Sixty-one years ago today one of the great Swans careers came to an end. Having been a player for almost half his life, 32-year-old Ron Clegg hung up the boots.
It was Saturday, 6 August 1960 and not quite the exit the champion defender deserved, finishing with a 26-point Round 15 loss to North Melbourne in front of a small crowd at the old Arden Street ground that ended the club’s finals hopes.
But it wasn’t as if he’d done things to script throughout his career.
Having debuted during the last weeks of World War II, Clegg played in the 1945 grand final in just his 15th game at 17. Not as a fringe player. He played at centre half back. And, although it was the first grand final played in peace time since 1938, with the war having ended 27 days earlier, it was one of the most brutal games in football history.
Played at Princes Park because the MCG was still being used for military purposes, it is known in AFL circles as ‘The Bloodbath’ and saw fights galore as nine players were reported on 15 charges.
South Melbourne had finished top of the home-and-away ladder with a 16-4 record, one game ahead of Collingwood and three clear of North Melbourne and Carlton. They beat Collingwood in the semi-final by 11 points to go straight into the grand final before Carlton beat Collingwood in the preliminary final.
It was a massive day. Additional terraces had been installed at the ground to increase the official capacity to 62,800 and gates were closed at the opening bounce. The official attendance of 62,986 is unthinkable when you look at the ground today.
Clegg, made his AFL debut in Round 3, 1945 aged 17 years 169 days - less than half the age of teammate Laurie Nash. He’d played 13 home-and-away games plus the semi-final before the grand final, and despite his youth, was a regular and valuable member of coach Bill Adams’ side.
According to ‘Grand Finals’, a history of AFL premiership deciders written by ex-Swans historian Jim Main, hostilities exploded in the second quarter of the grand final when Carlton’s Ken Hand was ko’d behind play. Carlton players blamed South’s Jack Williams as they sought retribution before taking a two-point lead to halftime.
In the third quarter, Carlton captain Bob Chitty reportedly flattened South’s Ted Whitfield to spark another brawl as the Blues extended their lead to 21 points at the last change.
Worse was to come. Chitty was put down behind play before teammate Jim Mooring and Clegg were also flattened. It was mayhem as bottles were thrown onto the ground. Carlton player Fred Fitzgibbon, suspended for four matches in the preliminary final, jumped the fence to join the melee before being escorted away by police. He was given a further four-match suspension after Carlton had won the flag 15-13 (103) to 10-15 (75).
A marathon tribunal hearing saw Whitfield, South's best player inn the grand final suspended until December 31, 1946 along with three other South players who were suspended for a total of 28 weeks. Williams received eight weeks for striking and four for abusive language, Don Grossman was got eight weeks for striking Mooring, and Jim Cleary eight weeks for striking Hands. In the Carlton camp, Chitty got eight weeks for elbowing Williams and Ron Savage eight weeks for striking Grossman.
Clegg later told of a touching story that belied the viciousness of the grand final. Dazed after the third quarter incident which sparked a hot response from older teammates, he found an unlikely ally in direct Carlton opponent Bert Deacon.
"Had anyone sold me a map of Melbourne I would have been grateful. I did not know where I was,” he said. “However, he (Deacon) knew just how I felt. Far from Deacon taking advantage of me he nursed me along until I was more or less recovered. At one stage I found myself wandering off to leave the field, but Deacon it was who pulled me back."
Clegg was the fourth 17-year-old in AFL history to play in a premiership decider and is one of just 11 players all-time. And the only Swan. Chronologically, the grand final ‘babes’ have been:-
1926 – Albert Collier (Coll) – 17 years 192 days – lost
1931 – Jack Dyer (Rich) – 17 years 329 days – lost
1937 – Des Fothergill (Coll) – 17 years 72 days – lost
1945 – Ron Clegg (SM) – 17 years 317 days – lost
1953 – Murray Weideman (Coll) – 17 years 222 days – won
1960 – Brian Leahy (Melb) – 17 years 234 days – won
1962 – Charlie Payne (Ess) – 17 years 320 days – won
1964 – Ricky Watt (Coll) – 17 years 351 days – lost
1966 – Allan Davis (StK) – 17 years 360 days – won
1968 – Geoff Blethyn (Ess) – 17 years 336 days – lost
1974 – Cameron Clayton (Rich) – 17 years 235 days - won
Clegg emerged from his torrid introduction to League football to play 231 games for South from 1945-60, broken only by a stint as captain-coach at North Wagga in 1955.
He was fourth in the Brownlow Medal in 1948, won the medal in 1949 and was runner-up in 1951. He was crowned South club champion in 1948-49-51 and runner-up in 1953-54, represented Victorian 15 times in attack and defence, and was South captain from 1953-54 and 1957-60.
He famously took 33 marks at centre half back in a drawn match against Fitzroy at Brunswick Street Oval in Round 9 1951.
Only 23, he had played on Don Hart in the first half before Fitzroy coach Norm Smith moved ruckman Alan ‘Butch’ Gale onto him in the third quarter. There was little change so coach Smith tried two others on him with a view to ‘roughing him up’.
Still no luck. At three-quarter time Smith turned to Norm Johnstone. “No. He’s made a dickhead out of four blokes already and he’s not going to get me,” Johnstone reportedly replied.
Although official statistics were not taken at the time Clegg was said to have had 16 marks in each half and “more than 50” disposals. Such was his dominance that he took a mark every four minutes to make a mockery of what is now the official AFL record of 24 marks, set by Melbourne’s Greg Park in 1980 and the Western Bulldogs’ Brian Lake in 2007.
In his 228th game, Clegg equalled the Swans club record held by Jack Graham since 1949 and held it until Bob Skilton bettered his mark in 1971.
An inaugural inductee to the AFL Hall of Fame in 1996 and named at centre half back in the Swans Team of the Century in 2002, Clegg passed away on August 23, 1990 aged 62.
