Almanac Local History – Pine Ridge Cemetery Coburg: James Francis ‘Jock’ McHale (1882-1953)

 

 

Allan Barden recently published a detailed piece on the Pine Ridge Cemetery at Coburg. We have picked out some of the characters about whom he wrote.

 

Today we focus on Collingwood legend Jock McHale.

 

 

‘Jock’ McHale – Collingwood footballer and it’s greatest coach
Image : Wikimedia Commons

 

Notes researched and written by Kelly Morgan

 

James Francis ‘Jock’ McHale was born in Sydney in 1882 to Irish-born parents, policeman John Francis McHale and his wife Mary. When Jock was five the family moved to Melbourne. It was as a schoolboy at Christian Brothers College, East Melbourne that he discovered a passion for football.

 

Leaving school at 15, he joined up with Coburg Juniors and played with them from 1899 to 1902. He tried out with Collingwood in 1902 but was rejected. He was given a second chance when former club committeeman Jack Duncan saw him kicking a ball around a local timber yard and invited him back to Victoria Park. This time luck was on Jock’s side. He was chosen as a member of a combined juniors team to play the reigning premiers, who just happened to be Collingwood. Jock’s impressive performance earned him a spot on the Magpies’ Senior list for 1903 and his first of many premierships. This marked the beginning of an illustrious playing career.

 

During the next fifteen years he played 260 games and kicked 19 goals for Collingwood. Starting out as a half-back, he was moved into the centre where he truly excelled. The wage at the time for centres was sixpence a game! He was Collingwood’s iron man and played 191 consecutive games; he contributed to many of the Magpies’ victories with his perseverance and anticipation. He was speedy and strong, and although criticised for occasionally punting the ball high into the forward line, his ball-handling, marking and kicking abilities were top-notch. He was one of the most competitive centres in the League.

 

A staunch Irish Catholic, ‘Jock’ acquired his ironic nickname from a noted cartoonist’s caricature of him in a kilt during the 1920s.

 

McHale became Collingwood’s most famous coach. He served as playing coach from 1913 to 1918. He continued as a non-playing coach until 1950. Establishing another VFL record, McHale coached the Magpies in a total of 714 VFL matches, an achievement that was not surpassed until Mick Malthouse in 2015. His coaching time was remarkable, leading his team to eight premierships, including a record four in a row and runners-up ten times. His contributions to the club continued as he served on the Committee from 1921 to 1938 and as Vice-President from 1939 to 1953.

 

He only missed one game in his time as coach, the 1930 Grand Final. He was bedridden for the week but that still didn’t stop him drawing up the team’s game plan. This has been a talking point of whether he really had a record number of matches coached but despite being at home sick he was still listed as the coach.

 

Jock’s retirement on the eve of the 1950 VFL season came as a shock to everyone. This was to be his 38th season as the Magpies’ coach (playing or non playing). It was well known that he seriously considered retiring at the end of the 1949 season after nearly a decade of losses, but a strong section of club members asked him to continue until the appointment of a successor was clarified. Despite their love of Jock, it was becoming clear he was past his prime. An immediate call out was made for a new non-playing coach – they specifically had to be a past or present Collingwood player.

 

Filling the shoes of McHale was no easy task for he possessed unique coaching skills that were second to none. During Thursday night training sessions, he conducted full-scale match practices, personally umpiring the games. His keen eye was fixed on specific players, observing every detail. This uncanny ability to assess both footballers and the game itself was evident even during his early playing days. He was not one to endorse the star system and saw every player as a vital part of the team. His judgement of a person’s fitness rarely faltered and he focused on fostering teamwork among all players rather than relying on a few standout individuals. Another admirable asset was that Jock insisted on being paid the same wage as his players, embodying a sense of equality within the team even further.

 

Though naturally reserved, McHale’s firm coaching style earned him respect and admiration from all corners. He was known for his honesty, frankness and straightforward approach which endeared him to the players who held him in high regard.

 

McHale’s name and career have been commemorated by the Collingwood Football Club by means of the J.F. ‘Jock’ McHale Hall of Fame. It contains plaques bearing the names of the club’s best and fairest players, five, ten and 15 year players, life members, records of premierships and distinguished long service records of players and officials.

 

With such a long commitment to football you might forget that players and coaches still had a 9-to-5 job in those days. After leaving school at 15, he was employed at the McCracken Brewery; he became a leading hand and on his retirement in March 1953 at age 70 was supervising the brewing process at the Carlton United Brewery (CUB), Bouverie Street. He was one of many Collingwood players who worked at Carlton and United Breweries. He had done so since a lad and was a strong supporter of his employer’s products. Despite his fanaticism for fitness, McHale believed it was ‘the best thing out’ for a player to have a glass of ale when fatigued. ‘There is no need for a man to wash himself in it,’ he once said, ‘but a taste now and again is the best thing going.’ He even appeared in anti-prohibition ads that ran prominently in newspapers in 1930. His parting gift from workmates was a grandfather clock and a beer mug in his favourite Collingwood colours. The CUB board presented him with a gold wrist watch and, just in case he managed to still lose track of time, Collingwood presented him with a pocket watch as a ‘thank you’ for 50 years of service.

 

Although he was a very well known figure Jock had a very private home life. He married Violet Godfrey in Brunswick 1909 and they raised their family in Coburg. They sadly faced much heartache in their nearly sixty years together.

 

The ‘King of Coaches’ Jock McHale died of a heart attack on 4 October 1953, aged 71, only days after Collingwood had won their first Premiership in seventeen years. He was survived by his wife Violet and son John, who carried on the football legacy by also playing for Collingwood; a daughter and son predeceased him.

 

Years on, Jock McHale finds himself admired and highly spoken of by many, alongside being recognised by the AFL when the medal awarded to each year’s Premiership coach was named in his honour. The medal was instituted in 2001 and was retrospectively awarded to all premiership coaches from 1950 onwards, the year after McHale’s retirement from Collingwood. It is a fitting tribute to a man whose extraordinary time playing and coaching almost defies belief. His overall contribution to Collingwood and the AFL as we know it will likely never be matched. Inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1996, he was later elevated to ‘Legend of the Game’ in 2005.

 

His legacy lives on in the 1980 movie The Club and a memoir published in 2011, Jock: The story of Jock McHale, Collingwood’s greatest coach.

 

To read more about Jock McHale click HERE.

 

Read more from Allan Barden HERE

 

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Our writers are independent contributors. The opinions expressed in their articles are their own. They are not the views, nor do they reflect the views, of Malarkey Publications.

 

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