During the Sixties football in Tasmania reached new heights. Right at the beginning of the decade Tasmania beat a Victorian B side in one of the greatest games the State had ever played in.
SIXTIES FOOTBALL LEGENDS
Some sports lend themselves readily to acts of 'giant killing'. Soccer, where superiority in skill does not translate automatically into superiority on the scoreboard, is perhaps the classic example. In Australian football, however, examples of ostensibly 'inferior' teams triumphing against the odds over significantly stronger opponents are comparatively rare. In part, this is because Australian football, by its very nature, precludes a 'playing for a draw' mentality. Whereas in soccer it is possible to claim even the sport's most illustrious prizes by deliberately setting out merely to contain rather than outscore the opposition, such containment policies would never work in
Aussie Rules where success depends on the effective deployment and expression of skill rather than on its attempted suppression.
Tasmania's renowned 13.13 (91) to 12.12 (84) defeat of a VFL 'second best' selection at York Park, Launceston on 13 June 1960 must therefore be regarded as proving that, on that one occasion at least, the Tasmanian players were better exponents of the skills of Australian football than their much vaunted opponents.
Exhibiting great pace and combining with greater effectiveness than their opponents Tasmania jumped the 'big V' with 4 goals to 1 in the opening term, and thereafter the Vics were always playing 'catch up' football. With former Melbourne rover Stuart Spencer prominent for the apple islanders Tasmania maintained its dominance during the 2nd and 3rd terms, but as the 4th quarter opened there were signs that the Victorians were at last starting to find form. With Essendon's Ken Fraser controlling the pivot, and club mate Hugh Mitchell marking everything which came his way, the Vics hit the front midway through the final term and from that point on might reasonably have been expected to run away with affairs (after all, this
was what almost invariably happened where VFL interstate sides were concerned). However, with more than 15,000 Tasmanians baying for Victorian blood it was the home side which suddenly lifted a notch, and, in a desperation move, the VFL's captain-coach, 'Bugsy' Comben, ordered his players to stack the back lines. This proved to be a costly mistake as Tasmania were able to exploit the spaces created elsewhere on the ground and surge to a 7 point victory. Perhaps the most ironic feature of the match was that arguably the two best players afield were Victorian Stuart Spencer, playing for his adopted state of Tasmania, and the VFL's Taswegian centre half back Verdun Howell.
There were three carnivals which Tasmania participated in. The culmination was the 1966 ANFC Carnival in Hobart. Also Tasmania travelled to Adelaide in 1969 to play in a carnival that did not feature the VFA.
However prior to that Tasmania had played in the 1961 Carnival in Brisbane.
Western Australia's triumph at the Brisbane Carnival of 1961 ought logically to have given Australian football a much needed shot in the arm. Here, at last, was undeniable proof that Victorian footballing pre-eminence was not in the nature of an unchallengeable 'given' (see footnote 1). A year earlier, in Adelaide, South Australia had provided a clear indication that the Victorian empire was far from indefatigable with an historic 69 point triumph. It was not so much the margin of victory which had heralded the decline as the Vics' abject inability to trouble the goal umpires; their total of 3.12 (30) was their lowest in interstate football up to that point.
Carnival football represented another step up in intensity from the ordinary interstate sphere, however, and the approach of VFL representative teams competing in Carnivals was correspondingly intensified. Arguably, only VFL finals football approached the intensity of an interstate Carnival, and for this reason the Big V was significantly better equipped than the other states to succeed. However, in 1961 the Western Australians and, to a lesser extent, both South Australia and Tasmania showed themselves perfectly capable of handling the pressure. Unlike at Melbourne 3 years earlier most matches were hotly contested and at least 3 of them - the games between SA and WA, SA and Tasmania and the decisive encounter between
the VFL and WA - were bona fide classics of the highest order.
Darrel Baldock
and Bob Withers
were selected in the All Australian side and Darrel Baldock came third in the goalkicking with 11.
The 1966 Hobart Carnival was one of the most successful on record with large crowds witnessing some excellent football. With both South Australia and Western Australia having provided a stern challenge to the VFL on numerous occasions since the 1961 Carnival it was widely believed that a Victorian triumph was by no means guaranteed. In the event, the VFL did emerge as carnival champions, but in their game against the sandgropers in particular they did not get everything their own way. Ironically, the Western Australians were captain-coached by one of Victorian football's all time greats in the shape of former Fitzroy champion Kevin Murray, who at the time was on a 2 year
sojourn with East Perth. Murray's performances in the gold and black of his adopted state in 1966 would earn him a 2nd All Australian jumper, while team mate Barry Cable gave notice of what was to develop into a stellar career by securing the Tassie Medal. Arguably the most impressive performances of the Carnival, however, came from a player wearing the rose, primrose and green of the host state. Peter Hudson
's 20 Carnival goals represented a post World War 2 record and went a long way towards securing his big time future with Hawthorn in the VFL.
In addition to the Carnival decider between the VFL and Western Australia, in which the Vics overcame a 16 point half time deficit to win by 15 points, there were a number of outstanding matches. South Australia looked 'home and hosed' against Western Australia before a desperate last quarter rally by the sandgropers secured the points. Tasmania's game with the Western Australians also went right to the wire, with the home state just falling short after leading by 14 points at the long break. Even the VFA, despite its failure to win a match, made a contribution, particularly in the game against their fellow Vics whom they pushed all the way with a resilient and highly tenacious performance.
1966 Hobart Carnival: Match Results
Winner G B Pts Loser G B Pts Margin
Western Australia 26 18 174 VFA 5 11 41 133 pts
VFL 26 24 180 Tasmania 11 13 79 101 pts
Tasmania 19 27 141 VFA 7 11 53 88 pts
VFL 16 23 119 South Australia 7 9 51 68 pts
VFL 14 17 101 VFA 9 7 61 40 pts
Western Australia 13 11 89 South Australia 10 14 74 15 pts
Western Australia 17 13 115 Tasmania 16 10 106 9 pts
South Australia 21 20 146 VFA 9 11 65 81 pts
South Australia 14 7 91 Tasmania 9 13 67 24 pts
VFL 15 10 100 Western Australia 13 7 85 15 pts
1966 Hobart Carnival: Premiership Ladder
Pld Won Lost For Ag % Pts
Victorian Football League 4 4 0 500 276 181.2 16
Western Australia 4 3 1 463 321 144.2 12
South Australia 4 2 2 362 340 106.5 8
Tasmania 4 1 3 393 439 89.5 4
Victorian F/ball Assoc. 4 0 4 220 562 39.1 0
1966 All Australian Team
South Australia Brenton Adcock (Sturt), Robert Day (West Adelaide), Rick Schoff (Sturt)
Tasmania Peter Hudson
(New Norfolk), Graeme Lee
(Launceston)
VFL Darrel Baldock
(St Kilda - captain), Ian Bryant (Footscray), Neville Crowe (Richmond), John Goold (Carlton), Graeme John (South Melbourne), Hassa Mann (Melbourne), Denis Marshall (Geelong), John Nicholls (Carlton), Ian Stewart
(St Kilda), Noel Teasdale (North Melbourne)
Western Australia Barry Cable (Perth), Keith Doncon (East Perth), John McIntosh (Claremont), Kevin Murray (East Perth), Brian Sarre (Subiaco)
1966 Hobart Carnival: Tassie Medal - Leading Votes
Placing Player(s) Votes
1st Barry Cable (Western Australia) 8
2nd John Goold (VFL) 6
3rd Graeme Lee (Tasmania) & John McIntosh (Western Australia) 5
1966 Hobart Carnival: Leading Goalkickers
P.Hudson (Tasmania) 20; R.Johnson (Western Australia) & G.Kingston (South Australia) 13; K.Doncon (Western Australia) 12; B.Cable (Western Australia) & D.Baldock (VFL) 11
1969 Adelaide Carnival
The VFA's 11th hour exclusion from the 1969 Adelaide Carnival and a corresponding reduction in the number of matches involved did not deter near record aggregate numbers of spectators from attending, giving a perhaps spurious impression that interstate football was enjoying a boom period.
The opening day of the Carnival was outstanding, with a Darrel Baldock-inspired Tasmanian side performing creditably against the Big V, and Western Australia and South Australia producing a typically intense, high quality encounter. Thereafter, unfortunately, matters proceeded pretty much according to expectation, and in retrospect it is possible to infer that the barely challenged dominance of the VFL, particularly in the championship's decisive encounter against the host state, constituted something of a 'penultimate nail' in the coffin of the traditional, 7 to 10 day capital city hosted interstate Carnival. (The final nail would come at Perth 3 years hence when the gulf in standard between the VFL and the other states
- almost always significant - would have become unbridgeable, the Vics having by that stage embellished their subservience to 'pressure football' with harmonious team skills of the highest order.)
Peter Hudson and Royce Hart (both playing for the VFL) were each named as part of the 1969 All Australian side.
Peter Hudson once again topped the goalkicking with 17.
Written for publication by John Devaney.
Some of the other significant events in Tasmanian history during
the decade are displayed below;
1960 - Severe floods in Derwent Valley and
Hobart, with business basements under water and houses washed away
1960 - Television stations ABT-2 (ABC) and TVT-6 (now WIN) start programs from
Mt. Wellington transmitters
1960 - New jail opens at Risdon
1960 - Hobart trams cease, succeeded by electric trolley buses
1960 - First meeting of Inland Fisheries Commission
1960 - Opening of new State Library headquarters
1960 - First city parking station opens in Argyle Street
1961 - Construction of Hobart-Sydney ferry terminal begins
1962 - Australian Paper Makers Ltd's Port Huon mill opens
1962 - TEMCO's Bell Bay ferro-manganese plant begins production
1962 - Government subsidises municipal fluoridation schemes
1963 - University of Tasmania completes move to Sandy Bay site; Universities
Commission recommends medical school
1964 - Tasman Bridge opens for traffic, old pontoon bridge towed away
1964 - Hobart's water supply fluoridated
1964 - Glenorchy proclaimed city
1965 - First Tasmanians leave for Vietnam War under national service scheme
1965 - Ferry Empress of Australia makes first Sydney-Hobart voyage
1965 - Official opening of Tasmanian Conservatorium of Music
1965 - Bass Strait oil drilling begins
1966 - Hugh copper reserves found in Mt Lyell area
1966 - Savage River iron ore agreements involving $62 million signed
1967 - February Black Tuesday bushfires claim 62 lives - 53 in Hobart area - and
destroy more than 1300 homes
1967 - Tasmanian joins other states in approving full constitutional rights for
Aborigines
1967 - Hydro-Electric Commission tables plans in State Parliament to dam Lake
Pedder in South-West
1967 - Daylight saving and breathalyser tests introduced
1968 - Full adult franchise introduced for Legislative Council elections
1968 - Hobart trolley buses cease, replaced by diesel vehicles
1968 - State abolishes death penalty
1968 - Savage River iron ore project officially opens
1968 - Batman Bridge across lower Tamar River opens
1969 - Tasmanians vote Labor Party out after 35 years in office, Liberal-Centre
Party forms coalition government
1969 - Worst floods in 40 years hit Launceston
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