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The ten best footballers at the Stawell Gift

by PAUL DAFFEY

1. JACK GRANT

The question of who is the fastest footballer has always fascinated footy fans. For a brief but glorious period from the late 1970s, we had the grand-final sprint to help us settle the question, with Hawthorn flyer Geoff Ablett becoming footy's undisputed Speedy Gonzales in this era. But before then, the Stawell Gift was considered the best good guide of a footballer's speed. The most decorated player to combine football and professional running was Jack Grant, a half-back in Geelong's 1937 premiership team, who played for Geelong and Fitzroy for more than a decade and also won the 1938 Stawell Gift. After winning the gift, Grant was given a week off by Geelong selectors and invited to make a lap of honour around the Corio Oval before the opening-round match against Melbourne. The next week he returned to football.

2. THE SPARGO FAMILY

Bob Spargo's effort in finishing third in the Stawell Gift twice, in 1936 and 1940, and playing many sizzling games for Footscray, as well as two games for Victoria, is remarkable enough. But Spargo also had two sons, Bob junior and Ricky, who made a good fist of outdoing him. Bob junior played for Footscray in the 1961 grand final and finished fifth in the 1963 Stawell Gift. Ricky hared up and down a wing for Footscray for a handful of seasons and twice made the final of the gift, in 1974 and 1977, finishing fifth on both occasions. Bob junior's son Paul Spargo played several games for North Melbourne and Brisbane, but made no impression at Stawell. Maybe he thought the family had done enough.

3. TREVOR McGREGOR

McGregor was a Fitzroy wingman who won the 1971 gift. His brother, Murray McGregor, added lustre to the family's achievements by finishing third in the famous 1975 gift, which was won in the slush by Ravelo off scratch. Trevor McGregor played six seasons of senior football for Fitzroy. Significantly, after pushing football into the background to concentrate on the gift, it took him until round 10 of the 1971 footy season to break back into the Roys' senior team. McGregor is the most recent league footballer to win the Stawell Gift. In this era of fat contracts and year-round commitment, it's almost certain that he'll be the last league footballer to do so.

4. LANCE MANN

After Essendon had recruited Mann from Albury, he played many fine games for the Bombers on the wing and in the back pocket. In 1952, however, he was almost a disappointment to Bomber fans when he defeated a favourite son to win at Stawell. Mann started off 7.5 yards and became the third Essendon player to win the gift, after George Stuckey in 1897 and Clarrie Hearn in 1929.

5. NORM McDONALD

After winning the backmarkers' sprint at Bendigo in 1952, McDonald was hot favourite for the Stawell Gift a few weeks later. Starting off five yards, however, he was unable to bridge the 2.5-yard gap to Mann and was forced to settle for second. The defeat did nothing to dampen the wonder at McDonald's sporting abilities. He starred at half-back for Essendon in two winning grand final teams, in 1949 and 1950, and was the best player in the 1948 finals series. He achieved his greatness despite a predilection for drinking on the night before games.

6. TONY POLINELLI

While McDonald overcame a fondness for the bottle to become a sporting legend, Polinelli was a brilliant footballer and runner despite a habit of sucking on a pipe. After being recruited by Geelong from Dunolly, in central Victoria, Polinelli dazzled on a wing in winter and scorched up running tracks in summer. In 1966, he won the Bendigo Thousand and failed only narrowly to become the first runner to achieve the Bendigo-Stawell double (a feat still not achieved) when he finished second behind Barry Foley. The next year, Polinelli was among the best in Geelong's grand final team. In 1969, the Cats denied his request to run at Stawell and miss the opening-round match against Melbourne on Easter Monday. Polinelli responded by gaining 35 kicks.

7. BILL TWOMEY

Twomey became known as the father of Collingwood's famous Twomey brothers, Bill junior, Mick and Pat, who in 1953 became the only three brothers to play in a premiership team together. But Bill senior was a renowned sportsman himself, playing for Collingwood for five seasons before winning the 1924 Stawell Gift. His win was especially popular with local fans because, by then, he was also the playing-coach of Stawell in the Wimmera Football League. In 1933, almost a decade after leaving Collingwood, Twomey joined Hawthorn and played another two years of league footy.

8. DAVE STRICKLAND

Strickland was a West Australian who in 1900 had a big year in his adopted state of Victoria. After surviving a protest that was dismissed only after a month's investigation, he was named the winner of the Stawell Gift. Then, during the subsequent football season, he played his only league game for St Kilda. Strickland's performance at Stawell was relived in 2000 when his daughter, former Olympic champion Shirley Strickland, went to Stawell for the centenary of her father's victory.

9. ERIC CUMMING

While most footballer-sprinters have played on the centreline or on the half-back line, Cumming was described as a follower when he told Footscray he was finishing his fledgling league footy career to concentrate on running. Cumming's decision paid dividends. Having finished second in the 1946 Stawell Gift, he fulfilled an ambition held by sprinters around the world when, on New Year's Day, 1952, he became the first overseas runner to win Scotland's feted Powderhall Gift. Cumming's victory in Scotland earned him a civic reception at the Footscray Town Hall, which was more than he could have expected if he'd won at Stawell.

10. ALAN "DIZZY" LYNCH

While the Stawell Gift is a sprint, the Stawell carnival features many distance events that are coveted by Australia's best runners. Alan Lynch, known to everyone as "Dizzy", was one of the few footballers to excel at distance events. Having played reserves at Geelong and senior football at both Footscray and Richmond in the one season, in 1976, he stepped back to VFA level, joining Geelong West, to lend more time for running. Lynch won backmarkers' distance events, over one and two miles, at Stawell in 1980, 1981 and 1982. His light frame was seen bounding around tracks and scouting around packs throughout Victoria for many years.

This article first appeared in The Sunday Age on 27 March 2005.

Editor's note: The grand final sprint re-appeared in 2003. There's no question about it - Fremantle's James Walker is the AFL's fastest player, he won the sprint in 2003 and 2004.

tony polinelli
Tony Polinelli, Stawell Gift runner-up, as he appeared on a Scanlen's footy card in 1966.




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