https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au The complete history of Australia's greatest sporting club Tue, 30 Jan 2024 23:13:09 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.0.21 https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/crossing-over/ Wed, 13 Apr 2016 01:25:46 +0000 http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/?p=10389 By: Glenn McFarlane, Herald Sun journalist  On face value, Collingwood and Melbourne wouldn’t appear to have too much in common, other than the sport both teams play. One was born out of a dark depression in a working-class suburb eager to better itself, and has gone on to become one of the most famous sporting clubs in Australia. The other was one of the oldest sporting clubs in the world, born at the same time as the game itself, but is still now chasing that elusive 13^th VFL-AFL premiership, having not won a flag since beating the Magpies back in 1964. Incredibly, these two clubs almost merged during the early 1940s when the ravages of the Second World War hit home and the sheer number of players unavailable due to their service meant that each feared they could field a team. As a result, the two clubs spoke briefly about a temporary amalgamation. Fortunately, it never happened, even if the Magpies struggled on a weekly basis to have enough players to run out at times. But the one thing that has been a key element of Collingwood’s relationship with Melbourne throughout their sometimes tempestuous relationship is the well-worn path from one club to the other. In the mid-2010s,  Magpies Heritier Lumumba and Ben Kennedy crossed over to Melbourne, while Demon high-flyer Jeremy Howe made his way to Collingwood. Here is a snapshot of some former Magpies and Demons who have changed jumpers over the years, including two Brownlow Medallists, a few captains and, incredibly, a set of siblings who played for both clubs. THE ABBOTT SIBLINGS Les Abbott and his younger brother Clarrie grew up in the Collingwood area harbouring ambitions of playing for the Magpies. Both achieved that goal, albeit briefly, and independent of each other. Les played one game in 1904 before football wanderlust set in. Clarrie managed two games in 1907. Incredibly, both would also play for Melbourne. Let’s start with Les. Recruited from Collingwood Districts, he played his sole game in black and white against Geelong at Corio Oval in round eight, 1904. He had impressed earlier that month in an exhibition match against Castlemaine on a mid-year tour, which prompted his elevation. He would go on to play for another four VFL clubs – one game for Carlton in 1905, 31 for Richmond in 1910-11, three for Melbourne in 1912, and three more for South Melbourne that same year. The full-back/defender also represented a further three clubs in the VFA – Brunswick, Port Melbourne and North Melbourne. He was one of Brunswick’s best players in the club’s 1909 Grand Final win, with the club’s annual report suggesting “special mention should be made of Mr L. Abbott, in whom the club has found an excellent full-back.” Clarrie, three-and-a-half years younger than Les, was noted as “roving” and featuring “prominently” in his debut for Collingwood in round three, 1907. He played the next week against – of all teams – Melbourne before heading back to the Collingwood district side. Like his brother, he ended up at Melbourne in 1912, and filled in for one senior game after a player withdrew late with sickness. In all, the Abbott brothers played 42 games of VFL football. But in none of those did they take the field together. Peter Moore won a Brownlow Medal with both Collingwood and Melbourne. CHEERS FOR AN EX-MAGPIE Collingwood has a habit of excommunicating stars who leave the club for rival teams, but it couldn’t quite do that to Percy Wilson. Not even Magpie supporters could hold a grudge against him when he finally took up a second offer to captain-coach Melbourne ahead of the 1921 season. Wilson had been one of Collingwood’s best players for more than a decade, playing in two premierships (1910 and 1917) and only missing out on more success in 1919 due to a broken arm. The Magpies had figured that their star rover and forward may have passed his best. So they allowed the 32-year-old to transfer to Melbourne without question, where he would play on for another three years. The club’s Annual Report suggested: “Mr Percy Wilson has played with us for twelve years … Mr Wilson’s whole heart and soul has been bound up with Collingwood, by recognising he cannot play much longer, finally concluded he would ask for a transfer. Your club has granted him a clearance with willingness, but a lot of regret.” Better still, the supporters, who could be harsh against former players who departed, gave him a rousing reception on his round two return to Melbourne. The Australasian newspaper said: “A nice compliment was paid by Collingwood supporters to Percy Wilson as he led Melbourne onto the field … they cheered him for some time, a tribute to the esteem in which he is still held by his admirers.” THE MACHINE MEMBER Bill Libbis was an integral part of Collingwood’s famed Machine, which won four successive premierships from 1927-30, and a player who held down the No.1 roving slot for much of that time. The great Harry Collier once said of Libbis: “Somehow I ended up with the name, but Bill Libbis … well, he was the player.” Libbis had the “dash and dazzle” as a rover, according to Gordon Coventry, and the incredibly durable and dynamic Magpie only missed two games in Collingwood’s 82 matches in those four premiership seasons. That run ended in 1931 when he had a lengthy suspension and also suffered appendicitis during the season. Libbis was a reserved, quietly-spoken man, whose nickname ‘Pickles’ came from a jam business he had built up with friends in a backyard operation that grew into something bigger. But he wasn’t afraid to stand up for his rights. That’s what he did in 1933 when Collingwood decided to dock the players’ wages by 10 shillings early that season, due to the worsening economic situation. He decided to take a stand and said he was not prepared to allow this to happen. Soon after, he was cleared to Melbourne, where he went on to play another 39 games. It wasn’t the way it was meant to finish for Libbis at Collingwood, but he was a man of principle who was never afraid to stand up for himself, or those around him. THE ’79 SWITCHEROO Collingwood’s enigmatic star Phil Carman wanted to leave the club at the end of the 1978 season and the feeling was mutual. Carman had won a Copeland Trophy in a brilliant debut season in 1975, but he and the club had fallen out of love towards the end of their colourful and controversial four-season association. He explained in January 1979: “I didn’t want to stay at Collingwood because the last two years have not been wonderful.” He was only 28, and chose Melbourne as his preferred destination, on a new four-year deal. Magpies Wayne Gordon and John Dellamarta also went to Melbourne, while Demon Ross Brewer and an undisclosed sum of money crossed back to the other way to Victoria Park. Carman lasted only one of those four contracted years with Melbourne after a personality clash with captain-coach Carl Ditterich. He later moved to Essendon and North Melbourne. Dellamarta, a backman who had played 17 games with Collingwood, managed two more games for the Demons in 1979. Gordon, a wingman in Collingwood’s 1977 Grand Final teams, was more serviceable, playing 34 games over the next three seasons for Melbourne. Tragically, Gordon died, aged only 29, from cancer in 1983. Brewer had been a five-year-old kid when his brother, Ian, was a member of Collingwood’s 1958 premiership side. Ian had led the VFL goal kicking table that season. But Ross was zoned to Melbourne and played 121 games for the club from 1972 to 1978, only to be offered up for trade at the end of that season. The move to Collingwood was good for him as he managed 47 games and kicked 85 goals in three seasons in Black and White. The most important of those goals came in the dying minutes of the first semi-final against Fitzroy in 1981, which kept the Magpies’ season alive. A Brownlow Medal winning Demon in 2000, Shane Woewodin polled three votes in his first game as a Magpie three years later. MOORE AND MOORE One of the most anticipated and tense non-finals matches between Collingwood and Melbourne came in round one, 1983, and it was the result of one man. Peter Moore had won a Brownlow Medal for the Magpies four years earlier, having given his heart and soul to the Black and White jumper, playing in a string of frustrating Grand Final losses in the late 1970s and early ‘80s. But the disastrous 1982 season, which saw the club and the team divided, was the last straw for Moore, and the Magpies’ skipper decided to accept a lucrative offer from Melbourne to relocate. A few generations earlier, Magpie fans had given a departing club captain (Percy Wilson) a great reception when he ran out against his old side in a Melbourne jumper. But football had changed in the years since that moment. Wilson’s career was thought to be on a downward trajectory when he left. Moore’s wasn’t. So the big blonde ruckman was confronted with a vocal crowd wanting to let him know that he had done the wrong thing. One banner in the crowd, which was removed, even read: “Moore Filth.” It was harsh and unfair. But Collingwood did the only thing it could on that day, defeat Melbourne. Moore won a second Brownlow Medal in 1984. For a time, he kept his distance from Collingwood, but as the years rolled on, he came back into the fold, in part as a mentor to a young Josh Fraser. Better still, when his young son, Darcy, started showing great promise as a footballer, the link to the Magpies was fully re-engaged. Debuting in 2014, Darcy Moore has carried on the family tradition in his father’s old No.30, but you can bet your bottom dollar that this son of a gun will never play for the Demons. THE WOEY OPTION How often does a club get the chance to pick up a Brownlow Medal winner a few years after he puts ‘Charlie’ around his neck? That’s a rare opportunity, and Collingwood took it over the summer of 2002 when it claimed Melbourne’s Shane Woewodin, surprise winner of the 2000 medal, by giving up the No. 14 selection that the Demons used up on Daniel Bell. At the time, it was the punt that needed to be taken, even if the midfielder never quite lived up to the expectations of the move. There were instant rewards when he polled three Brownlow votes in his first game with the Magpies – a round one, 2003 clash with Richmond – and it was one of four times that season the umps gave him the maximum votes. He played in all 25 games that season, including the 2003 Grand Final against Brisbane, where he kicked Collingwood’s first goal of the match. But his impact on the game was minimal as the Magpies copped a thrashing from the Lions. He was still relatively solid in a difficult year for Collingwood in 2004, playing every game, but his third and final season in Black and White in 2005 saw him lose his impact and some of his speed. Woewodin played in 15 matches for the season, taking his overall games tally to 200, but as the Magpies looked to restructure its playing list, he was a casualty. That 200th game came in the final round of the season and at least he kicked two goals and had 20 possessions. It was to be his last AFL match.]]> https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/one-game-wonders/ Sat, 23 Aug 2014 02:08:59 +0000 http://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/?p=4150 The first gamer Dick Poole played in Collingwood’s first VFL game, and never played another senior game for the club. It came in the opening round of the league’s first season as the 24-year-old from the Collingwood Juniors broke into what was the side that had won the previous year’s VFA flag. Little is known about the 24-year-old who came into the side that day against St Kilda at Victoria Park, other than he played “half-forward” in the club’s 25-point win. The Argus said when discussing the Magpies’ forward line that day: “Poole, a junior recruit, was commendably conspicuous in the panic division.” A week earlier he had played in a Juniors team against the Collingwood VFL team in a practice match and it is safe to assume his performance that day at half-back led to his one and only senior game for the club. He had won the “best play” award in an awards night in April, clearly for his work the previous year in the Juniors side, earning “a gift from Messrs Verey and Cross”. Poole stood at 173cm and weighed 71kg, but never appeared again for the senior side. He would live until almost two months before his 67th birthday, dying on June 3, 1939. The five-club players Four men in the history of the game have played for five VFL-AFL clubs, and two of them have been one-game Collingwood players. Both of them had the Christian name of Les. The first was Les Abbott. He was born and bred in Collingwood, and would be recruited from the Collingwood Juniors, but he would take his football career all over the city. Fittingly, he played his one and only game for the club against Geelong in Round 8, 1904, at Corio Oval. At least the Magpies won that July match by four goals. Earlier that month he had impressed when he played in an exhibition match for Collingwood against Castlemaine during a mid-season tour, which earned his senior inclusion. But Abbott would never again play for the Magpies. He would play one for Carlton in 1905, 31 for Richmond in 1910-11, three for Melbourne in 1912, and a further three for South Melbourne that same year. He would also play for three VFA clubs – Brunswick, Port Melbourne and North Melbourne. A full-back or defender, who could also occasionally play in attack, he was one of Brunswick’s best players in the club’s Grand Final win in 1909. The Brunswick Annual Report at the start of that season recorded: “Special mention should be made of Mr L. Abbott, in whom the club has found an excellent full-back.” If Abbott had football wanderlust, then the same can be said for Les Hughson, whose brother Fred would later become one of Fitzroy’s greatest players. Hughson would call himself a “tram footballer”, which referred to a player who regularly changed teams during the 1930s Depression years. “We weren’t mercenary, but we had to play to live in those days,” Hughson would say years later about his colourful career. “When my form started to drop, I felt it was wise to move onto the next club.” He was 19 when he played his one game for Collingwood, in round 13, 1927, and he would kick one of the club’s 18 goals in the 74-point win over Hawthorn at Victoria Park. He transferred to Hawthorn the following year, playing four games; before playing 12 games with Carlton in 1933-34; 41 with St Kilda in 1934-36; and 15 with Fitzroy in 1937. When he was appointed playing coach of Stawell in 1938, he was offered two pounds per week, and “as much free beer” as he could drink in the local pub. He led the team to the flag, but had to renegotiate the following year because the publican could no longer take such a big loss on the big-drinking, fun-loving footballer. The fallen Two of Collingwood’s war dead was one-gamers – Charles Langtree and Sam Campbell. Langtree was only 17 when he played his one game, against St Kilda, at the Junction Oval in Round 12, 1900. The Magpies won that day by 25 points. He had originally been from Warrenbayne in country Victoria, but he also attended Dookie College before being recruited to Collingwood as “an old boy” from Haileybury College. But in June 1915, as the war was ravaging the world, Langtree left Melbourne for England “where he obtained a commission in the Royal Field Artillery” in the British Army. Described as “a well-known footballer” who “at times” played for Collingwood, Lieutenant Charles Henry Langtree fought with distinction before dying of wounds at Corbie, France, on August 3, 1916. He was 33. That was just a few days after his old side had beaten Fitzroy in the final round of the abbreviated 1916 season. Campbell played his one game with Collingwood in round one, 1910, against Carlton at Princes Park. He was one of four debutants that day, as the Magpies went down to the Blues by 28 points. Born in Ballarat, he was recruited to Collingwood from Spensley Street Methodists (Clifton Hill). Eight years later, he joined the AIF, but sadly died of influenza before he could reach the theatres of war, on October 21, 1918 – in the dying days of the war. Mal’s great-grandfather Mal Michael’s AFL career – as a Collingwood player first and later as a triple premiership Brisbane player – dwarfed the fleeting, short-lived VFL career of his great grandfather, Robert Michael. Michael played one game for the Magpies, in round 10, 1906. He was 27 when he played his sole game against Fitzroy, being the next club debutant after Dick Lee, who was in his fourth game that day. Lee would go onto a remarkable career; Michael would fade as quickly as he rose. When he was ready to make his debut, the Maffra Spectator recorded: “It is likely that big Michael (he was 184cm and 83kg), who plays football with the Sale team, will soon be included in the ranks of Collingwood. He should make his presence felt.” In an earlier match with Sale, it was said: “Michael was a tower of strength to his side, and his clean and effective work in the ruck, coupled with good long kicking, contributed largely to the victory.” But sadly he could not replicate that form in his one match in Black and White. The Gippsland Times explained: “R. Michael, the local footballer, played for Collingwood last Saturday, but (according to the ‘Age’) did not play brilliantly.” The sports scientist coach Dick Telford was a well-known distance running coach, sports scientist and Australian Institute of Sport pioneer. At times he would work closely with Robert de Castella, Lisa Martin, Andrew Lloyd, among others, at Olympic and Commonwealth Games level. He also featured in a Kelloggs’ commercial during the 1980s. Before all that, though, Telford was a Collingwood footballer. A talented young player, originally from North Reservoir who attended Northcote High School, he performed well at reserves level but could only manage one senior game during his time at Victoria Park. That game came against South Melbourne at the Lake Oval in Round 9, 1966. His game time and impact would be at a minimum, with two handballs being his output in the No.34 jumper. He would transfer to Fitzroy the following season, where he would play a further two games before a hand injury curtailed his time with the Lions. But Telford would dominate in his time at Preston, where he won the 1968 Liston Trophy, as well as helped his team win the flag that season. He played with Preston for several more seasons with a far greater impact than at VFL level. How did we let this bloke go? A 19-year-old from Pearcedale played one game for Collingwood – sitting on the bench for most of the day and not recording a stat – in the final round of the 1966 season. It was against Footscray and he had to sit back and watch as the Magpies obliterated their opponents by 104 points. He never got the chance to wear the black and white senior colours again, being overlooked as the club went into the 1966 finals. Few people gave it much thought when he was offloaded to Hawthorn the following year. His name was Ian Bremner. And when he finished at Glenferrie Oval after the 1976 season, he was a dual premiership player. The half-back flanker would play 158 games for the Hawks, playing in the 1971 and ’76 flags, making him a “one that got away” player for Collingwood. The day Diana died Dwayne Griffin will never forget his one AFL game. And it won’t be the fact that he got through the match without having a touch on the day. But the match will forever be recalled because it was the day that Princess Diana died. The game was against North Melbourne, in round 22, 1997, and a pall came across the MCG that day when it was announced that Diana had been killed following a car accident in Paris. Griffen played two previous seasons with Swan Districts before returning to that club after his short stint with Collingwood. He would play more than 100 games for the WAFL club and won their best-and-fairest in 2002. The first round pick If Danny Roach had made a success of his AFL career, he could still be playing in 2014. He is 32 in 2014, but unfortunately for him, that never panned out. His one game came 13 years ago when he was only 19 years of age. It came against Richmond in round four, 2001 before a bumper crowd of 78,638. What made it difficult for Roach was that he was that he had been a pick seven in the national draft of 1999. The Pies had very high hopes for his future. In an issue of In Black and White following the ’99 draft, then recruiting manager Noel Judkins wrote: “He’s a very versatile player, and people would be yet to decide where his best position is going to be. He’s played on the backline, on the wing, as an on-ball runner and at centre half forward. He’s got a great vertical leap; his second efforts and ability to chase and tackle are very good. Strong overhead mark, but he’s got to work on his kicking.” Unfortunately, Magpie fans would never get to see that kicking style in the seniors. His one game resulted in one tackle only, and no disposals. Roach had several injuries during his time, including a serious hip issue, and when he retired at the end of the 2001 season, he also cited a lack of motivation to continue. Something to Crow about Anyone who plays at least one game for Collingwood has something to crow about. Justin Crow had that one game, plus a little bit more ground time than most in the years later. He acted as the Magpies match day runner for a period of time five years after his sole game as a senior player. The son of former Bomber, Saint and Bulldog Max Crow, he came from Oakleigh Chargers before joining the Magpies and making his debut as a 21-year-old in round 19, 2004. His one game came against Fremantle at Subiaco, in what was Nick Maxwell’s ninth game. Maxy would go on and play another 199; Crow would never get another chance. The Magpies beat the Docker by 33 points that night, despite kicking an inaccurate 14.22. And Crow had two kicks and one hitout with his two marks being contested ones. Unfortunately, he never got another chance to wear the Black and White, but the good thing was that he was not lost to football. Twice he won the club’s reserves best-and-fairest award, the Joseph Wren Memorial Trophy, and he later played with the Northern Bullants, as they were then. He worked as a rehabilitation coach at Collingwood for three years before moving to Essendon, where he is now high performance manager.]]>