin in any match since 1940. reach of the ‘double chance’12. A win at Kardinia Park The club’s reward was to avoid not only the wooden would most likely give that to the Bulldogs. Struggling St spoon but rise to tenth place (415, 70.9 percent), as losses Kilda were to meet middleranking South Melbourne, and to St Kilda and Hawthorn that day meant that the Cats Hawthorn were up against eighth placed Fitzroy. The odds overtook both of them on the ladder. Footscray were left in favour of Geelong staying at the bottom of the ladder wondering what might have been as Collingwood also lost were very short. Although Geelong may have been that afternoon

All that was published by The Argus in reporting Geelong’s upset win over Footscray. The Age’s account the same morning was headlined, “Geelong Team Inspired”. The first sentence in both papers was identical. With newsprint shortages, neither paper had much space for Football reporting. Reports of matches in Geelong seemed to have been ‘phoned in’ to both papers. No photographs of Geelong matches were published in The Age for the whole of the 1946 season. (The picture opposite is from The Sun NewsPictorial.)

Russell Renfrey: Fred Flanagan Had Never The First Wave of Premiership Recruits Set Foot in Geelong

Local player Russell Renfrey began at Geelong Fred Flanagan’s path to Geelong was unusual, in 1946, joining from Drysdale. Players he most and fortuitous for the club. Flanagan was ob remembers from his first year at the club are served playing football while serving in New Ralph Patman, Jack Sing, Jack Muller, and his Guinea by a senior army officer who had con brother Angie, Jim Munday, Jim Fitzgerald, nections to the club. It appears his release from George Gniel, and . Russ’s clos the services was made easier through other est mates were mostly from the older group of Geelong connections, including Ivo Gibson, players. “I came into all that. I developed a bond who signed him. On his demobilisation, with other 1946 arrivals, in particular Fred Flanagan moved to Geelong where work had Flanagan, Tom Morrow and Bob Wynne.” been arranged for him. It was the first time (Wynne played three games for the club at the Flanagan had set foot in Geelong. start of 1946.)

Having brought down two finalists by sizeable margins Veteran, Geoff Mahon won the award, boded very well for Geelong in 1947. One of those with Fred Flanagan and Tom Morrow placed second and opponents, Essendon, was about to enter their most third. Mahon and Jack Grant, the last remaining 1937 dominant period in its history – three flags and participa premiership players, left at the end of the season. Russ tion in grand finals every year from 19461951. Renfrey led the goalkicking with 28 goals.

The Opponents - 55

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ The Opponents ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Collingwood supporters at the 1952 Second Semifinal

In the years of their dual premiership success, Geelong’s opponents in the Victorian Football League competition consisted of 11 Melbourne suburban teams each named for the locality they were based in and where their 'home' ground was located. As did Geelong, all Melbournebased teams had a surrounding recruiting zone from where they had priority choice of junior club players living in the zone. Traditionally much of the supporter base was also drawn from these zones. Each club is profiled based partially on a series run by The Argus newspaper in the early 1950s that gave supporters an insight into their club's history and prospects.

Carlton conveyed an impression of being a confident club, their sense of purpose perhaps expressed by the club’s need at the time not to have a mascot. The club was just The ‘Blues’, which gave the cartoonists a Carlton: conundrum of how to represent them. (The Argus team profile of 1952 ‘Blues’ has none.) It was only later when their premiership gap had started to Home Ground: look like a drought that a beefy cartoon footballer wearing a Carlton Princes Park jumper, who looked like he could run through you but not get off the ground to take a mark, began to appear on club badges. By the beginning of the 1950s, Carlton had come from sharing

with St Kilda the reputation of being ‘chopping blocks’ in the first five seasons of the competition (18971901) to be the second most successful club behind Collingwood in percentage of matches won. In 1929, Carlton moved ahead of Fitzroy, maintained that position during the 1950s and continues to do so in the present day. However there was a general feeling that Carlton had under achieved. Of the club’s eight premierships, five had been won by 1915. Since then, they had been successful in 1938, 1945 and 1947. They had been runnerup to Essendon in 1949, losing the Grand Final by the then record margin of 73 points. From 1938 to 1949 they won 66.5 percent of their matches. The Argus in its 1952 profile of Carlton headed; ‘The Blues Are So Contrary’ said in part:

“Carlton is the Victorian Football League's team of contradictions. At times the Blues lift their follow ers to the greatest heights, then drop them to the depths the following week. That has been Carlton's re cord in the last decade. When the going is tough, Carlton is the side to watch. The team seems to delight in toppling the leaders, then going down to much weaker teams.”

After finishing seventh in 1951, they made the finals in 1952.

Football and the Media 121

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Football and the Media ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

For the period of Geelong’s dominance in the early 1950s, the media comprised radio and newspapers almost exclusively. Some magazines were published, but not on anywhere near the same scale as in the present day, and occasionally a snatch of league football action would be shown as part of a newsreel screened in ‘picture theatres’ before the feature film.

Football On The Radio

During the early 1950s, Victorian football fans unable to attend matches, tuned in to the radio to catch the action and be informed. In order to listen to a radio, a licence fee of £1 had to be paid27 and radios were not cheap. However, followers of the game had to work hard to obtain what they wanted. Saturday afternoon radio was still the home of horseracing descriptions, interminable starting prices and betting information for as many meetings around the country as the radio stations could monitor. The priority given to racing on the radio was on appearance, a non sense. In theory, betting information should have been irrelevant to listeners. Governments controlled and restricted betting such that it was only available oncourse. It follows that the coverage of horse racing on This 1951 ‘mantle’ radio (not advertised as a ‘wireless’) cost £35 – the equivalent of more than radio was technically and legally pointless. The Commonwealth three weeks basicminimum wage Government owned and controlled Australian Broadcasting Commis sion (ABC) station 3AR was particularly culpable. There was however, a vast illegal offcourse, ‘starting price’ betting industry. It was this that the radio broadcasts catered for. Until the end of 1952, Melbourne radio station 3KZ (given first choice of matches on alternate weeks), and, thankfully for Cats fans, Geelong’s 3GL, were the only radio services to give uninterrupted descriptions of VFL matches. ABC station 3AR, and commercial stations 3UZ and 3DB only crossed to the footy for descriptions when their racing ‘commitments’ were exhausted, and that might have amounted to say five or six minutes in total each quarter. Whether or not one of those stations may have been hosting the match of the day, or a close match, was of no consequence. The ‘geegees’ were king. In 1953, 3AW began to cover footy but it still gave its racing coverage priority.

3AR (ABC) 3AW 3DB

Saturday Afternoon Radio, 5 July 1952. Followers of Geelong had uninterrupted coverage on 3GL. Essendon supporters who couldn’t find 3GL or were averse to its coverage could get

snippets of the game between racecalls on 3UZ, “...Hutchison 3UZ 3KZ 3GL gathers the loose ball and runs into goal and they're racing at Morphettville, Comedy Act is first out of the gates …” Carlton, Hawthorn, St Kilda and Footscray fans had to hope somebody remembered that their teams were also playing.

The racing stations engaged some good callers and commentators. It was just a pity they were wasted in providing snatches of commentary for a minute here and half a minute there between races. During the years 19511953 Noel Bailey and Ray McDonald commentated on 3AR Jack Gurry on 3UZ and Ron Casey and exSt Kilda player, George Andrew on 3DB.

Recruitment and Payments - 131

Form 4

A VFL club entered an agreement with a The Form 4 in popular culture. player it recruited to the club. The agree ment was formalised with a VFL Form 4 A locally produced cartoon strip that ran in The Argus was ‘Wizzer’. Set in a Melbourne and was signed by the club secretary and the ‘Public’ (exclusive private) school it followed the doings of protonerd and Harry Potter lookalike, Hermon Wizzer and the school bully, Crawley. In one story line, the strip new player. With a completed Form 4, the examined every schoolboy footballer’s dream to play League football. In doing so it touched player was bound to the club for a specified on the control headmasters had over their pupils, corruption of the recruiting process in time. The Form 4 was then lodged with the football and even dealt with what are called ‘performance enhancing’ drugs today. VFL, which verified that the player was Excerpted below are a few panels with some of the story filled in. eligible to become a VFL player, and had not signed with another VFL club. The details were registered at VFL headquarters. If the player had a change of heart and sought to sign with another club within the duration of the Form 4, he had to seek a transfer, which was unlikely to be granted. Otherwise, the player had to stand out of football for two years before he became eligible to sign up with another club. The greencoloured Form 4 was often discussed in the media as it sealed the deal During the football season in 1951, Crawley first tricked Wizzer into taking between club and player. Fans were always ‘Wizzer’ featured a long running story an overdose of “speed and strength pleased when their club had its new player involving a convoluted Crawley plot mixtures” to get the attention of that involved tricking Hermon into League talent scouts – including signedup on a Form 4. signing a blank Form 4. ‘Charlie Buttem’ from ‘Toescray’. In a few instances, a VFL club would recruit a player directly from school football in which case a transfer (clearance) was unnecessary. Permission however was often required from private school headmasters before boys were allowed to be signed by a VFL club. The club would simply register its new player before a rival club could do so.

Match Permits

The next step was normally to negotiate The plan was then to withdraw the As well, Crawley hoped to make some match permits to allow the new player to mixtures before Wizzers’ debut match. money with Sneed, an exVFL club play with his new club. Match permits official who seems to have fallen foul of the ‘Coulter Law’ at some point. enabled the player to play a limited number of games with a new club. If persuaded, the donor club could agree to its player being awarded up to a maximum of eight single match permits. Usually anywhere between one and six single match permits would be issued. Match permits were granted for a specific series of matches, they could not be ‘banked’ and used at the receiving club’s discretion. Negotiations usually took place before a donor club sat down to discuss the final step, the clearance of its player to the new club. Match permits had a twofold purpose. They could help convince the new player he fitted into his new team and add lev erage to the negotiations with the donor club for the clearance. Also, they enabled a club to try out a new player. Match permits for interstate recruits did not have any residency requirement before a player could commence with their new club. Match permits allowed breathing space for further negotiations for a clearance. The donor club could see how much the new club valued the player. For instance, a new club that selected the player in the seniors, rather than in the Seconds, would have better leverage in securing that player’s clearance. If the player starred, the donor club had more bargaining power to obtain a bigger benefit for itself, for example, the promise of an established player in return. The donor club tried to get the highest value for its player. If it looked like the new club was doing little to develop or play its recruit in the seniors, the donor club would try to keep the player. It was a cat and mouse game. Some country clubs did have the best interests of the player as their first consideration.

180 Classic Cats

▬▬▬ August 30, Round 19 v Carlton at Kardinia Park: The ‘Main Danger’? ▬▬▬

On Tuesday night, Reg Hickey gave the team hard match practice. kicked and handled the ball without hesitancy, but Geelong officials were still guarded about whether or not he would play against Carlton. At Princes Park part of the training session was devoted to a meeting involving all players to discuss tactics about how to beat the

Cats. In Other News Carlton’s top ruckman Jack ‘Chooka’ Howell was declared fit after receiving a shoulder injury the week before. Geelong were able to pick Norm Sharp for his first No ‘majesty’ game in five weeks, so Carlton were unable to gain any advantage with Howell. Also Radio broadcaster Norman Banks back for Geelong was winger Terry Fulton. Backup ruckman Harry Herbert was on the expressed concern that a future Labor government might make Advance bench and Les Reed was named as an emergency. Geelong announced that Bernie Smith Australia Fair the official national was being rested for the Semifinal in two weeks time. Carlton rover Jack Spencer, who anthem. He said Advance Australia kicked five of his side’s eight goals in the first quarter against Geelong in Round 7, was Fair was no credit to Australia. It was named as 19th man. “raw and lacking in majesty”. (Banks lived to see his fears realised.) Much fanfare preceded the last home and away round. As one of only two teams to have beaten Geelong this year, and needing a win to ensure a place in the finals, Carlton Tipples only for ‘toffs’ was regarded as a more likely threat to Geelong’s premiership aspirations than Colling In the early 1950s, alcohol could not wood whose game plan was considered less effective against the Cats. Geelong president be served to patrons on Sundays unless they had travelled 20 miles or Jack Jennings said “Frankly we do not want to see Carlton in the final four. We will be more from their home on that day. all out to stop them”. Secretary Ivo Gibson said “that nothing like Carlton’s eight goals to The Labor MLA for Clifton Hill one first quarter (in the Round 7 match at Princes Park) would be allowed to happen this complained that while the rich could time”. drive their cars the specified 20 miles and be served alcohol on Sunday, the Dick Reynolds felt that although Carlton ordinary working man had no such was fighting for a place in the finals, Geelong privilege. would be fighting just as hard not to go into About one in eight adults owned the finals with two defeats for the season to a car at the time. their name against the Blues. Although No simple answers Carlton had a trump in ruckman Howell, Dr Norval Morris, senior lecturer in Reynolds said there was some doubt about his criminology at Melbourne University fitness and Pianto and Trezise had shown scoffed at theories that comics, picture theatres, and milk bars caused throughout the year that they could shark hit delinquency. outs from opposition ruckmen. Percy Beames, while voicing the view of many football fans The toffee apple issue that if any team could beat Geelong it was Aircraft passengers were experiencing discomfort from changes in air Carlton, pointed out that “things needed to be pressure during flights and chewing ‘setup’ or special circumstances to apply for barley sugar helped relieve this. A the Blues to produce their best efforts. On the question was asked in parliament other hand, Geelong was a team with enough whether Australian National Airlines and TransAustralian Airlines had natural talent that could be relied upon to colluded to restrict passengers to one produce the goods”. piece of barley sugar each at the Since their 50point drubbing by beginning and end of each trip. Mr Collingwood in Round 5, Carlton had lost Anthony, Civil Aviation Minister, suggested that TransAustralia only two matches, each by one point, and had Airlines provide toffee apples for drawn twice. With a little luck they could passengers who couldn’t get enough have been in second place only half a game barley sugar on take offs and landings. behind Geelong. As it was, they travelled to

Geelong fighting the odds to stay in the final Limited threat Major General Sir Samuel Burston four. The experts tipped South Melbourne to told a Medical conference in The man in front doesn’t always get the take care of lowly Footscray at the Western mark. The umpire favoured Jack Melbourne that only 130,000 of the Oval, enabling the Swans to reenter the four city’s 1,360,000 population would Howell over Russell Renfrey this time. survive an atom bomb blast. at Carlton’s expense. Collingwood was at home to Melbourne and anticipated a comfortable win. Fitzroy was expected to be untroubled by its visit to meet bottom side St Kilda. The Roys were hoping for Melbourne to cause an upset at Victoria Park, which would allow them to snatch the double chance.

1952 Back to Back - 181

Blues No Match for Rampant Cats

Geelong delivered Carlton a hiding. On a sunny, mild afternoon, the Cats were kept goalless in the first quarter but in the middle terms, Geelong opened the throttle to play premiership football adding nine unanswered goals. Carlton was made to look helpless. Hugh Buggy thought it was a deliberate tactic to probe Carlton’s defences in the first quarter before ramping up the pace in the second and particularly the third quarters. John Hyde was the star of the day and his command of the Carlton attack was complete. Williams and Morrison combined with Hyde to form an impenetra ble defence. Before the match Morrison had conceded just 23 goals so far for the season. Bill McMaster again won in the ruck, a promising sign for the finals, while Turner and Renfrey gave their all. Four goals from George Goninon and the Cats were home by 45 points. The win, the Cats’ eighth on end, reflected their dominance of the competition. They had thrashed their three fellowfinalists during their most recent encounters. Dick Reynolds said in The Argus:

In general ability, team balance, and current form Geelong towers far above the other three sides. Ri val coaches now must plan tactics to neutralise Geelong’s terrific pace. Their task will not be easy. Here is a team with pace not just in one or two parts of the field but with speedsters on every line. Gee long’s speed does not affect its smooth teamwork, because it has so many players who think quickly. Such a team is extremely hard to beat on a dry MCG in September.

Reynolds also felt that the result had passed the title of main challenger back to Collingwood.

Norm Sharp has the blues. Carlton’s Bruce Comben in the foreground.

Jim Norman snaps a goal despite Carlton full back Ollie Grieve’s attempt to smother, Leo Turner is also on the scene.

182 Classic Cats

Geelong 0 5 5 5 9 39 9 13 67 10 17 77

Carlton 1 3 9 2 6 18 2 10 22 3 14 32

Other Football News 4 21 45 45

Coleman’s century Essendon’s John Coleman, unwanted Attendance 49,107. Receipts £3,368. (Both records at Kardinia Park) by state selectors earlier in the season, kicked nine goals against Richmond Goals: GEELONG: Goninon 4, Turner 2, Trezise 2, Norman, Pianto. for a season total of 103, his third CARLTON: Mills 2, Caspar. century in four seasons. BEST: GEELONG: Hyde, Trezise, Pianto, Morrison. Middlemiss, Worner, Goninon, Turner, Fulton

CARLTON: Mills, Conley, Grieve, Guy, (second half), Stafford, Howell, Hands. Blues triumph The Cats lost 6.541 to the Blues 7.4 46 in a women’s football match to Umpire: Jamieson. raise funds for an infant welfare centre in Werribee. Three thousand attended Geelong team: Other Results

the match. They may have left the traffic jam on Geelong Road to watch B: Hovey, Morrison, Sharp Coll 13 14 92 v Melb 10 11 71 the next best thing. HB: Middlemiss, Hyde, Williams Haw 8 11 59 v N Melb 12 10 82 C: Worner, Palmer, Fulton HF: Turner, Flanagan, Davis Celebrating too soon Rich 15 11 101 v Ess 11 10 76 F: Norman, Goninon, Pianto At the South Gippsland League Grand Final most of the spectators had gone R: McMaster, Renfrey, Trezise St K 10 12 72 v Fitz 8 18 66 home and the congratulatory speeches Res: Herbert, S Smith Foots 13 13 91 v S Melb 8 13 61 had been made for Fish Creek’s win by seven points over Meeniyan when the goal umpires came forward with the news that the match had actually • The remarkable attendance of 49,107 beat the previous record at Kardinia Park set been tied at 14.14 all. against Collingwood in Round 12 by nearly 13,000. (The next highest attendance at Later, after refusing to partici Geelong since is 42,278 v Collingwood in 1980.) pate in a replay ordered by the • 49,107 was the 11th highest home and away match attendance recorded up till then League, Fish Creek forfeited the and the highest at any venue other that the MCG. It remained the highest atten premiership to Meeniyan. dance apart from the MCG and finals at Princes Park until 51,370 squeezed into Moorabbin for St Kilda’s first match there in Round 1, 1965 against Collingwood. It MCG trustees reserved on tickets remained the highest attendance for a VFL/AFL match outside of Melbourne until Despite requests from both the VFL 49,846 saw Port Adelaide defeat Adelaide in Round 18, 2001 at Football Park. and health authorities, the trustees of • The 1952 attendance of 251,641 at Kardinia Park beat 1951’s record by nearly the Melbourne Cricket Ground 50,000 and has only been topped once since when 267,205 attended in 1963. refused to introduce a ticketing system • Geelong’s total season attendance for 1952 home and away matches of 464,044 for all admissions to the MCG during topped the record of 1951 by over 90,000. The lowest for a season was 117,300 in football finals to manage crowd 1941. control and improve safety. • 32 points was the lowest score Geelong conceded v Carlton since 3.523 in Round 15, 1901. Cost of admission • It was Geelong’s 17th win from their last 18 matches at Kardinia Park. Admission charges for the finals were • It was the 18th consecutive match at Kardinia Park (starting at Round 1, 1951) that announced. Grandstand: Adults 6/ Geelong had held their opponents to a score of fewer than 70 points. Children 3/ Outer ground: Adults 3/6 • Geelong’s average points conceded for 1952 at Kardinia Park was 44 points, the Children 1/3. lowest season average for the venue so far and the lowest for matches in Geelong Expenses of ground manage since 41 points in 1914 at Corio Oval. ment, police and other services cost • It was the 10th time in 1951 and 1952 that Geelong had held their opponent to the the VFL about £800 for each of the lowest score of the round. The next most was Collingwood seven times. finals.

The other Cats v Blues match.

1952 Back to Back - 183

Traffic chaos Loy Stewart resigns Many wished they had taken the train (there were no buses due to a Cats’ 1951 premiership ruckman Loy Stewart tendered his resignation to strike) when a jampacked, single lane Geelong Road was busier than a the club. He had last played in the seniors in Round 2. After playing Melbourne city street in a week day peakhour as football fans streamed every match in 1951, Stewart had played in the Seconds for much of the to Geelong for the match of the day. Hours before the match, a 13mile 1952 season. He had been suffering some health problems that had stream of traffic nosed bumpertobumper along the highway. While forced him to curtail his training. police fought to control the inrush from the Melbourne side, hundreds of cars from Western district towns jammed other highways. At one stage Orphanage Band after the match there were 44 cars stranded by engine faults and minor During the half time break at the Round 19 match at Geelong, Jack collisions on the Melbourne road. Jennings acknowledged the long and rich association the club had with the St Augustine’s Orphanage Band which had entertained patrons at Blue view Geelong matches for many decades. Social change meant that the Those who attended that afternoon would attest to the discomfort, and in number of orphans, who were often the children of unmarried mothers, many cases to the problem of not being able to see the action. One diminished such that it’s some time since the crowd at Kardinia Park eyewitness, a Carlton supporter, claimed he saw very little, and maybe have been entertained by the Band, that wasn’t such a bad thing. However, as a Melburnian who made the long trip to the Pivot, he was not impressed with the ground, the Membership record for Cats facilities, or the authorities for admitting patrons long after it was Geelong announced a record membership at around 10,000, up by 1,500 impossible for them to be adequately accommodated. compared to previous season.

McClelland Trophy Geelong won the McClelland trophy this year for the best combined results by the First, Second and Third Eighteen teams. Collingwood finished second and Carlton third. (There is no contemporary account of this feat.)

Final Ladder

W L D F A % Pts W/L Footscray’s stunning finish to overrun South Melbourne gave Carlton Geelong 16 2 1 1,594 1,183 134.7 66 8W a lifeline. Despite their trouncing at Geelong, the Blues retained their Collingwood 14 5 0 1,528 1,058 144.4 56 2W place as a finalist. Fitzroy’s chances of snagging the double chance Fitzroy 13 6 0 1,233 1,170 105.4 52 1L were wrecked, regardless of the Collingwood result, when St Kilda Carlton 11 6 2 1,473 1,310 112.4 48 1L caused the boilover of the season. Leading all day and surviving a hot finish, the Saints hung on to win by a goal. Collingwood won its South Melbourne 11 7 1 1,411 1,337 105.5 46 2L match anyway. Melbourne 9 9 1 1,420 1,379 103.0 38 3L North Melbourne 9 10 0 1,352 1,396 96.8 36 2W Essendon 8 10 1 1,579 1,390 113.6 34 1L Richmond 8 11 0 1,281 1,384 92.6 32 1W Footscray 5 14 0 1,052 1,364 77.1 20 1W Hawthorn 5 14 0 1,030 1,480 69.6 20 3L St Kilda 2 17 0 1,071 1,573 68.1 8 1W

W/L – consecutive wins/losses at end of Round 19

Season Scoring

For Against Margin Gls Bhds Av. pts G/B% Gls Bhds Av. pts G/B% Geelong 223 256 83.89 46.56 163 205 62.26 44.29 411 Collingwood 208 280 80.42 42.62 145 188 55.68 43.54 470 Fitzroy 167 231 64.89 41.96 158 222 61.58 41.58 63 Carlton 198 285 77.53 40.99 179 236 68.95 43.13 163

South Melbourne 194 247 74.26 43.99 184 233 70.37 44.12 74 Melbourne 197 238 74.74 45.29 190 239 72.58 44.29 41 North Melbourne 192 200 71.16 48.98 196 220 73.47 47.12 44 Essendon 228 211 83.11 51.94 191 244 73.16 43.91 189 Richmond 182 189 67.42 49.06 191 238 72.84 44.52 103 Footscray 142 200 55.37 41.52 191 218 71.79 46.70 312 Hawthorn 142 178 54.21 44.38 209 226 77.89 48.05 450 St Kilda 145 201 56.37 41.91 221 247 82.79 47.22 502 High Low

G/B%: Number of goals as a percentage of total number of goals and behinds Margin: Difference between points scored for and points scored against