A 100 year-old scrapbook once the property of former Carlton wingman Joe Kelly has been handed in to the club’s archive by the St Kilda Football Club journalist and historian Russell Holmesby.
Holmesby made the presentation at a recent gathering of members of the Australian Football Heritage Group, which was held in the Presidents’ Room at IKON Park.
There historians heard from Carlton’s four-time Premiership player David McKay in a Q and A; and were also privy to a presentation relating to the club’s search for the long-lost South Yarra Presentation Cup earned with victory over Melbourne way back in 1871.
How did Kelly’s scrapbook wind up at Moorabbin? The explanation can be sourced to the early 1990s when Holmesby and the late Jim Main were commissioned by the club to compile a book entitled Carlton, The 100 Greatest. The book was released in 1994 to coincide with the 130th anniversary of Carlton’s founding.
“Jimmy researched Joe Kelly’s story and in the course of his research someone gave him the scrapbook. It’s been lying amongst Jimmy’s things ever since,” Holmesby said.
“My thinking is that the book belongs at Carlton, just as I’d expect the book would be returned to St Kilda if Joe had been a former St Kilda player.”
The scrapbook serves as a lovely throwback to Kelly’s Carlton career and his school days which, as Holmesby said, “reveal an expanded look at his life”.
Glorious clippings of Kelly’s nine seasons and 147 senior games at Carlton from 1926, are pasted into what was the former Xavier College student’s old geometry exercise album – perhaps a reflection of Depression times when the scarcity of goods forced people to improvise.
Kelly’s name appears on the front cover of the scrapbook, beneath the letters ‘A.M.D.C.’ – the abbreviation for the Latin words ‘Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam’ (‘To the Greater Glory of God’).
Taped into the pages are early clippings of Kelly’s years as a cricketer for Xavier, Northcote and Kew - the sub-district team for whom Kelly once hit a ton after forgetting to don the pads as he walked to the wicket.
Magnificent caricatures of the Carlton players, Kelly amongst them, also appear - as sketched for Table Talk by the artist Reynolds in 1926, and The Sporting Globe by Hannaford in 1932.
Also included is a Carlton letterhead signed by the then Secretary Pat Cain and dated June 1, 1929, advising Kelly of his selection for the Victorian team to meet New South Wales in Sydney on June 8.
“The team, under the management of Mr. Ivan More of Geelong, will leave Spencer St. Stn. for Sydney on Thursday next & you will be requested to be in attendance at 4.30pm on that evening. The team will return from Sydney on Tuesday (11th inst.),” Cain writes.
“No allowance will be made to you by the League but the Club will allow you 3/10. Wishing you every success in the game and an enjoyable trip. P.S. Bring your WHITE knickers and your football BOOTS with you.”
Hailing from inner city East Brunswick, Kelly forged his early football career with Thornbury CYMS and later with VAFA outfit Old Xaverians where he first came to the attention of the resident Carlton talent scout. Joining the club on the cusp of the 1926 season, the fleet-footed lefty completed his senior debut for the Blues in the opening round against Hawthorn at Glenferrie Oval – the same game legendary full-forward Harry ‘Soapy’ Vallence also turned out for the first time.
Wearing the No.7 later made famous by Keith Warburton, Ted Hopkins, Wayne Johnston and Brett Ratten - and now the property of Jagga Smith - Kelly was a member of the 1928 team to contest the club’s first finals appearance in five years, and he was amongst the 19 who fell nine points short of Richmond on Grand Final day 1932.
Kelly was awarded Life Membership of Carlton Football Club at its Annual General Meeting in February 1934. On his retirement at season’s end, he accepted the role of non-playing coach with C-section amateur outfit South Caulfield.
In 1936, Kelly mentored Footscray’s reserve grade team to a Premiership and in ’37 was appointed the Bulldogs’ senior coach when Syd Coventry abruptly relinquished the position after the fourth round. Four years later, he found a place in club history when he coached the seniors to the finals for the first time.
In 1941, amid the darks days of World War 2, Kelly accepted the role of senior coach of the struggling South Melbourne team. The following year the Bloods contested a Preliminary Final under his watch.
Kelly rounded out his coaching career with the Victorian Amateur Football Association team which participated in a demonstration match with the Bruce Andrew-coached VFL/VFA combine at the Melbourne Olympics in December 1956. The VAFA emerged 26-point winners.
Joe Kelly died at the age of 91 on June 17, 1998.
