Australian Football

Ireland-born centreman and rover Stuart Magee had a chequered senior career which belied not only his considerable skill but also the renowned 'Luck of the Irish'. Two years after representing the VFL at the 1966 Hobart carnival he was unceremoniously dumped by South Melbourne as not being good enough to warrant a place in their perennially underachieving team. Picked up by Footscray he re-built his league career at the Western Oval adding 132 games to the 84 he had amassed at South.

When Ted Whitten retired midway through the 1970 season Magee took over as the Bulldogs' skipper only to be stripped of the role at the end of the season. Undaunted, he continued to provide Footscray with sterling service for another five seasons before moving to Swan Districts as captain-coach in 1976. However, with the Swans failing to impress his coaching contract was not renewed, and he completed his playing career at East Fremantle in 1977, adding 11 WANFL games to the 18 he had accrued at Bassendean.

At his best, Stuart Magee was a player of the highest calibre who perhaps serves to remind us that ability and dedication alone are not always sufficient to ensure success; you also need that indefinable quality of good fortune which no amount of determination can manufacture.

Author - John Devaney