Australian Football

Much travelled rover Terry Cashion seems destined to remain the only Tasmanian ever to win interstate football's most noteworthy individual prize, the Tassie Medal. After preferring soccer as a youngster, Cashion saw the light as a thirteen year-old when he began playing under age football with Buckingham. After four seasons there he exploded onto the big league scene with New Town in 1939 when he finished runner up in the TANFL's best and fairest award, the George Watt Memorial Medal, a feat he duplicated the following year. 

During the war he spent some time stationed in Victoria with the army, and played 5 VFL games with South Melbourne before being sidelined with a knee injury. Cashion's next major port of call following his discharge from the army and recovery from his injured knee was Clarence, where he played for a couple of seasons, including the 'Roos first ever TANFL season in 1947. That year also saw Cashion donning a Tasmanian jumper for the first time, and his performances during the Hobart carnival were sufficiently meritorious for him to be awarded the Stancombe Trophy as Tasmania's most noteworthy performer of the series.

Three years later at the Brisbane carnival the by this stage seasoned performer, now with Longford, played even better, securing not only a second Stancombe Trophy, but the coveted Tassie Medal itself as well. In a series marred by atrocious weather conditions, the Tasmanians as a whole performed with a considerable amount of credit, comfortably beating the VFA, and giving a respectable account of themselves against all three of the major football states. Much of the credit for this belonged to Cashion, who positively revelled in the conditions, matching or outplaying all of his supposedly more illustrious opponents in every game.

Cashion again represented Tasmania at the Adelaide carnival of 1953 in what proved to be his interstate swansong. Back in the TANFL by this stage, with Sandy Bay, he retired from top level football at season's end with a total of 193 senior games under his belt. An excellent indication of his consistency is his achievement in winning a total of seven club champion awards in only ten full seasons of senior football.

The immensity of Terry Cashion's reputation in Tasmanian football circles was emphasised in June 2004 with his selection as first rover in the state's official 'Team of the Century'. Two years later he was inducted as a legend in the official Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame.

Author - John Devaney