Vic Belcher
1907-1915, 1917-1920
226 games
62 goals
Captain 1913, 1920
Captain-Coach 1914-15, 1917
Premiership Player 1909, 1918
Swans Team of the Century
AFL Hall of Fame

As loyal as they come, Vic Belcher grew up in Brunswick, but in 1941, he told The Sporting Globe how he became a South Melbourne supporter. "We had a baker who was a one-eyed South barracker."

"You could not get a ride on his cart or a bun unless you barracked for South. I was always in on that ride and bun. He talked and talked to us kids about the greatness of South as we rode around with him 'til he won me over. I wanted to play with his team. So, when the time came, I could not get there fast enough."

From the moment he arrived, Belcher gave South exemplary service. When pictured in The Sun, celebrating his golden wedding anniversary in 1961, he proudly proclaimed he and his wife had never missed a South Melbourne match since the day they exchanged vows.

His commitment to the Southerners is even more impressive because his older brother Allan was playing with Essendon, and Vic bypassed three clubs in closer proximity to cycle 12 km across the city to get to the Lake Oval.

One of five brothers, Vic and his elder brothers Allan and Albert were born in Tasmania, along with younger brother Gabriel. However, when the boys were very young the family moved to Brunswick in Victoria, and in 1893 they welcomed a fifth brother, Ernest. Like for most Melburnian kids, football became an obsession.

At 17, Belcher, playing with Brunswick in the VFA, represented that competition's team, catching the attention of numerous VFL clubs. South's secretary called Belcher while he was working at Hoffman Potteries and offered him a position on the club's playing list as a defender.

"What! Me play in the League—and with South! Why, I'm not nearly good enough for that," the young and surprised Belcher exclaimed.

His first captain, Bill Dolphin, saw potential in Belcher as a follower due to his impressive leap. He instantly formed a formidable ruck combination with Jim 'Joker' Cameron and Albert Franks. Belcher later said that Franks—fast and clever, with a sixty-metre running drop kick—was the most remarkable big man he ever saw.

The Southerners were runners-up to Carlton, losing the Grand Final by five points in Belcher's first season. The match set a new attendance record, 45,477, and The Herald reported that "Special trains swarming with passengers rattled into Melbourne from Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong and Castlemaine. There were also furniture vans with bulging loads of people in place of household goods and pony carts, gigs and all sorts of conveyances."

Two years later, in 1909, South turned the tables, winning a tense Grand Final by two points. Belcher and his teammates were carried from the ground by ecstatic South supporters as true tribal heroes. A Sydney-based production company filmed the match, and it is the oldest known surviving footage of Australian Rules Football in action.

Belcher had become a prominent player in a consistently strong South side. His athleticism and spring-heeled leap earned him the nickname 'The Human Aeroplane' with spectators across the League marvelling at his play.

Physical preparation played a crucial role in his advancement as a player. "A young player must look to fitness. He can't play football if he is not making sacrifices by training and looking after himself off the field," Belcher told the Sporting Globe.

The 1912 season brought significance for both Vic and Allan Belcher. In the semi-final, South faced Essendon, with the Belchers creating history as the first brothers to captain a VFL match against each other. The teams both won through to the Grand Final, but with regular skipper Charlie Ricketts returning from injury, Vic relinquished the captaincy.

However, the entire Belcher family—14 in all—watched with pride as their ruckman brothers stood facing each other in the middle of the MCG before the first bounce. Vic and Allan, the best of mates, shared a laugh, agreed that it was "all in until the final bell", and arranged to meet for tea after the match.

The 'Same Olds' beat the 'Southerners' by 14 points, and Allan won the bragging rights. For Vic, a premiership winner in 1909, it was his second Grand Final defeat, with another following in 1914 by a goal. By then, Belcher had taken the reigns as the team's Captain-coach.

With the darkness of World War I descending on the nation, it was feared the 1916 VFL season would not go ahead. The Australian National Football Council asked the NSW Rugby League to consider amalgamating the two football codes.

The concept came close to becoming reality, but eventually, four clubs decided to play out the season—Carlton, Collingwood, Fitzroy and Richmond. Due to enlistments, leave, and other military reasons, even these few teams had trouble selecting a team every week, and 1916 was the only season the Swans did not enter a team.

In 1917, the Southerners returned, and in 1918, with Belcher now vice-captain, South Melbourne played Collingwood in the final. As minor premiers, South held the right to challenge if they lost. Despite looking the better side, the Red and Whites trailed by nine points at the final change. Coach Herb Howson moved Belcher into the ruck, and the big-hearted big man dominated the packs, inspiring his teammates to a last-minute, five-point premiership win.

For much of the 1919 season, South looked capable of defending their premiership. However, a late-season dip in form saw them bundled out of the finals. The 1920 season would be Belcher's last as a player, with the year proving eventful for more reasons than one.

Experienced and highly respected, Belcher returned to the captaincy. When he retired at season's end, his 226 games were a club record. Having just finished up, in November, he spent the day watching the Melbourne Cup races from the Footscray Hill.

A newspaper report told of a life-changing event that day: "The gallant rescue of a child from drowning was effected on Cup Day by Mr Victor Belcher, the well-known South Melbourne captain."

"He had noticed two children were playing on the river's edge and suddenly saw that one had disappeared… Without waiting to divest himself of any of his clothes, Belcher dived in. He was successful, after a second dive, in locating the boy and managed to bring him to the bank, where he was helped out of the water."

A man of great character, Belcher coached Fitzroy to the 1922 premiership, finishing runner-up in 1923. His career had gone full circle when he returned to his native Brunswick in 1925, coaching them to the VFA premiership.

Belcher was South Melbourne's oldest life member when he passed away, aged 88, in 1977. In 2003, he was one of the first players chosen in the Swans' Team of the Century. When he retired from playing, astute sporting judge John Worrall wrote, "Like the vast majority of champions, Belcher has been fairness personified. He possessed fine spring and determination, was a hard man to beat and was a manly opponent."