1906

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1906 Summary

Under the guidance of Australian Football’s first professional coach; Jack Worrall, the Carlton Football Club reached the pinnacle of the game for the first time in 1906, when the Old Dark Navy Blues won the club’s first-ever Victorian Football League Premiership. Having reached the Preliminary Final or Grand Final each year from 1903 to 1905, Worrall’s men would not be denied at their fourth attempt, and emphatically defeated their former nemesis, Fitzroy, by 49 points.

This historic victory wasn’t just a glorious one-off achievement however. In one of the most famous purple patches in the history of the game, the Blues would go on to triple Premiership glory, winning three flags in a row in 1906-07-08, and getting to within 2 points of four straight in 1909. Those facts alone entitle this team to be ranked among the greatest of all time.

On the way to their first Premiership, the Blues claimed the minor premiership by topping the ladder with 14 wins and 3 losses, finishing one game ahead of Fitzroy in second. Carlton’s only defeats came against Essendon in round 7, South Melbourne in round 12 and Fitzroy the following week in round 13. When the finals got underway, Carlton and Collingwood engaged in a torrid Semi Final that the Blues eventually won by 10 points, before accounting for Fitzroy in surprisingly comfortable circumstances in the Grand Final.

An indication of Carlton's dominance during the season was the achievement of key forward Mick Grace, who led the league's goalscoring with 50 goals. ‘Silver’ Caine finished second on the table with 37 majors, while George Topping also made the top 10 with 25 goals.

The full story of the day, the game and the implications of our first Premiership are explored here in a Blueseum article, The First of Many, including extracts from the club's Annual Report and the press of the day.

Ladder

Pos	Team	Wins	Draws	Losses	Points	For	Against	%
1	Carlton	14	0	3	56	163.193.1171	102.151.763	153.5
2	Fitzroy	13	0	4	52	144.194.1058	91.144.690	153.3
3	Collingwood	11	0	6	44	171.206.1232	121.152.878	140.3
4	Essendon	10	0	7	40	126.203.959	110.173.833	115.1
5	Sth Melbourne	8	0	9	32	133.167.965	134.162.966	99.9
6	St Kilda	6	0	11	24	102.184.796	121.178.904	88.1
7	Geelong	5	0	12	20	103.157.775	164.222.1206	64.3
8	Melbourne	1	0	16	4	93.123.681	192.245.1397	48.7

People of 1906

Coach: Jack Worrall Captain: Jim Flynn Vice Captain: George Bruce Leading Goal-kicker: Mick Grace - 50 Goals

Milestones

Goal-kicking: In 1906 Carlton’s Mick Grace became first VFL player to kick 50 goals in a season. Debuts: Charlie Meadway, William Harry, Ike Little, Harvey Gibson, Albert Bickford, Les Beck, Fred Jinks, Andy Kennedy, Jack Hammond, Jack Grant, Dick Harris, Doug Gillespie, Alex Johnston, Martin Gotz, Bill Grant and Alex Lang

Princes Park Grandstand

The Referee (Sydney) October 03 1906 writing about the Carlton Cricket Club's annual report in which the proposed Gardiner grandstand is mentioned; "The club has decided to erect a grandstand, at a cost of £3000, as soon as guarantors for the amount are obtained. That financial problem would scare to death any club in Sydney. The Melburnians, like the Yankees, are good in dealing with dollars."

vs Combined Catholic Young Men's F.C. (C.Y.M.S.) April 21 at Princes Park

Carlton won 20.27.147 - 2.0.12

vs North Melbourne, April 28 at Princes Park

Umpires; O'Loughlin / Tulloch second half Carlton won by 169 points!! Carl; 7.7 11.11 20.17 26.22.178 N.M; 1.0 1.1 1.1 1.3.9 Goals; unknown As one supporter said "When Carlton were not kicking goals they were missing them!"

Sydney Trip

October 13 Carlton played a NSW representative team on Sydney's Royal Agricultural Show Ground. Crowd; 3,000 The weather was too hot and windy for good football. The Sydney Morning Herald in its Monday report named both teams with NSW having 18 players and Carlton with 15 "New South Wales had a mixed team of good general quality. The Victorians were not represented by their strongest team. They played Barry, captain of the Fort Street S. P. S. Club." (SMH Oct 15 p10) Fort Street S.P.S. is a Sydney secondary school in Petersham est. 1849 which played Australian Football. Carlton team; (15 players named, although some reports do say Carlton 18. Reports mentiont several prominent Carlton players were absent) Barry, Beck, Clark, Cook, Flynn, Gillespie, C. Hammond, J. Hammond, Ingleburn, Jinks, Johnson, Lang, Payne, Scammill, Topping. Umpire; Fromer Carlton won Carl; 2.3 4.4 7.8 9.11.65 NSW; 2.4 2.5 4.7 5.8.38

There is a team photo taken in Sydney with 18 players plus officials in Brian Hansen's The Blue Boys p49

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Gallery

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  1906 - Mick Grace first player to kick 50 goals in a season.Source: 100 Years of Australian Rules Football.
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  1906 Rd 5 - Blues defeat Sth Melb.Source: 100 Years of Australian Rules Football.
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  The Blues - Late 1900's.
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  1906 - The Great Worrall.
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  1906-07-08: Blues Premiership Trifecta.
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  Carl v S.Melb 1906 rd 12
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  Carl v S.Melb 1 1906 Rd 12
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  Carl V S.Melb 2 1906 Rd 12
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  Martin Gotz 1906
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  Mick Grace Marks Against Collingwood In 1906Image courtesy of Carlton Football Club
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  Norman Clark Takes A Well Judged Mark 1906Image courtesy of Carlton Football Club
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  1906 v Essendon"1906 v Essendon Melbourne Punch August 23
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  1906 v Essendon"1906 v Essendon Melbourne Punch August 23
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  1906 v Essendon"1906 v Essendon Melbourne Punch August 23
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  1906 vs St.Kilda"1906 v St.Kilda Melbourne Punch July 12
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  1906 v St.Kilda"1906 v St.Kilda Melbourne Punch July 12
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  1906 panorama 2 Carl - Fitz. Brunswick St."1906 panorama 2 Fitzroy Brunswick St. Trove; Punch June 14 p18
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  1906 panorama 1 Carl - Fitz Brunswick St."1906 panorama 1 Carl - Fitz Brunswick St. Trove; Punch June 14 p18
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  1906 Grey Smith Stand 1906 - 1966 MCG"1906 Grey Smith Stand 1906-1966 MCG Image: SLV, Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News (Melb) September 29
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  1906 Rnd 4 vs Coll VP Archie Snell marking."1906 Rnd 4 V Collingwood at Victoria Park Carlton's Archie Snell marks Image: SLV, Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic news (Melb)
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  1906 Rnd 11 v Collingwood Princes Park"1906 Round 11 v Collingwood Princes Park Image: SLV, Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News July 30
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  1906 Rnd 11 v Collingwood Princes Park"1906 Rnd 11 v Collingwood Princes Park Image; SLV, Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News July 30
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  1906 Rnd 11 v Collingwood Princes Park"1906 Rnd 11 v Collingwood Princes Park Image; SLV, Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News July 30
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  1906 Rnd 15 v Ess at Princes Park"1906 Rnd 15 v Essendon at Princes Park Image; SLV, Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News (Melb) Aug 30 p11
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  1906 Rnd 15 v Ess Princes Park vers 2"1906 Round 15 v Essendon at Princes Park version 2 Image: SLV, Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News (Melb)
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  The Grey Smith Grandstand MCG 1906 - 1966"The Grey Smith Grandstand MCG 1906-1966 SLV: Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic news September 29
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  1906 Jim Flynn cap"1906 Jim Flynn cap google image
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  1906 West Melbourne VFA premiers J.Neylan Geo McCart 1906 West Melbourne VFA premiers Missing Head Carlton players Jim Neylan and George McCart, can anyone identify them? Punch October 04 p17
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  1906 G F Picsb
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  1906 Carl V Fitz Advert Herald Aug 10 P4 Capture
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  1906 Broatch Coburg Leader DEc 08 P4 Capture