1925 AND ALL THAT - PART ONE by Whispering Jack

A hundred years ago today, on 2 May 1925, Melbourne kicked off the new season with a 47 point victory over St Kilda to take top place on the VFL ladder after the opening round of the new season. 

Top place was a relatively unknown position for the team then known as the “Fuchsias.” They had finished last in 1923 and rose by only one place in the following year although the final home and away round heralded a promise of things to come when they surprised the eventual premiers Essendon. That victory set the stage for more improvement and it came rapidly.

In this series, I will tell the story of how the 1925 season unfolded for the Melbourne Football Club and how it made the VFL finals for the first time in a decade on the way to the ultimate triumph a year later.

1925

The world was in between its great wars, economies were strengthening globally and extreme political movements both on the right and the left were gaining momentum.

On 1 January 1925, American astronomer Edwin Hubble made a groundbreaking announcement revealing the existence of galaxies outside the Milky Way to fundamentally transform humanity's understanding of the universe. Scott Fitzgerald's seminal novel “The Great Gatsby” was published and went on to become a classic of 20th-century literature. John T. Scopes was formally indicted for teaching Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, setting the stage for the famous Scopes Trial that would challenge legal restrictions on scientific education. “The Jazz Singer” opened on Broadway, featuring George Jessel in the lead role. George Bernard Shaw received the Nobel Prize in Literature.

In Australia, the Prime Minister of the day was Stanley Melbourne Bruce, leader of the Nationalist Party. 1925 was the year of birth of famous Aussies, Chief Justice of the High Court Anthony Mason, Test cricket match umpire Lou Rowan, actor Ruth Cracknell, athlete Shirley Strickland and politicians Don Chipp and Jim Killen. Windbag won the Melbourne Cup, South Sydney went through the NSWRL season undefeated and Geelong won the premiership in the VFL’s expanded twelve team competition, augmented by the introduction of three clubs promoted from the VFA, Footscray, Hawthorn and North Melbourne.

THE CAPTAIN-COACH

Albert Chadwick, a tough centre half back who ran ran hard and straight, played 141 games (45 goals) for Melbourne from 1920 to 1928 after he was recruited from VFA club Prahran.

Chadwick was runner up by a vote to Geelong’s “Carli” Greeves for the first ever Brownlow Medal in 1924.

After the 1928 season he was appointed as captain-coach of Hawthorn where he played a further 17 games (8 goals) but by then he had tasted a premiership in the red and blue. 

Chadwick was appointed captain-coach of the Fuchsias in 1925 and held the position until the end of the 1927 by which time he had coached the team for 42 wins and a draw in 58 games including the 1926 premiership, the club’s second overall and its first since 1900. 

When his playing career ended, he  rose to the position of Chairman of the Gas and Fuel Corporation of Victoria, was, the Melbourne Football Club president from 1950 to 1962 and the Melbourne Cricket Club president from 1965 to 1979. He was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1995.

The highly successful businessperson was appointed a Companion in the Order of St Michael and St George in 1967 and was knighted on 1 January 1974. He passed away in 1983, aged 85, and is remembered as one of the most prominent personalities in the history of the Melbourne Football Club.

THE SEASON OPENER 

Round 1 Melbourne vs St. Kilda
Saturday 2 May 1925
Venue: MCG
Attendance: 15,267

MELBOURNE 2.5.17 5.12.42 7.16.58 9.19.73 

ST. KILDA 0.1.1 0.3.3 1.5.11 3.8.26

Goals: Stan Wittman 4, Harry Davie, Percy Tulloh 2, Derek Mollison 1

Chadwick replaced Gordon Rattray as captain-coach and George Haines was vice-captain. They were joined by star recruit Ivor Warne-Smith who returned to the club for the first time since 1919 when he played eight games after returning from World War One having served at Gallipoli and on the Western Front. He had transferred to Tasmania where he played and coached for five years before coming back to Melbourne. The 27 year old Chadwick was only able to play in the opening round at the last minute when his clearance from Tasmania arrived at 11.50 on the morning of the game against the Saints. As it transpired, he chipped his collarbone in the first 10 minutes but played out the game. 

Three fresh players debuted with Warne-Smith for the Round One match, two of them with league experience, Frank Jorgensen (ex-Geelong) and Bill Tymms while Gerry Donnelly came from senior football in Western Australia. 

The Fuchsias were wasteful in the opening term, kicking only two goals with the aid slight breeze but they managed to restrict the Saints to a single behind. They made up for it with a dominant second quarter when kicking against the wind, keeping an undisciplined St Kilda goalless while adding three goals of their own to lead by 39 points at half time. 

The Saints regained their composure after the break to score their first goal of the day midway through the third term but they still fell further in arrears to trail by 47 points at three quarter time, which was also the final margin as the teams broke even in a hard fought final stanza which saw a visiting player reported for striking Stan Wittman. 

During the last break, spectators were treated to a rare display of fighting spirit from the Saints but it came from their fans when a brawl erupted in the crowd on the railway wing. 

Centreman Dick Taylor was Melbourne’s best player while Wittman, who ended the game with a swollen ankle booted four goals in an impressive display up forward. The defence of Thomas, Chadwick, Corbett, Streeter, Coy were praised as being well-nigh impassable.

Early in the game, the first free kick was paid under the new “out of bounds” rule but from the reaction of the crowd it was clear that many didn't know that the law had been amended. Nothing much has changed in the hundred years since. 

In the seconds, it was a different story as St Kilda 17.25.127 defeated Melbourne 4.7.31.

For the time being, it was the Melbourne Football Club that reigned on top of the Victorian Football League senior ladder for the first time in many a year.

(To be continued)