Jack Mackie was a very late addition to the ranks of 1890s Collingwood footballers. But one of his sons has long been known as an infamous figure at Victoria Park after his involvement in an unsavoury onfield incident in the 1930s.

The story, it turns out, starts in Collingwood’s first season of 1892. A player called ‘J McKie’ played a solitary game for Fitzroy that year, then spent the rest of the season with Fitzroy Juniors. It is now known that that player was actually John Grant Mackie – and the different spelling of the surname changes everything.

Mackie, mostly known as Jack, was a bit of a star around Heidelberg, where he lived with his family. Collingwood liked what they had heard of him and invited him to trial ahead of the 1893 season. He played four of the first five games for the Pies that year but was thrown all over the field – back pocket, half-forward flank and forward pocket. After his game in the back half he was singled out for praise by The Mercury, noting he and several teammates had been part of "a strong defence".

Nevertheless that was where his Collingwood career ended. He continued to be frequently named in 'to be chosen from' squads, indicating he was still in the selectors' minds, but never managed to add to the four senior games he played with the Magpies.

For many years, he had been mis-identified as another player, G Mackie, who had played a solitary game with Collingwood in 1892. Records of the two Mackies had been conflated as one, but we now believe them to be two separate identities. This has also meant we have had to give Jack an inaccurate VFA debut number of V104: it was either that or move most others around too!

Jack returned to Heidelberg after his brief stint at Collingwood, and he became a bona fide star there. Despite missing some games while he was playing with Collingwood, he won the local club’s goalkicking award for the 1893 season. He would go on to play for Heidelberg for many years, and served both as captain and Chairman of the Committee. 

He also became a prominent local figure who acted as secretary of other local groups including the Heidelberg MUOOF Society, the Quadrille Dance Group and Heidelberg Fishing Group. He organised sports days for the local community on Boxing Days and at Easter (he was a fine cricketer and general athlete as well as a footballer). He was a bricklayer by trade and his business of Davies and Mackie were the bricklayers for the building of the Austin Hospital’s Children’s wing around 1900.

But Jack’s involvement with footy – and Collingwood – was far from over.

His eldest son Gordon played three games and kicked a goal for our reserves in 1929. For reasons unknown, the Pies didn’t pursue their interest and during the 1930s he would go on to be a star centre half-back with Carlton who also played for Victoria. But he attracted notoriety when he infamously belted Syd Coventry in a game at Victoria Park in 1934, sparking one of the wildest brawls the game had seen.

One of Gordon’s brothers, Ken, spent time with Fitzroy (he once kicked 11 goals in a game in Tasmania) and then also tried out with Carlton before heading to St Kilda, where he kicked 55 goals in 62 games – including facing off against his more famous brother.

Football talent obviously ran deep in the Mackie family. It’s just a pity that Jack’s sons didn’t also end up playing in the black-and-white stripes!

- Michael Roberts