Almanac Books: ‘It’s in the Genes’ – Machine Team Siblings: Part 2 – The Colliers

 

 

Des Tobin was a guest speaker at the recent Footy Almanac Lunch and presented an indepth and enthralling account of some of the footballing families included in his recently released book. The Collingwood Football Club has had its fair share of  champion families representing their club such as the Murphys, the Colliers, and the Coventrys, and we were extremely fortunate to gain some wonderful insights from Richard Collier, son of Harry Collier and nephew of Albert Collier about these Magpie greats at the lunch. 

 

As a follow up, Des has kindly allowed The Footy Almanac to published an extract from his book – the chapter entitled ‘Machine Team: Siblings’ a look at  three sets of brothers from the 1920/30s. We will publish the extract in three parts over the coming week; Part 1: Frank and Len Murphy, Part 2: Harry and Albert ‘Leeter’ Collier, and Part 3: The Coventry Family.

 

Full details for purchase of Des’ book can be found Here

 

‘MACHINE TEAM’

 

SIBLINGS

 

Part 2

 

Harry and Albert ‘Leeter’ Collier

 

Born on 1 October 1907, Harry Collier was the sixth of 10 children to Albert and Hannah (Binks) Collier. They were Doreen May (b.1899), David W. (b.1901), George F. (b.1903), twins Hubert and Ernest (b.1905), Harry (b.1907), Albert (Junior) (b.1909), Lilian Jean (b.1911), Eva (b.1913) and Mabel J. (b.1915).

 

The Australian federation was still in its infancy and Collingwood was a struggling working-class suburb. In the often grim, uncompromising years of the early 20th century, the CFC, as Hugh Buggy wrote in The Real John Wren (1977) that Harry: ‘had inspired the fierce loyalty of every youth born in the district. Whether he was tough, reckless or genteel he had a consuming ambition to play for the Magpies’.

 

Harry was selected for his first game with Collingwood in 1926 as an 18-year- old. When he was told he would be paid to play, he thought his informant was joking. He’d have played for nothing. That was Harry. He never changed, and his love for his beloved Collingwood never wavered.

 

Albert was born 20 months after Harry on 9 July 1909. His arrival was announced to the older siblings by an Italian neighbour, who said in her thick accent, ‘You have a new leetle brother’. From then on, young Albert became known as ‘Leeter’, which helped to distinguish him from his father. He was to make the nickname very famous – and much feared.2

 

Harry and ‘Leeter’ Collier were fiercely proud of their Collingwood heritage. The family lived within a stab kick or two of the Magpies home ground of Victoria Park, and Victoria Park State School, where the Collier kids received their early education. Harry and Leeter were football mad, highly competitive and the best of mates.

 

Every day after school, they played scratch matches with other kids, using footballs made from rolled up newspapers stuffed into empty cigarette packets.

On Collingwood training nights, they routinely gravitated to Victoria Park as if drawn by some unseen, inaudible Pied Piper. As they dreamt of one day joining the club, the Collier boys watched – and later mimicked – every move of their idols as Jock McHale put the players through their paces. On match days they sold the Football Record outside Victoria Park, earning barely enough to buy themselves a hot meat pie for lunch, before watching the main game and barracking their hearts out for the Magpies.

 

Both boys excelled in a range of sports. Leeter, in particular, was an outstanding cricket all-rounder. He shone with both bat and ball, and kept wickets well enough to be chosen ahead of a future Australian wicketkeeper, Ben Barnett, in a state schoolboy eleven in 1924. And while still 16, he played seven matches with Collingwood in the 1924/25 Victorian Cricket Association (VCA) district cricket season.

 

But football was the game the Colliers hungered to play. In 1921 Harry was selected in the Victorian under-15 schoolboys team that took part in a national carnival in Sydney. Leeter did likewise in 1922 and 1923. Playing local football in 1924, Harry won Ivanhoe’s best and fairest award in its district league, and on one occasion when Ivanhoe were short of players, all six Collier boys – David, George, Herbert (‘Bluey’), Ernest (‘Pinky’), Harry and Albert (‘Leeter’) – took to the field together. Heaven help the opponent who had the temerity to shirtfront a Collier that day!

 

Harry and Leeter’s performances at Ivanhoe came to Collingwood’s notice, and both were invited to train ahead of the 1925 VFL season. In their first practice match, Leeter – then only 15 – kicked 6 goals at full-forward. A 17-year-old Harry snagged 4 goals from a half-forward flank.

 

A knee injury sidelined Harry for most of the 1925 season, while Leeter made his Magpie debut, playing at full-forward in the season opener against Essendon. He was aged 15 years and 297 days. At the time he was the second youngest player (after St Kilda’s 15 years and 209-day-old Claude Clough) to ever play senior VFL football.3

 

In 1925, Leeter and his teammate George Clayden elected to play most of the VFL season with their mates in the ‘seconds’ that operated virtually independently of the senior 18. He kicked 68 goals with the seconds and played only four senior games. Harry returned from injury late in the season, and both Colliers were part of Collingwood’s 1925 second-eighteen premiership team.

 

Harry was selected for his first Collingwood senior game in Round 3 of the 1926 season against Hawthorn. By then Gordon Coventry was ensconced as Collingwood’s full-forward, prompting McHale to move Leeter Collier to centre-half-back. This proved to be a coaching masterstroke, with Leeter immediately becoming a dominant player. He played every game for the season, was selected in a Victorian state side against the Ovens and Murray League, and along with Harry made his first of many grand-final appearances. Physically, the Collier brothers were starkly different. Harry stood at only 5 foot 7 inches (170 cm) and weighed less than 11 stone (70 kg). But his warrior-like heart and total absence of fear more than compensated for his lack of size. Leeter was more imposing at almost 5 foot 11 inches (180 cm) and weighing in at over 13 stone (85 kg). His size and militaristic-like bearing gave him an on-field presence that was backed up by a penchant for rugged exchanges with opponents. He was to become the archetype of the so-called ‘Collingwood six-footer’.

 

Harry and Leeter Collier were highly skilful, ‘natural’ players who always gave of their all. Harry was quick and illusive, with football ‘smarts’ to spare. He used handball constructively, kicked well with either foot and, as his 299 majors attest, he knew where the goals were.

 

Writing for the Melbourne Truth, Jack Dyer was adamant:

‘The greatest Magpie player of them all … It was largely on his back that Collingwood rode to … four successive premierships in the late ’20s … He had a tremendous spring and did everything with grace and ease … He moved about the field bringing Collingwood players into the game … He was the master of handball … The best shoulder and hip man I’ve seen … And he could sweep away opponents almost as though they did not exist.’

 

The umpires obviously agreed. Playing in a team that was undefeated throughout the entire home-and-away season and won its third consecutive premiership, Leeter won the 1929 Brownlow medal with six best-on-ground performances. He was still only 20.

 

Harry (1928 and 1930) and Leeter (1929, 1934 and 1935) were multiple winners of CFC’s best and fairest award the Copeland trophy, named in honour of Ernest ‘Bud’ Copeland the club’s first secretary. In addition, they were imbued with ‘Magpie spirit’. It may be hard to define, but that spirit – like love and electricity – is unmistakable in experience. Just ask any former Magpie player or long-time supporter.

 

The Colliers came to epitomise the Magpie spirit like few others. In Kill for Collingwood, historian Richard Stremski has written:

 

‘The Colliers provided the spirit. They insisted on and valued teamwork … tutored young players, took them under their wing, did not let them drink, made them feel at home in the team … looked after them in their early games … visited them in hospital and instilled in them the finest features of the Collingwood tradition.’

 

In 1930, Collingwood won its fourth consecutive VFL premiership when it defeated Geelong by 30 points before 45,000 spectators at the MCG. Harry collected his second Copeland trophy and, with four votes, tied for the Brownlow medal with Stan Judkins of Richmond and Footscray’s Alan Hopkins. With no formal process in place to deal with Brownlow medal ties, the VFL umpires board (which administered the award) recommended that no medal be awarded for the 1930 season. The VFL board rejected the recommendation and eventually ruled the Brownlow be awarded to Judkins on the basis he had played fewer games during the season than either Hopkins or Collier.

 

Ironically, Harry may well have won the 1930 Brownlow outright had a best-on-ground vote cast by the umpire in one Collingwood game been completed correctly. Both Harry and Albert played in the game in question, but the umpire’s vote simply stated ‘Collier’ as best player. The vote was ruled as invalid – seemingly without clarifying which Collier the vote was intended for. Reportedly, the umpire was later to acknowledge the vote was meant for ‘the smaller one, the rover’.

 

Harry passionately believed that he and Hopkins were as entitled to be recognised as Brownlow medallists as was Judkins. He was convinced they had lost the medal on a hastily conceived VFL rule. Having no other option, both accepted the ruling and got on with their lives and with football. Harry however, would continue to press for recognition for Hopkins and himself as legitimate Brownlow medallists.

 

Collingwood’s on-field success in the mid-to-late 1920s would suggest the club was successful in every aspect, and its players were united, happy and well compensated. That was not entirely the case. By midway into the 1928 season, economic conditions had worsened to the point where the club’s administration – without reference to its players – reduced the players’ weekly match payment of £3 (the equivalent of about $255 today) to £2 10 shillings – a reduction of 17 per cent.

 

Given the economic circumstances of the day, the decision angered many players. Leeter Collier was a players’ representative on the club committee and was always prepared to argue for players’ rights. He was at the forefront of dissent among the players who had resolved to take strike action if their full match payment was not restored.

 

Team captain Syd Coventry could see the situation from both points of view. He identified with and was fully understanding of the players’ stance. He was also aware of the club’s tenuous financial position, and understood the rationale behind its decision to reduce match payments. Most of all, he worried that strike action had the potential to derail Collingwood’s tilt at back-to-back premierships and might seriously damage ‘Machine Team’ cohesion.

 

As captain, Coventry believed it was his duty to try to convince the players to reconsider their decision to strike. He gathered the team and appealed to his players to not risk damaging team camaraderie; to take the pay-cut on the chin, and play on. The captain’s message got through. Strike action was averted, there were no ramifications for the aggrieved players and, despite their disappointment, the Magpies, as Stremski put it, went on to

‘carve out more history and win more flags’.

 

The Great Depression of the 1930s left many VFL footballers without employment. For many, their match payment was their only source of income. While Harry Collier remained employed at the Carlton and United Brewery, Leeter found himself out of work. For a time – along with a number of other unemployed players – he received sustenance payments from the club, but when these were ceased in May 1930, Leeter resolved to see out the football season and then consider his options.

 

Perhaps harbouring some discontent over the 1928 pay-cut issue, Leeter – aged only 21 and without a job – felt he had no choice but to consider other football opportunities. When approached by Tasmanian club Cananore with a playing/coaching offer, the young star was ready to listen.

 

Cananore’s attractive two-year offer was presented by club stalwart and (later) a posthumous Australian Football Hall of Fame inductee, Horrie Gorringe. As playing coach, Leeter would receive £9 a week plus an off-field job worth a further £7. This meant his weekly income would increase from less than £3 to £16 (about $1,350 today). As Leeter took his responsibility to contribute to his family’s support seriously, the Cananore offer was simply too good to refuse.

 

The 1931 Tasmanian Football League (TFL) grand final between the Collier- led Cananore and North Hobart was drawn. Leeter’s troops regrouped, to win a thrilling grand final play-off by three points. Cananore then defeated North Launceston in the state final a week later.

 

Leeter also represented Tasmania in 1931 against a Victorian side and capped off an outstanding season by winning the inaugural William Leitch medal as the TFL’s best and fairest player. As such, he became the first to win a senior league best and fairest award in more than one Australian state.

 

In his prime

 

Albert ‘Leeter’ Collier (aged 21) in Cananore uniform, 1931 Photo: Collier family collection

 

But more was at stake than football. At a time when Tasmania and the nation was in the grip of the crippling Depression of the 1930s, Leeter Collier’s commanding presence and overall impact was to yield record match attendances and gate receipts for the TFL.

 

He coached Cananore to a second consecutive grand final appearance in 1932, but his team failed to repeat the heroics of 1931. Leeter and Cananore had to be content with being runners-up. With his contract fulfilled, he had nothing left to prove or achieve in Tasmania. Other VFL clubs were interested in obtaining his services but for Leeter it was time to return to the Magpie ‘nest’.

 

Leeter was welcomed home to Collingwood warmly and in accord with club policy he received the same match payments as all other senior players. He was helped when Collingwood’s influential businessman benefactor John Wren was able to orchestrate a job for him at the Carlton and United Brewery, as a maintenance painter.6

 

In 1933, Leeter Collier was ready and eager to return to the big time. At 24 he was in his football prime. The same could not be said for the Magpie Machine Team, the make-up of which had changed significantly during his absence in Tasmania. In the years immediately following its extraordinary run of four consecutive flags, the club played finals football but the premiership was not seriously threatened, and in Leeter’s first season back at Victoria Park the Magpies failed to make the finals for the first time in a decade.

 

At the end of the 1934 season, Collingwood’s longest-serving and most successful captain Syd Coventry retired, and the appointment of Harry Collier to replace him as Collingwood captain proved to be enlightened. During Harry’s term as captain, the Magpies won two flags and appeared in five consecutive grand finals. The appointment of Leeter as Harry’s deputy saw the Collier brothers become one of the club’s most successful and formidable leadership combinations of all time.

 

Harry Collier understood the importance of teamwork, club loyalty and commitment, and he modelled those characteristics effectively. While he won a myriad of individual awards, he always regarded his appointment as Collingwood captain in 1935 as the crowning moment of his football career.

 

Leeter had become a master of handball, which at the time was considered by many to be nothing more than a last-resort option. In Immortals: Football People and the Evolution of Australian Rules (2005), Lionel Frost cites Melbourne great Norm Smith’s assessment of Leeter’s use of handball:

‘Collier could do more with a hand pass than most players … he could wreck opponents with uncanny hand passing.’

 

The Skipper and his deputy

 

Harry Collier (captain) and brother ‘Leeter’ (vice-captain) lead the Magpies into battle. – circa 1935
Photos: Collingwood Football Club archives

 

Collingwood Football Club VFL premiers 1935

 

Harry and ‘Leeter’ Collier (2nd row, 4th and 5th left) and flanked by Magpie champions Harold Rumney (to ‘Leeter’s right) and Gordon Coventry (to Harry’s left)

 

Harry and Leeter led the Magpies to a memorable premiership in 1935, with Harry named as Collingwood’s best player in a 20-point win over South Melbourne. The victory provided Harry with one of the proudest, as well as one of the most embarrassing, moments of his life. With post-match celebrations at Victoria Park having gone on deep into the night, it’s possible Harry drove home a little more unsteadily than usual. Along the way, he somehow managed to steer his car into the cast-iron picket fence of the Studley Park Road mansion ‘Raheen’ – which was then the residence of the Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, Daniel Mannix.

 

A red-faced Harry fronted up a few days later to apologise to Mannix and seek his forgiveness, before continuing on to the Kew police station to retrieve his car’s bumper bar, which – unbeknown to Harry on the night (or early morning) in question – had been left wedged in Raheen’s fence. A bemused Mannix, notwithstanding his friendship with John Wren, had little interest in football but graciously gave Harry full ‘absolution’.

 

Collingwood went back-to-back in 1936 when it defeated South Melbourne for the second consecutive year, this time by 11 points.

 

The euphoria of the Magpies premiership triumphs of 1935 and 1936 was to be replaced with the agony of losing consecutive grand finals in 1937 (to Geelong), 1938 (to Carlton) and 1939 (to Melbourne). For Harry, for whom defeat was anathema, the pain was excruciating.

 

Leeter Collier’s combative play and self-styled enforcer role in 1937 frequently drew the ire of opposing clubs’ supporters and often saw him at loggerheads with umpires. He was never popular with supporters of opposing teams and had become a frequent target of abuse when playing at venues other than Victoria Park.

 

He always maintained that North Melbourne supporters were the most abusive and prone towards violence. This was, of course, a purely subjective point of view. In reality, ‘one-eyed’ North Melbourne supporters were probably no better or worse than those of any of the other club – including Collingwood. Nevertheless, an incident during a particularly torrid Magpies versus North Melbourne encounter at Arden Street in May 1937 would have done nothing to alter Leeter’s opinion of North Melbourne fans. As the players left the ground for the half-time interval, a woman attired in North Melbourne’s blue and white colours emerged from near the player’s race screaming abuse and wielding an umbrella as if it were a broad sword. As the woman swung her menacing brolly towards a young Magpie player, Leeter stepped in, knocked it aside and shepherded his teammate from the ground. As he did so, it was alleged he spat in the woman’s face. Collingwood’s diplomatic secretary Frank Wraith quickly assured the lady that, while Leeter Collier was a vigorous footballer, he respected women and would not have spat on her intentionally. An amenable Leeter exited the Collingwood dressing rooms to apologise to the woman, chatting good-naturedly with her for a few minutes. Wraith was confident his intervention had hosed down the situation and that the matter was settled. Not so.

 

North Melbourne lodged a complaint with the VFL, charging Leeter with ‘unseemly conduct’. The matter was dealt with by the VFL’s investigative committee – a separate body to the VFL independent tribunal, which dealt exclusively with umpires’ reports. The case dragged on through several hearings over a number of weeks, during which time Collier was not permitted to play.

 

When Leeter was advised by his senior counsel lawyer that the VFL committee had no authority to hear the case, he informed the committee of his legal advice, and withdrew from the meeting. Apparently affronted by this, the investigative committee disqualified Collier for a further three weeks. That meant he had effectively been disqualified from VFL matches for eight weeks.

 

Frank Wraith was incensed by what he regarded as a denial of natural justice. He urged the club to push for a lifting of Collier’s suspension, and threaten legal action if the VFL refused. But the VFL would not budge. Collier would pay for his insubordination, and the suspension would stand. Unwilling to become involved in an expensive legal battle, Collingwood capitulated and resolved to take no further action – not even on behalf of one of its favourite sons.

 

Disappointed by the lack of support from Collingwood, Leeter was angry and hurt when the club stuck to its policy of denying match payments to disqualified players. He was slightly placated when club benefactor John Wren provided him with £5 a week as ‘holiday’ money during his suspension.

 

Leeter returned from his suspension in time for the 1937 finals. In what is still regarded as one of the greatest VFL grand finals ever played, the gallant Magpies lost to a brilliant and fast-finishing Geelong by 32 points. Both Colliers played their roles and gave all they had. Nonetheless, the loss hurt. Badly.

 

If Harry felt wounded by Geelong’s triumph over his beloved Magpies in 1937, there was more pain to come in 1938. In Round 5 of the regular season, Carlton defeated Collingwood in a hard-fought clash at Victoria Park and, as the players left the ground, Harry became involved in a fiery altercation with Carlton’s Jack Carney. Angry words and blows were exchanged. Carlton later filed an official complaint with the VFL, and Harry was ultimately suspended for the remainder of the 1938 season, including finals. The suspension amounted to more than 14 weeks. Collingwood and its army of supporters were as angry as an erupting volcano. They were powerless to do anything, however, other than abide by the VFL’s decision. But accept it they would not. Ever!

Harry was forced to suffer the agony of watching on as a barely able to walk Leeter, crippled by a severe knee injury, defiantly lead the Magpies into the 1938 grand final against Carlton. Coach Jock McHale had reluctantly broken one of his golden rules of never playing unfit players in finals. He apparently felt that having one Collier on the ground – even one who was injured – would send a ‘symbolic’ message to the opposition. But it was obvious when he lined up opposite Carlton captain/coach Brighton Diggins for the toss that Leeter was struggling, and unlikely to make a significant impact on the game.

 

That proved to be the case, and the ‘Blues’ won the grand final by 14 points. Many wondered if the story might have been different had Harry been available, and Leeter been fit. Such is football!

 

Another flag was lost in 1939 and, according to author Richard Stremski: ‘It was almost a non-event. The Magpies had crashed to Melbourne by 92 points during the regular season and were throttled by 53 points [by Melbourne] in a dull grand final … The team was worn out. Collingwood had been on top for a long time and the end of the 1930s was the end of an era.’

 

On the eve of the 1940 VFL season, Harry and Leeter were advised that their playing services were no longer required and they were both to be retired. It was news that neither had anticipated nor wished to hear.

 

At 32, Harry thought he had at least another year in him. Realistically, however, he knew his best football was behind him. Accordingly, he accepted the decision philosophically and was grateful when the club allowed him to play one game in 1940, enabling him to become a 15-year player. With 253 games, six premierships, two Copeland trophies, a Brownlow medal (albeit unrecognised at that point), multiple state appearances and many other accolades, what was there left to prove?

 

But a defiant Leeter took the news badly. He believed his loyalty to the club deserved better than simply being discarded, as he saw it, like a product that had passed its ‘use-by’ date. In spite of his suspect knee, the 30-year-old Leeter was convinced he still had several years of senior football in him, and he was determined to prove it.

 

Ironically, after playing 13 seasons and 205 games with the Magpies, Leeter Collier finished his illustrious VFL playing career with Collingwood’s bitter rival Fitzroy (the ‘Maroons’). Leeter played 12 games with Fitzroy during 1941 and 1942 and, while not even close to the player he was in his prime, his experience and on-field presence steadied the young Maroons, who went on to win a premiership two years later.

 

Lionel Frost commented: ‘Football’s happiest and most successful club could at times become a place of bitterness and disappointment … the [Collier] brothers were products of the Collingwood area and their loyalty to the club was total.

Toughest of the tough

 

Restricted by an injured knee (and with Harry suspended) Albert ‘Leeter’ Collier valiantly tried to get Collingwood
over the line in the 1938 grand final. Carlton however held the Magpies at bay and won by 14 points.
Photo: Collingwood Football Club archives

 

But both were prepared to stand up to the administration to defend their or other players’ rights … They gave their club magnificent service but as their playing careers neared the end they were treated insensitively by the administration.’

 

And referring to the Colliers’ forced Collingwood retirements, Richard Stremski has written: ‘Although the club pursued its traditional and correct policy of making its champions retire before they were over the hill, the loss of the Colliers tore the heart out of the Collingwood side.’

 

Of some consolation to the Colliers was the payments they would receive from the newly established CFC Provident Fund, which paid retiring players a lump sum based on the number of games played. This was the first such fund established by any VFL club and was ‘kick-started’ by a generous £200 (about $15,000 today) donation from John Wren.

 

After farewelling Collingwood, Harry played with and coached the Essendon reserves to a premiership in 1941, and in 1948 was playing coach of VFA club Camberwell. He enlisted in the Australian Army in July 1942 and served in the 2nd Transport Battalion, Service Corps, until his discharge in August 1943. He later served as a Collingwood committeeman and talent scout.

 

Ron Casey, the host of Channel Seven’s long-running Sunday morning sports program World of Sport recruited Harry as a football panellist in 1959. Harry’s quick wit, astute football brain, fearless opinions and frequent disagreements with other panellists – especially Jack Dyer – made him popular with viewers and did no harm to the show’s ratings.

 

After Leeter left Collingwood, he enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force in January 1942. He trained as an aircraft-hand before being posted to Darwin. On 19 February 1942, Japanese aircraft conducted sustained bombing raids on the city and its harbour. Damage to properties and infrastructure was severe, with the loss of life significant, and Australia was left reeling from the surprise enemy attack. As a result of the bombings, Leeter suffered some inner-ear problems that affected his balance and he was eventually transferred to Wyndham in Western Australia. He was fully discharged from service in October 1945.

 

While posted to Darwin, Leeter played in a number of services matches, and reconnected with a former Magpie teammate Norm Le Brun.7 The indomitable Leeter was not done yet. He played and coached Camberwell in the VFA in 1945 and 1946; Kyneton in the Bendigo league in 1947; and rounded out his playing and coaching career with Sea Lake in the Tyrell league from 1948 to 1951.

 

At 42, he finally hung up his boots. Not including his appearances with Ivanhoe and Collingwood’s reserve team, Albert ‘Leeter’ Collier – multiple premiership player, Brownlow and Leitch medallist, Copeland trophy winner,

 

AFL and Collingwood Hall of Fame member and so much more – had ‘saddled up’ in close to 350 games of senior football.

 

Harry’s World of Sport appearances kept him before the public, but neither Collier brother actively sought publicity in their retirement years. This does not mean that they quietly faded away. Harry’s campaign for recognition of his 1930 Brownlow medal continued until its success in 1989, and articles about Leeter, or opinions he had expressed, appeared in the press from time to time.

 

Living quietly with wife Mavis and sons Michael and Richard at Seaford in 1960, Leeter campaigned against the removal of trees on the Carrum foreshore. He brought the council workers to a halt – and drew attention to the cause – when he lay down in front of the bulldozer that was ripping out the trees. Because of his notoriety his action attracted plenty of media attention … but the trees were still removed!

 

On football matters, Leeter was a vocal critic of the way North Melbourne’s then coach Ron Barassi had trained his players for the 1979 preliminary final, which they lost to Collingwood, and told the Sun: ‘Mr Barassi had made a mistake in his preparation of the team and they had been overtrained.’

 

He also championed the cause for conferring automatic VFL life membership on players who played 200 – rather than 300 – senior games, telling The Age that players who played in the 18-game-per-season era: ‘were discriminated against by the current rule’.

 

The Collier football family extended to Harry and Leeter’s sister Eva marrying Alan ‘Ginger’ Ryan, who played 42 games with Melbourne and Collingwood in the 1930s. But the Collier Senior football tradition has not as yet extended to another generation.

 

Harry and his wife Verna had two daughters, Kay and Judy. Kay married Keith Pemberton and had two children, while Judy’s marriage to Ian Raines has produced three children – Andrew, Vanessa and Simon.

 

Grandson Andrew Raines bears a striking resemblance to Harry and carries with him a reverence for, and shared with me, some of his fondest memories of the man he knew simply as ‘Grandad’: ‘We grew up in Bundoora and were frequent visitors to Grandad and Nanna’s home in West Preston. Grandad just lived for Collingwood. Pure and simple. He worked as a promotions officer for the club and I was absolutely chuffed when he brought some players to my primary school one day and they kicked a footy around the playground with me and some of my schoolmates. I reckon I grew a couple of inches that day. Grandad and Nanna often hosted a ‘Pleasant Sunday Morning’ gathering for players and officials at their home in the early 1970s that we often attended. It was fun to mix with players including Wayne and Max Richardson, Peter Daicos, Des Tuddenham, Len Thompson, Barry Price and Peter McKenna.

 

Grandad would get up and sing at the drop of a hat, with Nan pedalling the rolls on the pianola, and Peter McKenna would try to accompany him on his guitar. I don’t know what the other players thought, but Harry was also Collingwood’s chairman of selectors so maybe they felt they had no option other than to sing along.’

 

Harry provided much football encouragement as Andrew developed into a talented, mobile and goal-savvy rover. Grandad also passed on plenty of advice and playing tips for a rover – ‘know where to run’, ‘skirt the packs’, ‘learn to read the play’ and ‘work hard on your non-dominant side’ – and he often watched Andrew’s games as he progressed through junior ranks.

 

The elder statesman was filled with pride when Andrew progressed to Collingwood’s under-19s team in 1981, and was awarded his official playing guernsey by senior coach Tom Hafey. Andrew played alongside future senior players Jamie Turner, Michael Erwin, Neville Shaw, and Tony and Mark Beers. He did well but wasn’t quite able to proceed to senior ranks and now reflects light-heartedly: ‘Perhaps it may have helped had my name been Collier and not Raines!’

 

Andrew and wife Jacqueline Raines’ son Jack came up through the Essendon District League playing with Pascoe Vale. He was added to Collingwood’s VFL playing list in 2022 and performed well. His 2023 season was disrupted through injury, but it will not surprise anyone if he progresses to senior level in due course. Also an excellent cricketer, Jack has played Victorian premier cricket for Northcote, but has opted to concentrate on his football as he continues to study logistics management at RMIT.

 

Also in the frame is Jack’s twin sister Isabelle, who has played premier cricket with Carlton and has competed in athletics at state level. Isabelle also plays football with Melbourne University in the VAFA. Harry and Verna would be smiling.

 

Recalling his grandfather’s life as a football veteran, Andrew has great memories of Harry as a man with plenty of time for other lovers of the game:

‘Harry was a larger-than-life character who loved people. So many people knew him and he talked to everyone. He always had time to stop and talk to kids at the Preston Market, and if a kid had a football in his hands Harry would move away a few paces ask him to ‘kick it to me’. The kids always responded. I also remember being at West Preston when Carlton legend Serge Silvagni, who ran a nearby bottle shop, would deliver a carton or two of long- neck VBs. They’d sit and talk, sharing footy stories and a few beers while Serge’s son Stephen [the VFL’s full-back of the century and Carlton 300 game player] and I, would kick a footy around the backyard.

 

Andrew loved to observe the interactions between Harry and Leeter: ‘Their affection for each other never faded and they loved to compare Collingwood’s current teams with those of the past. They didn’t ‘approve’ of some of the game plan strategies they use today. Both were of the time and era when you played to position, minded your man and never kicked across goals. But it didn’t matter in the end. Both were Collingwood to their core. Love of the Magpies was bred into them and they never forgot or considered abandoning their roots. And when they sang “Good old Collingwood Forever” – they really meant it!’

 

Fate has a strange way of bringing people together. After grinning, bearing and playing through the pain of his ‘dicky’ right knee for years, Leeter finally decided to undergo surgery his during his playing and coaching stint at Sea Lake in Victoria’s Mallee region in the late 1940s. A young Adelaide-born nurse, Mavis Leibie, cared for him in hospital. Then in his early 40s, the confirmed bachelor was smitten and they were subsequently married in Adelaide in 1952.

 

Leeter and Mavis had two sons, Michael (nicknamed ‘Wally’) who was born in 1954 and Richard in 1959. As an older dad, Leeter may not have been as actively involved with his boys as some fathers, but he engaged with his sons, encouraged them to play all sport and rarely talked about his own sporting achievements.

 

By the time the boys began to play football, Collier was no longer a household name, so the boys were not goaded with or subjected to the ‘you’ll never be as good as yer old man’ taunts that many other sons of champion players have had to endure.

 

Richard Collier talked to me fondly about his dad, and is left with many cherished memories:

‘Dad was a very humble and quiet man. He rarely spoke of his early life in Collingwood or about his football achievements for that matter … He was always extremely close to Harry and one of the Collier twins, Uncle Pink … Dad was in his late 40s when Wally was born, and was 51 when I came along … He was hard-working and was a pretty “tough” father. He didn’t need to raise his voice to get attention. But when he did have something to say we listened. And apart from the odd “bloody” and “bugger”, I never heard him swear’.

 

Richard especially loved the times he and Wally spent with Leeter on the beach at Seaford: ‘Living on Nepean Highway at Seaford, Dad would often take Wally and me over to the beach in the summer and kept an eye on us as he propped himself up on a couple of pillows and read his Westerns. One day when a local kid playing on some inflatable paddle board thing got into difficulties, Dad dropped his book, swam out and brought the frightened kid to shore. The kid’s mum was very grateful and Wally and I thought our dad was a hero.’

 

Richard recalls when he began to understand what good footballers his dad and uncle Harry must have been: ‘As I got older and started to become aware of and play footy, I became conscious of what great players Dad and uncle Harry had been. Dad kept his Brownlow and other medals in the top drawer of the chest of drawers in Mum and Dad’s bedroom. I would sometimes take them out to look at. I once took the Brownlow to ‘show and tell’ at Carrum primary. On another occasion Sir Douglas Nicholls visited our school for some reason or other. He asked to meet me and told me to be sure to pass on his best wishes to ‘my old friend Leeter’. I really felt good about that.’

 

Best of all for the young Collier boys was going to Victoria Park with Leeter to watch the Magpies play:

‘Dad would drive right up to the front entrance where his old teammate Alby Pannam, a Collingwood council parking attendant, was usually on duty. Alby would tip his cap and remove a ‘No Parking’ sign so we could get a park. I knew then that Dad must have been an important Magpie player. The doorman on the Collingwood rooms knew who Dad was and always let us in. We were among the very few kids who ever got to see players like Len Thompson, Terry Waters, Barry Price, the Richardson brothers and the other Magpie boys go through their warm-up routine.’

 

Inside the players’ ‘bubble’, the air pungent with liniment, the wide-eyed boys watched transfixed while coach Bob Rose moved quietly among his players offering advice, encouragement and last-minute instructions. No wonder the boys came to believe in ‘Collingwood forever’!

 

Richard says his dad was never critical of the modern-day players, nor did he compare them with players of his era. He says the last game his father attended was, fittingly, a Collingwood versus Fitzroy clash at Victoria Park around 1985:

‘I still remember Fitzroy’s Bernie Quinlan – who was nearing the end of a great career – break loose from a pack and swing onto his left side about 50 metres from goal. He took two steps and let fly, kicking across his body. The ball split the sticks and sailed through almost post high. Little wonder, I thought, they called him “Superboot”. I looked across at a half- smiling Leeter. His nod of approval perhaps revived past memories.’

 

Richard remembers Leeter, unlike the gregarious Harry, as socially ‘private’:

‘Dad loved a beer and in the summer months in particular he’d have a few drinks with some mates at the Riviera Hotel [in Seaford]. He enjoyed the company, but he never got involved in six-or-seven-man “shouts” and usually confined his drinking to two or three beers at most. And I don’t ever recall seeing him drunk.’

 

Michael and Richard Collier were better than average local footballers. Michael (who died in 2015) played with Carrum in the Mornington Peninsula Football League (MPFL) and had training runs at Collingwood. After he won the under-16 MPFL best and fairest award in 1969, Hawthorn was keen to obtain his signature.

 

Richard played some 80 games with Red Hill in the Nepean Football League (NFL). He was named in Red Hill’s ‘Team of the Century’ and, according to teammates, attacked the ball and tackled opponents with the ferocity of a ‘mad dog’. Both boys, however, preferred to answer the siren-like call of the surf, and neither ever seriously pursued a VFL/AFL career.

 

Leeter’s grandson Nick Collier, Richard and Jacquie (May) Collier’s son, a talented schoolboy footballer at Peninsula Grammar School was selected in the Associated Grammar Schools team in 2021. Like his grandfather and his great-uncle Harry, Nick represented Victoria in state schoolboys’ teams, and has played much of his junior football with Dromana in the junior MPFL.

 

In 2022, Nick performed well with the Dandenong Stingrays in the AFL’s NAB League – the Victorian statewide under-18 competition and the career path to the AFL. His hopes of being drafted to an AFL club, however, have not yet come to fruition. He spent 2023 with Dromana in the Mornington Peninsula/Nepean league and was a member of its premiership-winning team. Nick has a passion for the game, and in 2024 is playing with Dromana and Richmond’s VFL team. At 19 he still has time to achieve his ambition to play at the highest level.

 

A little-known Collier fact concerns their connection to the performing arts. Frederick Redmond Collier, a brother of Harry and Leeter’s father Albert, was born in Collingwood in 1885. Like other family members, he received his primary education at Victoria Park State School. He started singing as a 10-year-old choir boy at St Philip’s Church of England, Collingwood.

 

Clearly gifted, Frederick trained under professional teachers and won awards at the prestigious Ballarat South Street competitions. He went on to have a celebrated operatic career in Australia and abroad, and performed alongside many noted international stars, including the incomparable Dame Nellie Melba.

 

It is not known if either Harry or Albert inherited the fine singing voice of their uncle Fred, but Harry certainly fancied himself as a singer, and as his grandson Andrew Raines has said: ‘Grandad would sing at the drop of a hat.’ We also know that both loved the Collingwood club song ‘Good Old Collingwood Forever’ and they sang it with gusto at every opportunity. And if the players sang the song after each winning game in the 1920s and 1930s as they do today, then it would have been sung often!

 

Leeter’s death at 78 in February 1988, and Harry’s in August 1994 at the age of 86, revived tales of the Magpie glory years of the 1920s and 1930s. The tributes for both were many and heartfelt. And the roles they played at Collingwood were of immeasurable importance.

 

Colliers are known to possess many attributes and strong character traits. Not least of which is their tenacity and willingness to pursue a cause in which they believe.

 

Back in 1931, after Harry had missed out on a Brownlow, the VFL introduced a 3, 2, 1 voting system together with a ‘count back’ process to deal with ties. That system remained in place until 1980 when the rules were amended to allow two or more eligible players polling the equal-highest number of votes to receive a Brownlow medal.

 

Barry Round (South Melbourne) and Bernie Quinlan (Fitzroy) became the first beneficiaries of the new rule when they tied for the Brownlow in 1981, with 22 votes each. Both were awarded medals. That was fine for Round and Quinlan, but what about Harry Collier, Alan Hopkins, Col Austen, Bill Hutchison, Verdun Howell and Noel Teasdale, all of whom had been denied Brownlow medals through earlier count-backs?

 

Colliers, however, are resilient and persistent. After decades of campaigning by Harry, the Collingwood Football Club and others, justice was finally served in 1989, when the league awarded retrospective Brownlow medals to Harry, Hopkins and the other eligible players. The two old combatants – by then octogenarians – proudly accepted their long-overdue recognition and medals.

 

Sadly, Leeter had died a year before and could not share the moment with Harry, as well as the knowledge that they had become the only brothers to win this most coveted award. They remain so to this day.

 

Fittingly, when Harry died in 1994, the Collingwood Magazine commented:

‘Perhaps more than any other person in its history, Harry Collier epitomised the CFC.’

 

Harry and Albert ‘Leeter’ Collier are recognised superstars of Australian football. Many regard them as being worthy of legend status within the Australian Football Hall of Fame. One day perhaps they will be elevated. Whether that happens or not is in some ways immaterial – for it is abundantly clear that both were admired by teammates, respected by opponents and revered by legions of Magpie supporters. Harry and Albert Collier’s lofty place among Collingwood’s – and football’s – most celebrated and decorated sons is indisputable. And secure for all time.

 

Read Part 1 Here

 

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