News
Maine's steady early Fifties footy seasons
News
Maine's steady early Fifties footy seasons
Published on:
19 October 2025
After their stellar 1952 season which culminated in the BFL premiership flag, Castlemaine enjoyed steady --- if not brilliant ---- mid-Fifties footy seasons.
Of course in '52 the Camp Reserve Magpies had won the premiership with a 29-point win over Sandhurst, and the celebrations were capped off by elephant rides down Lyttleton Street in front of the Town Hall.
Elephant rides ?? Yes, the circus was in town so several jubilant Magpie players took a turn on the elephants' backs as they got ready to attend the Town Hall premiership ball.
But here I'm going to look at how some of the early to mid-Fifties seasons played out for the Maine.
In 1953, one season after their big win, the Magpies finished up in the preliminary final with three fifth places to follow, completed with a semi-final in 1957.
Here's the season stats -- 1953: 14 wins, one draw, six losses: prelim final. 1954: 9-1-8, fifth. 1955: 9-1-11, fifth. 1956 (Melbourne Olympics Year) 10-9, fifth and 1957: 10-10, semi-final.
Aspirations were high the season after the premiership with key ruckman Heinz Tonn returning after coaching Chewton although Graeme Minihan had left to try out with St. Kilda.
Mid-season tragedy struck when the Maine's 24-year-old Ian Brown sustained serious head injuries in the inter-league clash against Ballarat and despite desperate attention in hospital he passed away.
With an appeal in full swing each Maine player contributed five pounds and in the Upper Reserve replay --- the Ballarat clash had ended in a draw --- the 1037 pound gate takings went to the Brown family and the Blue and Golds surged home to a great win.
It's really sobering to go back and read articles about Brown's misfortune. Now coming up to my 49th season involved in the BFNL I've never seen anything as serious as the injury to Brown.
I've travelled to inter-league games across the borders in Mt. Gambier and Albury-Lavington, and right through our state to Mildura, Sale, Shepparton, Horsham, Ballarat and Warrnambool, but have never seen a player injured so badly.
The Magpies struggled to re-build their team morale, but they downed Sandhurst to open a two-game buffer between the Maroons and the Maine followed up by a thrashing of winless Kyneton by 89 points.
Full-forward Les Murray had a couple of great Saturdays when he booted six goals consecutively against Echuca (2nd) and then against ladder leader Eaglehawk.
Maine moved into second by downing Square but then close to finals time surrendered second spot on the ladder --- and the finals' double chance --- by losing to South causing nightmares for coach Wally Culpitt.
The final round was notable for Eaglehawk spearhead's Harry Morgan equalling the BFL record by nailing 24 snag rolls against Rochester. It was a remarkable achievement --- Harry sat out the last quarter with the finals looming a week later.
The Maine downed South in the knockout first semi by keeping play congested and bottling up the Bloods' runners but the Hurst ground the Magpies down in the prelim.
They nailed a major minutes into the final term and snatched a 21-point lead and despite Heinz Tonn's hard work around the packs, supported by rover Frank Langdon and centreman Alan Perry, the Maroons won their way into the grand final.
The best the Magpies could do in the next three seasons was finish fifth and thereby miss the September action.
Just like in the VFL at the time (it didn't become the AFL until many decades later) there was a Top Four in place. Not a Top Five like today
The Maine list was pretty good for 1954 with only Jack Jefferies missing. He'd been transferred to Bendigo with the State Electricity Commission and ended up playing with Eaglehawk in the '54 BFL season.
Doug Cracknell nailed seven goals from nine shots against Echuca early doors, and then after a loss to Square the Maine belted Rochester by 103 points leaving them facing a conundrum.
Jefferies was back on the Camp Reserve mid-season, but in the Two Blues colours of Eaglehawk, and the Hawks won a close contest by a few points.
Mid-season and Les Murray's half-forward line excellence gave the Pies the break over Kyneton, before Square proved better in the wet and slushy conditions at Wade Street leaving Maine at risk of slipping out of the Four.
It was win-loss in August against Eaglehawk, then Sandhurst, with the final home-and-away clash against South the match which would decide the finals make-up.
The Bloods unleashed a devastating third quarter to up-end the Magpies and to make matters worse for the Maine Echuca downed Hurst to snatch fourth spot --- and a finals spot.
It was an unfortunate end to the career of the great Heinz Tonn who had accepted a job with a Melbourne real estate firm and wasn't returning to central Victoria.
And 1954 marked the end of Wally Culpitt's reign as Maine playing coach so, in reality, 1954 marked the end of a rich era.
To come: the rest of the mid-Fifties seasons from Castlemaine's perspective.
