Frank Huggard - the untamed Tiger
Frank was recruited to Richmond in 1919 at the age of 25 whilst playing for Tatura in the country. He was one of the best players for Richmond in their preliminary and grand final teams that year, and went on to play 33 games for Richmond over six years. He also played in a number of country grand finals for Tatura and Shepparton, winning a premiership with Shepparton in 1925 and playing in a losing grand final side for Shepparton as captain-coach in 1927.
One of the tragedies of Frank Huggard's career was that he was suspended for such a long period of time, which meant that he missed out on the opportunity of playing in two VFL Premierships. Frank did receive a VFL premiership medal for his six games for the Tigers in 1920 (medals were awarded by the club and given to all of the Richmond Football Club squad) but he was suspended for the whole of the 1920 finals series. Richmond also went on to win the premiership the following year in 1921, but Frank was suspended for the whole of that season (more on this later).
Frank Huggard was part of a very solid half-back line which included himself, Max Hislop and another country player in George Parkinson who were instrumental in getting Richmond into the finals in 1919 and 1920. He played in the ruck for Richmond in later years and earned the nickname ‘The Untamed Tiger’¹ for his rugged and physical game.
In the 1920s there was a short period when the VFL allowed players to play for both country and city leagues until the Permit and Umpire Committee of the VFL decided that players could not play for both leagues at the same time. One of the unfortunate victims of this change of policy was Angus MacIsaac. MacIsaac was a ruckman who played 59 games for the Richmond Football Club between 1922 and 1927. However, he was banned from playing football for the whole of the 1925 and half of the 1926 seasons for transfer irregularities due to having played for Mooroopna in the 1924 Grand Final without a permit (after his season with Richmond had finished).²
Frank was recruited from Tatura in the Goulburn Valley Football League (GVFL), which at that time was a fertile recruiting ground for the Tigers and the VFL competition in general. Frank had a highly successful year in 1919 with Tatura, winning their best and fairest award. This was noticed early on in 1919 with a number of clubs chasing him, but he was recruited to Richmond by Jack Archer who was then treasurer of the Richmond Football Club. His talent was recognised with an appearance in the Tigers’ first ever genuine finals match (Frank’s third match for Richmond) and all of their finals appearances that year, including the 1919 grand final.
Due to Frank being a farmer, he remained in the country at the end of the 1919 season and at the start of the 1920 season it was uncertain whether he would be able to continue to play for the Tigers. He had only just married, his wife was expecting their first child and life on the farm was proving rather tough (so much so that the family walked off the land in 1922). The Football Record³ reported: “What about this for club interest? One of the Richmond committee went to Tatura in the week before the season started to interview Huggard. It was doubtful whether he was coming to play for Richmond, and they wanted him badly. The committeeman found that he was farming in Toolamba, about twelve miles from Tatura. There are no trains or trams, cable or electric, nor are there cabs plying for hire between Tatura and Toolamba. Incidentally the committeeman is not a horseman. So there was nothing left for him but to pad the hoof. He looked and says the he felt like an actor stranded in a country town as he tramped along the railway track. Anyhow he arrived at the old homestead tired but game. Huggard was surprised and admired the gift of the visitor. “Well” he said. “I did not mean to go to Melbourne just yet, but as you have walked 12 miles to ask me I’m blowed if I don’t go with you now.” Nobody has yet used the aeroplane to fetch a player to a metropolitan club, so old Blossom was hitched to the jinker, and Huggard drove in to the train and came down on Thursday before the Fitzroy match. Of course the committeeman was in the jinker – a return walk of 12 miles would have felt like a world’s walking tour.”
Like many footballers recruited from the country, Frank came from a large family of nine brothers and two sisters. One of his younger brothers, Jack, was also a talented footballer who was recruited to Richmond in 1925 and played 28 games for Richmond between 1925-1927. A number of the brothers played football for various teams in the GVFL during the 1920s, including Rushworth, Murchison, Tatura, Shepparton, Rochester and Kyabram. It was quite common for many footballers from the same family to play for their local clubs, and in 1922, five of the brothers, namely Frank, Jack, Bill, Keith and Dick played for the same GVFL team, the Rushworth Tigers, with Frank Huggard as coach. Whilst many of the Huggard family were good footballers, it didn’t seem to help Rushworth who only won three matches for the season and finished on the bottom of the GVFL ladder in 1922.
A typical trait of the Huggard family, which no doubt contributed to their success in the rigours of playing football, was their stubborn and forthright behaviour. In round 3 of 1922, Rushworth played Murchison at home. Apparently, during the third quarter when some fights broke out and interrupted the game, the Murchison team decided to leave the ground in protest. After a hearing the following week, it was decided that Murchison would be awarded the match points, due to the use of such unfair tactics by the Rushworth team.⁴ Similarly, the previous year, Bill and Jack Huggard had shown their stubbornness by refusing to play for Tatura in the final match of the season. For some unknown reason, they decided not to play at the last minute and therefore the Tatura club was upset and laid charges against the two brothers. In the hearing, which was held at the start of the 1922 season, they were found guilty of “unbecoming conduct” and were suspended for half of the 1922 season (the first seven weeks).⁵
Whilst Frank’s height and physical ability were his strengths, his rugged play often got him into hot water and, as mentioned earlier, may have cost him a place in the Tigers’ first two premierships in 1920 and 1921. Frank at that time played matches for Tatura in the GVFL competition on Wednesday afternoons, and then caught the train down to Melbourne to play for Richmond on Saturdays (a common occurrence for players who did not wish to move to Melbourne, such as Hugh James, Angus MacIsaac, George Parkinson, Bob McCaskill and Bill James). However, this enthusiasm for football may also have been his undoing. After playing in a spiteful match in September 1920 for Tatura against Shepparton (on a Wednesday), Frank was suspended for the rest of the 1920 season and the whole of the 1921 season (a period of 15 weeks). What this meant as well, was that he was ineligible to play for Richmond for two years. Whilst this may seem an unusually harsh penalty, it wasn’t unusual for country leagues to suspend players for a long period of time.
In fact, for years it has been speculated as to whether betting and corruption was causing a blight on football in the 1920s. There had been a scandal in 1910 in which two Carlton players were suspended for five years over allegations of bribery, and there were many cases of umpires being jostled by rowdy crowds and also receiving death threats in the 1920s over decisions made during football matches. The suspension of Frank for two seasons was certainly harsh when it was noted that his opponent (who was also reported for striking) received no penalty and went on to captain/coach Shepparton to the 1920 premiership a few weeks later. The build-up to Tatura’s match against Shepparton (their second-last match of the season) was very intense because Tatura had to win the match to remain in the top four and be eligible for the finals. There was a lot of speculation during the week about how Frank Huggard, Tatura’s best player, could be curbed during the match. Whilst the previous match between the clubs had been played with a lot of mutual respect and fairness, there was a fierce rivalry between the two clubs, with the last match in 1919 between the clubs being a very rough affair. There were also rumours about players being bribed and receiving threats. This was not new. Two weeks before the finals in 1919, Tatura beat Kyabram by three points in a very exciting match. After this game, it was revealed that the umpire, Nugent, had been offered a bribe (to allow Tatura to win) by a couple of men in Tatura, whilst passing through there on the way to Kyabram.⁶ Nothing resulted from the incident, but it did outline the fact that bribery was a problem due to illegal betting on matches in the GVFL.
Earlier in the year, Shepparton had defeated Tatura quite easily, but Tatura were an improving side, and now were in good form leading up to the finals. Frank was best on ground or equal best in his previous three matches for Tatura. During the match against Shepparton, Frank’s opponent in the ruck was Arthur Drinkwater, who was also a VFL footballer who played with Essendon. An incident occurred during the second quarter in which a free kick was awarded against Drinkwater who threw the football away from Huggard in disgust. This caused Huggard to verbally abuse Drinkwater who then struck Huggard in the face. After this a melee ensued and play was held up whilst the umpire sorted things out.
After half-time, it is alleged that Frank was constantly fighting with Drinkwater. The result was that Tatura played badly and lost the match by 28 points. Both Drinkwater and Frank Huggard were reported for striking each other. However, at the committee hearing on the incident, Drinkwater received no penalty, despite pleading guilty to striking, whilst Frank received the 12 months suspension. The hearing of the charges were not in front of an independent tribunal, and the issue of penalties were decided by representatives of each GVFL club who met to adjudicate on such matters. A final vote on the suspension was split and the chair of the hearing, the President of the GVFL, gave his casting vote to suspend Frank for 12 months and to dismiss any charges against Arthur Drinkwater.⁷
The rumours at the time said that the delegates of the GVFL were bribed to get rid of Frank Huggard. Whilst this is a very extreme viewpoint, it is certain that Frank was the victim of a rather amateurish and not impartial hearing procedure where even members of the general public were called forward to give evidence.⁸ This tragically ended any chances of him playing in Richmond’s first two premierships, but he was rewarded, with a premiership medallion for playing during the 1920 premiership year, and joined the Richmond team on their end of year trip to Tasmania.
Frank’s problems with suspension also followed him into his VFL career. In 1923, Richmond had a very poor year, only winning four matches and narrowly avoiding the wooden spoon by one game. In the second-last round, the Tigers were playing South Melbourne and Frank was involved in some very tight tussles in the ruck against South’s star Roy Cazaly. After warning Cazaly not to continue with the rough tactics, Frank decided he’d had enough and struck Cazaly which knocked him to the ground and, according to Frank, caused Cazaly to be taken out of the ruck and propped up against one of the goal posts in a bit of a dazed state, from where he kicked two of his five goals for the match. Frank was suspended for six weeks for striking and Cazaly was found not guilty after being reported for retaliating. This injury to Cazaly forced him to have to cover one of his eyes with a patch during a crucial match the following week which South had to win to make it into the finals. It has often been reported that Cazaly played brilliantly, despite not being able to see properly and led the ‘Bloods’ into the finals, where they finished third.⁹
Frank’s exploits also extended to other fields. He was a member of the famous Light Horse regiments which fought in Egypt and also fought in Europe on the Western Front in 1918, where he won the Military Medal. Frank's military career was cut short due to being injured by mustard gas. This gassing episode may have saved his life though, as less than four weeks after being repatriated to hospital, in August 1918, almost 25% of the his battalion (103 men) were killed in one night during fighting on the front line. The injury to his lungs caused him problems for the rest of his life, despite playing football, working as a farmer, road contractor and tramways labourer.
Footnotes
- The Shepparton Advertiser, 10 May 1946.
- David MacIsaac. Angus MacIsaac: a country and city player : Mooroopna Football Cub, Richmond Football Club. David MacIsaac, 2008.
- The Football Record 8 May 1920.
- The Echuca-Riverine Herald, 25 May 1922.
- The Echuca-Riverine Herald, 17 May 1922.
- The Kyabram Free Press, 29 August 1919.
- The Tatura Guardian Press, 17 September 1920.
- The Age, 14 September 1923.
- Hutchinson, G. The Great Australian book of football stories. Currey O'Neil, 1983.
Comments
Andrew Gigacz 11 February 2013
Great stuff, Simon. Presumably you are one of Frank's descendants?
Cheers. Gigs
Simon Huggard 12 February 2013
G'day Gigs. Yes I should have declared up front that he was my grandfather. Never knew him though as he died when I was one year old. Spurned my family's support of the VFL/AFL Tigers ever since though.
Simon Huggard 16 February 2013
Oops, spawned, not spurned!
Jennifer Egrie 15 June 2015
Glad you fixed up that typo, Simon. I am a proofreader, so I picked that up before you corrected it. I am Jenny, related to Frank also, though as step relative. Hi there!!! Ken Huggard was my step-grandfather.
Simon Huggard 7 November 2016
Hi Jenny. I remember you well. If we can catch up some time that would be great. You can find me on LinkedIn (email me from there please).
Login to leave a comment.