Champion of the Colony

The Champion of the Colony Award is a list that was compiled in the 1940s and 1950s by Australian rules football historian Cecil Clarence Mullen (1895–1983) for Mullen's Australasian Footballers' Almanac in 1950,[1][2] for Mullen's Footballers' Australian Almanac in 1951,[3] and for the History of Australian Rules Football in 1958.[4]

According to Mullen's 1950 almanac, the Champion of the Colony was an annual award was originally based on votes by club captains and later by Melbourne's leading football journalists, which was the accepted historical interpretation of the title for many decades.

More recent research has failed to uncover any contemporary evidence of any such award having ever existed,[5][6][7] and it is now generally accepted that the list was compiled entirely by Mullen, based on newspaper reports that he had collected over many years.

## Four lists

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The final year for each of the lists produced by Mullen varied throughout his works: the 1950 Almanac finishes in 1949, the 1951 Almanac finishes in 1950, and the 1958 history finishes in 1940. A fourth list that is claimed to be based on Mullen's work, finishing in 1945, has been used since 2003 in official Australian Football League (AFL) publications, with the 2017 and 2018 AFL Season Guide noting the newspapers that Mullen used in compiling his list.

The original list as compiled by Mullen contained multiple factual errors, while the 1945 version of the list contains anomalies compared to the lists of 1940, 1949 and 1950.

## List of C. C. Mullen's Champions of the Colony

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Year | Player | Club

|
|

1856 | Tom Wills 1 | Corio Bay
1857 | Tom Wills | Corio Bay
1858 | G. S. Bruce | Richmond Cricketers
1859 | Tom Wills | Geelong
1860 | H. W. Bryant | Melbourne
1861 | George O'Mullane | South Yarra
1862 | Henry C. Harrison | Melbourne
1863 | Henry C. Harrison | Melbourne
1864 | A. M. Greenfield | Ballarat
1865 | Tom Wills | Melbourne
1866 | Henry C. Harrison | Melbourne
1867 | Henry C. Harrison | Melbourne
1868 | Jack Conway | Carlton
1869 | Henry C. Harrison | Melbourne
1870 | T. W. C. Riddell | South Yarra
1871 | B. J. Goldsmith | Melbourne
1872 | Tom Wills | Geelong
1873 | J. C. Donovan | Carlton
1874 | W. N. Lacey | Carlton
1875 | George Robertson | Carlton
1876 | George Coulthard | Carlton
1877 | George Coulthard | Carlton
1878 | H. P. Douglass | Geelong
1879 | George Coulthard | Carlton
1880 | James Wilson | Geelong
1881 | James Wilson | Geelong
1882 | James Wilson | Geelong
1883 | John Baker | Carlton
1884 | Jack Kerley | Geelong
1885 | Peter Burns | South Melbourne
1886 | Charlie Pearson | Essendon
1887 | John Worrall | Fitzroy
1888 | Dinny McKay 2 | South Melbourne
1889 | Bill Hannaysee | Port Melbourne
1890 | John Worrall | Fitzroy
1891 | Peter Burns | South Melbourne
1892 | Charlie Forbes | Essendon
1893 | Albert Thurgood | Essendon
1894 | Albert Thurgood | Essendon[8]
1895 | George Vautin | Essendon
1896 | Bill Strickland | Collingwood
1897 | Fred McGinis | Melbourne
1898 | Dick Condon | Collingwood
1899 | Mick Grace | Fitzroy[9]
1900 | Fred Leach | Collingwood[10]
1901 | Albert Thurgood | Essendon
1902 | E. M. 'Ted' Rowell | Collingwood
1903 | Hugh Gavin 3 | Essendon
1904 | Vic Cumberland | St Kilda
1905 | Percy Trotter | Fitzroy
1906 | Jack McKenzie | Essendon
1907 | Dave McNamara | St Kilda
1908 | Bill Busbridge | Essendon
1909 | Bill Busbridge | Essendon
1910 | Dick Lee | Collingwood
1911 | Bruce Sloss | South Melbourne
1912 | Ernie Cameron | Essendon
1913 | Vic Cumberland | St Kilda
1914 | Dave McNamara | St Kilda
1915 | Dick Lee | Collingwood
1916 | Vic Thorp | Richmond
1917 | Paddy O'Brien | Carlton
1918 | Jack P. Howell | South Melbourne
1919 | Vic Thorp | Richmond
1920 | Roy Cazaly 4 | South Melbourne
1921 | Horrie Clover | Carlton
1922 | Goldie Collins | Fitzroy
1923 | Tom Fitzmaurice | Essendon
1924 | Tom Fitzmaurice | Essendon
1925 | Colin Watson* | St Kilda
1926 | Ivor Warne-Smith* | Melbourne
1927 | Syd Coventry* | Collingwood
1928 | Ivor Warne-Smith* | Melbourne
1929 | Syd Coventry | Collingwood
1930 | Allan Hopkins* | Footscray
1931 | G. J. 'Jocka' Todd | Geelong
1932 | Haydn Bunton, Sr.* | Fitzroy
1933 | Gordon Coventry | Collingwood
1934 | Laurie Nash | South Melbourne
1935 | Laurie Nash | South Melbourne
1936 | Harry Collier | Collingwood
1937 | Dick Reynolds* | Essendon
1938 | Jack Regan | Collingwood
1939 | Dick Reynolds | Essendon
1940 | Jack Dyer | Richmond
1941 | Ted Cordner 5 | Melbourne
1942 | Jack Dyer 5 | Richmond
1943 | Jack Dyer | Richmond
1944 | Norm Smith | Melbourne
1945 | Jack Graham | South Melbourne
1946 | Des Fothergill | Collingwood
1947 | Don Cordner | Melbourne
1948 | Ollie Grieve | Carlton
1949 | Les Foote | North Melbourne
1950 | Bill Hutchison | Essendon

* Player also won the Brownlow Medal that year.
1 While Tom Wills is listed as champion in 1856, he did not arrive in Victoria until 23 December 1856[11][12] after having spent the last seven years in England and Ireland.
2 The lists ending in 1940, 1949 and 1950 have the 1888 winner as Denis "Dinny" Mckay of South Melbourne, but the list ending in 1945 has his teammate Peter Burns as the 1888 winner.
3 While Hugh Gavin of Essendon is listed as champion in 1903, he did not play for Essendon that year: he played for Boulder City in the Goldfields of Western Australia.[13]
4 While Roy Cazaly of South Melbourne is listed as champion in 1920, he did not play for South Melbourne until 1921: he played for St Kilda in 1911-1915 and 1918-1920.
5 The lists ending in 1949 and 1950 have the 1941 winner as Ted Cordner of Melbourne and the 1942 winner as Jack Dyer of Richmond, but the list ending in 1945 has the 1941 winner as Wally Buttsworth of Essendon and the 1942 winner as Ted Cordner.

## C. C. Mullen

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The son of Alfred Raphael Mullen (1858-1913), and Eleanor Jane "Nellie" Mullen (1866-1938), née Rooking,[14][15] Cecil Clarence Mullen was born in Richmond on 25 September 1895. He died at Kew on 4 April 1983.[16] It is significant that, despite his birth and death records having him as Clarence Cecil Mullen, all of his electoral roll records have him as Cecil Clarence Mullen.

In addition to his work as a football umpire, journalist and football historian,[17] he had a strong interest in (brass band) music,[18] and was responsible for the formation of the Richmond Amateur Boy's Club[19][20][21][22] — through which he was an early and significant influence on the cricket and the football of a number of prominent sportsmen, including George Bates, Syd Dineen, Neil Harvey, Tommy Lahiff, Jock McConchie, Bill Munn, Laurie Nash, Leo Opray, Ron Richards, Alby Pannam, George Smeaton, and Clarrie Vontom.[23]

## See also

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* History of Australian rules football in Victoria (1859–1900)

## Notes

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1. ^ Advertisement: Copp & Company, The (Adelaide) Advertiser, (Saturday, 12 August 1950), p.6.
2. ^ Everett (2010).
3. ^ Football Almanac, The Herald, (Saturday, 4 August 1951), p.12.
4. ^ Mullen (1958).
5. ^ Smith (2009).
6. ^ Richer (2014).
7. ^ "Modern scholarship has shown that [Mullen's] work contains many anomalies, such as phantom matches, anachronisms, exaggerations and omissions. Despite their inaccuracies, or perhaps because of them, Mullen’s Australasian Footballers' Almanac (1950), Mullen's Footballers’ Australian Almanac 1951, and his History of Australian Rules Football: 1858-1958, are fundamental to the study of football historiography. . . .
Mullen’s writings popularised and preserved many myths and pieces of folklore. Football scholarship has outgrown his pioneering attempts at constructing a history of the code, and although much of his work has been superseded a critique is still necessary. Some of the myths and phantoms he created, such as the so-called "Champion of the Colony" first published in Mullen’s Australasian Footballers’ Almanac (1950), are still cited in current reference texts. Mullen’s work may be unreliable but its legacy endures" (Ruddell, 2010, p.2).
8. ^ During the 1923 season, in an article discussing the issue of who was a "champion player" — both as outright "champion" and as "champion" in a particular position — the football correspondent for The Argus ("Old Boy"), spoke of his observations of players over the years (at least as early as Carlton's George Coulthard in the early 1880s) and, despite the "tremendous difficulty" of such a task, was emphatic that Essendon's Albert Thurgood was his best-ever "champion player" (out of twenty outright "champions", and 62 "champions" in a particular position):
"I have never had any doubt myself that A.J. Thurgood is the best all-round man I ever saw play the game in Victoria. He was a champion goal-kicker, could get the ball for himself, and wherever placed was a champion. In the Essendon premiership and championship teams between 1891 and 1894 he played in every position on the field, and in all was a success. Further than that, he was a match-winner; a man who could do the seemingly impossible and turn a forlorn hope into victory." ('Old Boy', "Football: The Champion Player", (Friday, 29 June 1923), p.6).
A week later, in a second article, "Old Boy" apologized for inadvertently omitting Fitzroy's Jim Grace and Geelong's Hugh McLean, and, as well, supplied the names of a number of other outstanding players suggested to him by various correspondents ('Old Boy', "Football: The Champion Player", (Friday, 6 July 1923), p.6).
9. ^ At the end of the 1899 season, in the process of naming his own "champion player", the football correspondent for The Argus ("Old Boy"), selected a team of the best players of the 1899 VFL competition:
Backs: Maurie Collins (Essendon), Bill Proudfoot (Collingwood), Peter Burns (Geelong); Halfbacks: Pat Hickey (Fitzroy), George Davidson (South Melbourne), Alf Wood (Melbourne); Centres: Fred Leach (Collingwood), Firth McCallum (Geelong), Harry Wright (Essendon); Wings: Charlie Pannam (Collingwood), Eddie Drohan (Fitzroy), Herb Howson (South Melbourne); Forwards: Bill Jackson (Essendon), Eddy James (Geelong), Charlie Colgan (South Melbourne); Ruck: Mick Pleass (South Melbourne), Frank Hailwood (Collingwood), Joe McShane (Geelong); Rovers: Dick Condon (Collingwood), Bill McSpeerin (Fitzroy), Teddy Rankin (Geelong).
From those he considered to be the three best players — that is, Condon, Hickey, and Pleass — he selected Pat Hickey as his "champion player" of the season. ('Old Boy', "Football: A Review of the Season", (Monday, 18 September 1899), p.6).
10. ^ At the end of the 1900 season, the football correspondent for The Leader ("Follower"), chose Fitzroy's Mick Grace, just ahead of Melbourne's Fred McGinis, as his "Champion of the Season". ('Follower', "Champion of the Season", The Leader, (Saturday, 29 September 1900), pp.17).
11. ^ Wills arrived in Melbourne on board the Oneida which had departed from Southampton
12. ^ "The Argus". The Argus. Melbourne. 24 December 1856. p. 4. Retrieved 7 May 2011 – via National Library of Australia.
13. ^ "FOOTBALL". The Argus. Melbourne. 12 May 1904. p. 7. Retrieved 7 May 2011 – via National Library of Australia.
14. ^ History in Medals, The Portland Guardian, (Monday, 3 December 1934), p.2.
15. ^ Deaths: Mullen, The Argus, (Saturday, 26 November 1938), p.8.
16. ^ Clarence Cecil Mullen (died 14 April 1983), findagrave.com
17. ^ Mullen, 1950; 1951b; 1953; 1958, etc.
18. ^ South Street's Great Bands, The Sporting Globe, (Saturday, 20 October 1951), p.11; Mullen (1940); Mullen (1951a); and Mullen (1965).
19. ^ Richmond Amateur Boys have Fine Football and Cricket Clubs, The Sporting Globe, (Saturday, 10 September 1927), p.6.
20. ^ Richmond Amateur Boys: Remarkable Cricket and Football Records, The Sporting Globe, (Saturday, 1 December 1928), p.6.
21. ^ Richmond Boys' Club: Fine Work by C.C. Mullen, The Sporting Globe, (Saturday, 17 December 1932), p.4.
22. ^ 'Juvenis', "Among the Schools: Richmond Amateur Boy's Club", The Age, (Tuesday, 6 August 1935), p.4.
23. ^ On the Fringe of the Ruck, The Herald, (Friday, 29 May 1936), p.21; Here is Gordon Junior, (Wednesday, 24 July 1940), p.9; and Ruddell (2010), p.2.

## References

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### General

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* de Korte, Jeremy (2020), "Cecil Clarence Mullen: Enthusiastic Commentator, Historian and Statistician of Brass and Military Bands", Band Blasts from the Past, 6 March 2020.
* Everett, L., "The Almanac 1950", footyalmanac.com, 11 November 2010.
* Richter, Armin (2014), "The Champions That Never Were", footyalmanac.com, 7 June 2014.
* Ruddell, Trevor (2010), "Introducing Cec Mullen: Pioneer Sports Historian", The Yorker: Journal of the Melbourne Cricket Club Library, No.43, (Spring 2010), p.2.
* Smith, Ross, (2009), "The non-existent Champion of the Colony award (1856-1945)", sportandhistory.com.

### C. C. Mullen

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* Mullen, C.C. (1934), "Left-Handers must be 'Natural': Value in England", The Sporting Globe, (Saturday, 15 December 1934), p.6.
* Mullen, C.C. (1940), "Australia does not have enough Military Bands: Bandsmen Are Hard to Find, and Many Prefer Technical Units on Account of the Rates of Pay", The Argus, (Saturday, 30 November 1940), p.1.
* Mullen, C.C. (1950), Mullen's Australasian Footballers' Almanac, Carlton: Horticultural Press.
* Mullen, C.C. (1951a), Mullen's Bandsmen of South Street (1900-1951), Carlton: Horticultural Press.[1]
* Mullen, C.C. (1951b), Mullen's Footballers' Australian Almanac, Abbotsford: C.C. Mullen.
* Mullen, C.C. (1953), "Let's Remember Heroic League stars who Died at War", The Sporting Globe, (Saturday, 25 April 1953), p.4.
* Mullen, C.C. (1958), History of Australian Rules Football, 1858 to 1958, Carlton: Horticultural Press.[2]
* Mullen, C.C. (1965), "Brass Bands have Played a Prominent Part in the History of Victoria", The Victorian Historical Magazine, Vol.36, No.139, (February 1965), pp.30-47.