NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2015

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1 Extracts from EFCPP&OA NEWSLETTER AUGUST 2015 CURE FOR MND FOUNDATION Neale Daniher, Vice-President of the MND Foundation, has been extremely active in organising a number of functions to raise funds for research for this horrible disease and at last count had raised in excess of $2m dollars. The first event, the Big Freeze at the MCG on the 8 th June, was an outstanding success, with many celebrities, including Tim Watson, taking the big plunge into the ice cold water at the bottom of the slide. The second event, to be run by the Dick Reynolds Club called the Daniher Dynasty, will be held at the Members Dining Room at the MCG on Thursday 13 th August, the function being a sell-out very early. All funds from this event will be donated to the MND Foundation. The third event, Daniher s Drive, is a four day road trip extravaganza, day 1 from Melbourne to Warrnambool, day 2 Killarney to Bendigo, day 3 Echuca to Albury and day 4 Albury to Melbourne. This event is also a sell-out. Neale has been a fantastic ambassador for the MND Foundation and he, together with Ian Davis the President of the Foundation and their other Board members have done a great job in bringing the effects of this insidious disease to the attention of the public and we wish them well in raising significant funds for the research required to hopefully cure this disease. If you would like more information about the Cure for MND Foundation or wish to make a donation please contact Ian Davis on ian@curemind.org.au

2 BRINGING BACK MEMORIES The photo below is of the EFC on their first ever overseas trip in Essendon was in fact the first club to ever venture on an overseas end of season trip and it was very memorable one for all of those who attended. The trip consisted of three stops, Manilla, Bangkok and Hong Kong and those lucky enough to attend still tell stories of this trip. Can you identify any of those in the photo? Just to help a little John Coleman is fourth from the left in the back row, Geoff Gosper is directly behind the L in Welcome and Jack Clarke is squatting on right hand end of front row. OBITUARIES Unfortunately we have lost three of our members since our last Newsletter: Lloyd Middleton: Lloyd played 2 games for the club in Jack Simpson: Jack played 6 games for the club in 1949 & 1951 and later became a Minister in the John Cain led State Government. He was quite a character, and was often quoted when making speeches, that he was only 94 games short of his century of games with Essendon. Jim Bradley: Jim spent many years with the club as a speed-ball coach and turned 94 in May.

3 WHO IS THIS PAST PLAYER? Mal Pascoe: Mal played 94 games with the club from 1953 to Following his playing days with Essendon Mal became playing Coach of Hobart Football Club, winning Premierships in 1959, 1960, 1963 and in his last game in He was leading goal-kicker twice and a William Leitch Medal winner. Mal was inducted into the 2015 Tasmanian Hall of Fame. SPECIAL CONGRATULATIONS Congratulations to Dustin Fletcher on reaching the magnificent tally of 400 games, being only the third player to have achieved this magic figure in the VFL/AFL. Dustin has been a great player for the EFC and we wish him well for the future.

4 THE 50 YEAR CELEBRATION OF THE 1965 PREMIERSHIP TEAM The EFC generously arranged a function on the 4 th July at Windy Hill for all players and officials to celebrate the 50 year anniversary of this great win. The day saw Terry Daniher as MC and all of those in attendance had a very memorable day. Twenty two players who participated in that year were present on the day with their partners and three officials, namely Greg Sewell (Assistant Coach ), Peter Bevilacqua (Fitness Advisor) and Dr. Sam Chazan (Club Doctor) and their partners were also present. During the afternoon all players and officials were asked to comment on their thoughts on 1965, and many stories were told, some of which may have been slightly exaggerated. As part of the festivities of the day, the EFCPP&OA presented all past players and officials with a framed Certificate recognising their contribution to the Premiership win and a Medallion to those playing in the Premiership team. It became a big weekend for all of the players and officials as they were also invited as special guests to the Chairman s match day function on Sunday 5 th July, as St Kilda was the team that Essendon defeated for the Premiership in Unfortunately for all, St Kilda were able to reverse the result from that year. David Shaw & John Birt Russell Blew & Hugh Mitchell

5 MILESTONES & ACHIEVEMENTS The following members have reached or will reach significant age milestones between 1 st May and the 31 st August years Mark Harvey Gary O Donnell Trevor Spencer 60 years Robert Amos Ron Andrews Jim Demitriou Tim O Shannessy Andrew Radchenko Kelvin Steel 70 years plus Jim Forsyth (71) Ron Haeberle (71) Neil McKissock (71) John Booth (73) Graeme Johnston (73) Graeme Beissel (74) Ted Fordham (75) Geoff Gosper (75) Doug Philipson (75) Barry Tout (75) Ken Timms (77) Jim Matthews (78) Fred Lynch (79) Ian Whitford (79) 80 years plus Jack Hambridge (80) Kevin Parks (80) Reg Burgess (81) Frank Driscoll (81) Ron Okey (81) Peter Bevilacqua (82) Peter Harrington (82) Greg Sewell (82) Graham Willey (82) Rob Taylor (84) Jim Stanton (87) Rob Suter (87) 90 years plus Milton Clark (93) Harold Lambert (93) Harold Lambert is still our oldest living past player followed closely by Milton Clark, who is one month younger than Harold. We pass on our best wishes to all those with birthdays within this time period and wish you many more years of fruitful life.

6 AN OUTSTANDING RECORD Bruce Walmsley Q.C. the current Returning Officer from the EFC and a member of our Association, comes from a family that has given 100 years of fantastic service to the club. Bruce s Grandfather, Joseph Edward Walmsley, served as Returning Officer for the EFC from 1915 to Joseph William Walmsley, the son of Joseph Edward Walmsley, served as Returning Officer from 1953 to December 1956 and then handed over the role to his brother and father of Bruce, William Leslie Walmsley who served from December 1956 till July Bruce Godfrey Walmsley Q.C. took over the role of Returning Officer from July 1981 and still holds that position. Bruce s older brother Arthur also served as poll clerk between 1957 and The role of the Returning Officer is to check votes in respect to polls for election of Board Members and any specific motions on which members are entitled to vote at Annual and Special Meetings of the club. HALL OF FAME INDUCTIONS On the 27 th June 2015, the Milestones and Hall of Fame Inductions took place at the Grand Hyatt. Four former players and officials were inducted as Members into the Hall of Fame. Those inducted were: Reg Burgess Reg played for the club from 1954 to 1960, playing 124 games. He was a great wingman/centreman and won two Best & Fairest Awards, in 1957 and He represented the State on 9 occasions and was a member of the 1958 All Australian Team. Reg is rated as number 13 in the team of the Century for Essendon. Kevin Egan Kevin played from 1963 to 1969 playing in 65 games, including as a member of the 1965 Premiership Team. Kevin later joined the administration at the EFC and gave many years service as Football Manager and later as a Board Member.

7 Noel Allanson Noel played from 1947 to 1951, playing 57 games, including as a member of the 1950 Premiership Team. Noel joined the Board in 1976 and served as Vice-President in 1976 and 1977 and then took on the role of Treasurer from 1978 to Paul Vander Haar Paul played from 1977 to 1990, playing 201 games, including as a member of the Premiership Teams in 1984 and He was runner-up Best & Fairest in 1977 and 1982 and represented the State in 1978, 1982 and Paul was a spectacular mark and would be a great asset in any team in the modern era. The night was a huge success and all of those inducted into the HOF were justly deserving of such a great honour. FACTS, FIGURES & OTHER TRIVIA Past players of the EFC have a great record in serving our country as detailed below: 270 have served in all wars. 2 in the Boer War, one of whom died fighting. 89 in WW 1 (2 also served in the Boer War), 13 of whom died fighting. 141 in WW 2 (12 served in both WW1 & WW2), 6 of whom died fighting. 6 in the Vietnam War 18 being National Servicemen 6 won the Military Cross 3 won the Military Medal 1 won the Distinguished Flying Cross 10 were mentioned in dispatches 1 won the Croix de Guerre (Belgium) 4 were prisoners of war 1 was awarded BEM for services to the Empire 2 were awarded the OBE for bravery and service to the Empire Noel Allanson, Jack Jones and Harold Lambert who all served in WW2, and Ian Anderson, Keith Gent, Lindsay McGie, Ian Payne, Greg Perry and Bill Thompson who all served in Vietnam, are all living proof of the magnificent service and sacrifice given by these outstanding past players.

8 We are all very grateful to all of these individuals for ensuring that Australia is as strong as it is today. This is how they travelled to the football in Jack Jones holds the record for the most consecutive games played by any Essendon player, 133 between 1946 and John Coleman kicked 10 or more goals in a game on 11 occasions; 14 goals once, 13 goals twice, 12 goals once (in his first game), 11 goals once and 10 goals on six occasions. Bill Hutchison scored 172 Brownlow votes during his 16 year career with the club, averaging 10.8 votes per season. How the place kick was executed.

9 Only three Essendon players have exceeded 100 goals in a season, namely John Coleman, Geoff Blethyn and Matthew Lloyd. Geoff Blethyn was somewhat unique in that he wore glasses when playing This photo was supplied by a relative of James Julien an official at the time and shows the team on a country tour in This is the year that Albert Thurgood joined the club and was regarded as the best player in the competition. A quote in The Argus at the time says,

10 Essendon is fortunate in having Albert Thurgood, the greatest footballer in Australia, and if Thurgood continues to show the form of recent years, it would seem that Essendon will have to allow opponents an extra player in order to try to make a game of it. Essendon won four VFA flags in a row during this era, 1891 to GREAT SERVICE TO THE CLUB- KEVIN (MIDNIGHT) EGAN RECENTLY INDUCTED AS A MEMBER INTO THE EFC HOF

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12 80 YEARS ON This is the team that represented the EFC 80 years ago. Dick Reynolds was 20 years of age at this time. GLORY & FAME On the 10 th April a function was held at the Grand Hyatt to celebrate the 30 th Anniversary of the back to back Premierships of 1984 and It was a great night and a large crowd attended to hear from players who played in those games. There were many hilarious stories told.

13 The following day all of the players were invited to the Chairman s function prior to the game against Hawthorn, the Runners-up to both of those great wins. Many were feeling the effects of the Saturday night function but enjoyed a top effort from the team.

14 DO YOU REMEMBER? It wasn t that long ago! When cigarette advertising dominated football? Playing in the mud and slush.