Jim Main's 100 greatest: Harry 'Soapy' Vallence
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SOAPY VALLENCE is one of the game’s greatest characters, although he is now well into his 70s.¹ He played with Carlton for 13 years, kicking 722 goals for the Blues in his 204 games. He was an evergreen at Carlton and will always be remembered as possibly their greatest forward. Alex Jesaulenko might have been the first, and only, Carlton player to kick a century of goals in a season, but Soapy Vallence was consistent in his goalkicking efforts. He played in an era of great forwards, and was one of the greats himself.
Vallence played his first game for Carlton in 1926 after being recruited from Bacchus Marsh. He was a country kid, big and raw-boned. He was awkward in his first couple of seasons, but could he mark! He could grab a ball with the grip of a vice, and no defender could shake it from his grasp. By 1929 Vallence was Carlton's star. He kicked 64 goals that season to top Carlton’s goalkicking list. He followed up again in 1931, this time with a remarkable 86 goals, to also top the VFL goalkicking list.
Vallence also topped Carlton goals list in 1932 (97),1933 (84), 1935 (66), 1936 (86), 1937 (39) and 1938 (81). This record shows the great forward’s incredible consistency, He could goal from anywhere. His marking might have been the feature of his game, but he was also agile on the ground. And he never stopped trying.
In all, Vallence topped Carlton’s goalkicking list eight times, by far the greatest number of times at the club.² His 722 goals for the club is more than 200 better than Alex Jesaulenko’s next best effort of 447 to the end of the 1977 season.³
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Vallence left Carlton in 1939 to take up an offer to play with VFA club Williamstown. There, he played at centre half forward in front of former Collingwood great Ron Todd. It was one of the greatest forward combinations in the history of the game, let alone the VFA, While Todd was banging them in from the spearhead position, Vallence was kicking them through from further out. They were almost unbeatable in that combination. Todd kicked many great bags of goals, but Vallence also grabbed his share. In fact, he once kicked 20 goals in a match against Sandringham, an effort Todd would have been proud of — and Vallence was 35 years of age then.
Vallence left Williamstown after the war to play in various competitions. However, he retired in the 1950s aged more than 50. He was playing with Federal League club Caulfield at the time, and players around him could still testify to his great marking ability. Vallence was one of the grand old men of football.
Footnotes
1. Vallence died in 1991, aged 86.
2. Vallence's record was eventually broken by Stephen Kernahan, who topped the Blues' goalkicking list 11 times.
3. Jesaulenko's goal total at the end of the 1977 was in fact 416. Hi finished with 424 club goals before moving to St Kilda. As at the end of 2017, Carlton's four leading career goalkickers are Kernahan (738), Vallence (722), Brendan Fevola (575), Jesaulenko (424).
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