Lance Mann
Encyclopedia
Lance Mann is a professional footrunner and a former Australian rules football
er in the Victorian Football League
(VFL).
.
He played his first senior match for the Essendon Football Club
against Fitzroy
at the Brunswick Street Oval
on 2 June 1951 (round 6). He played in every match for the rest of the season. He played in Essendon's Grand Final 10.10 (70) loss to Geelong 11.15 (81), and was one of Essendon's best players.
On Monday 28 January 1952, aged 21, he won the Wangaratta Gift, running off 8½ yards in 12.1 seconds. He started the final as 5-to-4-on favourite, having been a 20/1 outsider before the first heat.
On Monday, 15 April 1952, he won the 1952, 130 yards (118.9 m) Stawell Gift
in eleven and fourteen-sixteenths seconds, off a handicap of 7¼ yards (6.63 m).
On Wednesday, 16 April 1952, he also won the Bendigo Gift, running off a handicap of 1 yard in 11.8 seconds.
Mann was the first athlete to win the Wangaratta Gift, the Stawell Gift, and the Bendigo Gift treble in the same year.
On Monday, 10 March 1958, and running off 4½ yards, he ran second in the Bendigo Thousand (130 yds); the feat was all the more remarkable as Mann had broken down during his heat the year before (1957) with a thigh injury so severe that he had to be stretchered from the ground.
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 in the Victorian Football League
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
(VFL).
Footballer
A talented wingman, Mann was recruited from the Albury Football ClubAlbury Football Club
The Albury Football Club are an Australian rules football club which compete in the Ovens & Murray Football League.The club is based in Albury, New South Wales.Two Brownlow Medallists, Haydn Bunton senior and Denis Ryan, both started their career at Albury....
.
He played his first senior match for the Essendon Football Club
Essendon Football Club
The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
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...
at the Brunswick Street Oval
Brunswick Street Oval
The Brunswick Street Oval, currently known as WT Peterson Community Oval, also known as the Fitzroy Cricket Ground is a cricket and Australian rules football ground located in Edinburgh Gardens in Fitzroy North, Victoria...
on 2 June 1951 (round 6). He played in every match for the rest of the season. He played in Essendon's Grand Final 10.10 (70) loss to Geelong 11.15 (81), and was one of Essendon's best players.
Sprinter
His trainer was Pat Kennedy.On Monday 28 January 1952, aged 21, he won the Wangaratta Gift, running off 8½ yards in 12.1 seconds. He started the final as 5-to-4-on favourite, having been a 20/1 outsider before the first heat.
On Monday, 15 April 1952, he won the 1952, 130 yards (118.9 m) Stawell Gift
Stawell Gift
The Stawell Gift is Australia's oldest and richest short distance running race. It is run over every Easter weekend by the Stawell Athletic Club, with the main race finals on the holiday Monday, at Central Park, Stawell in the Grampian Mountains district of western Victoria.The race is run on grass...
in eleven and fourteen-sixteenths seconds, off a handicap of 7¼ yards (6.63 m).
On Wednesday, 16 April 1952, he also won the Bendigo Gift, running off a handicap of 1 yard in 11.8 seconds.
Mann was the first athlete to win the Wangaratta Gift, the Stawell Gift, and the Bendigo Gift treble in the same year.
On Monday, 10 March 1958, and running off 4½ yards, he ran second in the Bendigo Thousand (130 yds); the feat was all the more remarkable as Mann had broken down during his heat the year before (1957) with a thigh injury so severe that he had to be stretchered from the ground.