Bruce Sloss
1910-1914
81 games
44 goals
Champion of the Colony 1911
Bio
If the ballad of Bruce Sloss were a song, it’d bring anyone to tears.
His family initially settled on farming land in Naringalingalook, 40km from Shepparton. It was an unforgiving time and an unforgiving land. They welcomed stray animals, including a hen with a broken leg that they called ‘Limpy’. Legend has it that Ned Kelly was responsible for stealing one of their horses.
After battling in the bush, the Sloss clan moved to Melbourne in 1890. Bruce was born the year prior as the youngest of eight children to parents James and Christina. Taking up residence in Balaklava, they were rocked by a horrific gas explosion in the parlour of their home, with James dying a few weeks later from the injuries he sustained.
With the family devastated, Christina faced the prospect of raising her children amid the Depression of the 1890s. She did a stellar job, instilling courage and a strong work ethic. The siblings were close, and young Bruce turned to sport, excelling at cricket and football.
Not your typical sportsman, he enjoyed singing biblical hymns, and his strong tenor voice reverberated through the Malvern Presbyterian Church. He first played football for his parish in the local church competition and developed a calm, industrious approach on the field, becoming a reliable performer.
By 1906, his game had progressed well, and Essendon invited the 18-year-old Sloss to attend training. He impressed enough to earn a VFL debut in Round 2, 1907, but only played two more senior games before joining VFA club Brighton, where he remained until South Melbourne showed interest.
It took the Southerners a while to obtain a clearance for the recruit, but eventually, they got their man, with Sloss debuting in red and white in Round 10, 1910. With his mop of sandy hair falling across his forehead, Sloss was described as the ‘blonde Adonis’.
He joined a strong South Melbourne team, having won the previous year’s premiership with a two-point victory over Carlton. Sloss played all 11 remaining matches for the season; however, his first finals experience included a scandal that changed the course of Australian football.
One hour before South faced Carlton in an MCG semi-final, the Blues withdrew three players — Lang, Gillespie and Fraser — under a dark cloud of suspicion. South won the match by 12 points, and it was later revealed the trio were facing bribery charges after allegedly taking money from an illegal bookie to ‘lay down’. South were never implicated, but the ordeal enraged the football public.
The amateur game had been engulfed by match-fixing allegations, which would have disgusted Sloss. In The Game of Their Lives, author Nick Richardson describes him as an old-fashioned gentleman well aware of his responsibilities to his family, his church, and his football club.
In 1911, Sloss performed admirably as one of the game’s best followers. Combined with ruckman Vic Belcher and rover Fred Carpenter, they provided South with incredible drive from the centre of the ground. So brilliant was Sloss’ play that readers of The Argus bestowed him the honour of Champion of the Colony.
His reputation breached borders, and when the visiting captain of Sydney club Paddington, Bert Watts, witnessed Sloss play, he was glowing in his praise. “I saw South Melbourne at work,” he said. “The ground was very wet, but the performance of Sloss was an eye-opener! He handled that greasy ball as deftly as Cinquevalli might have juggled three balls. I have seen much football in my time, but never a better exposition than that given by Sloss.”
A solid man for the era in which he played, Sloss possessed all the attributes of an elite footballer. He was strong but quick and had great endurance due to his dedication to training and physical preparation. In The Record, ‘Old Timer’ also exalted his skills. “Sloss is a brilliant footballer, possessing a rattling place and drop-kick and can high-mark with the best of them.”
In 1912, Sloss played in his first Grand Final. The Southerners finished the regular season on top of the ladder, warmly favoured to win the decider against Essendon. They never got going though, losing by 14 points. The Herald’s report was scathing, claiming South played lazy, systemless football in front of a huge crowd.
Following a disappointing semi-final loss to St Kilda in 1913, South were determined to make their mark on the 1914 season. Sloss excelled, earning selection in the Victorian side. They travelled to Sydney for the national carnival in August. Sloss entertained on and off the field, regularly conducting a musical chorus of players during various social events.
Sadly, the 1914 Grand Final would be Sloss’ last appearance for South. Although they lost the match by a solitary goal, he put in a peerless display. In The Australasian, Jack Worrall wrote, “Sloss had no superior on the ground, his glorious efforts in the last quarter stamping him as a great footballer.”
Sloss was equally diligent, curious and creative. As a foreman engineer with South Melbourne company Marks Brothers, he developed and patented a slicing implement for melons that changed how Australian companies made their jam. He told his sister Tullie that “it was the best jam ever made.”
The day after the 1915 VFL season commenced, the Australian Imperial Forces landed at Gallipoli, and the world changed forever. Sloss and his brothers wasted no time enlisting and began military training in July of that year. He was assigned to the 10th Machine Gun Company, First A.I.F, in January 1916, alongside his brother Roy.
By July, they arrived in England and on October 28, 1916, Sloss took part in a football match of great significance. The Queen’s Club in West Kensington, London, hosted an exhibition match between the Australian Training Units team and the Third Australian Divisional team, which Sloss captained.
In The Game of Their Lives, the match is described as “a wonderful antidote to the dull routine of training and the anxiety of anticipation about what was ahead.” Bruce brought Roy along as a trainer, and the day became something remarkable. The match was filmed, showing happy Diggers in the crowd while the players, including Sloss, were constantly grinning.
It was the last time Bruce Sloss played football.
Shortly after the match, his unit left for France, stationed behind the front at Armentieres on the northern border. Just three months after that joyous day in London, Lieutenant Sloss was killed when a stray German artillery shell landed at his feet, showering him with white-hot shrapnel.
The news shocked those at home, with the grim reality of the Great War sinking in. South Melbourne secretary Herbert Howson relayed the club’s grief through a heartfelt letter to the family. He stated that Sloss “fought as only brave men can and that he is numbered amongst those fallen Australian heroes whose great deeds will live for all time.”
Fellow Swans Hall of Famer Mark Tandy said that the greatest all-rounder the game was ever likely to see was lost to the game and that Sloss was one of the finest men he’d ever known; “as a clubmate you couldn’t find one better.”
In one of his final correspondences from the war, Sloss wrote home, telling his family, “It’s a wonderful life.” While his was cut tragically short, it was as impactful as anyone’s could be, and the Sydney Swans will never forget him.
