South Melbourne coach for the 1962-64 seasons Noel McMahen has passed away at the grand old age of 95 in Melbourne.
Better known in football for his playing exploits at Melbourne where he played 175 games from 1946 to 1956 including three premierships and captain of the 1955-56 flag teams under Norm Smith, McMahen made a valiant effort to lift the ailing Swans during his coaching tenure.
When contacted on a golf course at Cobden, Swans Team of the Century member John “Mopsy” Rantall told me that he was really saddened to learn of Noel’s passing, “I last saw him at the Swans’ Christmas Party in Melbourne before Covid and he was in sparkling form”.
“He (McMahen) was my first coach when I joined the club in 63, and he took a strong interest in my development; as a half-back flanker, I modelled myself on Noel”.
“Noel came to me after my first six games for the club and told me I was in line for State selection for Victoria, which I did! Noel knew nearly everyone in footy”.
“Mopsy” recalls his first practice match for South Melbourne when he travelled to northern Victoria to play reigning Bendigo league premiers and champions, Rochester, where McMahen had gone to coach after leaving Melbourne. He led Rochester into four grand finals in a row including a break-through premiership in 1958, then another flag in 1959.
“I wondered what we were doing going up the bush to play there… they nearly beat us! Their rucks (Ray Willett and Trevor Randall) killed us!”
“Noel was adored by the Rochester people, and he just wanted to pay them back for all the support they had given him in his time there”, “Mopsy” added.
South Melbourne finished last in 1962 with only three wins, second last with four wins in 1963, and eleventh again in 1964 with just two wins. After coaching South, he eventually returned to Melbourne as a Board director in the 1970s and as club vice-president in 1992-94. He was selected on the half back flank in Melbourne’s Team of the Century in 2000.
However, he continued to have individual contact with players from his coaching days at the Swans, and maintained his membership of the Past Players & Officials Association.
When I had the opportunity of interviewing Noel in late Spring 2019 at his nursing home in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, he told me that coaching the Swans was a “pleasurable experience but not without its challenges”.
“We didn’t have a powerful group of players but they were all go-ers, very determined to do their best. Plus I was used to strong committees like we had at Melbourne under Bert Chadwick, and like I had when coaching Rochester” Noel told me
John Rantall told me that Noel was a “tremendous coach” with “a wealth of knowledge”. He was “straight-forward” and “didn’t beat about the bush”. “I liked him as a coach” he added.
The Sydney Swans Football Club extends sincere condolences to Noel’s daughters, Annie, Kerry and Jenny and their families.
