The 1953 Premiership team was full of stars who would later go on to be Collingwood Hall of Famers. Famous names like Merrett, Rose, Richards, Healy, Mann, Weideman, Twomey and more.

But a Premiership team also needs its ‘ballast’: those solid footballers who play their roles week after week, or whenever called upon, and help make space for the stars to shine.

Arthur Gooch was one of those players.

He was never spectacular. But he was a whole-hearted big man who put his heart and soul into every one of the 76 games he played for the Pies across seven seasons from 1950.

And that whole-hearted approach was never better demonstrated than in the lead-up to the biggest day of his career, the 1953 Grand Final.

The Magpies had been crippled by injuries throughout the year. Every time a player came back, others would be forced out. By Grand Final day the medical room was so full that we had more than half a dozen players missing, with youngsters filling in key positions at either end of the field.

And by all rights the team should have been missing one more important cog that day. Arthur Gooch had badly injured his ankle in the second semi against Geelong and was widely expected to miss the Grand Final.

Early in Grand Final week he could do nothing more than run a couple of laps. So he scheduled an extra session for himself on the Wednesday, running further and this time showing he could kick the ball as well. By the final training on Thursday, he pushed himself beyond pain to prove to selectors that he could take his place, first on the track and last to leave, giving selectors no option but to pick him.

His efforts that week were so impressive that even journalists of the time took note.

Kevin Hogan, in The Sun, said Gooch’s obvious desperation to play was one of the highlight features of Collingwood’s final training run. “Nobody who saw him gritting his teeth as he went through a training run test on Thursday … could doubt his determination,” he wrote.

It was this kind of approach that made Gooch such a valued teammate.

He had come to Victoria Park from Chelsea, having spent his junior days with Preston Wanderers in the PDJFA. He got his senior debut in his first season after an injury crisis struck the team’s supply of big men, probably before he was ready. The Herald said afterwards that he had shown enough to justify retaining his place. “He took several nice marks and attempted to direct the ball to his rovers with the open hand rather than the wild punch so favoured by other Magpie followers.”

Like many ruckmen Gooch took a while to find his feet but by his third year, 1952, had become a regular in the seniors. “He won the hitouts repeatedly and when resting in the back pocket often saved with fine marks and strong, courageous dashes,” said one report that season. He was part of the Grand Final team that lost to Geelong that year.

Gooch was a big man, at different time the tallest and bulkiest in the Magpie lineup. A follower who also spent time resting in attack or defence, his speciality was his competitive strength. “Goes for front position in ruck duels and by spreading his strong arms makes it difficult for opponents to get around or over him,” wrote The Sun. “He is a solid, earnest player whose height and bulk make him a difficult opponent. He is ever ready to give and take hard bumps to help smaller teammates get a clear run at the ball.” The Argus described him as “solid and dependable, taking good marks in defence and kicking nicely.”

He was a decent mark and a long kick, but speed and finesse were not his strong suits, although his pace improved noticeably before the 1953 season. He became a valuable member of the team, playing 18 games in each of 1952 and 1955 (both Grand Final years) and would have played more across 1953-54 but for injuries.

He’d played 72 games by the end of 1955, and aged just 24, could reasonably have expected a few more good years at the top.

But things went horribly awry in 1956. Having initially toyed with the idea of taking a coaching job in Benalla, he stayed with the Pies and played four more games. But then he ‘went missing’ after being dropped and failing to play with the reserves. He also failed to turn up to a scheduled committee meeting to explain himself. A butcher by trade (his shop was on the corner of Vere and Hoddle Streets in Abbotsford), he had been transferred in his job and he was also building a house in Beaumaris, both of which made it increasingly difficult to get to training. He retired midway through the season, saying he had decided to choose business over football and asking to play with local side Cheltenham.

In 1957 he knocked back a coaching opportunity in Wangaratta and signalled his intention to have another crack at VFL football, returning to play in Collingwood’s practice matches. But his hopes were diminished when he said he could only train one night per week, and the Pies eventually cleared him to VFA club Box Hill. He spent two seasons there, winning the club’s best and fairest in 1958, before retiring from football permanently because of his work.

Arthur Gooch was one of those players for whom football was not everything. And yet when he played, he gave it everything he had. In the end, that’s all his fans and teammates could have asked from him.

- Michael Roberts