Australian Football

Still a few weeks short of his 16th birthday, Mal Pascoe joined Essendon from local team Essendon Bombers in 1949, and spent the next four seasons working his way through the club’s junior ranks. In 1952 he starred in the Dons’ 7.14 (56) to 4.5 (29) seconds Grand Final win over Collingwood. Strong overhead, and a prodigious drop kick, he played a total of 94 VFL games between 1953 and 1958, including the losing Grand Final of 1957 against Melbourne when he shared the ruck-roving duties with Hugh Mitchell.

In 1959, Pascoe accepted the post of captain-coach of TANFL side Hobart, where he enjoyed a dream debut season which saw him represent the state, win the William Leitch Medal for best and fairest in the competition, top the league’s goal kicking list with 75 goals, and steer his side to a 9.14 (68) to 2.9 (27) Grand Final defeat of New Norfolk. Shortly after the Grand Final he steered Hobart to its first and only state championship title courtesy of a 14.11 (95) to 9.14 (68) victory over Burnie.

Pascoe led the Tigers to a second successive TANFL flag in 1960, and also topped the league’s goal kicking list again, this time with 57 majors. A third local premiership followed three years later, and Pascoe stayed at the helm until the end of the 1965 season, making him Hobart’s longest serving senior coach up to that point. He continued as a player under his successor John Watts, and his final tally of 177 TANFL games included a starring role in the Tigers’ heart-stopping 10.14 (74) to 11.7 (73) Grand Final defeat of Glenorchy in 1966.

In 1978, Pascoe returned to Hobart as non-playing coach and was in charge for two seasons. The importance of Mal Pascoe’s contribution to Hobart was later recognised with his inclusion, as first ruckman, in the club’s official ‘Greatest Team 1947 to 2002’.

Author - John Devaney