This year host Tim Lane will be joined by Essendon great and coach James Hird and AFL commissioner and former trade union chief Bill Kelty.
Reprising the legacy of Smith, the champion player and coach, this major public event is a joint initiative between the MCC and Melbourne Football Club that will see prominent Australians present ways for the game of Australian football to be the best it can be, on and off the field, as an influence for generations.
Last year, former Melbourne captain Garry Lyon gave a stirring toast to football, with an equally inspiring response coming from outstanding broadcaster Tony Charlton, an MCG Media Hall of Fame inductee and the man whose television interview with Norm Smith, after his sensational sacking as Melbourne coach in 1965, is now part of football folklore.
The MCC and Melbourne Football Club are proud to be associated with this hallmark event on the annual football calendar.
The Norm Smith Oration is now open for bookings. The cost is $125 per person. Dinner will include canapés on arrival, a three-course meal and beverages.
Details
Date: Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Time: 6.45pm for 7.30pm sit down
Location: Pre-dinner drinks, Long Room, Dinner
Members Dining Room, Level 2, Members Reserve
Cost: $125.00
To book, please call Leon McConville or Terri-Ann Stynes.
Leon McConville
P: (03) 9652 1106
E: leon.mcconville@melbournefc.com.au
Terri-Ann Stynes
P: (03) 9652 1121
E: terriann.stynes@melbournefc.com.au
About Norm Smith
Norm Smith was an outstanding player and Melbourne Football Club’s greatest coach. But more than that, he represents an era of football that did much to form the modern game.
He came from a poor background and drove himself to the top of his sport.
Smith was a canny, yet brilliant full-forward during a 227-game career with Melbourne (210 games) and Fitzroy (17) between 1935 and 1950 that included 572 goals.
He played in four premierships at Melbourne (1939, 1940, 1941 and 1948), winning two best and fairest awards and was leading goalkicker on four occasions.
Smith captained Melbourne (1945-47) and Fitzroy (1949-50) and represented Victoria twice.
He took that talent from the field into the coaches’ box. He expected no less from his players than what he had expected from himself - integrity and purpose, drive and putting the team ahead of the individual.
Smith led Melbourne through its most successful era, winning six premierships (1955, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1960 and 1964) before he was sacked - and reinstated - in 1965. After leaving Melbourne in 1967, he coached South Melbourne from 1969 to 1972.
He was named full-forward and coach in Melbourne’s Team of the Century and was given the ultimate honour of coach of the AFL Team of the Century. Since 1979, the best player in the grand final receives the Norm Smith Medal.
In a time when the coach was considered to be an evangelist, Smith was an innovative and inventive strategist, manager, mentor and marketer, a forerunner of today’s multi-faceted coach.
Although Smith was an evangelist, he was tough and gruff, but his players played for him and for the Melbourne jumper.
His legacy is clear - he influenced a generation of players to be the best they could be, the ultimate outcome for any leader.
