Cold comfort for Tiges fans, nonetheless I’ve been doing a bit of research about the scene of the crime on Saturday – Blundstone Arena at Bellerive in Hobart. Having stumbled on the Blundstone footy boots image, I thought I’d do a bit more digging.
Yes, Blundstone made footy boots! It seems the general manager in the early 1960s was a bloke called George Drury. He was a mad Sainter and asked Darrel Baldock if he would give his name to a boot if George developed one. Apparently it was arranged. You can see the result in the photo.
Here’s where you guys can jump in.
Saints fans: what sort of boots did Darrel Baldock wear in the 1966 Grand Final?
Has anyone – especially you Taswegians – owned a pair of Blundstone footy boots? Maybe we should ask Flanners and Tim Lane and Rocket Eade. (I think Flanners used to play barefooted)
Any leads welcome. Photos please!
And there is another nice coincidence/link in this. Blundstone is a sponsor of the Fitzroy Bowls Club!
About John Harms
JTH is a writer, publisher, speaker, historian. He is publisher and contributing editor of The Footy Almanac and footyalmanac.com.au. He has written columns and features for numerous publications. His books include Confessions of a Thirteenth Man, Memoirs of a Mug Punter, Loose Men Everywhere, Play On, The Pearl: Steve Renouf's Story and Life As I Know It (with Michelle Payne). He appears (appeared?) on ABCTV's Offsiders. He can be contacted [email protected] He is married to The Handicapper and has three school-age kids - Theo, Anna, Evie. He might not be the worst putter in the world but he's in the worst four. His ambition was to lunch for Australia but it clashed with his other ambition - to shoot his age.
I can tell you that the boot on the left with leather stops is the type my dad used to maintain for all the players in the Castlemaine Football Club in the 50’s and 60’s.
I don’t know exactly when the boot changed to become smaller and have different stops.
As you can see they had ankle support and protection!
blunnies eh, the photos show boots that are dead spits for the SA Rossi product. High sides and circles for the ankle bone. they favoured the leather sprig followed by the plastic version. both were dangerous. the leather one when it got a bit worn it used to pop the end of the nails out and they could do some damage to the opposition. the plastic ones became sharpish when they wore a bit-again weapons. On hard grounds both versions were not too flash and would pop out of the sole leaving the wearer struggling. around 95 out came the rubber boot with moulded and shorter sprigs, they were more compact and streamlined and with give so that you could grip better. I reckon they were better to kick with. you could have them in whatever colour as long at was black (with apologies to henry ford).
Rossi work boots still going but not the niche fashion presence of blunnies as given us by the entrepreneurial taswegians.
nank
I didn’t wear them or remember seeing them in action ( I was only a few years younger than Baldock) and as discussed earlier, I wore Jenkin boots.
However, I did help to immortalize Blunnies in a play I wrote a couple of years ago. It was called ‘ Michelangelo Wore Blundstones’. The Blundstones in the title were used by a tradesman working on house- renovations for a young married couple which never seemed to have an end date. I likened it to Michelangelo taking so long to finish painting the Cisteen Chapel and the Pope inquiring every day, ‘ But when will it be finished?”
Based on my own circumstances, it received second prize in the National Playwright Competition.
Reckon the Doc wore his own brand of of Gold Medal (?) boots in the 66 Grand Final…
Had a pair when I was at school – late 60’s then went to a more modern Adidas boot.
I was fortunate to play alongside the great “Doc” in the Early seventies. He wore Hope Sweeny boots at that time.
In my mind there has never been a better player or a more astute coach.
Hi Graham,
Where was that? Latrobe?
Thanks for commenting on the site. I would love to hear some of your observations about playing with and under Doc Baldock – if you are inclined to put something together.
Cheers
JTH
Hi John
My brother has a pair of Darrel Baldock Blundstone boots – if you’re interested I can put you in touch.
Cheers
I’ll send you an email Liz. Thanks for contacting us.
I have worn and played in a pair for the boots with nail in leather stops. I still have them (size 2 kids boots) with signature in gold on a red leather ankle pad.
TOM YOUNG -SAYS
SEPT-2021
IM SURE MY DAD WORE JENKINS BOOTS WITH RUBBER STOPS IN 1940S & 50 PLAYING FOR
DUNALLEY IN TASMAN COMP ALSO BURST A FOOTY KICKING ONE DAY A POWERFULL KICK .