1953 Interstate Carnival

1953 Lightning Premiership

Tuesday June 2 1953

The 1953 Lightning Premiership was an odd and meaningless diversion played in the middle of the premiership season. It was a knockout competition featuring the 12 VFL teams, played at the MCG on Tuesday June 2. Each match consisted of a two quarters, with the winner progressing to the next round. The only teams who fielded their almost full-squads seemed to be those dwelling on the bottom half of the VFL ladder, with cellar dwellers Richmond defeating St Kilda in the final.

In their match the Magpies played Footscray. Neither team was at full strength but the Bulldogs advanced to the quarter-finals by beating Collingwood easily. The Magpies did not score a goal for the game. Thorold Merrett was Collingwood’s best player on the wing, but his good work was brought undone due to the Magpies’ poor forward work. (1)

Teams	Score
Footscray	3.2.20
Collingwood	0.2.2

In another first round match Essendon defeated Geelong.

Footscray encountered eventual Lightning Premiership winner Richmond in the next round, which they lost by five points, while Essendon would lose to St Kilda in a semi-final.

The Magpies and the Bulldogs would encounter each other again in four days time in what would be a classic match at the Western Oval. That match would be for premiership points and show that both of these teams would almost be ready for the monumental challenge that was Geelong.

___________________________________________________

Footnote

1. The Herald – Tuesday June 2 1953 – page 16

The ANZAC Exhibition Match – Collingwood Vs Fitzroy

Wells pays tribute to the ANZACS

On Friday April 24th 1953 Collingwood and Fitzroy played an ANZAC eve exhibition match under lights at the  Melbourne Showgrounds. The Magpies easily prevailed by 24 points before a crowd of 22,000 mildly enthusiastic spectators. (1)

In what the Age football writer Percy Bentley described as a hotly contested match in which the Magpies eclipsed Fitzroy in almost every part of the field, (2) Bill Twomey kicked six goals and proved to be the Maggies match winner. The Gorillas’ full-back Norm Johnstone was no match for Twomey who outwitted his opponent with fast leads and safe marking. (3) Unfortunately for Collingwood the big Magpie went off in the last quarter with what appeared to be an injured shoulder. (4)

Fitzroy's McGregor and Collingwood's Jack Hamilton contest for the ball

Fitzroy’s greatest weakness was their attack, where the Maroons’ full-forward Magee was outclassed by Collingwood’s Jack Hamilton who was simply too physically strong. (5) The Maroons battled on by playing hard ‘crash through’ football (6) but had too many errors in their game as opposed to the slick Magpies. (7)

The charity game raised almost £3,000 for the St. Vincent’s Hospital building appeal (8) and despite the quality of the game the lighting left a lot to be desired. Bentley stated that he thought that the lighting did not come up to daylight standard (9) whilst The Argus found that it was not all that easy to follow the play. (10) The Sun’s Kevin Hogan said that the game, the first night match played for over 20 years, was full of movement and heavy clashes and the standard of the spectacle was not much below that of a Saturday afternoon game. (11) Hogan also said that the crowd was quieter than that at a Saturday game, probably because they found that the players numbers did not show up well under the lights and they did not always know who had the ball. (12)

Magpie’s skipper Lou Richards did not play as he was recovering from a thigh injury. (13) He was replaced by Barry Taylor, who was best and fairest for Collingwood’s reserves team in 1952. (14)

Score

Team	1st Quarter	2nd Quarter	3rd Quarter	Final
Collingwood	1.3.9	3.6.24	8.9.57	8.13.67
Fitzroy	1.4.10	3.7.25	3.11.30	4.19.43

Goal Kickers

Bill Twomey

Collingwood – W. Twomey 6, L. Richards, B. Rose, Tebble

Fitzroy – Streader, Gervasoni, Ruthven, Simpson

Best

Collingwood – B. Twomey, Hamilton, Tuck, Tebble, Mann, Parker

Fitzroy – Furness, Stevens, Coates, MacGregor, Ruthven, Williams

In Other News

Magpies’ patron John Wren put up a £100 purse to whoever won the match. (14) As a result both teams played most of their best players (15) which would have consequences for Collingwood as their full-forward Bill Twomey would miss the next few matches with an injury sustained in this match.

A goal-kicking contest was staged at three-quarter time between Essendon’s John Coleman and Williamstown’s Johnny Walker, to determine whether the VFL or VFA’s leading goal kicker was the best. (16) Coleman proved to be the most accurate. (17)

There was also an athletics relay event that pitted the VFL’s fastest players against those from the VFA. (18)

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Footnotes

1. Hogan, K – The Sun, Saturday April 25, 1953 – page 24
2. Bentley, P – The Age – Saturday April 25, 1953 – page 7
3. Bentley, P – The Age – Saturday April 25, 1953 – page 7
4. The Argus – Saturday April 25, 1953 – page 30
5. Bentley, P – The Age – Saturday April 25, 1953 – page 7
6. Hogan, K – The Sun, Saturday April 25, 1953 – page 24
7. Hogan, K – The Sun, Saturday April 25, 1953 – page 24
8. The Argus – Saturday April 25, 1953 – page 30
9. Bentley, P – The Age – Saturday April 25, 1953 – page 7
10. The Argus – Saturday April 25, 1953 – page 30
11. Hogan, K – The Sun, Saturday April 25, 1953 – page 24
12. Hogan, K – The Sun, Saturday April 25, 1953 – page 24
13. Hogan, K – The Sun, Saturday April 25, 1953 – page 24
14. Hogan, K – The Sun, Saturday April 25, 1953 – page 24
15. Hesse. F – The Sporting Globe – Wednesday April 22, 1953 – page 12
16. Hesse. F – The Sporting Globe – Wednesday April 22, 1953 – page 12
17. Hesse. F – The Sporting Globe – Wednesday April 22, 1953 – page 12
18. Bentley, P – The Age – Saturday April 25, 1953 – page 7
19. Hesse. F – The Sporting Globe – Wednesday April 22, 1953 – page 12