About This Book. Currency

Transcription

1 About This Book This book began life after John Hyde attended a function that launched 1963 Cats in Command, the story of Geelong s 1963 premiership win by Bruce Kennedy and Bruce Coe. He mentioned it to Russell Renfrey and it was agreed that a similar volume about the premiership era should be written. The invitation was readily embraced. (The demands of a Doctoral thesis however meant that Bruce Coe had to retire from the project.) The authors chose to develop the book free of external editorial control. Much of the material researched is new to readers of other VFL/AFL and Geelong history publications. In addition to archived and recent interviews with surviving premiership players, the main sources are contemporary newspaper reports and illustrations, enhanced by access to the cuttings faithfully collected by Bill Gowty and pasted into his Scrapbook. The process of obtaining material was made easier by on-line access to sources. During the writing, the State Library of Victoria progressively placed The Football Record on line and this was utilised strongly in our work. The book is in two parts. The early narrative traces the resuscitation of the club following the time it was out of 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 side-bars that accompany the 1951 and 1952 stories. These are selected to give a feel for the issues and an appreciation of life 60 years ago. They were not necessarily headlines, though some were. There is repetition of some issues because those didn t go away. There are also side-bars with other football news not necessarily concerning Geelong or the VFL. 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. Currency To preserve the atmosphere of the time and retain the integrity of quoted sources, money amounts are presented in imperial currency units in this book. Australia used the Imperial (British) system of pound, shillings and pence until February The pound sign ( ) is used throughout. One pound ( 1) = Two dollars. Shillings (20 per pound) are written 1/-, 2/-, and so on. One shilling = Ten cents. Pence (12 per shilling) are used together with higher denominations when writing money amounts. For instance two pounds twelve shillings and six pence is written 2/12/6. This converts to $5.25. Pennies are mentioned occasionally and penny values appear in illustrations as 6d. The penny coin is shown actual size below. As a guide to the equivalent value of money at the time, the adult male basic (minimum) weekly wage for Victoria in April 1951 was 8/17/6 ($17.75). The basic adult female wage was set at 75 percent of the male wage. At that time, VFL player match payments were raised to 5 ($10.00). Adult admission to the football was 2/- (20 cents) in Weights and measures These measures are retained in the main text to help the reader stay in 1951 and 1952 but they have been converted to metric where they appear. The linear distance, miles, is used a number of times and not converted. 1 mile = 1.6km. War The text refers to two wars. World War One , and World War Two

2 Contents Foreword by Frank Costa, OAM 5 Introduction: Country Team in a Metropolitan Competition s: Journey to Oblivion and Back 11 Kardinia Park History 16 Reg Hickey 43 Field Positions 52 The First Ruck Rover 54 The Opponents The Jubilee Premiership 61 What Did Matches Look Like? 119 Football and the Media 121 Recruitment, Transfers and Payments 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

3 36 Classic Cats Football 1946: Foundation Stones Laid for Success Geelong s business community increasingly supported the club, though in today s terms it was modest. Business was still finding its feet following the war and before that, the 1930s depression. Local government also helped put the club on a firm footing. The city councils of Geelong and Newtown and Chilwell helped develop Kardinia Park to improve its facilities and increase its capacity. Without the councils positive support, the club would have struggled to gain momentum. Attendances were to improve later in the decade due to increasing success on the field and because more of the work force were being granted a five-day week. A free Saturday meant increased leisure time to attend football matches. People could arrive at the ground well in time for the main match, rather than make haste and get to the ground after the start. The five-day working week for some workers was introduced from Geelong s membership rose to 4,000, well behind Carlton s record 9,000, but a substantial improvement on immediate pre-war 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 play-on 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 Fred Flanagan, utility/follower Russell Renfrey, defender and later ruckman Tom Morrow, and half-back 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 decisive defeats, leaving it sitting just off the bottom of the ladder on 1-8 after Round 9, with the future looking bleak. Out of the blue, the Cats at home stunned secondplaced and eventual premier, Essendon, to Geelong produced a sensational burst at the outset, piling on seven goals before the Dons registered a score. The Football Record wrote: What a gasp went up from the crowds on all metropolitan grounds when the Record boards posted the quarter time scores from Geelong! The locals had rattled up 8-6 to 1-1! Many wouldn't believe the accuracy of the figures. They reckoned it must be the other way round. This was a glimpse of what was to come. For a quarter of football, the team showed what was possible. The Cats maintained control to record an extraordinary upset, and this was by far their most significant success since resuming in the VFL. Fred Flanagan in his 7th game battles Collingwood s legendary fullback, Jack Regan in his 194th game. By Round 13 Geelong was holding up the ladder, having not won again. Then they upset ninth-placed Fitzroy in a knife-edge encounter. But further heavy away defeats to

4 Oblivion and Back 37 St Kilda and Collingwood by in excess of 70 points suggested that the side was only capable of winning at home, and even then, not regularly. An article in The Football Record urged Cats supporters to withhold criticism and allow the side to develop over two or three years. Entering the final round, Geelong was still in pole position for the wooden spoon, trailing Hawthorn on percentage narrowly, with St Kilda a game ahead of both in 10th spot. The Cats hosted Footscray, who were within reach of the double chance 12. A win at Kardinia Park would most likely give that to the Bulldogs. Struggling St Kilda were to meet middle-ranking South Melbourne, and Hawthorn were up against eighth placed Fitzroy. The odds in favour of Geelong staying at the bottom of the ladder were very short. Although Geelong may have been desperate to avoid another last place finish they may have faced a dilemma by handing the double chance to their old enemy, Collingwood, should the Cats upset the Bulldogs. Geelong made life hard for Footscray in the first half, the teams separated by just three points at the long interval. The Cats continued to attack in the third term and only inaccuracy (4.7 to 3.0) stopped them taking a matchwinning lead into the final term. But that didn t matter as they pulled away in the final term to triumph by 43 points, their biggest winning margin in any match since The club s reward was to avoid not only the wooden spoon but rise to tenth place (4-15, 70.9 percent), as losses to St Kilda and Hawthorn that day meant that the Cats overtook both of them on the ladder. Footscray were left wondering what might have been as Collingwood also lost 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 News-Pictorial.) Russell Renfrey: The First Wave of Premiership Recruits Local player Russell Renfrey began at Geelong in 1946, joining from Drysdale. Players he most remembers from his first year at the club are Ralph Patman, Jack Sing, Jack Muller, and his brother Angie, Jim Munday, Jim Fitzgerald, George Gniel, and Lindsay White. Russ s closest mates were mostly from the older group of players. I came into all that. I developed a bond with other 1946 arrivals, in particular Fred Flanagan, Tom Morrow and Bob Wynne. (Wynne played three games for the club at the start of 1946.) Fred Flanagan Had Never Set Foot in Geelong Fred Flanagan s path to Geelong was unusual, and fortuitous for the club. Flanagan was observed playing football while serving in New Guinea by a senior army officer who had connections to the club. It appears his release from the services was made easier through other Geelong connections, including Ivo Gibson, who signed him. On his demobilisation, Flanagan moved to Geelong where work had been arranged for him. It was the first time Flanagan had set foot in Geelong. Having brought down two finalists by sizeable margins boded very well for Geelong in One of those opponents, Essendon, was about to enter their most dominant period in its history three flags and participation in grand finals every year from Veteran, Geoff Mahon won the best and fairest award, with Fred Flanagan and Tom Morrow placed second and third. Mahon and Jack Grant, the last remaining 1937 premiership players, left at the end of the season. Russ Renfrey led the goalkicking with 28 goals.

5 The Opponents - 55 The Opponents Collingwood supporters at the 1952 Second Semi-final 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 Melbourne-based 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: Blues Home Ground: Princes Park 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 conundrum of how to represent them. (The Argus team profile of 1952 has none.) It was only later when their premiership gap had started to look like a drought that a beefy cartoon footballer wearing a Carlton 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 ( ) 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 Since then, they had been successful in 1938, 1945 and They had been runner-up 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 followers to the greatest heights, then drop them to the depths the following week. That has been Carlton's record 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.

6 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. This 1951 mantle radio (not advertised as a wireless ) cost 35 the equivalent of more than three weeks basic/minimum wage 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 paid 27 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 horse-racing 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 nonsense. In theory, betting information should have been irrelevant to listeners. Governments controlled and restricted betting such that it was only available on-course. It follows that the coverage of horse racing on radio was technically and legally pointless. The Commonwealth Government owned and controlled Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) station 3AR was particularly culpable. There was however, a vast illegal off-course, 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 gee-gees were king. In 1953, 3AW began to cover footy but it still gave its racing coverage priority. 3AR (ABC) 3AW 3DB 3UZ 3KZ 3GL Saturday Afternoon Radio, 5 July 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 race-calls on 3UZ,...Hutchison 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 Noel Bailey and Ray McDonald commentated on 3AR; Jack Gurry on 3UZ; and Ron Casey and ex-st Kilda player, George Andrew on 3DB.

7 Recruitment and Payments Form 4 The Form 4 in popular culture. A locally produced cartoon strip that ran in The Argus was Wizzer. Set in a Melbourne Public (exclusive private) school it followed the doings of proto-nerd and Harry Potter look-alike, Hermon Wizzer and the school bully, Crawley. In one story line, the strip examined every schoolboy footballer s dream to play League football. In doing so it touched on the control headmasters had over their pupils, corruption of the recruiting process in football and even dealt with what are called performance enhancing drugs today. Excerpted below are a few panels with some of the story filled in. During the football season in 1951, Wizzer featured a long running story involving a convoluted Crawley plot that involved tricking Hermon into signing a blank Form 4. Crawley first tricked Wizzer into taking an overdose of speed and strength mixtures to get the attention of League talent scouts including Charlie Buttem from Toescray. A VFL club entered an agreement with a player it recruited to the club. The agreement was formalised with a VFL Form 4 and was signed by the club secretary and the new player. With a completed Form 4, the player was bound to the club for a specified time. The Form 4 was then lodged with the VFL, which verified that the player was 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 green-coloured Form 4 was often discussed in the media as it sealed the deal between club and player. Fans were always pleased when their club had its new player signed-up on a Form 4. 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. The plan was then to withdraw the mixtures before Wizzers debut match. As well, Crawley hoped to make some money with Sneed, an ex-vfl club official who seems to have fallen foul of the Coulter Law at some point. Match Permits The next step was normally to negotiate match permits to allow the new player to play with his new club. Match permits 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 two-fold purpose. They could help convince the new player he fitted into his new team and add leverage 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.

8 180 Classic Cats August 30, Round 19 v Carlton at Kardinia Park: The Main Danger? In Other News No majesty Radio broadcaster Norman Banks expressed concern that a future Labor government might make Advance Australia Fair the official national anthem. He said Advance Australia Fair was no credit to Australia. It was raw and lacking in majesty. (Banks lived to see his fears realised.) Tipples only for toffs In the early 1950s, alcohol could not be served to patrons on Sundays unless they had travelled 20 miles or more from their home on that day. The Labor MLA for Clifton Hill complained that while the rich could drive their cars the specified 20 miles and be served alcohol on Sunday, the ordinary working man had no such privilege. About one in eight adults owned a car at the time. No simple answers Dr Norval Morris, senior lecturer in criminology at Melbourne University scoffed at theories that comics, picture theatres, and milk bars caused delinquency. The toffee apple issue Aircraft passengers were experiencing discomfort from changes in air pressure during flights and chewing barley sugar helped relieve this. A question was asked in parliament whether Australian National Airlines and Trans-Australian Airlines had colluded to restrict passengers to one piece of barley sugar each at the beginning and end of each trip. Mr Anthony, Civil Aviation Minister, suggested that Trans-Australia Airlines provide toffee apples for passengers who couldn t get enough barley sugar on take offs and landings. Limited threat Major General Sir Samuel Burston told a Medical conference in Melbourne that only 130,000 of the city s 1,360,000 population would survive an atom bomb blast. On Tuesday night, Reg Hickey gave the team hard match practice. Bernie Smith 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. 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 game in five weeks, so Carlton were unable to gain any advantage with Howell. Also back for Geelong was winger Terry Fulton. Back-up ruckman Harry Herbert was on the bench and Les Reed was named as an emergency. Geelong announced that Bernie Smith was being rested for the Semi-final in two weeks time. Carlton rover Jack Spencer, who kicked five of his side s eight goals in the first quarter against Geelong in Round 7, was named as 19th man. 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 was regarded as a more likely threat to Geelong s premiership aspirations than Collingwood whose game plan was considered less effective against the Cats. Geelong president Jack Jennings said Frankly we do not want to see Carlton in the final four. We will be all out to stop them. Secretary Ivo Gibson said that nothing like Carlton s eight goals to one first quarter (in the Round 7 match at Princes Park) would be allowed to happen this time. Dick Reynolds felt that although Carlton was fighting for a place in the finals, Geelong would be fighting just as hard not to go into the finals with two defeats for the season to their name against the Blues. Although Carlton had a trump in ruckman Howell, Reynolds said there was some doubt about his fitness and Pianto and Trezise had shown throughout the year that they could shark hit outs from opposition ruckmen. Percy Beames, while voicing the view of many football fans that if any team could beat Geelong it was Carlton, pointed out that things needed to be set-up or special circumstances to apply for the Blues to produce their best efforts. On the other hand, Geelong was a team with enough natural talent that could be relied upon to produce the goods. Since their 50-point drubbing by Collingwood in Round 5, Carlton had lost only two matches, each by one point, and had drawn twice. With a little luck they could have been in second place only half a game behind Geelong. As it was, they travelled to Geelong fighting the odds to stay in the final four. The experts tipped South Melbourne to take care of lowly Footscray at the Western Oval, enabling the Swans to re-enter the four at Carlton s expense. Collingwood was at home to Melbourne and anticipated a The man in front doesn t always get the mark. The umpire favoured Jack Howell over Russell Renfrey this time. 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.

9 1952 Back to Back 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 impenetrable 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 fellow-finalists 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. Rival 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. Geelong 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 fullback Ollie Grieve s attempt to smother, Leo Turner is also on the scene.

10 182 Classic Cats Geelong Other Football News Coleman s century Essendon s John Coleman, unwanted by state selectors earlier in the season, kicked nine goals against Richmond for a season total of 103, his third century in four seasons. Blues triumph The Cats lost to the Blues in a women s football match to raise funds for an infant welfare centre in Werribee. Three thousand attended the match. They may have left the traffic jam on Geelong Road to watch the next best thing. Celebrating too soon At the South Gippsland League Grand Final most of the spectators had gone home and the congratulatory speeches 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 been tied at all. Later, after refusing to participate in a replay ordered by the League, Fish Creek forfeited the premiership to Meeniyan. MCG trustees reserved on tickets Despite requests from both the VFL and health authorities, the trustees of the Melbourne Cricket Ground refused to introduce a ticketing system for all admissions to the MCG during football finals to manage crowd control and improve safety. Cost of admission Admission charges for the finals were announced. Grandstand: Adults 6/- Children 3/- Outer ground: Adults 3/6 Children 1/3. Expenses of ground management, police and other services cost the VFL about 800 for each of the finals. Carlton Attendance 49,107. Receipts 3,368. (Both records at Kardinia Park) Goals: GEELONG: Goninon 4, Turner 2, Trezise 2, Norman, Pianto. CARLTON: Mills 2, Caspar. BEST: GEELONG: Hyde, Trezise, Pianto, Morrison. Middlemiss, Worner, Goninon, Turner, Fulton CARLTON: Mills, Conley, Grieve, Guy, (second half), Stafford, Howell, Hands. Umpire: Jamieson. Geelong team: B: Hovey, Morrison, Sharp HB: Middlemiss, Hyde, Williams C: Worner, Palmer, Fulton HF: Turner, Flanagan, Davis F: Norman, Goninon, Pianto R: McMaster, Renfrey, Trezise Res: Herbert, S Smith Other Results Coll v Melb Haw v N Melb Rich v Ess St K v Fitz Foots v S Melb The remarkable attendance of 49,107 beat the previous record at Kardinia Park set against Collingwood in Round 12 by nearly 13,000. (The next highest attendance at Geelong since is 42,278 v Collingwood in 1980.) 49,107 was the 11th highest home and away match attendance recorded up till then and the highest at any venue other that the MCG. It remained the highest attendance 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 remained the highest attendance for a VFL/AFL match outside of Melbourne until 49,846 saw Port Adelaide defeat Adelaide in Round 18, 2001 at Football Park. The 1952 attendance of 251,641 at Kardinia Park beat 1951 s record by nearly 50,000 and has only been topped once since when 267,205 attended in Geelong s total season attendance for 1952 home and away matches of 464,044 topped the record of 1951 by over 90,000. The lowest for a season was 117,300 in points was the lowest score Geelong conceded v Carlton since in Round 15, It was Geelong s 17th win from their last 18 matches at Kardinia Park. It was the 18th consecutive match at Kardinia Park (starting at Round 1, 1951) that Geelong had held their opponents to a score of fewer than 70 points. Geelong s average points conceded for 1952 at Kardinia Park was 44 points, the lowest season average for the venue so far and the lowest for matches in Geelong since 41 points in 1914 at Corio Oval. It was the 10th time in 1951 and 1952 that Geelong had held their opponent to the lowest score of the round. The next most was Collingwood seven times. The other Cats v Blues match.

11 1952 Back to Back Traffic chaos Many wished they had taken the train (there were no buses due to a strike) when a jam-packed, single lane Geelong Road was busier than a Melbourne city street in a week day peak-hour as football fans streamed to Geelong for the match of the day. Hours before the match, a 13-mile stream of traffic nosed bumper-to-bumper along the highway. While police fought to control the inrush from the Melbourne side, hundreds of cars from Western district towns jammed other highways. At one stage after the match there were 44 cars stranded by engine faults and minor collisions on the Melbourne road. Blue view Those who attended that afternoon would attest to the discomfort, and in many cases to the problem of not being able to see the action. One eyewitness, a Carlton supporter, claimed he saw very little, and maybe 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 facilities, or the authorities for admitting patrons long after it was impossible for them to be adequately accommodated. Loy Stewart resigns Cats 1951 premiership ruckman Loy Stewart tendered his resignation to the club. He had last played in the seniors in Round 2. After playing every match in 1951, Stewart had played in the Seconds for much of the 1952 season. He had been suffering some health problems that had forced him to curtail his training. Orphanage Band During the half time break at the Round 19 match at Geelong, Jack Jennings acknowledged the long and rich association the club had with the St Augustine s Orphanage Band which had entertained patrons at Geelong matches for many decades. Social change meant that the number of orphans, who were often the children of unmarried mothers, diminished such that it s some time since the crowd at Kardinia Park have been entertained by the Band, Membership record for Cats Geelong announced a record membership at around 10,000, up by 1,500 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 Geelong ,594 1, W Collingwood ,528 1, W Fitzroy ,233 1, L Carlton ,473 1, L South Melbourne ,411 1, L Melbourne ,420 1, L North Melbourne ,352 1, W Essendon ,579 1, L Richmond ,281 1, W Footscray ,052 1, W Hawthorn ,030 1, L St Kilda ,071 1, W Footscray s stunning finish to overrun South Melbourne gave Carlton a lifeline. Despite their trouncing at Geelong, the Blues retained their place as a finalist. Fitzroy s chances of snagging the double chance were wrecked, regardless of the Collingwood result, when St Kilda caused the boil-over of the season. Leading all day and surviving a hot finish, the Saints hung on to win by a goal. Collingwood won its match anyway. 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 Collingwood Fitzroy Carlton South Melbourne Melbourne North Melbourne Essendon Richmond Footscray Hawthorn St Kilda 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