Hall of Fame Thread. Fighting for Collingwood recognition

[Presti35]

Billy Picken still waiting.

Another Magpie who we'll never see accept this honour. He should have gone in years ago.

Ten years of inductions for zero Collingwood inductions. Unless you count Greg Phillips, Michael Taylor or Brad Hardie. Ron Todd (2017) is the exception, but he played 76 games for Collingwood, compared to 141 for Williamstown.

[Presti35]

Ok, bit early, but Lardie Tulloch is another Collingwood identity that is not in the Hall.

Tulloch is the only person in VFL/AFL history to have captained a premiership team and umpired a Grand Final. He was even assaulted after a couple of matches which he umpired in 1908.
Tulloch was a member of the Collingwood side which played in the inaugural VFL season, in 1897. He was named captain in 1902 and led Collingwood to the clubs first 2 VFL premierships in 1902 & 1903.
He played 129 games, which was plenty at the time. An important person in the history of the club. Why does he not qualify for the Hall of Fame?

[Presti35]

^to be fair, there's alot of stars and premiership captains from the early days from all clubs that are not thought about when the inductions occur.

[David]

Yeah, and sadly there's unlikely to ever be a concerted campaign for them because their careers are really only of interest to club/AFL historians and a minority of fans interested in the early years of the competition.

Having said that, I would like to see the league to take more initiative in that area. But for me, a somewhat bigger priority is recognising those who are still alive and able to accept the honour. For me, that makes someone like Thorold Merrett an urgent case for addition. The question is, is he even front of mind for the people in charge of this? How can we lobby them to at least consider him?

[RudeBoy]

I would think such lobbying should be a responsibility of our President.

[David]

Good point. I guess the question is, who will lobby the lobbyists?

[Presti35]

I have spoken to board members about this topic. And to those who were going for a seat but didn't get in. I have emailed the club many times in the last 10 or so years.
Yes, there are other people from other clubs that are also missing, but we've has not one candidate go in, in ten years.

It's time to look at all the deserving people that are over the age of 80 and are still with us. Get them in.

[Presti35]

I made another attempt to contact the Collingwood Board about this and I got a response this time.
In short, they are aware of lack of recognition. I really hope they push for the guys mentioned in this thread (and the other ones over the years).
Hearing back from the club and knowing that the board is aware of this has given me hope that we'll see something happen here.

[Jezza]

^ Nice. Have to admire your persistence on this issue.
At least the board acknowledge the issue and hopefully will push harder for some famous Collingwood names to be given well earned recognition.

[Presti35]

Thank you Jezza.
It'll be a great day when we see our deserving candidates go in. Hoping that 2023 will be the year for some.

[Presti35]

Thanks to LaurieHolden for posting this in the other forum.

Good read. I'm still smarting from our snub ftom the Team of the Century.

Induction into the Australian Football Hall of Fame is a great honour, but as Adam Cardosi argues, the heroes of the first sixty years of the game have been virtually ignored.

https://australianfootball.com/articles ... 2Bfame/802

[LaurieHolden]

Discussion with Pipes on SEN re each Clubs AFL Hall of Famers and if they played each other over a season, which team comes out on top?
Now we know which Club would come out on top, but the mind wanders at the prospect of these sides facing off but alas we'll never get to witness this.
Nicks BB's very own Hiss is the only supporter known to have witnessed all of our Hall of Famers play.

https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/li ... ?view=list

13 Magpies were inducted into the inaugural HoF inductees in 1996. 2 have since been elevated to Legend Status.
Gordon Coventry
Jock McHale

Surely another of these players is due to be elevated to Legend Status ~
Albert Collier
Harry Collier
Syd Coventry
Len Fitzgerald
Phonse Kyne
Dick Lee
Dan Minogue
Charlie Pannam
Jack Regan
Bob Rose

If I had to pick only one, from the archived press articles to books like Kill for Collingwood, Albert Collier would be my choice to be elevated, his Bio as a player is without peer.
https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/pl ... t-collier/

And echoing the good Presti35, induct Thorold Merrett, (the man that sold me my first football) into the AFL HoF in 2024 while he is still alive.
https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/pl ... d-merrett/

[Presti35]

13 Magpies were inducted into the inaugural HoF inductees in 1996. 2 have since been elevated to Legend Status.
Gordon Coventry
Jock McHale

Both should have been inaugural legends.

Surely another of these players is due to be elevated to Legend Status ~
Albert Collier
Harry Collier
Syd Coventry
Len Fitzgerald
Phonse Kyne
Dick Lee
Dan Minogue
Charlie Pannam
Jack Regan
Bob Rose

Dick Lee for me! But they'll probably go for Richo and Luke Hodge first.

And echoing the good Presti35, induct Thorold Merrett, (the man that sold me my first football) into the AFL HoF in 2024 while he is still alive.
https://forever.collingwoodfc.com.au/pl ... d-merrett/

Yes!! Please let it be this year. He should have been inducted 20 years ago!! Not saying others are undeserving, but we really need to be inducting the games worthy players that are 80+ and not guys who have just turned 40.

I've lost count of how many years its been since we had a sole Collingwood inductee, while other teams are getting 2 on the same night (Black-Brown, Enright-Bartel...). Is it 12 years now? For zero Collingwood inductions? Greg Phillips, Michael Taylor and Brad Hardie all played for Collingwood but are more recognised for other clubs.. Ron Todd (2017) is somewhat of the exception, but he played 76 games for Collingwood, compared to 141 for Williamstown. And even Mark Williams who captained Collingwood is more recognised as a Port Adelaide person.

Dick Condon (died in 1946).
Marcus Whelan (died in 1973).
Harold Rumney (died in 1987).
Darren Millane (died in 1991).
Ray Gabelich (died in 2000).
All forgotten by the selectors.

And poor old Billy Picken (died 2022). Should have been inducted a long time ago. Now he is gone and will never be able to accept this honour.

They really need to look at anyone that is 80+ years in age and get them in now. Then they need to look at worthy players that have passed. Then they need to look at worthy players that have been retired before the turn of the millennium. Unless they are a walk up star like Judd, guys like Enright should be waiting a little bit longer, and theres nothing wrong with that.

Everyone, email the club.

Thanks Laurie for bumping the thread. Got excited to see it near the top.

[Harrysz]

The team of the century? Gordon Coventry and Jack Regan should have been locks.

I suppose in the case of Gordon Coventry, John Coleman was pretty strong opposition But in the case of Jack Regan, Stephen Silvagni was named fullback of the century. That was a crazy impossible-to-justify decision. Silvagni wasn't even Carlton's best fullback. Geoff Southby was a better player. David Dench was better than both of them. My guess is that the selectors wanted to include a present player in the team. It was a disgraceful decision and Regan the prince of fullbacks in an era of champion fullforwards should have been included.

Thorald Merrett, yes definitely.

[Presti35]

They have announced this years legend early.
Jason Dunstall.

The other Hall of Fame inductees will be announced on June 18. Surely this is the year we get a Collingwood identity in. Namely, Thorold Merrett.