It's on again: Hat-trick? Fever grips the football capital
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GEELONG is the football capital of Victoria at present. League premiers last year, premiers the year before, they are now clamoring like a pack in lull cry after the hat-trick. With training due to start next week, football fever has gripped the city, and there are very good reasons why the Blue and White men should be confident that this will be the greatest year in their team's history.
Firstly, Geelong hopes to start the season with practically every one of last year's premiership side available. Jack Jennings, Geelong's president, said yesterday, "Prospects are bright. We hope to start training on Tuesday next week, knowing that every one of our grand final players will be with us. Tom Morrow is the only man who is giving us any worry. He has had a lot of trouble from his knee injury. But we still hope lie will be ready to turn out for training.
"Our young players, like Sharp and McMaster. should show great improvement. Last year was McMaster's second, and Sharp's first. Sharp turned 18 just before the grand final. His football future looks very promising."
One of the pointers to a great year is the ticket sales. Last year, 10,000 supporters bought members'' tickets. The club had , the biggest membership in the V.F.L. Members' tickets for 1953 have been on sale for only a fortnight, nut supporters have already bought thousands of them.
Geelong is looking forward to the ceremonial unfurling of the 1952 premiership pennant at Kardinia Park on April 18, day of the first home-and-home match The pennant will be unfurled by the Governor, Sir Dallas Brooks. The only other League club which has been honored by the Governor unfurling a premiership pennant is Essendon.
In all the flurry and excitement of preparing for the opening of the season, the paying patrons are not being forgotten. Big improvements are planned at the ground this year. Patrons in the outer ground will get most of the benefit, but pressmen and officials will gain, too. A new pressbox is high on the priority list. Last year, 50,000 people packed Kardinia Park to see the last of the home-and-home matches. It was a record crowd - the ground's maximum capacity.
This year, improvements and extra facilities will provide room for many more spectators. In a long-range pian, covering about 10 years, the club hopes to get council support for a big improvement scheme. The committee's aim is a ground with stand accommodation equal to any in Victoria - including the M.C.G.
On the administrative side, Geelong's organisation functions unctions perfectly. Ivo Gibson, secretary, is an excellent liaison man. He keeps close touch with Jack Jennings. A few yards away from Jack's Golden Age Hotel is the big woolbroker's where Reg Hickey, the coach, is employed. Fred Flanagan, captain, is employed by another big wool firm only a few minutes away. If an urgent conference is called, the four of them can meet within minutes.
But those four men do not run Geelong Football Club alone. There is Jack Ross, chairman of selectors, and an excellent, enthusiastic committee and a splendid women's auxiliary.
DEMOCRACY RULES, NO DICTATION
One committeeman phrased it: "Our club is a democracy, not a dictatorship. That's why things go so smoothly." Every section of Geelong is interested in the fortunes of the club, and the club is re-presented in nearly every section of municipal life. Norm Drew, vice-president, who has been connected with the club for 30 years, has been a West Geelong councillor for 20 years.
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John Hyde, Jim Norman, Reg Hickey, and Fred Flanagan are in the wool industry. Cyril McMasters is a grazier. Bernie Smith is in the printing industry. Russ. Renfrey is a cartage contractor with his own business. Geoff Williams is a bank officer, Nell Trezlse is proprietor of a West Geelong sports store. Harry Pullen, Geelong V.F.L. delegate, is in business as an estate agent and auctioneer in Collingwood. George Bradley, treasurer, is, appropriately, a jeweller.
For the last word on 1953 prospects, here is what Jack Jennings says, "We'll have a good side - better than last year, I think. We'll be right in there fighting for the 1953 premiership. If we win It, it will be our third in succession - the hat-trick. You can imagine what that would mean to Geelong and to us. But if a better team beats us - well, we're big enough to accept that, too."
Footnotes
Title: IT'S ON AGAIN: HAT-TRICK? Fever grips the football capital
Publisher: Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957)
Date: Monday 2 March 1953, page 23
Web: http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/23230709
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