38 Years Unbeaten

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 205, 30 August 1941, Page 5 (Supplement)

38 Years Unbeaten

AMAZING FOOTBALL RECORD

An Average Winning Margin Of Twenty Goals

yHE Ballarat St. Patrick's Col- | lege footballers have been doing it again. A fortnight ago they finished the season with their usual tight grip on the local Public Schools Association premiership. They ve handed out the same thing to the opposition there for 38 consecutive years without so much as a solitary game lost in all that time. That must be an Australian and world's record. i

Panned out, those games gave an average winning margin of 20 goals each. One year, 1918, the Pats were too busy themselves scoring to spare any time to the other fellows, and their average of 30 goals or so a match was the only scoring done that 3ear. All that, too, in the days when scores, generally, were onlv half of present-day tallies.

In 190S St. Patrick's gave the now defunct Grenville College a severe drubbing when they broke the Australian record with a score of 45 goals 44 behinds to nil. Pretty swift action that, even for the 100 minutes' League route, but phenomenal going for the SO minutes' space allotted to these games.

Prime Minister Menzies was not the head man in that show, though as a player of the losing side he took a hand in keeping the goal score below the half-century mark. Being one of the victims in that debacle does not prove the P.M. a dud footballer. Press reports of the day made no mention of him—nor of any other Grenville lad—among the best plavers in that match certainly; but of the four mentioned in a write-up of a subsequent contest that year against Ballarat College Menzies gets pride of place. He was among the losers again, but he was the head man there.

In the tall-scoring side Tom Seward was captain and Stan Coats vice-cap-tain. They are now well-known professional men in Melbourne. The principal goal-getters were the late Bob Thompson (17) and Leo Little (10). Both later played League football with University and Carlton respectively.

Other St. Patrick's Collegians to become prominent footballers were the late Leo Seward (University), Charlie Baker (St. Kilda), Jack and the late Chris Fogarty (University), Phil McCumisky (Carlton), Basil Nehill (St. Kilda), Joe Shortill (Carlton), Harry Neate (Essendon). Maurice Connell (Carlton). Bert Gregory (Melbourne). Morry Sheahan (Richmond), Bill Walsh (Essendon), Jim Keogh (Brunswick), Bob Johnson (Melbourne), Joe Nunan (Footscray). Svd Dockendorf (Assoc.). Dick Hingston (Melbourne) and Jim Whitehead (Prahran).

The St. Pat's team were coached by Jack Morrissey for the first 20 years of their successful exploits. He spared one year (190i> away froir. Ballarat, and showed that W.A. goldfields youngsters could also be taught the winning way.