With the Sydney Swans playing North Melbourne in Hobart this week, it is appropriate that Classic Matches looks at a previous clash between these clubs at an unusual venue.

South Melbourne v North Melbourne
Albury, June 14, 1952

The VFL decided before announcing its 1952 fixture that it wanted to “spread the football gospel”, with matches all around Australia.

The VFL designated round eight, with six matches on June 14, as what it branded “National Day”.

Apart from a Victoria-Western Australia match at the MCG, the VFL also scheduled matches in Albury (South v North), Sydney (Richmond v Collingwood), Hobart (Fitzroy v Melbourne), Yallourn (Footscray v St Kilda), Euroa (Carlton v Hawthorn) and Brisbane (Geelong v Essendon).

Atrocious weather conditions forced the Bombers-Cats match to be postponed to the following Monday night, but the other matches on the Saturday attracted huge interest.

South had to make two changes to its team to play North in Albury, with Bill Gunn and Jim Taylor selected to represent Victoria against Western Australia. Their replacements were Ron Digney and Bill Nolan.

The Swans had been defeated only once (by Hawthorn) over the opening seven rounds and therefore were raging favourites to defeat the Shinboners.

The match attracted 12,000 fans, with every vantage point taken at the Albury ground to see the stars from “the big smoke”.

The match proved to be a cracker and former Australian Test cricketer Ian Johnson, writing in The Argus, described it as “a magnificent exhibition of football”.

He reported that “every good feature of the Australian game was seen, with only points separating the teams until the last 10 minutes”.

North led by two points at each of the first two breaks and scores were level at three-quarter time.

South captain-coach Gordon “Whoppa” Lane then inspired his team from centre half-forward, and the Swans grabbed the lead half-way through the quarter through a goal by Ian “Razors” Gillett.

However, the Swans were fortunate as, just minutes earlier, North’s Kevin Smith took a spectacular mark in the goal square but missed an almost “gimme” shot.

Gillett’s goal rallied teammates, with the red and white swarming all over North over the final 10 minutes for a 22-point victory.

In the other National Day matches, Collingwood defeated Richmond by 36 points, Fitzroy downed Melbourne by 20 points, St Kilda defeated Footscray by 15 points and Carlton thrashed Hawthorn by 37 points.

In the postponed Essendon-Geelong match, the Bombers triumphed by a whopping 69 points.

Victoria defeated WA by nine points at the MCG, with Gunn lining up on a half-forward flank and Taylor in a forward pocket as a change ruckman.

South was in second position at the completion of the National Day round and seemed certain to make the finals for the first time since 1945.

However, the Swans slumped over the second half of the season and finished fifth after inexplicably losing to lowly Footscray at the Western Oval in the final round. Carlton pipped South for fourth position by two match points, even though Geelong thrashed the Blues by 45 points at Kardinia Park in the final round.

SOUTH MELBOURNE    4.1     7.5     12.9     18.10 (118)
NORTH MELBOURNE   4.3     7.7     12.9     14.12 (96)

SOUTH MELBOURNE LINE-UP
B: Tom Ryan, Erwin Dornau, Jack Garrick
HB: Kevin Hilet, Pat Deagan, Keith Browning
C: Bruce Murray, Keith Schaefer, Frank Brew
HF: Gray “Mick” Sibun, Gordon Lane, Ron Digney
F: Ian Gillett, Ron Paez, Jack Eichhorn
FOLL.: Don Scott, Bill Nolan, Eddie lane
RES.: Fred Goldsmith, Marty Lynch

• It is believed that Erwin Dornau was the first Queenslander to play senior VFL football. Recruited from the Kedron club, he played 54 games with the Swans from 1948-52 and was a powerfully built (183cm and 86kg) defender; he wore number 17.