Yallourn Football Club YFC - 1945-65 - Neville Linney, Jack Turner, Alan McIntyre & others

YALLOURN FOOTBALL CLUB 1945-65

NEVILLE LINNEY & OTHER NOTABLE YFC GOAL KICKERS

Yallourn Football Club full forward Neville Linney won the ‘The Advertiser Shield’ for the leading goal kicker in the Latrobe Valley Football League in 1963.

In all the years that Yallourn was affiliated with the LVFL, Neville was the only player to top the list. It was a notable achievement and should be placed on record.

Neville Linney (born in 1933) was somewhat of a ‘boy wonder’ in VFL football. He was recruited from Malvern Grammar to St Kilda. In his first season of senior VFL football Neville made such an impact that he was selected to play for Victoria against South Australia. One press report said Neville’s selection on the half back flank was the chief surprise of the 1953 Carnival team.

‘The Argus’ (24th June 1953) reported…
“….after only eight games he (Linney) has reached football’s the pinnacle –an interstate guernsey.”

The Victorian team that season included some of the greatest names in VFL/AFL history…John Coleman (Essendon), Roy Wright (Richmond), Bobby Rose (Collingwood), Charlie Sutton (Footscray) and Bill Gunn (South Melbourne). In such distinguished company Neville’s selection was stunning.

Despite his undoubted ability, Neville’s career was dogged with controversy and his VFL record indicates a ‘difficult journey.’ His clashes with coaches and officialdom were often given prominence in the media.

After such a brilliant start, the following seasons were problematic and Neville was often ‘at odds’ with St Kilda administrators. After the first round in 1955, Neville transferred to Golden Point FC in the Ballarat FL. He was back with the Saints in 1956 (9 games) and in 1957 Neville played only eight games.

With time running out on his VFL career, Neville left the ‘big stage’ in grand style. In his final game for St Kilda, he kicked 5 goals against Collingwood at Victoria Park. He was only 24 years of age but it was to be his ‘last hurrah’ in the VFL. In total, Neville played 43 games for the Saints and kicked 16 goals.

As the St Kilda FC website says... “Success came too early” for Neville but no one really knows. In football celebrity status can take a heavy toll on those not accustomed to media scrutiny, ‘bright lights’ and the ‘glitz of show-biz’. It is well known in football circles that ‘fame needs to be worn with prudence’.

Neville arrived at YFC, via a circuitous route, five years after his last VFL game. His entrance into the clubrooms on that day in 1962 was ‘dramatic’ to say the least. John Hutchinson was the coach of the Blues and he had taken some considerable time and trouble to secure Neville to play for Yallourn.

Those who watched Neville make his debut for Yallourn were genuinely intrigued and excited…it was the ‘game within the game.’

Neville struggled with the tempo early but slowly found touch. In the second half, he gathered some telling possessions and although ‘rusty’ he exuded a ‘touch of class.’ That evening the YFC clubrooms were abuzz with discussion of Neville’s performance that day and his prospects of playing with the Blues the following year.

Neville returned to Yallourn at the start of the 1963 season and under the adroit guidance and encouragement of John Hutchinson (YFC coach 1963), Neville re-ignited his football career.

The selectors’ decision to pick Neville at full forward created ‘fireworks!’ In round: 8 Neville booted eight goals and that performance had ‘everyone in town’ talking. He then played a ‘blinder’ at Drouin (7 goals) and in the last match of the 1963 season he kicked seven goals against Warragul.
His tally of 64 was enough for Neville to win the ‘The Advertiser Shield’. He was the first (and last) Yallourn player to win the coveted award in the LVFL. (Note: Jack Turner had won the GFL goal kicking award in 1933 and Alan McIntyre tied in 1949 in the CGFL ~see footnotes). ‘The Live Wire’ carried a photograph of Neville being congratulated by Jim Anderson (LVFL Official) on winning the ‘The Advertiser Shield’ (October 16th 1963).

In 1964 Neville kicked 7 goals against Sale. This was a measure of his ability to win the ‘hard ball’ against experienced defenders.

His ‘double-figure haul’ against Stratford on June 6th was witnessed by a very small crowd but it was a masterly exhibition. Neville started on a young and ‘raw’ full back and his early majors set the scene for a ‘big day out.’ His adept display of marking on the lead, protecting ‘his space’ with powerful body work and his accurate conversion was ‘copy book stuff’.

Stratford’s erudite and respected coach Ron Irvine (ex-Richmond/Box Hill) struggled to find a ‘match up’ for the burly Blue forward. Neville ‘bagged’ 12 goals that day.

Neville finished third on the LVFL table with 50 goals. A young ‘up-and-comer’ named Alan Noonan pipped Neville with 54 goals that season. Alan was later to play VFL and he won Essendon’s goal-kicking trophy on seven occasions.

Neville played for YFC again in 1965 but was hampered with injury. He was among the best for Yallourn in several games and he played against Bruce Williams (Carlton 1959-64) at Morwell. {Note: Bruce is not to be confused with Doug Williams (ex-Yallourn & Morwell) or Don Williams (ex-Melbourne) who coached Sale in 1963}.

From the match reports in ‘The Live Wire’, it seems that Neville’s last match for the Blues was against Sale in round: 9 in 1965. He played a serviceable game and kicked three goals. In that year, Traralgon’s Frank Munro (ex-Carlton/Richmond) won the LVFL goal kicking award with 65 goals.

Newspaper reports reveal that Neville’s life was, at times, troubled and turbulent. There is much more that could be written about of one the most mercurial and enigmatic players to ever don the Yallourn colours. It is best left to Brian Gleeson (St Kilda & Brownlow Medallist 1957) to sum up Neville’s controversial career. Brian, a former team mate of Neville’s, simply said…
“At (St Kilda) in 1956 there was an amazing player called Neville Linney.”

According to AFL historian Barb Cullen, Neville Linney died on the 19th of May 1985.

FOOTNOTES~ 80 YEARS AGO: JACK TURNER YFC
• Goal kicking exploits have always been of great interest to football followers and the record for a Yallourn footballer in one game is believed to be 28 goals. In 1933, Jack Turner kicked 28 goals against Bairnsdale in the Gippsland Football League. The scores from the game were: Yallourn 53.27 (345) defeated Bairnsdale 6.7. (43). Yallourn’s listed goal kickers that day were: Turner 28, Graham 6, Pratt 4, Crawford 4, Knight 2 and Franklin 2.
• Up until that point of the 1933 season (29th July), Jack had kicked 85 goals. At the GFL meeting at Sale (24th August), it was announced that Jack had won the goal kicking with 116 goals.
• Jack Turner may be the only YFC player to have kicked ‘a ton’ in one season.
• Jack kicked two goals in the 1933 Grand Final. Yallourn 13.14. (92) won the premiership that day by defeating Maffra 13.9.(87).
• In October 1933, Jack Turner (known as the ‘champion goal kicker of Yallourn’) was seriously injured in a motor accident in Melbourne. Apparently, the incident occurred on the same day that Jack had started work with The Melbourne Gas Company.
• In 1934 Jack won the GFL Goal-kicking Trophy again.
• Little more is known about Jack Turner except that he died suddenly in March 1935. ‘The Gippsland Times’ (April 1st 1935) printed the following… “Condolences ..it was with feelings of profound regret that all associated with this league learned of the death of the popular and capable and gentleman, Mr Jack Turner. On and off the field he was an ornament to the game ….his example of a player must ever prove of value to all who play the game and as a pattern to be copied, he left nothing desired…”
• Readers may not be aware, that in 1933 Yallourn travelled far and wide to play in the Gippsland FL. The other teams in GFL were: Bairnsdale, Sale, Yarram, Rosedale, Maffra, Stratford, and Traralgon. In some newspaper columns Yallourn FC was known as ‘Spark Town.’
• There was a ‘J. Turner’ who played one game of VFL football for Essendon in 1930 and kicked two goals. It is difficult to establish whether it is Jack Turner.
• Yallourn’s well known and popular forward Alan McIntyre shared the CGFL Goal-kicking Trophy (known as ‘The Oval Award’) with Wally Nash (Warragul FC) in 1949. Both players kicked 80 goals that season. It is said that Wally Nash kicked 246 goals for Warragul in five seasons. Wally later played 17 games with Hawthorn in 1953-54.
• It is also reported that Alan McIntyre kicked 18 goals against Trafalgar in 1949.
• George Bates kicked 67 goals for YFC in 1953.
• Neville Linney was a most capable all rounder for Yallourn Cricket Club. He captained the 1st XI and was also selected to represent the CGCA at the Victorian Country Week Carnival.

Written for Virtual Yallourn by Roger Spaull~July 2013.

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