History (Fossilized)
Melbourne Carnival Part 2
They pulled out all the stops for the 1958 Carnival. Every state and
territory was represented plus the Victorian Football Association and an
amateur team. I was virtually living at the MCG with my winter pyjamas under
my street clothes in a vain attempt to keep warm. Only a few isolated memories
remain. I saw Lindsay Head from South Australia pushed after he had crossed the
boudary line; he suffered a severe laceration when his hand went through the fence
and onto a broken bottle.
In an early, sparcely attended game, I saw Allen Aylett, about 10 paces away,
take the best shirtfront imaginable. Aylett dragged himself slowly to his feet
as the play went downfield. Although his assailant was well out of earshot
Aylett proceeded to call him every naughty word in the Footballer's Lexicon.
I had to laugh when a couple of women feigned shock at his outburst for that was
the times. I thought the poor bloke was perfectly entitled to let fly.
Aylett went on to win the Tassie Medal for the best player in the Carnival.
Allen Aylett - Tassie Medallist 1958.
The final came down to Victoria and Western Australia and the game remains a
highlight in my life. It was close, all game, but Victoria finished stronger and,
eventually, won by three goals. Ray Sorrell, WA's brilliant left-footed centreman,
was starring with his raking drop-kicks (don't laugh) to Bob Johnson, his East Fremantle
teammate, at full-forward. He eclipsed Peter Box (Brownlow Medallist) and then
Jack Clarke and it was time for Victoria to act. A trainer ran half onto the field
and signalled, with his arms across his chest, to Ted Whitten at centre-half-forward.
(There were no runners in those days) The spectators roared their approval.
Whitten swapped pozzies with Clarke.
Sorrell grabbed the ball, for the umpteenth time, and was spinning out of the muddy,
cricket pitch, in the centre when Whitten flung himself in a tackle from almost side-on.
Sorrell clutched the ball under his right arm and reached back with his left hand to
ward off the tackle. Unfortunately, for Whitten, the hand landed on the top of his head and
pushed his face into the mud. Oh joy, oh rapture!
Interstate games were hard fought affairs. Although Victoria won most of
their games they should have won them all given that their population (then) was five times
that of South Australia and Western Australia. When present day Victorians lament
the passing of Fitzroy and the relocation of South Melbourne while defending the
existance of poorly performing Melbourne teams they should spare a thought for the
wonderful state competitions that produced such illustrious teams which succeeded against
overwhelming odds. Those competitions, in Adelaide and Perth, are now a mere shadow
of what they were.
