Ando’s Shout: Look back on the day members of the Royal Family watched Fitzroy take on Richmond

Prince Charles might be stuck in isolation at the moment. But on this day 50 years ago he was one of a host of special guests as the Royal Family was introduced to the VFL. But which teams were dirty they were overlooked for the blockbuster?

Richmond vice-captain Bill Barrot introducing Princess Anne to the team at half-time.

No doubt Prince Charles’ mind wandered to happier days during his recent isolation after he contracted COVID-19.

Such as the April 5 day 50 years ago when he, his parents and sister were special guests of the VFL and Melbourne Cricket Club at the first ever Sunday game in the competition’s history.

Not surprisingly, reigning premier Richmond was part of the action, more surprisingly its opponent was Fitzroy, which hadn’t experienced ultimate glory since 1944.

Special permission was granted by the State Government so the game could be staged to fit in with the Royal Family’s Victorian itinerary, the second half of the match being televised nationally without any fee.

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Fitzroy president Ern Joseph introduces players to the Queen who is shaking hands with rover John Murphy during half time.

A crowd of 38,617 was on hand to see the clash, Princess Anne expressing her love for Fitzroy due to the gold Lion on front of their jumper.

The Royal Family didn’t arrive at the ground until shortly before halftime and were introduced to all 40 players, each of whom had been told to “spruce up” before coming back on the ground.

Fitzroy’s champion centreman John Murphy recalled players searching for their false teeth, frantically combing their hair and a couple looking for bandages to cover tattoos.

His vice-captain Norm Brown remembered Carlton and Collingwood being put out at being overlooked for the honour.

“I was actually very nervous given my role was to introduce Princess Anne to our players and I forgot a few names,” Brown said.

“Those I couldn’t remember I just made up and there were some pretty funny sounding ones.”

For the record, Fitzroy won 16.20 (116) to 14.21 (96), with David Wall booting four goals and players such as Harvey Merrigan, Graeme Shearer, Daryl Peoples, Murphy, Mike Andrews, Gary Lazarus, John Newnham and Noel Zunneberg winning plenty of the ball.

Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip at the MCG in 1970.

HOW A KID FROM KYABRAM RUBBED SHOULDERS WITH THE ELITE

For a kid from the small northern Victorian town of Kyabram, Ross Dillon thought it pretty impressive that by age 22 he had actually met two of the most famous people on the planet.

The first meeting took place in October, 1966, when he and a Melbourne High School mate in Allan Davis (St Kilda premiership player that year) thought it would be pretty cool to meet visiting US president Lyndon Baines Johnson.

“So we went off to the South Yarra home of Sir Dallas and Dame Mabel Brookes, pushed our way to the front gate and took the afternoon off to shake hands with the president of America. Security was nothing like it would be these days,” said Dillon, 72, who has lived in Adelaide for the past 46 years where he runs book shops.

Three-and-a-half years later, Dillon was one of three players chosen to sit with the visiting Royal Family, the others being Brownlow medallists John Schultz (1960) and Ross Smith (1967).

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“You couldn’t meet two men of higher quality than Ross Smith and John Schultz, so why was I at age 22 chosen to be the third part of the trio? I think it stemmed from a couple of years earlier when my Melbourne coach Norm Smith introduced me to VFL boss Sir Eric McCutchan when we were on a drive near Flinders.

“I was seated between the Duke and Princess Anne (at the MCG). I was told to keep it quiet and didn’t even tell my mother until that day. We were told to address them as “Your Royal Highness”. After about five minutes of that the kid from the country came out in me and I thought this is going nowhere, so I started talking to Princess Anne as if she was a friend and we got on like a house on fire.

The royal guests had expert commentators as they watched the game from their enclosure. In the enclosure are Prince Charles, Ross Smith, Queen Elizabeth, John Schultz, Prince Philip and Ross Dillon.

“The Duke every five or 10 minutes would lean over and ask me, ‘What is this fellow in the white doing?’ It almost got to the stage where I said, ‘Listen pal, I’m a bit busy, can you ask John (Schultz) those questions?’

“I really enjoyed myself with Princess Anne as the photos show. She was just another human being who happened to be born into royalty. She was a bit of fun. I still get asked about it and don’t worry, I bring it up myself a bit.

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“It actually worked to my advantage because at the time I was really keen on this girl called Sue from Katamatite, but she kept fobbing me off. Anyway, after the photos hit the papers on the Monday I got a phone call from Sue asking me to a wedding up at Shepparton. I responded by saying, ‘Is the competition getting a bit hot?’

Fifty years later and Dillon remains happily married to the very same “Sue from Katamatite”.

Originally published as Ando’s Shout: Look back on the day members of the Royal Family watched Fitzroy take on Richmond