Born Fyansford, Victoria February 3, 1842 – died Frankston, Victoria, August 22, 1909

Recruited to Carlton from North Geelong (Victoria)

At Carlton

33 matches (approx.), five goals 1866-’71

Captain 1868-’71

Premiership player 1871 (South Yarra Presentation Challenge Cup)

The football historian, researcher and author Mark Pennings, in his book Hard as Nails: Jack Conway and the Early Days of Football, penned the following about Jack Conway.

There is no doubt that J.J.A. “Jack” Conway (1842-1909) is one of the forgotten heroes of the early days of football in Melbourne. Accounts of this period have been dominated by the mighty deeds of T.W. Wills and H.C.A. Harrison, but when reading newspaper reports of the time one realises that Conway was in fact a household name. He was not a rulemaker, like Wills, or an influential administrator like Harrison, but his importance as a player during an era of football “warriors” should not be underestimated. He was the first great captain of the Carlton Football Club and was one of Harrison’s most formidable foes in those glorious football battles of bygone days.

Conway’s association with Australian football began at the game’s genesis. He was one of the first generation of Victorian-born Europeans (at Fyansford, near Geelong on February 3, 1842), and was locally educated, being a foundation pupil at the Melbourne Church of England Grammar School in 1858.

Conway maintained a great pride in his nationality and while managing the first Australian Test cricket tour of England in 1878 he tossed an Englishman, who had the temerity to enter the Australians’ enclosure speaking pidgin English, over the pickets. By this tour, Conway had established a long career as an active participant in Melbourne’s sporting life. He had been a successful footballer and cricketer and was also a respected sports’ journalist.

By the age of 17, Conway like others from Melbourne Grammar (such as Bromby’s sons, Christopher and Ernest) was playing for the South Yarra side. There were many famous early footballers that represented South Yarra at that time, including George O’Mullane, Henry Hale Budd and W.J. Greig. From 1860 to 1862 Conway played with South Yarra, St. Kilda, Richmond and Melbourne. In those days it was not unusual for players to represent several clubs during the season. However, from 1863 he seems to have played exclusively for Melbourne and in 1865 was often mentioned among the best players in games against clubs like South Yarra, Royal Park and Geelong.

By 1866 he was playing for Melbourne and the new Carlton club (which was formed in 1864, and began playing games in 1865). In 1866 and 1867 he was one of a number of captains for Carlton, but became its sole leader from 1868 to 1871. He also played the odd game for Emerald Hill and Albert Park during this time. He lived in Albert Park and captained the South Melbourne Cricket Club so he was occasionally “roped in” to these clubs when Carlton was not otherwise engaged.

It was at Carlton that Conway achieved his greatest fame. He took his captaincy very seriously and was an “ever-active” leader of fine teams that included legendary players like Tom and Billy Gorman, ‘Lanty’ O’Brien, Jack Donovan and Harry Guy. Conway’s significance can be measured by the work he did above and beyond his role as captain, for he was the pivotal figure who established the proud character of the Carlton football club that exists today. In the 1876 edition of The Footballer, “Old ‘Un” claimed that Conway was “… the man who made Carlton what it is, though they never properly acknowledged it”. Indeed, Conway grafted his lifelong motto of “The Game first, self last” to the team spirit of this club, and was also described as the embodiment of Carlton’s club motto “Mens sana in corpore sano” (A healthy mind in a healthy body: a classic ethic for muscular Christianity). He was thus the ideal Victorian athlete who displayed the discipline and selflessness that highlighted the best instincts of the sons of the British Empire where individual needs were sacrificed to the larger interests of club or country.

During the 1868 and 1869 seasons Conway reached the peak of his football career and was acknowledged as the driving force behind Carlton’s rise to power. He was invariably reported as one of that team’s best players, and his goal kicking ability placed him at the forefront of goal scorers in the Victorian colony. As captain, he was always prepared to defend Carlton’s reputation.

Conway was said to possess a “lustiness of personality” and was of a “frank and generous disposition”. As an athlete he was a man of exceptionally fine physique and vitality, with great strength and powers of endurance. In 1909, the writer of Conway’s obituary in The Australasian provided a colourful description of his physical build: “Conway was as strong as a house. Forty-three in the chest, with thighs, calves, biceps and forearms to match, he was a formidable opponent to shoulder in a football field”. So proud was Conway of these blessings from nature that in his later years, when coming across old friends he would “…close his hardened fist and, beating a great chest, would make the proud declaration, ‘Hard as nails, no embonpoint, no adipose tissue, all sinew and strength’.”

Of course in 1860s and 1870s football was a lot different to how it is today. Few people realise how rare goals were in those days and final results resembled today’s soccer scores. This was primarily because the game was contested by a group of heavyweight “followers” who were generally engaged in congested scrums. The whole exercise was based on rushing the ball forward and spilling it out into the open spaces where it was hoped that the “goalsneak” would kick that much-coveted goal. The game was also known for its “purlers” in which great fun was derived from knocking a player onto the earth in a way that made them slide along a muddy ground.

Conway completed his football career at the top after he had helped to make Carlton the strongest team in the colony of Victoria. He also played a major role in shaping its attitudes and ideals. Conway’s heroic deeds were not forgotten and he was fondly remembered in 1876 by “Old-‘Un” who wrote this poetic tribute to Conway and his famous playing days:

There’s gladness in remembrance, John, of rivals you had few,

When o’er the Melbourne’s rugged ground you led the famed Dark Blue,

You’ve joined in many a gallant charge after the flying leather,

And I often think of the good old days when we were boys together.