Attendees at Saturday's Blue Bloods Supporters Luncheon were treated to a fascinating insight into football at Uni Oval in the early '60s courtesy of an entertaining account from special guest speaker Linton Lethlean.
Club stalwart Bob Girdwood recently had a unique opportunity to learn about the ascent of Uni Blues a decade earlier when he was put in contact with former club captain and Intervarsity skipper Dr Geoff Sinclair.
Bob takes up the story:
"Some weeks back that intrepid reporter Brad Beitzel from the Melbourne Age rang me with a heap of questions about MUFC structure and history,Blues, Blacks, etc. This happens most years so I recommended that Brad read “Black and Blue” and even suggested that I might be prepared to present him with a copy in recognition of his longstanding support for Amateur footy and Uni Blues.
During the conversation, Brad persisted with questions about how Blacks and Blues had evolved over the years and I happened to mention that I'd never actually met Dr Geoff Sinclair. According to “Black and Blue”, Dr Sinclair led the charge in the late 1940's that put Blues on equal footing with Blacks.
Brad rang me again about a week later and told me that he had arranged for Geoff and I to meet for coffee. The result was a fascinating discussion with Geoff about Blues around 1950, at which time Geoff was the captain.
As the son of a GP working in the Fairfeild and Bundoora areas, Geoff was extremely well-connected with the Cordner, Thwaite, Cuthbertson and Beaurepaire families. He left Fairfield State School for Scotch College at age 9.
With the influx of students to University in the post-war period, Geoff completed his first year of medicine at the Mildura campus of MU, playing in the Sunraysia league "without distinction" (in his words). It sounded like country footy was a bit of a shock for a young former Scotch boy. When he passed first year medicine, he transferred back to the Parkville campus of MU in 1948 and was surprised to be appointed Captain of the second University team (Blues) then competing in B Grade of the VAFA.
There were no Reserve teams in the competition at that time, and it was also decreed at the time that you could only play for MUFC while you were a student. Once his VAFA Blues team (that had previously been second tier to Blacks after the war) gained promotion from B Section to A Section as runners up in 1948, you could hardly have two teams in the one grade with one being the “left overs” from the other. So the "coup" that put Blues on equal footing with Blacks was absolutely bloodless.
Allocation of new players between Blacks and Blues in 1949 was based on a pick for pick approach but it was almost only the first pick that mattered - Duncan Anderson was a champion private schoolboy sportsman and the allocation panel comprising 3 Blues, 3 Blacks and the acting club secretary agreed that Blues should have first pick, so Anderson went to Blues. He was a key player in the success that was to follow as a prolific goal kicking full forward.
Blacks won the 1949 A Grade flag and were runners up to Ormond in 1950. Blues finished fourth in 1950, third in 1951 and won their first A Grade flag in 1952 with Geoff still captain. He stopped playing regularly after the premiership to concentrate on the final years of his medical course. Some years later he resumed his football career at Old Scotch.
After his departure, Blues were runners up in 1953 and 1954, fourth in 1955 and runners up again in 1957. In 1960, Blues won their second flag. Blacks were B section runners up in 1958.
Geoff had some fantastic framed photos of the 1950 and 1952 Blues teams and another of the champion Intervasity team of 1951. He captained Intervarsity two years in a row, and had hoped to make it an unprecedented 3 in a row, but an influx of Blacks players thwarted that and might have contributed to his decision to stop playing during the final years of his course.
Geoff was a great leader for Blues during a most important period in the club’s history and many generations of University Blues footballers ought be very grateful for the role he played in establishing our club on an equal footing with Blacks and quickly building a tradition of success at the highest level of amateur football.
Blues are very grateful for Brad Beitzel for setting up this encounter and providing the photograSphs.”
All Blues supporters are reminded that they can puchase a copy of “Black and Blue” for $50 by contacting the club administration.
