Scotch College

2008: 150 years of Football and a Team of the Century could match it with the best of them

Words: COLIN YOUREN and TIM SHEARER

On August 7th 2008 it will be 150 years precisely since the first recognised game of football was played in the Yarra Park precinct between Scotch College and Melbourne Grammar. Many events are being planned by the two schools to celebrate this magnificent sporting and cultural mile stone. Events will include:

Thursday 7th August:	Grand Dinner at the Crown Palladium where a combined team of champions from both schools will be announced.
Friday 8th August:	Playing of the celebrity APS 1st XVIII Match – MGS Vs SC

Many other exciting events are being planned and a full outline will be included in the next edition of Great Scot. For more information contact Tim Shearer on 9810 4302 or tim.shearer@scotch.vic.edu.au

After an exhaustive three-month selection process, the Scotch Football Team of the Century has been selected.

A selection group of nine Old Scotch football people met seven times over the three-month period. The selectors were Manson Russel, Bill McNaughton, Bob Arnold, Geoff Speed, Ed Allen, Bob Welch, Colin Melville, Colin Youren and Peter Sherwen.

The process involved securing data on every boy who had played in the 1st XVIII at any time between January 1901 and the present. – a total of more than 1,200 boys. The first cut came down to 75 players,

90 per cent of whom had represented a VFL/AFL club at some time in their careers.

There were some additional players, who because of small stature or other factors, did not play in the 1st XVIII at School, but later were outstanding footballers.

Another unavoidable factor was that many brilliant School football players died in World Wars I and II, before their talent was fully exposed.

A further issue was that many good players went on to play amateur football. A handful of exceptional amateur footballers were considered in the selection process – however, the underlying criterion was that VFL/AFL players were in the highest category.

There was bias to Hawthorn Football Club players, simply because a number of School players went on to play with Hawthorn when that club was at his prime, and heading towards the 1961 premiership.

Continuing detailed review of games played and awards won reduced the list to around 40, and it was from this final list that the 22 players were selected. We received a number of letters requesting consideration of individual players, and these letters were included in our review process.

The end result – the Scotch Team of the Century – is a very high class group of players who would clearly match any Melbourne Grammar team selection. (MGS is also selecting its own Team of the Century.)

The final appointment was the coach, and the basis for selection was the coach who won the most football premierships for Scotch in the past 100 years. That is P ‘Noso’ Boyes, with 10 premierships.

Each member of the team has received a letter of commendation and a certificate confirming their selection.

The next step is for a combined Scotch and Melbourne Grammar team to be selected from the two individual teams. This will happen over the next few months, with football commentator Tim Lane acting as convener, and Manson Russel and Peter Sherwen representing Scotch.