Australian Football

Alfred 'Topsy' Waldron was born in Mornington, Victoria, in 1857, and moved to Melbourne with his family while still a youngster. While in Melbourne he began to play football with a club called ‘The Montagues’. Looking back on that time almost half a century later, Waldron observed:

At that time football was more like ‘stacks on the mill’. One man would get the ball and the others would try to deprive him of possession. The umpire would be a man chosen from the crowd that had gathered.¹

Waldron began his senior football career with Albert Park, and then played briefly with Carlton, but it was only after joining Norwood that he developed into one of the genuine greats of the 19th century game. He was persuaded to head to Adelaide by a Norwood player, Alf McMichael, who happened to be a good personal friend. Waldron arrived at Norwood in 1879, the club’s second year, joining forces with fellow former Carltonian Billy Dedman, who had topped the SAFA goal kicking list in 1878 and would do so again in 1879.

Norwood was already a force in South Australian football, having won a premiership in its debut season, but Waldron’s arrival made the team even stronger. Waldron was an exceptional footballer, capable of playing in virtually any position on the field, but it was his skill as a leader that truly set him apart from the crowd. He took over as Norwood captain in 1881, and all told enjoyed a club record total of 10 seasons in charge in three separate stints. 

He was widely acknowledged, even in Victoria, as the finest captain of his day, a reputation he consolidated in decisive fashion in 1888 when he led his team to a 3-0 ‘Test’ series drubbing of South Melbourne in a contest to find the champion club in Australia. Waldron himself regarded Norwood’s 1888 combination as the finest he had seen in football, with players like ‘the three Jacks’ - Daly, Watson and Woods - being unmatched either before or since. He was also of the opinion that football in the 1880s was superior to the early 20th-century game because players back then were less inclined to resort to handball, presumably because the ‘little mark’ was still legal and very much in vogue.²

‘Topsy’ Waldron spent a total of 14 seasons with the Redlegs, and was a member of seven premiership teams. He was selected to represent South Australia on six occasions, three of them as captain, during an era when intercolonial matches were only sporadically played. His omission from the AFL’s much vaunted Hall of Fame spectacularly undermines its credibility as a supposedly objective benchmark of excellence in the game.

Author - John Devaney