Why only one AFL or VFL coach can claim a perfect record

On the list of Victoria’s great football coaches, one man stands alone. Here’s what happened when Charlie Clymo stepped in to lead the Cats in 1931.

1931 Geelong Football Club. Picture: Bob Gartland Collection

On the list of Victoria’s great football coaches, one man stands alone.

Only one AFL or VFL coach can boast a perfect record, as AFL and Geelong Football Club historian Col Hutchinson tells the In Black and White podcast:

His name was Charlie Clymo, and to many he was best known as the captain of the Ballarat Fire Brigade for many years, and an all-round good bloke.

But he also happened to coach the Cats for one premiership-winning season in 1931, before mysteriously departing.

His dad, who worked in the gold mines in Bendigo, died a few weeks before Clymo was born.

By the time Clymo was 13, his mother had also died.

1931 Geelong premiership collage including Charlie Clymo, bottom centre. Picture: Bob Gartland Collection

Young Clymo started working in the gold mines while playing football, becoming a star player in the Bendigo region.

“St Kilda got to hear about his reputation as a footballer and invited him down to play – but there was a problem,” Mr Hutchinson says.

“In those days, of course, cars weren’t plentiful, so the only way of getting to and from Melbourne, basically, was by train.

But Clymo often had to work in one of the gold mines right up until noon on Saturdays.

“So the St Kilda Football Club offered to arrange for one of its committeemen to drive up to Bendigo on a Saturday morning in his brand new car to pick Charlie up to come down to play for St Kilda,” Mr Hutchinson says.

Clymo played 43 matches for the Saints from 1907 to 1909.

Geelong before the 1931 Grand Final. Picture: Bob Gartland Collection

He later coached clubs in the Ballarat area to premiership after premiership, before he was appointed coach of Geelong for the 1931 season.

It was the Depression, jobs were scarce, and Clymo had to take a year’s leave from his job in Ballarat as an engineer in a brickmaking factory to take the coach’s role with its meagre fee.

After a successful season, the Cats beat Richmond by 20 points to win the 1931 premiership.

“You can imagine the reception when the players reached the Geelong railway station by train from the MCG fairly late that night,” Mr Hutchinson says.

1931 Geelong Football Club Lady’s ticket. Picture: Bob Gartland Collection

“Charlie and the players were all chaired on the shoulders of the crowd through Johnstone Park from the station to make speeches on the steps of the Town Hall to the great applause of the crowd.

“So it was a wonderful occasion.

“Then, mysteriously, that was the last match in which Charlie would coach the Cats.

“And for years afterwards people wondered why he didn’t continue in the role.”

To find out what happened and why, listen to the interview in the free In Black and White podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or web.

See In Black & White in the Herald Sun newspaper every Friday for more stories and photos from Victoria’s past.