Basil McCormack

Basil Milton McCormack (3 August 1904 – 19 February 1973) was an Australian rules footballer who played in the Victorian Football League (VFL) between 1925 and 1936 for the Richmond Football Club.

Basil McCormack
McCormack 1926 football card
Personal information
Full name Basil Milton McCormack
Date of birth (1904-08-03)3 August 1904
Place of birth Rochester, Victoria
Date of death 19 February 1973(1973-02-19) (aged 68)
Place of death Bentleigh, Victoria
Original team(s) Rochester
Height 180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight 79.5 kg (175 lb)
Position(s) Half-back flank
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1925–1936 Richmond 200 (1)
1937–1940 New Town Football Club 57 (21)
Coaching career3
Years Club Games (W–L–D)
1937–1939 New Town Football Club
1947 Franklin Football Club
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1940.
3 Coaching statistics correct as of 1947.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com
The Victorian Football League's Interstate team that drew with South Australia, in Adelaide, 13.10 (88) to 11.22 (88) on Saturday, 16 June 1928.
Back Row: Jack Moriarty, Albert "Leeter" Collier, Hugh Dunbar, Gordon "Nuts" Coventry, Bob Johnson, Jack Baggott.
Second Row: Jack Vosti, Charlie Stanbridge, Arthur Stevens, Alex Duncan, Dick Taylor, Ted Baker.
Front Row: Basil McCormack, Arthur Rayson, Alan Geddes (vice-captain), Syd Coventry (captain), Barney Carr, Arthur “Bull” Coghlan, Herbert White.

Family

The son of Michael McCormack and Mary McCormack (1865–1950), née Foley,[1] he was born at Rochester, Victoria on 3 August 1904.

Richmond

A left-foot kick, recruited from Rochester,[2] he played 200 senior games for the Richmond Football Club as a half-back flanker,[3] and represented Victoria on 13 occasions.[4]

Double debut

Granted his clearance from Rochester to Richmond on Friday, 1 May 1925,[5] he played his first match for Richmond, selected on the half-back flank, against Hawthorn, on 2 May 1925 (round 1). He played well; with the match report noting that "McCormack … who marks and kicks well, [was] looking a very likely man".[6]

It was also the Hawthorn team's first match in the VFL competition, the former VFA club having been admitted (along with Footscray and North Melbourne) in the January of that year.[7]

Tribunal

He was suspended on two occasions: the first arose from the final on 14 September 1929 for striking (eight weeks), and the second was on 6 May 1933 for elbowing (six weeks).

New Town Football Club

Approached by Cananore in 1936, he was appointed captain-coach of the Tasmanian Football League's New Town Football Club in 1937.[8] He was captain-coach for three seasons (1937 to 1939), and played a number of senior games in 1940.

Franklin Football Club

In 1947 he was appointed coach of the Franklin Football Club in the Huon Football Association.[9]

St Virgil's Old Scholars Football Club

He coached St. Virgil's in the Tasmanian Amateur Football League from 1948 to 1950.

Military

Having enlisted in the militia in 1939, the transferred to the Second AIF in 1943, and saw action in the Pacific Islands.

See also

Footnotes
  1. Deaths: McCormack, The Argus, (Friday, 18 August 1950), p.14.
  2. Bendigo Matches, The Australasian, (Saturday, 20 September 1924), p.35.
  3. Until 2020, the VFL/AFL records claimed 199 games, whereas the records of the Richmond Football Club showed 200 games (Hogan (1996), p.137).
  4. Millard, P.J., "As I See the Game: Nearing 200 Games", The Sporting Globe, (Saturday, 13 June 1936), p.8; League Notes, The Argus, (Friday, 4 September 1936), p.15.
  5. Permit Applications, The Argus, (Saturday, 2 May 1925), p.26.
  6. Hawthorn's Initial Effort: Richmond Too Strong, The Argus, (Monday, 4 May 1925), p.9, p.10; quote is from p.10.
  7. The decision to admit the three former VFA teams into the VFL had been made at a full meeting of the VFL on 16 January 1925: League Football: Applications for Admissions: Decision Again Deferred, The Geelong Advertiser, (Monday, 12 January 1925), p.5; Old Boy, "Football League: Admitting More Teams: Old Scheme Revised: Decision Left to Clubs", The Argus, (Tuesday, 13 January 1925), p.13; Football: Three New Clubs Admitted, The Age, (Saturday, 17 January 1925), p.14; League: Three Clubs Admitted, The Argus, (Saturday, 17 January 1925), p.31.
  8. Football: New Town's New Coach: Appointment of Basil McCormack, The (Hobart) Mercury (Wednesday, 10 February 1937), p.4; Football, The (Hobart) Mercury (Wednesday, 14 April 1937), p.11; North and New Town in Vital Contest, The (Hobart) Mercury, (Friday, 10 September 1937), p.14.
  9. McCormack to Coach Franklin, The (Hobart) Mercury, (Monday, 5 May 1947), p.18.

References
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