The First Drop Punt? Recent research from a kick historian

DICK Lee & his  “A TYPE OF STAB PUNT”

MY RECENT RESEARCH has revealed that one of the most famous full forwards of all time, Dick Lee of Collingwood, kicked a drop punt for goal. Dick called his kick for goal  “a type of stab-punt.”  He is the first VFL/AFL  player recorded  as kicking The Drop Punt!

“He developed both the place-kick and “A TYPE OF STAB-PUNT” in which he dropped the ball point-first and stabbed it like a shot arrow with hair-line accuracy. He says he always picked a spot in the crowd and took aim at it. Kicking he says is a lost art.” From Trove. Dick! Dick!-Dick-e-e-e  by H.A. de Lacy Sporting Globe Saturday 21 June 1941.

PASSING IMPORTANT: by Dick Lee                                                                                           

 Much of the success of a forward depends on the manner in which the ball is passed to him. There is nothing to beat the low, skimming stabkick. The ball should not be kicked at a forward but to the spot where he will be after having made a dash for it. Trove. From an article by Dick Lee in June 9 1927. News Adelaide, SA

STAB-PUNT KICK & DICK LEE                                                                                                            

JACK DYER SEES RED. As told to JIM BLAKE. Sporting Globe Wednesday 31 March 1948.

JACK DYER, Tiger coach, and captain, had a few hard words to say about forwards on Saturday. “They just wont learn,” he declared. “You can tell then again and again. They do the right thing under instruction, but out they go and forget all about it in a match. . . ,”They don’t kick straight because they won’t concentrate on the right way to kick a ball at goal.” Dyer himself is a deadly kick from 40-50 yards out of goal. He uses the STAB-PUNT KICK, dropping the ball point down and almost vertical, kicking it with the toe of his boot. “Dick” Lee, famous Collingwood forward, used the same type of kick. Dyer says he saw the value of the kick watching Collingwood, and learnt it from the Collier brothers. “But you can’t tell the forward today. He gets the ball well, then blazes away at goal without straightening up. “He swings his boot anywhere nine out of ten times he misses. But he can’t be told.” And he mooched away, still having his say. From Trove..

RE “STAB PUNT KICK”USED IN THE ABOVE PARRAGRAPH                                          

Comments! Jack Dyer incorrectly calling his Drop Punt as a “Stab Punt Kick” three months before the release of The Sporting Globe Football Book of 1948, Compiled and Edited by H.A. de LACY, with Dyer’s ‘ CRAZY” DROP PUNT on pages 49, 50 and 51. I find this most interesting as Jack Dyer thought of using the “stab punt kick” as a description but never ever thought of kicking a stab punt. Nobody did until 15-year-old Little Jimmy Johnson in May 1949 invented it. The fact that Dyer used the term “Stab Punt Kick” may make it easier for Journalists today to use “STAB PUNT”.

My research has revealed the following information re other early players, mostly VFL / AFL, to kick the Drop Punt in Australian Rules Football.                                                                        

Dick Lee was followed by Horrie Clover of Carlton, Len Metheral of Geelong, The Collier Brothers of Collingwood, Jack Dyer of Richmond, George Goninon of Geelong. Then fourteen / fifteen year old schoolboy Jim Johnson with the stab kick into his “stab punt” and the drop kick into his “drop punt as a field pass” both kicked at full pace.

HUGH HINKS                                                                                                                                    

Hugh Hinks invented the Drop Punt in 1907. ” In The Beginning There Was Carisbrook” by Daryl McLeish, 2001. See pages 342 and 347, including pictures of Hugh Hinks.

Note! Hugh Hinks and Horrie Clover both played for Carisbrook.

HORRIE CLOVER                                                                                                                                                      

The next recorded is Horrie Clover of Carisbrook then Carlton in 1920-24 & 1926-31. Despite claims to the contrary, Carlton believed that Clover invented the drop punt. Teammate Newton Chandler believed that Clover first saw the kick used by a team mate at Carisbrook and that he perfected it from there. Page 133 The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers Sixth Edition. 

LEN METHERELL                                                                                                                                                                     Len Metherell, who made his debut in 1930, certainly used the drop punt, and indicated that he had learned it from his father at Subiaco WA. With the retirement of Dyer in 1949 the drop punt gradually fell into disuse. When Bartle, of Geelong, took a spectacular mark five meters from goal in 1958 and kicked a behind, the Geelong advertiser admonishes:… he foolishly tried a drop punt. 3AW Book of Footy Records 1989 page195/6.                                   

Len Metherell does a kick that is all his own, and I fancy he and his brother are the only exponents of it. The kick is used for passing, and is a punt. The ball is dropped on to the toe and travels through the air like a drop-kick. The astonishing thing about this kick is that Metherell is so accurate with it. From Trove, Sporting Globe Wednesday 17 May 1933.

COLLIER BROTHERS                                                                                                                     

Next recorded use was by Collingwood’s Collier Brothers see Page 195 3AW Book of Footy Records..                                                                                                                                                    

The Collier Brothers used the drop punt as a short pass of around ten yards in place of a hand pass. They only used it to pass the ball to each other over the head of an opponent. See Jack Dyer Captain Blood as told to Brian Hanson, Paul, (London), 1965.                                      

“Comment”. The Collier Brothers and Jack Dyer may have seen Len Metherell using his Drop Punt.

JACK DYER                                                                                                                                                         

Next recorded use was by Jack Dyer. The Sporting Globe  FOOTBALL Book 1948. Page 49, 50 & 51 “Jack Dyer gets goals with the sillies looking kick in football history.”                                                                                        

Jack Dyer as a Florist.                                                                                                                             

There are many things which go to make Richmond’s mighty Jack Dyer not only one of the greatest but one of the most unusual footballers of all time. On the field he is tough, even ruthless, but in private life iron-hard Captain Blood as he is called, is a soft spoken, well-dressed, polished and successful businessman. It’s hard to imagine this hard-boiled veteran carrying a bunch of flowers but that’s just what he does every day of the week for he’s a Melbourne florist. And this ‘Jack of all trades’ — he’s been a taxi driver, gardener, policeman and milk bar owner to mention a few — says there’s ‘real money in flowers.’ Another Dyer oddity is the drop-punt, a kick which is one of the strangest in football history. On Saturday Jack got two of his four goals from this crazy kick. It’s long odds against him missing when he’s within 40 yards. Jack watches the ball closely as he drops it vertically on to his toe. Still vertical, the ball is kicked off the toe and instep and back-spins as it flies, (most kicks spin forward). Jack says this is his last League year but some Richmond officials think other wise. Trove. The Daily News Perth, WA Tuesday 28 June 1949.                                                          

Comment! Jim Johnson’s Stab Punt and Drop Punt kicks were only ever described as “Stab Kicks, Delightful little drop punt passes, Classy display of ball disposal, Daisy Cutters that never missed their mark, Accurate in muddy conditions, Stab Passes, Ability to dispose accurately of the ball whilst in full stride, passed beautifully” See more in “One Liners’ further on.

DYER “CHALLANGE ACCEPTED” SPORTING GLOBE SATURDAY 27 AUGUST 1949 By Jack Dyer & Mr H. A. de LACY                                                                                       

Editor, Sporting Globe. Sir For 19 years. Your football writer, Mr H. A. de LACY, has been on my back.. Until now I’ve always had-to take it, but, believe me, I’m through with-it. Tonight I retire from football. But I am not finished yet with Hec de Lacy. I challenge him to come out on the St. Kilda Cricket Ground tomorrow and kick goals against me. Let him laugh at my silly drop-kick-punt. I’m out to show him that he can’t beat it. If Hec de Lacy knows as much about kicking as he thinks he does, here’s his chance to prove himself. My guess is that he’ll still find that the typewriter is mightier than the proof of the pudding, or the drop-punt, or the pen. Anyhow, I’m his man. Yours, etc. Writes H. A. de Lacy: It cuts me to the quick to find that a man like  Jack Dyer should so soon forget what I’ve done for him as to attack me in this unworthy fashion. Why. I’ve worn out hundreds of typewriter ribbons trying to keep him in football. He should have been out of football years ago. and only for my bally-hoo he would have been. I’ll accept his challenge, but I make this stipulation “Captain Blood” has to kick under my conditions and with my ball. Anything for a quiet life and for the sick kiddies. From Trove.

Comment. Jack Dyer using the name “Drop Kick Punt” above. So we have  “Stab Punt Kick”, “Drop -kick –punt” and “Drop Punt” being used re the Jack Dyer’ version of the drop punt all within a few months of each other.

Re the Drop Punt.                                                                                                                               

Coaches do not teach this kick to their players for one reason. They cannot do it and have never bothered to learn its fundamentals.. “Jack Dyer’s Footy Clinic” p. 167 in Captain Blood, Jack Dyer. as told to Brian Hansen, Paul, (London), 1965.

GEORGE GONINON   HIS PECULIAR STAB-KICK-PUNT SIMILAR TO DICK LEE.                                                                                                      

Next recorded use was by George Goninon who kicked eleven goals one behind with drop punts in the 1951 Semi Final Geelong against Collingwood. He only used the Drop Punt as a kick for goal as per telephone conversation with Jim Johnson Feb 2010.                                     

George Goninon came from Club Burnie in Tasmania in 1948. He was a phenomenally accurate kick for goal. George won the VFL goal kicking with 86 goals in 1951 eleven goals ahead of John Coleman.                                                                                                             

Comment! He had a very free flowing style of kicking the ball and he could kick the ball on the run. He kicked it more like a drop kick, quite close to the ground and similar to how Jim Johnson kicked the ball. A very good kicking action in my opinion.

“George Goninon (Geelong) is a mouse beside the glorious John Coleman but he nibbles away without stop or let. He never stops battling. He gets a higher percentage of goals for his kicks than has any forward in 20 years and I’m not excepting the sensational Bob Pratt, the solid Gordon Coventry, or the fast leading, high flying Ron Todd. Give Goninon the drop on the goal and it’s all over. He’s an ace shooter with his peculiar stab-kick-punt similar to that used by Dick Lee, famous Collingwood forward.”  From Trove. GLAMAE BOY Sporting Globe of May 10 1952, by H.A. de Lacy.

 

“THE STAB KICK.”                                                                                                                            

Since the inauguration of the Australian game of football in 1858 by Messrs. C. A. Harrison, W. Haninersley, J.B. Thompson, and T. W. Wills, there have (writes the “Argus”) been so many changes that there is little original in it to-day. The first code of rules was drawn up in 1866, but there have been many changes since then. It is, however, in “method” that there has been the greatest development, although it may seem strange to speak that of “football,” it is possible for a man to be a good player without kicking the ball at all. Handball has been developed to such an extent that the ball frequently travels between half a dozen players without reaching the foot at all. The prettiest and most effective innovation of recent years is what is known as “the stab-kick”-a drop-kick made with an underneath stabbing motion of the foot, which gives the ball a low trajectory, In 1891 the late J. R. Mouritz invented a quick passing kick, with which he could pass the ball, swift and low, to a comrade at from 10 to fifteen yards. ‘The “stas-kick” is really a drop-kick, in which the foot strikes the under side of the ball, at the nearest possible point to the ground, and practically at the instant of contact. In fact, the ground ball, and foot meet at the same time.. Extracts From Trove. Examiner (Launceston, Tas. Tuesday 5 July 1910.

Comment. This kicking action described above is similar to “Jim’s kick” with Jim’s boot making contact with the ball just before the ball hits the ground. Simple and easy for fifteen year old Jim Johnson in May 1949. Jim used the same kicking action for all his Stab Punt and his  full-length drop punt field kicks. He just naturally placed the ball as required for where-ever he wanted to kick the ball. Easy and natural for Jim.

STAB KICK A RAPIDLY FAILING ART.                                                                                         

The stab kick has been a rapidly failing art but thanks to good full-forwards like John Peck 1954-1966 and Doug Wade, 1961-1972, it must come back. Full Forwards need stab passes.”Drops and Stab Passes are the jewels of football. A drop kick on the run is a more suitable kick for goal than a running punt but from a deliberate shot, the punt is more deadly. The stab is a feature of the game that should never die. The stab kick cannot be learnt overnight. It’s a kick that takes years of practice. Page 164. Captain Blood Jack Dyer as told to Brian Hansen, Paul, (London), 1965.                                                                                                              

Jack Dyer spent many a lonely hour in an assortment of paddocks working on the kick.

Comment. Jim Johnson from age 10 to 14, with only limited kicks, gained at school in kick to kick, learned to kick a stab kick, a drop kick, a torpedo punt, a flat punt and invent his drop punt as a field pass kicked at full pace. Then at 15 in May 1949 with his first ever-own football it took Jim only a couple of weeks to convert the stab kick into his stab punt. There was only a split second of timing to adjust to make this happen and that was to kick the ball just before instead of just after it hit the ground.  Easy for Jim.  Similar to Jack Dyer Jim had a paddock near where he lived. Lonely! It was at least two miles from any small town. Mooroolbark was one of those towns and it had one shop and a few houses. We had candlelight and tank water and no other services. The closest cricket ground was at Mooroolbark and the closest football ground was at Mount Evelyn a 2.5 miles walk to practice or play. Lilydale to school was a four mile walk for most of the around seven years we lived there.

STAB KICK TO STAB PUNT IN 1949. AN AUSTRALIAN RULES FOOTBALL DEVELOPMENT.                                                                                                                               

The Stab kick discovered in Tasmania in 1902. So from 1902 no one did anything extra with the stab kick till Jim Johnson aged 15 years, 5ft 2in (157.48 cm.), weighing 8 and 1/4 stone (52.5 kg), and playing for the Mount Evelyn First Eighteen in the Yarra Valley Football League converted it into his stab punt in May 1949. There is nothing to beat the low, skimming stab punt.

THOROLD MERRETT.  Stab kick expert,and Colligwood Champion 1950-60, (Thorold is around one month younger than Jim Johnson.)                                                                                                        

Thorold’s approach to Jack Dyer, coach of Richmond, was rejected with a laugh. At 9.5 stone Thorold was one of the smallest players in the League. (Page 498 of The Encyclopaedia of AFL Footballers 2005).                                                                                                                        

Comment. While Thorold in 1949 was practicing kicking the ball through a car tyre in May 1949 Jim  Johnson in two weeks transformed the stab kick into his Stab Punt. Only a little thought and a split second adjustment of timing required. Easy for Jim.

Jim Where did you Play your football?  a question often asked.

Jim from age fifteen played eleven seasons of open age First Eighteen Football Jim missed only one match thru injury during these eleven seasons.  

Jim played football where he chose to play. He had invitations to Box Hill in1950 and 1956, Prahran in 1956 and Richmond at sixteen years of age in 1950. Jim chose not to try to play at any of these clubs.  Jim at no time played for “money”.

 

Teams Jim played for were as follows.

Mount Evelyn 1949 coached by Harold Maskell ex Geelong & Carlton,

 

1950.Melbourne High School 1st Eighteen Football Colours.. Jim’s entry and exit year at Melbourne High was 1950.

 

1950 Ringwood . Captained & Coached in 1950 by The Great Herbie Matthews ex South Melbourne then in 1951/52/53 Captained & Coached by Alec Albiston, ex Melbourne High then Hawthorn & North Melbourne,

 

1952….Fifteenth National Service Battalion G Company First Eighteen. Neil Doolan of North Melbourne was centre man & Jim Johnson was one of the wingers. The other winger was a Regular Army Sargent Richards, a Regular, who was part of our G Company.

 

South Belgrave 1954/58…including Intercompertition Team First Rover. Two Best & Fairest and two Runner up Best and Fairest. Team Vice-Captain 1957-58.

In the South Belgrave “SIXTY YEARS OF FOOTBALL” published in 2005 Jim is listed as one of the Clubs Heroes..

 

1956.Peter Linden former Olinda Player’s “Best Ten Year Post War Mountain District Football Team” included Jimmy Johnson of South Belgarve on the wing.

 

  1. Croydon. Jim Played in Croydon’s Premiership Team of 1960.

 

Jim Johnson Training at Richmond 1950. “ I wouldn’t play here if you paid me.”

I had said “no” when asked if I would like to train at Richmond. I was again approached by Mr Pratt at Ringwood and told it would only be for convenience as I was travelling to practice at Ringwood and then travelling home to Oakleigh. I thought that was a good idea. I attended training with the Richmond Seconds and during circle work a ball was coming towards me. All I had to do was keep running looking back over my right shoulder and I would mark it. Good except a “courageous” person came out of the darker centre of the ground, on my blind side, and “took me out” trying to mark over the little guy. I was not hurt as I saw the player in the last seconds and “went with it”. Graham Richmond came over to me while I was changing after training, and suggested I come back when I was older. I was one-eyed Collingwood and walked away from the ground saying to myself “ I wouldn’t play here if you paid me.” Anyway they looked at my skills so closely that they did not see, on Jack Dyers home ground, the class disposal that was in front of their eyes. Granted it was in very ordinary light and that in bright sunlight others had difficulty seeing how I was kicking the ball. I of course was not going to say, “Look what I can do”. But on what I thought at the time was the so-called “Home” of the drop punt?

JIM’S STAB PUNTS  & DROP PUNTS  as Field kicks 1948-1960.                                                                           Some “one liners” showing how Jim Johnson’s “Stab Punts” and Drop Punts as a field passes  were described by journalist from newspaper clippings that Jim possesses.

Frank Casey 1960. Jimmy Johnson transferred to Croydon promises to be one of the best if not the best winger in the competition.

Frank Casey 1960… Newcomer, Jimmy Johnson, on the wing, showed a tonne of pace and ability to dispose of the ball on the run, at top speed.

Frank Casey 1960 … Ability to dispose accurately of the ball whilst in full stride makes Johnson a menace to all halfbacks.

Croydon Football club notes…Bob Greve’s (Ex Collingwood) marking and general play throughout the game and Jimmy Johnson’s classy display of ball disposal.

Frank Casey 1960…  Johnson picked up on the run, sent a drop-punt direct to Espie.

Frank Casey  1960…  Johnson, on the flank, was making good use of his accurate punt passes.

It took a while for Frank Casey to work out Jim kicked the ball before it hit the ground. He with Dr.Graham Corr who was the designated writer for the Ringwood Mail, were the only writers in eleven seasons to get that part close to correct.

1960….Frank Casey, The Ringwood Croydon Post, September 8,  Johnson sent his DELIGHTFUL LITTLE DROP PUNT PASS to Manfield. “Jim’s Stab Punt”

1960….Davey Crocket, The Ringwood Mail, September 8,                                                             

Jimmy Johnson SHOULD WRITE A BOOK ON STAB KICKING – he has found the lost art. “Jim’s Stab Punt”

  1. Davy Crocket Ringwood Mail, September 15, 1960. No doubt about Jimmy Johnson, he definitely has found the lost art of stab passing. “Jim’s Stab Punt”

1960.September.  Frank Casey…After a season in which drop kicks have been as rare as hen’s teeth, players are foolish to try to develop the stab pass at this stage.

1960 O’Laughan…Johnson stab passed to Robert Espie. On a muddy rain soaked ground? These were the ideal conditions for Jim’s Stab Punt.                                                                       

1960 O’Laughan… Johnson stab passed to Manfield. “Jim’s Stab Punt”                                                                                                            

1960 O’Laughan… Johnson stab pass to Porter. “Jim’s Stab Punt”                                                         

1960 O’Laughan … Holyoak changed Baldwin on to Johnson, in an effort to stop his effective  play. Baldwin played for Hawthorn 1944-1950.                                                                                  

1950 “Sentinel”  Melbourne High School. V Grammar. Johnson was a tiger for the school 1950 “Sentinel”  J Johnson the school’s brilliant rover passed beautifully to Staines for a goal. 1949 Mount Evelyn 1st Eighteen V Wandin  Jimmy Johnson, who was giving a masterly exhibition for a youngster. Jimmy Johnson Umpires Vote.                                                        

1950. Dr.Graham Corr Ringwood 1st 18 team lists … rover Johnson. Ringwood V Box Hill. 1950. Dr.Graham Corr Ringwood 1st 18 Johnson was in everything  and he brilliantly added another goal.”                                                                                                                                          

1950 Dr.Graham Corr Ringwood 1st 18 Johnson again flashed into the picture when he passed neatly.                                                                                                                                        

1950. Dr.Graham Corr Ringwood 1st 18…..This boy, I’m told, is only 16 years, but he’s the goods.                                                                                                                                                

1950. Dr.Graham Corr Ringwood 1st 18….. Johnson with a perfect pass found Big Jack Westmore                                                                                                                                              

1951.  Ringwood 1st 18…Jim’s passes were real daisy cutters and never missed their mark. (This semi final game was played on Hawthorn’s VFL Glenferrie Oval and the person Jim played against did not touch the ball.)                                                                                              

1951. Dr.Graham Corr Ringwood 1st 18… Ringwood Brilliantly defeat Auburn”                                            …Johnson, brilliant on the wing for the Magpies, continually drove them into attack.           …Johnson was outstanding in the mud with clever turning and accurate disposal.          …Johnson gave a perfect example of wet weather football and outclassed all opponents.                            

1951. Dr.Graham Corr Ringwood 1st 18… 7.11 V Auburn 11.11                                                                               …Alec Albiston and Johnson battled on for the Magpies.                                                             …Alec Albiston flattened, continued to battle until the bell ended a vigorous game.                          …Best players Johnson a great game and Albiston (ex Hawthorn AFL) battled all day                       

1951 Dr.Graham Corr Ringwood 1st 18… Jim might lack inches but certainly doesn’t lack courage.                                                                                                                                                    

1954 South Belgrave 1954…Possibly the fittest and most tenacious player we’ve had.               

1956 South Belgrave. Peter Linden former Olinda Player’s Best Ten Year Post War Mountain District Football Team included Jimmy Johnson on the wing.                                                

1957 South Belgrave … Jimmy Johnson. Who will deny he is the best rover in the comp.                      1957, “Inter-association keener than scores indicated”. …A brilliant solo effort by the diminutive Johnson of South Belgrave allowed him to raise both flags.                                           

1949 Wandin V Mt Evelyn. Jimmy Johnson, was giving a masterly exhibition for a youngster. Jimmy Johnson Umpires Vote.                                               

The really Great Early exponent of the drop punt for goal was of course Peter McKenna of The Magpies 1965/75. Born 27 August 1946 (Note Peter was born two / three years before Jim invented his Drop Punt as a field pass in 1948 and his Stab Punt in 1949.) McKenna has had few peers, and once he had gained possession of the ball, usually from a bullet stab pass from Barry Price or Wayne Richardson, HE ALMOST INVARIABLY FINISHED THINGS OFF WITH CONSUMMATE PRECISION, TYPICALLY USING A KICK ON WHICH THE JURY, AT THE TIME, WAS STILL OUT! THE DROP  PUNT.

Jim Johnson. Melbourne High School 1st 18 football colours 1950.

 

 

Comments

  1. Steve Hodder says

    That was a lot of information to take in!

    Having grown up near and played all my footy at Ringwood’s Jubilee Park I loved the references to Ringwood, back when it was a powerhouse of, what was then, the Outer East.

    I do have a question that I would dearly love an answer to but; what is and how do you kick a flat punt? The Lil’ Fella having learnt that Hudson kicked them keeps asking and while there are plenty of references to Hudson’s flat punts, I can’t figure out how to kick them. Old vision and photos don’t help any.

    onya

  2. Steve – get footage of Doug Wade or Twiggy Dunne – flat punt gurus.

    Its like a torp, but as the name suggests, is kicked low and flat for accuracy. Twiggy Dunne’s flat punt to level the scores in the 1977 grand final remains the best example of all time, in my view.

  3. Jim Johnson says

    Steve Hodder. Thanks for your comment. I also played cricket and football on “Eastland” then Jubilee Park. I played in 4 first eleven premiership teams, three runner up teams and one season when we finished fifth. I won three Bowling Averages and one Club Champion. Before that I played three seasons at Mooroolbark when they only had one team. My father was Captain and three of us Johnsons were in the first and only Eleven in B grade Ringwood District Cricket Association. I won the bowling average in 1947/48. I was 14 going on fifteen at the time.
    Jim.

  4. Steve Hodder says

    Dips, I thought Twiggy kicked a torp? Do flat punts spin like a torp? Will have another look at Twiggy and then Wade.

    Jim, did you play with and know Snookey Connell and Jack Richards at Ringwood? The footy ground moved from “Eastland” to Jubilee Park just before I was born , but my old man watched many a game at the old ground. Have you seen Eastland lately? Nearly bigger than the whole suburb. Onya. Steve

  5. Jim Johnson says

    Steve Hodder.
    Snooky Connell was second rover to me, when I was sixteen in the season of 1950. Jack Richards does not ring a bell. I played Cricket with Snooky and his younger brother Mick. I played cricket at Ringwoo 1949 to 1954 and then 1957 – 1960. I played cricket at South Belgrave, Glen Maxwell’s team,1954/1956. I was club champion, batting bowling and all-rounders trophy’s in 1954/55 and played Country Week Cricket.
    Jim

  6. Steve Hodder says

    Jack Richards the next generation after Snooky, I think. Many thanks Jim.

  7. Jim Johnson says

    Ringwood, back when it was a powerhouse of, what was then, the Outer East! From Steve Hodder says:
    June 29, 2015 at 8:56 am.
    Steve some of what I remember. The League was called according to my news paper clippings, The Eastern Suburban Football League. The Currant Eastern Football League apparently was never involve with My Eastern League which had teams from Auburn, Burnley, Glen Iris. Hawthorn East, Box Hill, Mitcham, Ringwood and East Ringwood. Ringwood was Captain’d & coached by Brownlow Medalist & South Melbourne Great Herby Mathews in 1950 and for at least two years before during which they were Pemiers. Herby Mathews was later Coach of South Melbourne from 1954 to 1957. Ringwood during my time of 1950/51/52/53 was also Captained & Coached ,by “Gentleman” Alec Albiston, who was ex Captain and Coach of Hawthorn Football Club. The Eastern Suburban Football League was looked upon as one of the best Suburban Leagues in Melbourne at this time.
    Jim Johnson

  8. As a regular attendee at Kardinia Park in the ’60’s , the Farmer>Goggin>Wade combination was of course a highlight. Doug was an excellent drop kick but the torp was deployed when it got serious. Polly was a terrific kick – but clearly had other weapons – and Billy just drilled stab passes to his rotund partner in crime. The two great drop punt exponents in the team were the elegant John Sharrock off half forward and the hard running , pipe smoking Tony Polinelli. Peter Walker and Roy West both deployed the classic drop kick from the backline and Bill Ryan was a torpedo devotee. It all changed so quickly – I blame Billy Barrot – and all the exotic if a little fragile kicking styles were consigned to history.

  9. And in 1987 footy came to WA

  10. Jim Johnson says

    Tim says:
    November 13, 2015 at 7:48 pm re the drop punt at Kadinia Park
    KARDINIA PARK WAS THE GROUND ON WHICH TWO OF THE EARLIEST EXPONENTS OF THE DROP PUNT PLAYED. THE EARLIEST I HAVE FOUND AT KARDINIA WAS LEN METHERAL.
    Len Metheral played for Geelong from 1930 to 1936, and was playing in the Year Jack Dyer commenced with Richmond, and is recorded as having kicked the drop punt before Jack Dyer and he learnd it from his father when he played for Subiaco W A. Len is only recorded as using the drop punt as a pass particularly in muddy conditions. This of course records that their father taught the drop punt to them in WA long before Dyer copied the idea from The Collier brothers of Collingwood. So was his father an inventor of the Drop Punt or did he learn it from someone else.

    THE SECOND I HAVE FOUND IS GORGE GONINON. HIS DISPOSAL WAS EXCEPTIONAL “George Goninon (Geellong) is a mouse beside the glorious John Coleman but he nibbles away without stop or let. He never stops battling. He gets a higher percentage of goals for his kicks than has any forward in 20 years and I’m not excepting the sensational Bob Pratt, the solid Gordon Coventry, or the fast leading, high flying Ron Todd. Give Goninon the drop on the goal and it’s all over. He’s an ace shooter with his peculiar stab-kick-punt similar to that used by Dick Lee, famous Collingwood forward.” GLAMAE BOY Sporting Globe of May 10 1952, by H.A. de Lacy. Trove. Note the Stab kick Punt. An early use of Stab Punt?

  11. Stab Punt Jim Johnson says

    DICK LEE AND HIS “A TYPE OF STAB PUNT”
    An amazing secret
    that almost slipped through the cracks.

    (1) tjpc type of of swb-punr’in”wh!’c’h swb-punt which he he dropped I

    lhc ball point-first and stabbed ulike;w

    a shot arrow with hair-line accuracy. ; g —-,and i:

    inaccurate.a lost art. „..game Kicking, he says, is wo

    Section (1) above is an extract from the 2559 word Electronically Translated Text of “Dick! Dick!-Dick-e-e-e “ By H. A. de Lacy as published on Trove in The Sporting Globe 21 June 1941.
    As you can see if you had never heard of a stab punt the above section would not mean anything special.

    See section (2) below for Jim Johnson’s corrections to the above section (1).

    (2) . “a type of stab-punt in which he dropped
    the ball point- first and stabbed it like
    a shot arrow with hair-line accuracy. He says he
    always picked
    crowd and took aim at it.”
    a lost art.
    spot in the
    Kicking, he says

    As can be seen if you had not heard of a stab punt or did not know how to kick one the above section (1) would not mean anything special.

    The above corrections (in Section 2) were recorded on Trove by Jim Johnson on June 1 2015. See also Jim’s ‘comments” on this actual article. Text of “Dick! Dick!-Dick-e-e-e “ By H. A. de Lacy as published on Trove in The Sporting Globe 21 June 1941.
    There were five words in section (1) to enable Jim Johnson to recognise his target of “stab punt” or “drop punt”. The key words for him in this number (1) group were “punt” “ball point first”and “dropped”. These words were legible amongst this small selected group of words. Jim immediately looked, using magnification, at the actual on line news paper text in which he discovered the amazing words of
    “A Type Of Stab Punt”.
    Because Jim, at age fifteen in May 1949, had invented and perfected his Stab Punt kick he was able to recognise the potential that ” A Type Of Stab Punt” presented.
    For further information see.
    “Almanac History : George Goninon and the punt drop kick.”
    July 15, 2016. Jim Johnson creator of the Stab Punt presents research evidence of George Goninon’s use of a Drop Punt in his success at goal kicking.

    Further Rresearched by Jim Johnson, Melbourne High 1st “18 Football Colours 1950 & School Cricket Team of 1950.

  12. Enclosed some actual history re Dick Lee the first player to “exploit the accuracy of the drop-punt”.

    “Forwards today should have seen Lee getting goals in his heyday.
    He got them from the boundary line, and was
    the first player to exploit the accuracy of the drop-punt”.

    I discovered the above ground breaking conforming information last week in “The Sporting Globe of May 1953 – “Dicky Lee “gamest man to pull on a footy boot” by Hec de Lacy.”
    .
    For further information see “The First Drop Punt. Recent research from a kick historian” by Jim Johnson; see on Google

    Almanac History: “George Goninon and the punt drop kick”. see on Google.
    and
    “Stab Kick to Stab Punt and Drop Kick to Drop Punt”. Seeon Google.

    Researched by “Stab Punt” Jim Johnson

  13. Some further research by Jim Johnson has produced “the first player to exploit the accuracy of the drop-punt”.
    DICK LEE’S DROP PUNT. The first player to exploit the accuracy of the drop-put.
    Forwards today should have seen Lee getting goals in his heyday. He got them from the boundary line,

    and was the first player to exploit the accuracy of the drop-punt.

    Lee could get nine goals from 10 kicks. He kicked 713 goals with Collingwood in a decade when 50 goals won a forward the League’s top ranking. You’ll find Lee today in the Collingwood room. He still has an eye and a kindly word of advice for a young forward.
    From “My Diary” By Hec de Lacy. Sporting Globe Wed 6 May 1953 Page 3.

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