Micro Noises 77: Summer secrets
Mining for mini mind-blowers
Micro Noises has lost count of the number of times we've been asked what occupies our time during footy's off season (possibly because we may not have been asked that at all). Well, dear readers, in the case of the 2014-15 summer, it has been our pleasure to trawl through the thousands of profiles written for australianfootball.com, adding extra pieces of information here, correcting a rare error there, and uploading player profile pictures where we can.
And as we continue to trawl, we keep unearthing wonderful tidbits of historical oddities that have been lost in the midst of time. In Micro Noises 77, we'd like to share a few of those with you.
Commentators' calamity
The world of V/AFL football has only witnessed two players named George Chapman ever take the field. As chance would have it, they both graced the suburban grounds of Melbourne in the first half of the 1930s, and they both found themselves at St Kilda in the 1933 season. The first of them, George W. Chapman, played 32 games for the Saints between 1931 and 1935, while the second, George L. Chapman, played 13 games for Fitzroy in 1932 before joining his namesake at the Junction Oval for the 1933 season.
As it turns out, George W turned out eight times for the Saints that season, and George L appeared four times. But it was only in the round six of that year that both George Chapmans took the field together. Had there been radio or television coverage at the time, there would undoubtedly have been confusion for both commentators and audience. But, for Saints followers in particular, that would have been just the beginning of the potential problems.
Not only were there two George Chapmans in red, white and black that day, there were also two Andersons: Jack and Stewart. But there would have been worse news confronting anyone arriving to cover the game in hope of keeping tabs on all the players. As well as two George Chapmans and two Andersons in the St Kilda side that day, there were also three players named Roberts!
The sight of Arthur, Frank and William Roberts, joining the Chapmans and the Andersons might almost have been enough for a commentator to turn around and head home. Fortunately, the Saints' opposition that day, Footscray, had no two players share a surname. Mind you, it wouldn't have been totally smooth sailing calling the Doggies players. The tricolours boasted a Higgins and a Hopkins, a McAlpine, a McIntyre and a McKay, an O'Brien and an O'Leary, and a Ware and a Waye. Still, as long as the commentator covering stayed aware, they surely would have found a way(e) to counter the potential confusion.
Three pairs of two of a kind
Only two players with a surname of Cotton have played V/AFL football. Each of them played for just one season, appearing for their club four times, Ron for South Melbourne in 1963 and Jarrod for Port Adelaide in 1997.
Meanwhile, the League has also boasted one Coutie and one Couttie. The surnames are almost - but not exactly - the same, and the two players also have first names that almost fit that pattern. Vin Coutie played for Melbourne between 1901 and 1911, while Vern Couttie played a single game for St Kilda in 1914.
Four of the V/AFL's 12,315 players have sported a first name of Alwyn, the most recent of which was Davey, who made exactly 100 appearances for Essendon between 2007 and 2013. Nearly a century earlier, another Alwyn with a very similar surname played for St Kilda. Alwyn Davies played two games for the Saints in 1919. The League's other two Alwyns were Johns (80 games for Geelong between 1913 and 1920) and Lindsay (31 games for Geelong between 1945 and 1947).
Cumming and going between clubs
Daryl Cumming is by no means the only V/AFL player to have appeared at four or more clubs but when we noticed he'd played at four clubs in four years, we began to wonder if that was a record of some sort. Cumming made his name at Richmond in the 1970s but after his last season at the Tigers in 1976, he spent a single season at Melbourne (1977), a virtually fruitless year at North Melbourne (1978) and a solitary season at South Melbourne (1979). But he is not the only member of the "four clubs in four years" fraternity. Charlie Anderson played at Carlton in 1924, South Melbourne in 1925, Richmond in 1926 and Footscray in 1927, while Mark Athorn (Footscray 1989, Fitzroy 1990, Sydney 1991, Carlton 1992) also spanned four clubs in four years.
But Richard Chirgwin has them all covered, appearing for four clubs in just three seasons! Chirgwin played with Richmond in 1939, with Footscray and South Melbourne in 1940, and with North Melbourne in 1941.
A name to remember
Our summer audit has uncovered a Saint who may well just be our favourite player of all time. He played only six games, back in 1946 - all losses - and kicked just one goal, but just like another Saint, the one from whom this column derives its name (Enrico Misso), Trojan Darveniza has both a first name and a last name not seen before or since his time at St Kilda. And if he has nothing else, Trojan Darveniza at least has a name that would assure a Scrabble player of a good score.
One of the gr8s
Laurie Richards, who turned 68 earlier this week, (not 88, unfortunately), played eight seasons with West Perth (1966-70 and 1977-79), wore number 8 for Fitzroy, kicked 64 (that's 8 x 8) goals in three seasons at Woodville and has eight letters in his surname. We weren't surprised at all, then, to learn that Richards was the 888th player to appear for Fitzroy when he debuted for the Lions in 1971.
Ridiculous footy anagram of the week
And if you think that information about Laurie Richards and the number eight was all a bit of a surreal, crazy riddle, maybe you were right. You see, FITZROY LEGEND LAURIE RICHARDS is an anagram of SURREAL INFO; CRAZY RIDDLE - EIGHT!
Micro Noises is Andrew Gigacz's regular, quirky look at all things footy. The name Micro Noises is an anagram of Enrico Misso, who played one game for St Kilda in 1985. He remains the only Enrico and the only Misso to have played footy at the highest level.
Comments
Adam Cardosi 20 January 2015
As an aside, Laurie Richards played 8 games against Carlton, Collingwood, Esseendon, and North Melbourne, respectively, and polled 8 Brownlow votes in 1974. His best game for the Roys (32 disposals and 3 goals) was Round 8, 1972. In his last V/AFL game he took 8 marks.
Leo from Freo 18 November 2018
I worked in the bank alongside Laurie in '68. Bank was in a shopping centre, street no. 380, phone number (08) 9426 8886.
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