John Coleman
Encyclopedia
John Douglas Coleman was an Australian rules football
er and coach for Essendon
in the Victorian Football League (now the AFL
).
Coleman ranks as one of the best Australian rules footballers of all time. In a relatively short playing career, Coleman has the second highest goal average in the history of VFL/AFL football. After a knee injury ended his playing career at age 25, he returned to coach Essendon to premiership success. Coleman died in 1973, at the age of 44, of sudden coronary atheroma
.
In 98 matches, Coleman had kicked a total of 537 career goals. He kicked 14 goals in a match on one occasion, 13 goals twice, 12 goals once, 11 goals twice, 10 goals six times, 9 goals three times, and 8 goals five times.
He married his Sri Lanka
n wife, Reine Monica Fernando, in March 1955. They had two daughters, Anne-Marie and Jennifer.
In 1943, Coleman's mother took the children to live at Hastings
on the Mornington Peninsula
as her husband remained in the city to look after his business. Coleman then divided his time between Melbourne, where he was a student at University High School
, and Hastings, playing on Saturdays for the local team which competed in the Mornington Peninsula League.
Essendon
first invited Coleman to train at the club in 1946, but considered him too young to be able to play senior football.
In the following two seasons, Coleman completed pre-season training with Essendon and played in practice matches. However, both times he was sent back to Hastings where he kicked 296 goals in 37 games over two years.
The 1949
season was a make or break time for the budding forward. He again trained with Essendon, but was frustrated by many of the senior players who ignored his leads. Coleman's potential was noted by a number of other clubs and Richmond made an attempt to sign him. However, Essendon finally saw the light and selected him for the opening round match against Hawthorn.
From his first match, when he not only kicked a to-this-day unbeaten record of twelve goals on debut — his 12 goals in the first home-and-away match of a season also equalled the Essendon record set by Ted Freyer
, against Melbourne
on 27 April 1935 — but he also kicked a goal with his first kick, Coleman was the star player in the game, which was experiencing a boom in the immediate post-war years.
Standing 185 cm tall, with a pale complexion and slight build, the 20 year old Coleman did not appear at all imposing. He looked listless as he stood in the goal square, often a metre behind the full-back, with his long-sleeved guernsey (number 10) rolled up to his elbows.
Then, with explosive speed, Coleman would slip the guard of his opponent and sprint into open space on the lead or leap onto a pack of players to take a spectacular mark.
This innate ability to make position and his prodigious leap immediately caught the public imagination. He needed few opportunities to influence the outcome of a game.
Later one of his team-mates, ruckman Geoff Leek
recalled one of his 1949 marks:
He usually converted from most of his set shots by way of long, flat punt kicks. Notwithstanding this however, he was also an excellent drop-kick. Ted Rippon, Coleman's former business associate and vice-president of the football club, recalled that Coleman had kicked 14 goals in a match in Perth against a WA side, and six of those goals had been drop-kicked against the wind.
Coleman capped his brilliant debut year in storybook fashion: he booted his one hundredth goal in the dying moments of a record Grand Final win over Carlton. He remains the only player to kick one hundred goals in his first year.
The next year, 1950, was his most prolific season, with Coleman kicking 120 goals (his feat of kicking more than 100 goals in consecutive seasons had only been matched by Collingwood's Gordon Coventry
, South Melbourne's Bob Pratt
, and Collingwood's Ron Todd
, and all three of those had done it much later in their careers when they were much older, far stronger, and much more experienced), despite missing one match with the flu, and being a major factor Essendon's premiership win over North Melbourne.
Essendon had already beaten North Melbourne in the Second Semi-Final 11.14 (80) to 11.11 (77) when, in driving rain, and with 30 seconds remaining, and with North Melbourne three points in front, North Melbourne's Jock McCorkell
unexpectedly punched a ball that was already rolling out over the boundary line back into play just before it crossed the line, Coleman pounced on the ball, and passed it to Ron McEwin
in the goal square. McEwin kicked the goal, and Essendon won by three points.http://www.aflua.com.au/index.asp?d=5A4C5A717251477C7008060A000900 Essendon had only lost one match during the season.
In an unexpectedly one-sided Grand Final (many had thought that North Melbourne could win), with a rain lashed third quarter, North Melbourne "went the knuckle", rather than playing football, and specifically targeted the Essendon players Dick Reynolds
, Ron McEwin
, Bill Snell
, Bert Harper
, Ted Leehane
and, of course, Coleman. Essendon won the Grand Final 13.14 (92) to North Melbourne's 7.12 (54) in front of a crowd of 87,601.
Opposition coaches and full-backs stopped at nothing to curb Coleman's influence. In a one-on-one duel, close-checking, spoiling defenders fared best, but few could outrun him, and certainly no one could match him in the air.
Often pitted against two, or even three, opponents, Coleman's equilibrium could be upset by needling, jostling and physical contact which often happened behind the play. Coleman's sometimes fiery temper ensured that he never backed away from a confrontation.
, at Princes Park
. He was reported for striking Carlton's journeyman back-pocket ruckman Harry Casparhttp://www.blueseum.org/tiki-index.php?page=Harry+Caspar. Caspar was also reported for striking Coleman.
Today, it is well established that Caspar, Alby Coleman's old classmate, had been niggling Coleman since the very start of the match (the niggling included Caspar making persistent and heavy contact with a nasty boil on Coleman's neck http://www.blueseum.org/tiki-index.php?page=Round+18%2C+1951), and that Caspar had also punched him twice whilst play was at the other end of the ground (the reason that the field umpire was not present at the incident), immediately before Coleman's retaliation; and that, apart from his reaction to Caspar's thuggery, Coleman had not been proactive in any way.
The match to that time had been a somewhat brutal encounter, and the crowd was highly agitated. During the match bottles were thrown at Coleman, and as he came off the ground at half-time, and walked up the players race, a Carlton fan spat at him through gaps in the cyclone wired barriers
that separated the spectators from the players. Coleman snapped, and smashed the fan in the face, badly hurting his hand. He went into the Essendon rooms, shouting with rage at the total absence of any protection from the match officials, took off his jumper, and spoke of not returning to the field.
He was finally persuaded to take the field for the second half, and once on the field, he was so "full of fire" that, according to the recollection of ruckman Geoff Leek
, at the time the resting in the forward-pocket, he took two of the most amazing marks that Leek had ever seen:
At the tribunal, Caspar's case was heard first. Caspar was suspended for four weeks.
Coleman's defence was simple. He had simply retaliated to two unprovoked punches from Caspar (for which Caspar had been suspended). Although the tribunal had refused to accept that, due to Caspar's provocation, Coleman had no case to answer, those present at the tribunal felt that Coleman had presented a good case; and, although the VFL at that time made no allowance for provocation, the Players' Advocate Dan Minogue was thought to have made a good case for Coleman by arguing that any man, if he were a man at all, would hit back after being hit.
The boundary umpire, Herb Kent, gave evidence that Coleman had retaliated only after he had been punched twice by Caspar, Kent remarking not only that Coleman "was only defending himself", but also emphatically stating twice that "I would have done exactly as he did… It was under provocation".
Given that those who retaliated were thought to have been given more lenient penalties than those who instigated, and given that — because Carlton were not in the finals — Caspar's penalty represented the first four home-and-home games in 1952, and given that Essendon were, indeed, playing in the 1951 finals, it was generally thought by those present at the tribunal that, if Coleman was to receive any penalty at all, he would be given no more than two weeks. The chairman announced a penalty of four weeks.
Coleman broke down and wept with anger, disbelief and disappointment. As his friends and colleagues tried to assist an already deeply distressed Coleman from the tribunal's building, "Harrison House", at the corner of Spring Street and Flinders Lane in Melbourne, the impact of the rush of the large waiting crowd hurled Coleman against a traffic signal-box. He struck his head and collapsed on the pavement. He was eventually assisted into one of his friend's cars.
Eventually, the Bombers went on, without Coleman and with Dick Reynolds coming out of retirement as 20th man, to lose the Grand Final by eleven points and Essendon supporters to this day blame Coleman's suspension for Essendon's failure to win its third successive premiership.
. In a tough, rugged match, Fitzroy 13.12 (90) beat Essendon 5.8 (38). Coleman, who would finish the 1952 season with 103 goals, did not score a goal in the match; and this was the first (and the only) time that Coleman was held goal-less in his entire 98 game career. He had less than half a dozen kicks for the entire match — despite being moved to centre-half forward for a while during the second quarter — and was only able to score two behinds, one of which was effected with the last scoring kick of the match.
In round 13 of 1936, Collingwood
were playing against Richmond
at the Punt Road Oval
, Richmond's home ground, Collingwood's champion full-forward and veteran of seventeen VFL seasons, Gordon Coventry
was soaring for a mark in the third quarter, when a Richmond backman, Joe Murdoch
, renowned for his tough, ruthless play, who had previously noticed a large boil on Coventry's neck, punched hard at the boil. Coventry, a player highly respected for his fair play, was in great pain, and retaliated, "dropping" Murdoch. Coventry was reported for the only time in his career. Treating him as the "aggressor", the tribunal suspended Coventry for eight weeks, the "victim" Murdoch only received four weeks. Coventry missed the finals.
The only difference between the two events was that whilst Essendon had no real replacement for Coleman (Coleman's replacement Keith McDonald
scored a total of 9 goals in his 13 senior matches in his two seasons with Essendon), Collingwood's replacement, the future Collingwood and Williamstown
champion Ron Todd
, was at least the equal of the man he replaced.
, Essendon dropped down the ladder as an era ended. Coleman continued to be the best forward in the game, winning the VFL
goal-kicking by scoring 103 goals in 1952
and 97 in 1953
. In the seventh game of the 1954
season he kicked his best ever tally of 14 goals against Fitzroy
. But at Windy Hill
a week later, Coleman fell heavily and dislocated his knee in what proved to be his last game. His attempts to return drew many headlines over the next two years but, despite surgery, he was forced to concede defeat in the lead up to the 1956 season. In just 98 appearances, he averaged 5.48 goals per game.
There were revelations in early 1958 that Coleman's knee was sufficiently repaired to play on and his true reasons for not playing were unrelated to his knee
it must be remembered that those men played most, or all of their matches under significantly different rules that were decidedly advantageous to full-forwards.
Ostensibly to reduce "the unseemly bullocking in the ruck at boundary throwins", the laws of the game had been altered in 1925 so that the last player to touch the ball before it went out of bounds was penalized by the award of a free kick to the opposing team.
This meant that, in the years that this law operated (i.e., 1925–?1939), a very large amount of the play was directed up the centre of the ground along the goal-to-goal line, and very little was directed along the flanks at the sides of the ground.
This meant numerous free kicks to the half-forwards, with consequent great advantage to the full-forwards of the day.
Coleman played when this rule was no longer in force.
, also an Essendon footballer before the Second World War,http://stats.rleague.com/afl/stats/players/T/Ted_Rippon.html made him the manager of the Auburn Hotel, and their association continued when Coleman became licensee of the Essendon Hotel. Subsequently, he went into business on his own, running the West Brunswick Hotel.
He also developed media interests, writing for the Herald
newspaper from 1954 and appearing as a commentator on television after its introduction in 1956.
, when Essendon — who, in recent times, were being increasingly referred to as "the Gliders", rather than "the Bombers", because of their poor performances at the business end of the season — considered replacing Dick Reynolds
as coach (he had been at Essendon for 27 years, 21 as coach), and declared the coaching position open.
Essendon received three applications for the coaching position: 1960 coach Dick Reynolds, 1960 team captain Jack Clarke
, and John Coleman (then 32 and out of football for 6 years), who had been persuaded to apply despite having no coaching experience. Coleman was not the committee's unanimous choice, with both Reynolds and Clarke receiving some support, but he received almost a two to one majority of the final vote.
Coleman was appointed coach on a day of mixed emotion; his father had died the day before.
Coleman's brief was to inject more vigor into the side and get them to play as Coleman had done. He proved to be a clever tactician, eschewing the histrionics of a "hot-gospelling" style, instead concentrating his efforts on quietly harnessing the individual talents of his players, expressing the view that team spirit was, to him, just as important as physical fitness for eventual team success.
Coleman was unable to supervise his first training session until 6 April 1961 (the first home-and-away match was 15 April 1961), because he had come down with hepatitis on his return to Australia, following a two months holiday with Monica in India and Sri Lanka.
After a disappointing first season when the team seemed to have trouble adjusting to his style (having had 22 years of Reynolds' approach, that is not astonishing), Coleman surprised many by leading the Bombers to the premiership in 1962
. The team performed brilliantly, losing only two games for the year and crushing Carlton in the Grand Final.
During his playing days Coleman had developed a special loathing for umpires and they were often the target of his venomous tongue as a coach.
Essendon suffered a premiership hangover and finished fifth in 1963
, then were eliminated in the first semi final of 1964
. Another flag followed in 1965
, when Essendon achieved the rare feat of winning from fourth place. With two premierships in the bag as a coach, Coleman could rest assured that his reputation was secure.
By now, his health had begun to cause him some concern. The knee injury prevented him from actively participating in training and he suffered badly from thrombosis. He reluctantly agreed to return for the 1967
season. The Bombers missed the finals, and Coleman then handed the coaching job over to Jack Clarke.
and running the Dromana Hotel.
In the early hours of 5 April 1973, he died suddenly of coronary atheroma
. The public was stunned and saddened. Some controversy later emerged when it was claimed that a doctor, who was called to attend him, failed to do so until it was too late.
On Saturday 7 April 1973, a John Coleman memorial match was held at Windy Hill in front of a record 34 293 fans/mourners. Essendon beat Richond by 47 points that day. After a large funeral conducted at St Thomas' Church of England, in Mount Alexander Road, Moonee Ponds (the church in which he had married) by Archdeacon Randal Hugh Deasey (1916–) on Monday 9 April 1973, attended by many of Melbourne's sporting community, Coleman was cremated. 400 people packed into the church, and another 600 stood outside the church listening to the service broadcast over loudspeakers.
The pallbearer
s included his brother Albert, his former business associate Ted Rippon
, and the former Essendon full-forward Ted Fordham
. The mourners included Sir Maurice Nathan and Ralph Lane
from the VFL, and Essendon footballers John Birt
, Russell Blew
, Jack Clarke
, Ken Fraser
, Geoff Leek
, Greg Sewell
, David Shaw, John Somerville, and John Williams.
His estate was sworn for probate at $280,270.
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
er and coach for Essendon
Essendon Football Club
The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
in the Victorian Football League (now the AFL
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
).
Coleman ranks as one of the best Australian rules footballers of all time. In a relatively short playing career, Coleman has the second highest goal average in the history of VFL/AFL football. After a knee injury ended his playing career at age 25, he returned to coach Essendon to premiership success. Coleman died in 1973, at the age of 44, of sudden coronary atheroma
Atheroma
In pathology, an atheroma is an accumulation and swelling in artery walls that is made up of macrophage cells, or debris, that contain lipids , calcium and a variable amount of fibrous connective tissue...
.
In 98 matches, Coleman had kicked a total of 537 career goals. He kicked 14 goals in a match on one occasion, 13 goals twice, 12 goals once, 11 goals twice, 10 goals six times, 9 goals three times, and 8 goals five times.
Family
Born at Port Fairy in western Victoria to Albert Ernest Coleman (a manager) and his wife Ella Elizabeth (née Matthews), Coleman was the fourth child of the family; the children were Lawna Ella, Thurla Margaret, Albert Edwin, and John Douglas.He married his Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
n wife, Reine Monica Fernando, in March 1955. They had two daughters, Anne-Marie and Jennifer.
Early Days: The Teenage Prodigy
Coleman was introduced to football at Port Fairy Higher Elementary School. During the early war years, the family moved to Melbourne where Coleman was enrolled at Ascot Vale West State School. He later attended Moonee Ponds Central School (he became dux of the school). At the age of 12, he already played in a local under-18 Australian rules football team.In 1943, Coleman's mother took the children to live at Hastings
Hastings, Victoria
Hastings is a suburb on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia, as a part of the urban enclave on Westernport comprising Hastings, Bittern, Crib Point, Tyabb, and Somerville. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Mornington Peninsula...
on the Mornington Peninsula
Mornington Peninsula
The Mornington Peninsula is a peninsula located south-east of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. It is surrounded by Port Phillip to the west, Western Port to the east and Bass Strait to the south, and is connected to the mainland in the north. Geographically, the peninsula begins its protrusion...
as her husband remained in the city to look after his business. Coleman then divided his time between Melbourne, where he was a student at University High School
University High School, Melbourne
The University High School is a public, co-educational high school, located in the Melbourne suburb of Parkville.-History:...
, and Hastings, playing on Saturdays for the local team which competed in the Mornington Peninsula League.
Essendon
Essendon Football Club
The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
first invited Coleman to train at the club in 1946, but considered him too young to be able to play senior football.
In the following two seasons, Coleman completed pre-season training with Essendon and played in practice matches. However, both times he was sent back to Hastings where he kicked 296 goals in 37 games over two years.
The Instant Sensation
1949 VFL season
Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League season of 1949.-Premiership season:In 1949, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus two substitute players, known as the 19th man and the 20th man...
season was a make or break time for the budding forward. He again trained with Essendon, but was frustrated by many of the senior players who ignored his leads. Coleman's potential was noted by a number of other clubs and Richmond made an attempt to sign him. However, Essendon finally saw the light and selected him for the opening round match against Hawthorn.
From his first match, when he not only kicked a to-this-day unbeaten record of twelve goals on debut — his 12 goals in the first home-and-away match of a season also equalled the Essendon record set by Ted Freyer
Ted Freyer
Edward Freyer was an Australian rules footballer who played with Essendon in the VFL during the 1930s....
, against Melbourne
Melbourne Football Club
The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Demons, is an Australian rules football club playing in the Australian Football League , based in Melbourne, Victoria....
on 27 April 1935 — but he also kicked a goal with his first kick, Coleman was the star player in the game, which was experiencing a boom in the immediate post-war years.
Standing 185 cm tall, with a pale complexion and slight build, the 20 year old Coleman did not appear at all imposing. He looked listless as he stood in the goal square, often a metre behind the full-back, with his long-sleeved guernsey (number 10) rolled up to his elbows.
Then, with explosive speed, Coleman would slip the guard of his opponent and sprint into open space on the lead or leap onto a pack of players to take a spectacular mark.
This innate ability to make position and his prodigious leap immediately caught the public imagination. He needed few opportunities to influence the outcome of a game.
Later one of his team-mates, ruckman Geoff Leek
Geoff Leek
Geoff Leek was an Australian rules footballer who played with Essendon in the VFL from 1951 to 1962.- First senior match :...
recalled one of his 1949 marks:
He usually converted from most of his set shots by way of long, flat punt kicks. Notwithstanding this however, he was also an excellent drop-kick. Ted Rippon, Coleman's former business associate and vice-president of the football club, recalled that Coleman had kicked 14 goals in a match in Perth against a WA side, and six of those goals had been drop-kicked against the wind.
Coleman capped his brilliant debut year in storybook fashion: he booted his one hundredth goal in the dying moments of a record Grand Final win over Carlton. He remains the only player to kick one hundred goals in his first year.
The next year, 1950, was his most prolific season, with Coleman kicking 120 goals (his feat of kicking more than 100 goals in consecutive seasons had only been matched by Collingwood's Gordon Coventry
Gordon Coventry
Gordon "Nuts" Coventry was an Australian rules footballer who played for Collingwood Football Club in the Victorian Football League . With 1,299 goals over 18 seasons, Coventry remains one of the greatest full forwards the game has ever seen...
, South Melbourne's Bob Pratt
Bob Pratt
Harold Robert "Bob" Pratt was a former Australian rules footballer from Mitcham, Victoria.Pratt played with South Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League from 1930–1939 and again in 1946, and with the Coburg Football Club in the Victorian Football Association from 1940 to 1941...
, and Collingwood's Ron Todd
Ron Todd (footballer)
Ronald Walford Todd was an Australian rules footballer who played with Collingwood in the Victorian Football League in the 1930s, and with Williamstown in the Victorian Football Association in the 1940s. Todd was an acrobatic and pacy forward, possessing a strong overhead mark...
, and all three of those had done it much later in their careers when they were much older, far stronger, and much more experienced), despite missing one match with the flu, and being a major factor Essendon's premiership win over North Melbourne.
Essendon had already beaten North Melbourne in the Second Semi-Final 11.14 (80) to 11.11 (77) when, in driving rain, and with 30 seconds remaining, and with North Melbourne three points in front, North Melbourne's Jock McCorkell
Jock McCorkell
Jock McCorkell is a former Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League, ..-External links:* -References:* *...
unexpectedly punched a ball that was already rolling out over the boundary line back into play just before it crossed the line, Coleman pounced on the ball, and passed it to Ron McEwin
Ron McEwin
Ron McEwin was an Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League .Ron McEwin was a member of the Essendon premiership teams in 1949 and 1950.-External links:*-References:**...
in the goal square. McEwin kicked the goal, and Essendon won by three points.http://www.aflua.com.au/index.asp?d=5A4C5A717251477C7008060A000900 Essendon had only lost one match during the season.
In an unexpectedly one-sided Grand Final (many had thought that North Melbourne could win), with a rain lashed third quarter, North Melbourne "went the knuckle", rather than playing football, and specifically targeted the Essendon players Dick Reynolds
Dick Reynolds
Richard Sylvannus 'Dick' Reynolds was an Australian rules footballer and coach who represented Essendon and Victoria with great distinction....
, Ron McEwin
Ron McEwin
Ron McEwin was an Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League .Ron McEwin was a member of the Essendon premiership teams in 1949 and 1950.-External links:*-References:**...
, Bill Snell
Bill Snell
William 'Bill' Snell was an Australian rules footballer who played with Essendon in the VFL during the early 1950s.A centre half forward, Snell made his debut in Dick Reynolds's 300th game. He was a member of Essendon's 1950 premiership team and also played in the side which lost the decider the...
, Bert Harper
Albert Harper
Albert Harper was an Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League .He played in the Essendon premiership teams in 1946 and 1950.-External links:*-References:*...
, Ted Leehane
Ted Leehane
Ted Leehane is a former Australian rules footballer who played in the Victorian Football League .He was a member of the great Essendon premiership teams in 1942, 1949 and 1950.Leehane captain-coached Mansfield from 1951 to 1956....
and, of course, Coleman. Essendon won the Grand Final 13.14 (92) to North Melbourne's 7.12 (54) in front of a crowd of 87,601.
Opposition coaches and full-backs stopped at nothing to curb Coleman's influence. In a one-on-one duel, close-checking, spoiling defenders fared best, but few could outrun him, and certainly no one could match him in the air.
Often pitted against two, or even three, opponents, Coleman's equilibrium could be upset by needling, jostling and physical contact which often happened behind the play. Coleman's sometimes fiery temper ensured that he never backed away from a confrontation.
Harry Caspar: "the man who cost Essendon the flag"
Despite specific instructions having been given to the umpires in relation to the protection of forwards from "interference" from opposing backmen, and in the absence of any sort of protection at all from the field umpires, these problems with Coleman's response to the ever-increasing level of provocation, abuse, headlocks, hair-tugging, and out and out thuggery came to head quite sensationally when Coleman was reported in the last minutes of the second quarter of Essendon's last match of the 1951 home-and-away season against CarltonCarlton Football Club
The Carlton Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the Australian Football League, and was one of the eight founding members of that competition in 1897...
, at Princes Park
MC Labour Park
Princes Park is an Australian rules football ground located at Princes Park in the inner Melbourne suburb of Carlton North, Victoria....
. He was reported for striking Carlton's journeyman back-pocket ruckman Harry Casparhttp://www.blueseum.org/tiki-index.php?page=Harry+Caspar. Caspar was also reported for striking Coleman.
Today, it is well established that Caspar, Alby Coleman's old classmate, had been niggling Coleman since the very start of the match (the niggling included Caspar making persistent and heavy contact with a nasty boil on Coleman's neck http://www.blueseum.org/tiki-index.php?page=Round+18%2C+1951), and that Caspar had also punched him twice whilst play was at the other end of the ground (the reason that the field umpire was not present at the incident), immediately before Coleman's retaliation; and that, apart from his reaction to Caspar's thuggery, Coleman had not been proactive in any way.
The match to that time had been a somewhat brutal encounter, and the crowd was highly agitated. During the match bottles were thrown at Coleman, and as he came off the ground at half-time, and walked up the players race, a Carlton fan spat at him through gaps in the cyclone wired barriers
Chain link fencing
A chain-link fence is a type of woven fence usually made from galvanized or LLDPE-coated steel wire...
that separated the spectators from the players. Coleman snapped, and smashed the fan in the face, badly hurting his hand. He went into the Essendon rooms, shouting with rage at the total absence of any protection from the match officials, took off his jumper, and spoke of not returning to the field.
He was finally persuaded to take the field for the second half, and once on the field, he was so "full of fire" that, according to the recollection of ruckman Geoff Leek
Geoff Leek
Geoff Leek was an Australian rules footballer who played with Essendon in the VFL from 1951 to 1962.- First senior match :...
, at the time the resting in the forward-pocket, he took two of the most amazing marks that Leek had ever seen:
At the tribunal, Caspar's case was heard first. Caspar was suspended for four weeks.
Coleman's defence was simple. He had simply retaliated to two unprovoked punches from Caspar (for which Caspar had been suspended). Although the tribunal had refused to accept that, due to Caspar's provocation, Coleman had no case to answer, those present at the tribunal felt that Coleman had presented a good case; and, although the VFL at that time made no allowance for provocation, the Players' Advocate Dan Minogue was thought to have made a good case for Coleman by arguing that any man, if he were a man at all, would hit back after being hit.
The boundary umpire, Herb Kent, gave evidence that Coleman had retaliated only after he had been punched twice by Caspar, Kent remarking not only that Coleman "was only defending himself", but also emphatically stating twice that "I would have done exactly as he did… It was under provocation".
Given that those who retaliated were thought to have been given more lenient penalties than those who instigated, and given that — because Carlton were not in the finals — Caspar's penalty represented the first four home-and-home games in 1952, and given that Essendon were, indeed, playing in the 1951 finals, it was generally thought by those present at the tribunal that, if Coleman was to receive any penalty at all, he would be given no more than two weeks. The chairman announced a penalty of four weeks.
Coleman broke down and wept with anger, disbelief and disappointment. As his friends and colleagues tried to assist an already deeply distressed Coleman from the tribunal's building, "Harrison House", at the corner of Spring Street and Flinders Lane in Melbourne, the impact of the rush of the large waiting crowd hurled Coleman against a traffic signal-box. He struck his head and collapsed on the pavement. He was eventually assisted into one of his friend's cars.
Eventually, the Bombers went on, without Coleman and with Dick Reynolds coming out of retirement as 20th man, to lose the Grand Final by eleven points and Essendon supporters to this day blame Coleman's suspension for Essendon's failure to win its third successive premiership.
Goal-less Coleman
On Saturday, 28 June 1952, in round ten of the 1952 season, at a very, very muddy (and narrow) Brunswick Street Oval, Coleman played opposite the champion Fitzroy full back, Vic ChanterVic Chanter
Vic Chanter is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Fitzroy in the VFL.- Fred Chanter :...
. In a tough, rugged match, Fitzroy 13.12 (90) beat Essendon 5.8 (38). Coleman, who would finish the 1952 season with 103 goals, did not score a goal in the match; and this was the first (and the only) time that Coleman was held goal-less in his entire 98 game career. He had less than half a dozen kicks for the entire match — despite being moved to centre-half forward for a while during the second quarter — and was only able to score two behinds, one of which was effected with the last scoring kick of the match.
A strange coincidence
Coleman's retaliation against an entirely unprovoked assault on his boil-infested neck by an opposition back-man who was not the full-back (his direct opponent), in an away game, in front of a hostile crowd, and his subsequent suspension from the 1951 final series — his only suspension in his VFL career — reminded many of an incident fifteen years earlier.In round 13 of 1936, Collingwood
Collingwood Football Club
The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
were playing against Richmond
Richmond Football Club
The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...
at the Punt Road Oval
Punt Road Oval
Punt Road Oval is a sporting ground located in Yarra Park, East Melbourne, Victoria situated only a few hundred metres to the east of the famous Melbourne Cricket Ground....
, Richmond's home ground, Collingwood's champion full-forward and veteran of seventeen VFL seasons, Gordon Coventry
Gordon Coventry
Gordon "Nuts" Coventry was an Australian rules footballer who played for Collingwood Football Club in the Victorian Football League . With 1,299 goals over 18 seasons, Coventry remains one of the greatest full forwards the game has ever seen...
was soaring for a mark in the third quarter, when a Richmond backman, Joe Murdoch
Joe Murdoch
Arthur 'Joe' Murdoch was an Australian rules footballer who played in the VFL in between 1927 and 1936 for the Richmond Football Club....
, renowned for his tough, ruthless play, who had previously noticed a large boil on Coventry's neck, punched hard at the boil. Coventry, a player highly respected for his fair play, was in great pain, and retaliated, "dropping" Murdoch. Coventry was reported for the only time in his career. Treating him as the "aggressor", the tribunal suspended Coventry for eight weeks, the "victim" Murdoch only received four weeks. Coventry missed the finals.
The only difference between the two events was that whilst Essendon had no real replacement for Coleman (Coleman's replacement Keith McDonald
Keith McDonald (footballer)
Keith McDonald was an Australian rules footballer who played with Essendon in the Victorian Football League ....
scored a total of 9 goals in his 13 senior matches in his two seasons with Essendon), Collingwood's replacement, the future Collingwood and Williamstown
Williamstown Football Club
The Williamstown Football Club, nicknamed The Seagulls, is an Australian rules football club based in Melbourne and are currently playing in the Victorian Football League...
champion Ron Todd
Ron Todd (footballer)
Ronald Walford Todd was an Australian rules footballer who played with Collingwood in the Victorian Football League in the 1930s, and with Williamstown in the Victorian Football Association in the 1940s. Todd was an acrobatic and pacy forward, possessing a strong overhead mark...
, was at least the equal of the man he replaced.
Coleman's injury
After six successive years in the Grand FinalAFL Grand Final
The AFL Grand Final is an annual Australian rules football match, traditionally held on the final Saturday in September at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia to determine the Australian Football League premiership champions for that year...
, Essendon dropped down the ladder as an era ended. Coleman continued to be the best forward in the game, winning the VFL
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
goal-kicking by scoring 103 goals in 1952
1952 VFL season
Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League season of 1952.-Premiership season:In 1952, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus two substitute players, known as the 19th man and the 20th man...
and 97 in 1953
1953 VFL season
Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League season of 1953.-Premiership season:In 1953, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus two substitute players, known as the 19th man and the 20th man...
. In the seventh game of the 1954
1954 VFL season
Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League season of 1954.-Premiership season:In 1954, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus two substitute players, known as the 19th man and the 20th man...
season he kicked his best ever tally of 14 goals against Fitzroy
Fitzroy Football Club
The Fitzroy Football Club, formerly nicknamed The Lions, is an Australian rules football club formed in 1883 to represent the inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, Victoria and was a foundation member club of the Victorian Football League on its inception in 1897...
. But at Windy Hill
Windy Hill, Essendon
Windy Hill is an Australian rules football ground located in Essendon, a northwestern suburb of the Melbourne metropolitan area....
a week later, Coleman fell heavily and dislocated his knee in what proved to be his last game. His attempts to return drew many headlines over the next two years but, despite surgery, he was forced to concede defeat in the lead up to the 1956 season. In just 98 appearances, he averaged 5.48 goals per game.
There were revelations in early 1958 that Coleman's knee was sufficiently repaired to play on and his true reasons for not playing were unrelated to his knee
The significance of his 537 goals
In relation to assessing Coleman's achievement of 537 goals in 98 senior games vis-à-vis the achievements of:- Gordon "Nuts" CoventryGordon CoventryGordon "Nuts" Coventry was an Australian rules footballer who played for Collingwood Football Club in the Victorian Football League . With 1,299 goals over 18 seasons, Coventry remains one of the greatest full forwards the game has ever seen...
who played for Collingwood from 1920 to 1937 (kicking 1299 goals in 306 games), - Jack "Skinny" TitusJack TitusJack "Skinny" Titus was an Australian rules football player who played in the Victorian Football League between 1926 and 1943 for the Richmond Football Club. In the golden era of the 1930s, Titus was one of the great forwards who regularly thrilled the crowds with spectacular goalkicking feats...
who played for Richmond from 1926 to 1943 (kicking 970 goals in 294 games), - Bill MohrBill MohrWilbur T "Bill" Mohr was an Australian rules footballer who played with the St Kilda Football Club in the Victorian Football League ....
who played for St Kilda from 1929–1941 (kicking 735 goals in 195 games), - Bob PrattBob PrattHarold Robert "Bob" Pratt was a former Australian rules footballer from Mitcham, Victoria.Pratt played with South Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League from 1930–1939 and again in 1946, and with the Coburg Football Club in the Victorian Football Association from 1940 to 1941...
who played for South Melbourne from 1930 to 1939 (kicking 681 goals in 158 games), and - Ron ToddRon Todd (footballer)Ronald Walford Todd was an Australian rules footballer who played with Collingwood in the Victorian Football League in the 1930s, and with Williamstown in the Victorian Football Association in the 1940s. Todd was an acrobatic and pacy forward, possessing a strong overhead mark...
who played for Collingwood from 1935 to 1939 (kicking 327 goals in 76 games, with 86 goals in his first three seasons (at centre half-forward), and 241 goals in his last two seasons (at full-forward once Coventry had retired),
it must be remembered that those men played most, or all of their matches under significantly different rules that were decidedly advantageous to full-forwards.
Ostensibly to reduce "the unseemly bullocking in the ruck at boundary throwins", the laws of the game had been altered in 1925 so that the last player to touch the ball before it went out of bounds was penalized by the award of a free kick to the opposing team.
This meant that, in the years that this law operated (i.e., 1925–?1939), a very large amount of the play was directed up the centre of the ground along the goal-to-goal line, and very little was directed along the flanks at the sides of the ground.
This meant numerous free kicks to the half-forwards, with consequent great advantage to the full-forwards of the day.
Coleman played when this rule was no longer in force.
Coleman the businessman
Coleman was a capable businessman who understood the commercial potential of his fame. Football had interrupted his commerce studies at Melbourne University in 1949, but the game helped him to launch a career managing pubs. Essendon vice president Ted RipponTed Rippon
Edward C. "Ted" Rippon was an Australian rules footballer who played for Essendon prior to his World War II service for St Kilda after the war in the VFL....
, also an Essendon footballer before the Second World War,http://stats.rleague.com/afl/stats/players/T/Ted_Rippon.html made him the manager of the Auburn Hotel, and their association continued when Coleman became licensee of the Essendon Hotel. Subsequently, he went into business on his own, running the West Brunswick Hotel.
He also developed media interests, writing for the Herald
Herald Sun
The Herald Sun is a morning tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia. It is published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Limited, itself a subsidiary of News Corporation. It is available for purchase throughout Melbourne, Regional Victoria, Tasmania, the Australian Capital...
newspaper from 1954 and appearing as a commentator on television after its introduction in 1956.
Coleman the coach
Coleman's business and family life took an unexpected turn in 19611961 VFL season
Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League season of 1961.-Premiership season:In 1961, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus two substitute players, known as the 19th man and the 20th man...
, when Essendon — who, in recent times, were being increasingly referred to as "the Gliders", rather than "the Bombers", because of their poor performances at the business end of the season — considered replacing Dick Reynolds
Dick Reynolds
Richard Sylvannus 'Dick' Reynolds was an Australian rules footballer and coach who represented Essendon and Victoria with great distinction....
as coach (he had been at Essendon for 27 years, 21 as coach), and declared the coaching position open.
Essendon received three applications for the coaching position: 1960 coach Dick Reynolds, 1960 team captain Jack Clarke
Jack E. Clarke
Jack E. Clarke was an Australian rules footballer and coach in the VFL. An Essendon and Victorian champion, Clarke was one of the premier midfielders of the VFL for well over a decade, leading the mighty Dons to the flag in 1962 when captain and also playing in the victorious 1965 side...
, and John Coleman (then 32 and out of football for 6 years), who had been persuaded to apply despite having no coaching experience. Coleman was not the committee's unanimous choice, with both Reynolds and Clarke receiving some support, but he received almost a two to one majority of the final vote.
Coleman was appointed coach on a day of mixed emotion; his father had died the day before.
Coleman's brief was to inject more vigor into the side and get them to play as Coleman had done. He proved to be a clever tactician, eschewing the histrionics of a "hot-gospelling" style, instead concentrating his efforts on quietly harnessing the individual talents of his players, expressing the view that team spirit was, to him, just as important as physical fitness for eventual team success.
Coleman was unable to supervise his first training session until 6 April 1961 (the first home-and-away match was 15 April 1961), because he had come down with hepatitis on his return to Australia, following a two months holiday with Monica in India and Sri Lanka.
After a disappointing first season when the team seemed to have trouble adjusting to his style (having had 22 years of Reynolds' approach, that is not astonishing), Coleman surprised many by leading the Bombers to the premiership in 1962
1962 VFL season
Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League season of 1962.-Premiership season:In 1962, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus two substitute players, known as the 19th man and the 20th man...
. The team performed brilliantly, losing only two games for the year and crushing Carlton in the Grand Final.
During his playing days Coleman had developed a special loathing for umpires and they were often the target of his venomous tongue as a coach.
Essendon suffered a premiership hangover and finished fifth in 1963
1963 VFL season
Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League season of 1963.-Premiership season:In 1963, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus two substitute players, known as the 19th man and the 20th man...
, then were eliminated in the first semi final of 1964
1964 VFL season
Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League season of 1964.-Premiership season:In 1964, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus two substitute players, known as the 19th man and the 20th man...
. Another flag followed in 1965
1965 VFL season
Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League season of 1965.-Premiership season:In 1965, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus two substitute players, known as the 19th man and the 20th man...
, when Essendon achieved the rare feat of winning from fourth place. With two premierships in the bag as a coach, Coleman could rest assured that his reputation was secure.
By now, his health had begun to cause him some concern. The knee injury prevented him from actively participating in training and he suffered badly from thrombosis. He reluctantly agreed to return for the 1967
1967 VFL season
Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League season of 1967.-Premiership season:In 1967, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus two substitute players, known as the 19th man and the 20th man...
season. The Bombers missed the finals, and Coleman then handed the coaching job over to Jack Clarke.
Sudden death
Coleman moved to the Mornington Peninsula, buying a rural property at Arthurs SeatArthurs Seat, Victoria
Arthurs Seat is a hill and locality on the Mornington Peninsula, within the Shire of Mornington Peninsula, about 75 km south east of Melbourne, Australia....
and running the Dromana Hotel.
In the early hours of 5 April 1973, he died suddenly of coronary atheroma
Atheroma
In pathology, an atheroma is an accumulation and swelling in artery walls that is made up of macrophage cells, or debris, that contain lipids , calcium and a variable amount of fibrous connective tissue...
. The public was stunned and saddened. Some controversy later emerged when it was claimed that a doctor, who was called to attend him, failed to do so until it was too late.
On Saturday 7 April 1973, a John Coleman memorial match was held at Windy Hill in front of a record 34 293 fans/mourners. Essendon beat Richond by 47 points that day. After a large funeral conducted at St Thomas' Church of England, in Mount Alexander Road, Moonee Ponds (the church in which he had married) by Archdeacon Randal Hugh Deasey (1916–) on Monday 9 April 1973, attended by many of Melbourne's sporting community, Coleman was cremated. 400 people packed into the church, and another 600 stood outside the church listening to the service broadcast over loudspeakers.
The pallbearer
Pallbearer
A pall-bearer is one of several funeral participants who helps carry the casket of a deceased person from a religious or memorial service or viewing either directly to a cemetery or mausoleum, or to and from the hearse which carries the coffin....
s included his brother Albert, his former business associate Ted Rippon
Ted Rippon
Edward C. "Ted" Rippon was an Australian rules footballer who played for Essendon prior to his World War II service for St Kilda after the war in the VFL....
, and the former Essendon full-forward Ted Fordham
Ted Fordham
Ted Fordham is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Essendon Bombers in the Victorian Football League . He was the VFLs leading goalkicker of the 1966 season....
. The mourners included Sir Maurice Nathan and Ralph Lane
Ralph Lane (footballer)
Ralph Lane is a former Australian rules football player in the Victorian Football League .Ralph Lane joined Melbourne in 1951 and played two Grand Finals in 1954 and 1956. He retired in 1956 to commit his employment career....
from the VFL, and Essendon footballers John Birt
John Birt (footballer)
John Birt is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Essendon in the VFL. Birt had an unusual physical characteristic that sometimes reduced his capacity to impose authority in one-on-one situations; whenever he spoke, the tip of his nose would move.Birt was a rover and after being...
, Russell Blew
Russell Blew
Russell Blew is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Essendon in the VFL during the 1960s.A pacy wingman, Blew debuted for Essendon in 1960. In 1964 he finished second in the best and fairest awards and represented Victoria at interstate football. He was a premiership player with...
, Jack Clarke
Jack E. Clarke
Jack E. Clarke was an Australian rules footballer and coach in the VFL. An Essendon and Victorian champion, Clarke was one of the premier midfielders of the VFL for well over a decade, leading the mighty Dons to the flag in 1962 when captain and also playing in the victorious 1965 side...
, Ken Fraser
Ken Fraser
Ken Fraser is a former Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League .Ken Fraser was an outstanding centre half-forward, Essendon Football Club captain, premiership captain and player, and Victorian representative.In 2001 Fraser was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of...
, Geoff Leek
Geoff Leek
Geoff Leek was an Australian rules footballer who played with Essendon in the VFL from 1951 to 1962.- First senior match :...
, Greg Sewell
Greg Sewell
Gregory G. "Greg" Sewell was an Australian rules footballer and assistant coach for Essendon in the Victorian Football League . He was educated at University High School from 1950 to 1951, where he was a schoolmate of Alan Aylett.- Recruit :Sewell had been recruited from the local side, the Monash...
, David Shaw, John Somerville, and John Williams.
His estate was sworn for probate at $280,270.
Legacy
- 1981: Introduction of the Coleman medalColeman MedalThe Coleman Medal is awarded yearly to the Australian Football League player who kicks the most goals in regular-season matches in that year...
, awarded to the highest goalkicker in the VFL/AFL. - 1996, confirming his status as the greatest full-forwardFull-forwardFull-forward is a position in Australian rules football and Gaelic football with a key focus on kicking goals.Leading full-forwards of the Australian Football League are usually among those awarded with the Coleman Medal for the most goals in an AFL season....
to ever play the game, Coleman was selected at full-forward in the AFL's Team of the Century, ahead of famous names such as Gordon "Nuts" CoventryGordon CoventryGordon "Nuts" Coventry was an Australian rules footballer who played for Collingwood Football Club in the Victorian Football League . With 1,299 goals over 18 seasons, Coventry remains one of the greatest full forwards the game has ever seen...
, Bob PrattBob PrattHarold Robert "Bob" Pratt was a former Australian rules footballer from Mitcham, Victoria.Pratt played with South Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League from 1930–1939 and again in 1946, and with the Coburg Football Club in the Victorian Football Association from 1940 to 1941...
, Jack "Skinny" TitusJack TitusJack "Skinny" Titus was an Australian rules football player who played in the Victorian Football League between 1926 and 1943 for the Richmond Football Club. In the golden era of the 1930s, Titus was one of the great forwards who regularly thrilled the crowds with spectacular goalkicking feats...
, Ron ToddRon Todd (footballer)Ronald Walford Todd was an Australian rules footballer who played with Collingwood in the Victorian Football League in the 1930s, and with Williamstown in the Victorian Football Association in the 1940s. Todd was an acrobatic and pacy forward, possessing a strong overhead mark...
, Bill MohrBill MohrWilbur T "Bill" Mohr was an Australian rules footballer who played with the St Kilda Football Club in the Victorian Football League ....
, Peter McKennaPeter McKennaPeter McKenna is a former Australian rules footballer, who played 180 games and kicked 838 goals with the Collingwood Football Club between 1965 and 1975, where he spent the majority of his career...
, Peter HudsonPeter HudsonPeter John Hudson AM is a former Australian Rules Football player, considered one of the greatest full-forwards in the game's history....
, Tony "Plugger" LockettTony LockettAnthony Howard "Tony" Lockett is a former Australian rules football player. Lockett is the highest goal scorer in the history of the VFL/AFL with 1,360 goals in a career of 281 games, that commenced in 1983 with the St Kilda Football Club, and finished in 2002 with the Sydney Swans...
and Jason DunstallJason DunstallJason Hadfield Dunstall is a former Australian rules football player for the Hawthorn Football Club of the AFL. He is the third greatest goalkicker in the history of the VFL/AFL. Dunstall is regarded as one of the greatest full-forwards to have ever played, kicking 1254 goals, a feat only...
. - 1998: one of the twelve inaugural inductees into the Australian Football Hall of FameAustralian Football Hall of FameThe Australian Football Hall of Fame was established in 1996, the Centenary year of the Australian Football League, to help recognise the contributions made to the sport of Australian rules football by players, umpires, media personalities, coaches and administrators. It was initially established...
; he was inducted as a "Legend of the Game". - 2002: Recognized as the second greatest player to play for Essendon in the "Champions of Essendon" list, second only to Dick Reynolds.
- 2005: Statue of Coleman erected outside the library in Hastings, VictoriaHastings, VictoriaHastings is a suburb on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia, as a part of the urban enclave on Westernport comprising Hastings, Bittern, Crib Point, Tyabb, and Somerville. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Mornington Peninsula...
, the town where it all began.