NewsBite

Essendon mourns passing of Bombers great and Hall of Fame member Ian ’Bluey’ Shelton

Essendon great Ian ‘Bluey’ Shelton passed away with illness on Tuesday. We retell the story from September when he reflected on the Bombers’ 1965 premiership.

Essendon's Ian Shelton and umpire Bob Nunn exchange words during the 1962 semi-final.
Essendon's Ian Shelton and umpire Bob Nunn exchange words during the 1962 semi-final.

Ian “Bluey” Shelton, one of the heroes of Essendon’s 1965 premiership year, died at home on Wednesday aged 81.

He passed away surrounded by family after a long battle with illness.

Shelton played 91 games for Essendon at centre-half back between 1959 and 1965, winning two premierships in 1965 and was inducted into the club’s Hall of Fame in 2019.

Kevin Sheedy said Shelton was the main reason he grew up an Essendon supporter.

“He is an incredibly inspirational player and even though he had a short career, his impact was profound,” Sheedy said in 2019.

“I wore the number 10 because of him and I never changed my number.

“When I moved into a coaching role, I always gave players that I thought would be very good players the number 10.

“To me, Bluey was the one person that Essendon needed to protect its wonderfully skilled team.”

Ian Shelton (left) is inducted into the Essendon Hall of Fame and interviewed by Kevin Sheedy during the 2019 Crichton Medal ceremony at the Melbourne Convention Centre.
Ian Shelton (left) is inducted into the Essendon Hall of Fame and interviewed by Kevin Sheedy during the 2019 Crichton Medal ceremony at the Melbourne Convention Centre.

Essendon’s players and staff will wear black armbands on Saturday night against Hawthorn in honour of both Shelton and Dr Bruce Reid, who sadly passed away in late October last year.

“It is with deep sadness we learned of Bluey’s passing on Wednesday morning, and we extend our sincere condolences to Bluey’s wife, Marj, and their family,” club president Paul Brasher said.

“It is a sad day for the Essendon Football Club and Bluey will be greatly missed.”

Shelton joined Essendon from Avenel in 1959 but missed the 1964 season after suffering a serious eye injury on the family farm, with doctors fearing he could lose his sight.

But Shelton recovered to be named vice-captain and play a major role in the 1965 premiership campaign.

He retired from the VFL at just 25 to become captain-coach of Seymour before returning to end his career at Avenel.

SHELTON RECALLS DONS’ GF VICTORY

– Michael Warner

In September last year, Ian ‘Bluey’ Shelton was among a group of Bombers who shared their story about Essendon’s legendary 1965 Grand Final triumph.Here it is again:

Ian “Bluey” Shelton is 80 but remembers like it was yesterday the spiteful preliminary final win over Collingwood at the MCG that ignited Essendon’s legendary 1965 premiership run.

In a behind-the-play incident early in the match, Bombers forward John Somerville was knocked out cold by Magpie defender Duncan Wright.

“It started off as a bad situation but finished up a fun thing,” Shelton recalled.

“Kenny Fraser was our captain and he was running around telling everyone not to get sucked in by them and to keep playing the ball and all the rest of it – and I was running around telling them the exact opposite.”

John Birt, Essendon’s champion rover, said the Somerville incident, which turned the crowd of 95,386 feral, galvanised the team.

“It was a red letter day for the club,” Birt said.

“We were a pretty good side in those days but probably didn’t have the same killer instinct of some other clubs.

“(Coach) John Coleman was always thrashing at us that we were a better team than what we were actually displaying. It spurred us on.”

It’s 55 years on Friday since Coleman’s class of ‘65 defied the odds to win the flag from fourth position.

The Bombers beat Geelong in the first semi-final, crushed Collingwood by 55 points in the prelim and accounted for St Kilda by six goals in front of 104,846 fans in the big one.

Eighteen of the 20 premiership heroes will gather over Zoom on Friday afternoon for a reunion like no other.

Ian Shelton takes a strong mark in front of Footscray’s Bob Spargo while teammate Brian Sampson competes with Bob Gray in front of him.
Ian Shelton takes a strong mark in front of Footscray’s Bob Spargo while teammate Brian Sampson competes with Bob Gray in front of him.

John Coleman is revered as a player, but those who played under him at Essendon in 1965 are in awe of his coaching.

“He wasn’t an orator like Alan Killigrew or Norm Smith, but when ‘Coley’ looked at you and said something with a terse expression in his voice and that look in his eyes as if to say, ‘smarten yourself up son and get yourself a kick’, well you’d certainly try your heart out,” skipper Ken Fraser said.

Fullback Greg Brown said Coleman commanded total respect.

“If he’d said, ‘walk on hot coals’, I would’ve walked on them on my hands and my knees – he just had that sort of effect on most of us,” Brown said.

“That had a lot to do with it. He was unbelievable with his tongue – it acted almost as a stock whip.”

Coleman, who replaced Dick Reynold as senior coach in 1961, coached the first of his two Dons premierships in 1962.

“I was a great fan of Dick Reynolds because Dick recruited me and I lived two doors from him and I loved him, so it took 12 months for me to accept the change of coach,” Birt said.

“Coleman was certainly very different. Dick to me was a friend whereas Coley – he wasn’t an enemy but … he didn’t talk to me much and when I went out and played I thought, ‘I’ve got to show you, Coleman’. He helped me tremendously.”

Ian 'Bluey' Shelton could mark lambs on his Avenel property as easily as opposing forwards from centre half back. Picture: An Illustrated History of Essendon Football Club
Ian 'Bluey' Shelton could mark lambs on his Avenel property as easily as opposing forwards from centre half back. Picture: An Illustrated History of Essendon Football Club

THE TEAM

Not unlike the ‘Baby Bombers’ of 1993, Essendon’s premiership team of 1965 featured only one player in his 30s, the late Jack Clarke, brother of Olympic runner Ron Clarke.

“The majority of us were at our football peak as far as maturity,” Fraser said.

“As a player, you’d get to know the patterns of the players in front of you and around you.”

But apart from talent, Shelton said the secret to their success was enduring mateship.

“I know it’s a bloody long time ago, but we are still as close a mob of blokes as you’d ever get,” Shelton said.

“We’ve had teams that have won back-to-back flags in ’84 and ’85 and they still look upon us as the side that really epitomises what Grand Final club mates should be.

“It’s interesting to reflect when you talk to some of the smart football people and the thinking they put behind what makes premiership sides gel together – they play for each other. And that was where Coleman was so fantastic.”

Added Brown: “It was just such a high-calibre, quality group of men. You just felt so proud to be a part of their company. You knew it would be bloody hard work to win a match but it didn’t matter, because you were surrounded by a group of blokes you’d love to be in the trenches with.”

1965 ESSENDON PREMIERSHIP TEAM

Coach: John Coleman

B: D. Gerlach, G.Brown, C.Payne

HB: G. Pryor, I. Shelton (vc), B. Davis

C: A. Epis, J. Clarke, R. Blew

HF: G. Gosper, K. Fraser (c), G. Johnston

F: D. Shaw, E. Fordham, B. Sampson

R: D. McKenzie, H. Mitchell, J. Birt

Int: K. Egan, B. Waite

Injured: B. Capuano, D. Gross, P. Doran, J. Somerville

Essendon celebrates a victory in 1959. Ian ‘Bluey’ Shelton is pictured front row on the left. The players are (from left) Back: Alby Murdoch, Hugh Mitchell, Dick Reynolds (coach), Brian Sampson, Colin Hebard, John Towner (half hidden). David Shaw. Front: Ian Shelton, Ken Fraser, Alec Epis, Barry Capuano, Graham Leydin. Picture: George Bugden.
Essendon celebrates a victory in 1959. Ian ‘Bluey’ Shelton is pictured front row on the left. The players are (from left) Back: Alby Murdoch, Hugh Mitchell, Dick Reynolds (coach), Brian Sampson, Colin Hebard, John Towner (half hidden). David Shaw. Front: Ian Shelton, Ken Fraser, Alec Epis, Barry Capuano, Graham Leydin. Picture: George Bugden.

THE GAME

The Bombers started slowly, leading by just eight points at the main break, before kicking away in the second half led by full-forward Ted Fordham, who kicked seven goals.

“I played on Bob Murray and I can remember Bob getting shifted off me,” Fordham said.

“I might have kicked four of five, and Verdun Howell came on to me and I said, ‘Oh, you’re a bit unlucky Verdun’ and he said, ‘Oh, why is that?’ and I said, ‘Well, you’re going to have to play on the bloke who is BOG’. He looked at me strangely and I don’t think he knew what I was talking about, but I knew what I was talking about.

“He got shifted away and Bob Murray came back. I think I said to him, ‘Oh, Bob you’re unlucky again …’

“They were the things that went on in those days and I learnt a lot of them from Ted Whitten to be truthful.

“The crowd was deafening. It’s hard to explain.”

Birt recalled preparing for the game by listening to Ray Charles records at a friend’s house, while Brown and his girlfriend Jill got engaged that morning.

“I didn’t have enough money to buy the bloody ring – I borrowed most of it off my sister,” Brown recalled.

“Half way through the last quarter we were six goals in front and I was picking the ball out of the gutter prior to kicking it in and this flash went through my head, ‘S---, we’re going to get a real fantastic bonus when we win and I’m going to be able to pay my sister back, you beauty’.”

The 120-pound bonus was the equivalent of about $3400 today.

“I remember we couldn’t kick goals for a long while and then all of a sudden we got going and ‘Boofa’ (Fordham) started to kick goals and played a terrific game,” Shelton said.

“Brian Sampson played a great game. Russell Blew played a great game and Fraser played a good game, of course, he always did.”

Fraser said his main memory from holding up the premiership cup was of sheer relief.

“It wasn’t so much elation. The joyfulness came later on when we were celebrating in the clubrooms with the fans and our family and friends,” he said.

THE LEGACY

As the years marched on almost every player from the side of ’65 went on to hold an off-field role at Essendon – from president to coach to runner and coterie club chairman.

“We would like to think we’ve had a huge amount to do with the Essendon culture,” Brown said.

“Progressively over the next 20 or 30 years, each and every player, in all the various roles they played, had a massive part to play.”

Fordham, who served as chairman of selectors and vice-president, said: “We’ve always been a group that has stuck together. Even when we were on the committee or coaching or as serving as the runner, it was all because of a love of the club. It’s been a bloody long and loving journey.”

Birt won the best and fairest in ’65 and coached for a season at Windy Hill in 1971.

“What they have contributed to the club is amazing,” Birt said of his teammates.

“But there’s also this great friendship among us all. If one bloke gets a bit crook everyone is around him.”

Incoming Dons president Paul Brasher said it was a “special Essendon premiership team”.

“It was a team full of great players, wonderful characters, and true Essendon people, many of whom went on to work at the club in various capacities, and many of whom are still involved today,” Brasher said.

Originally published as Essendon mourns passing of Bombers great and Hall of Fame member Ian ’Bluey’ Shelton

Add your comment to this story

To join the conversation, please Don't have an account? Register

Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout

Original URL: https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/afl/teams/essendon/essendon-mourns-passing-of-bombers-great-and-hall-of-fame-member-ian-bluey-shelton/news-story/20785a1c51c9e4ece4fa10f4a0492440