Late Club legend and rover of the day, Percy Beames, was directly involved in proceedings, which started when coach ‘Checker’ Hughes decided that a split round provided the ideal opportunity for a regional visit. ‘Checker thought we needed more practice. He asked the Committee to arrange a match or two on that weekend in New South Wales, around Leeton and Narrandera.’ This, it would seem, was in addition to a larger program that was undertaken later in the year around Echuca, fostering connections with the Mueller clan.
While Beames was thrilled to be playing his part, the coordination was somewhat difficult for he and a few others. ‘We were to go up on the train on Thursday night and come back on the Monday night. But unfortunately there were five of us who all worked at Vacuum Oil, and we couldn’t all get off at the same time because of the Depression in those days.’ Economic times were extremely difficult, and if you had a job, you had to do it before all else. The fates were conspiring against Beames and his cohorts.
However, the fates had nothing on the determination and wiliness of the Melbourne coach. ‘Checker then got the Committee to agree to the Club chartering an aeroplane. The five of us were to go by plane. We were to leave on the Friday afternoon, and we’d be up there in time for Friday night, play Saturday.’ The timing was tight, but they were on their way. Little did they all know the adventure that lay ahead.
Heading out to Essendon airport (or aerodrome as it was in the terminology of the day) was a fascinating cast. As Beames recalled, ‘There was George Margitich, the full forward; Jack Bennett, Reg Conole, myself and Fred Ince, from the match committee. Essendon in those days was vastly different. The big farmyard gate was still open, and there was no reception area, just a few hangars. We arrived, walked around, and a chap came up to us and said, ‘I’m looking for some footballers. I don’t suppose you’d be them, would you?’’
That ‘chap’ was their pilot - Alec Barlow. Having duly identified themselves as Melbourne Football Club players and associated others, they were - almost - set to go. A slight shock was in store, however. ‘He took us around a couple of hangars, and here’s this little plane - it was a little Tiger Moth. It was only made for four, and there were six of us, with the pilot. What they had done was that, between the seats, they had put a piece of floorboard, about six inches wide, and pinned it down. We had to pile into this plane with our luggage, and Jack Bennett and I got in the centre because we were the smallest.’
It was not an auspicious start, but there was much more to come. ‘We took off, and the first thing the pilot did was to make a beeline for the Spencer Street Railway Station. He picked it up, and he sat up about 200 feet above it, and followed the line that went right up to Sydney. We went for about an hour, and he then said ‘Well, I’d better see where we are. When we see the next station coming up, I’ll drop down along the platform, and read the name of the station board. Then we’ll know where we are.’ So, all of a sudden, he dips down, and drops to see where we are.’
These amateur aerobatics did not agree with the passengers - one in particular. ‘George Margitich - our full forward - was sitting up the back, and after this he calls out ‘Alec, I’m going to be sick! What should I do?’ Alec said, ‘There’s a bag in the pocket. Just slide the window open, and drop it out the back!’ So, George does that, but he thought he’d be clever and throw it out forward. Of course, the force of the wind caught it, and he got all his own back!’
By this time, just reaching their destination was a bonus. ‘We arrived, and we played on the Saturday at Leeton. Then on Sunday morning we went to Narrandera and played there. The next day we had to leave first thing in the morning to get back in time for nine o’clock work - or supposedly.’ Given their experiences to that time, there is no doubt that Beames’ slight cynicism was justified.
Of course, the conditions had to be less than ideal for the intrepid group’s departure. ‘It was one of those wintry mornings when we got up, long before daybreak. We hacked down to the plane, and we were waiting for the first glimmer of light to take off. Eventually we took off. Because it was such a bad day - you couldn’t see a thing - we just dozed off.’
It was a brief respite in a chapter of memorable - not yet amusing as they would be decades later - incidents. Beames woke to hear pilot Alec announcing the next development. ‘We heard Alec say, ‘We’re getting very low on fuel…I think we might be over the bay somewhere. I’ll just have to slide down, and if we see a road or anything like that, I’ll just have to put it down on the road or anywhere we can see.’ He had no contact with the aerodrome in those days.’
It was a nervous few minutes, with all looking keenly through the mist for a flat, straight landing strip alternative. ‘We got down, and we were going along and couldn’t see a thing - then all of a sudden there was a bit of a break in the cloud, and we’re yelling ‘there’s a road, there’s a road!’ Alec said, ‘I’ll just try a bit lower…there’s a field over there, I might be able to put it down there.’ Then he said ‘Hang on!’ Well, he didn’t have to tell us to hang on!’
Landing might have seemed to spell the end to all their woes, but as Beames experienced, it was a classic case of ‘wait, there’s more!’ ‘Down he goes, and he hits just over the fence, and he hit the ground, and we’re going straight for a creek and we’re not stopping. Alec had a leather jacket, and they used to have a big belt around them, too. He’d caught the handbrake between the belt and himself. He couldn’t stop. Anyhow, he slewed the plane around, and we just stopped in time.’ Five Melbourne Football Club players/administrators were safe - for now.
Beames soon found that they were not - as the pilot had thought - in bayside territory. ‘We got out, and found that we were at Wallan. When we landed, there wasn’t a person in sight - within five minutes, the whole town had turned up. It was the first time a plane had ever landed there. Anyway, it was three or four hours before we got off, and of course, it was touch and go as to whether we could even take off, because of the restricted area we were in.’
They did, however, and it was with an abiding sense of relief that Beames and his fellow passengers - and probably the pilot as well - completed their pioneering (ad)venture. ‘We got back to Melbourne eventually, and that was the first time that a team had ever used a plane for a sporting match. That was a good experience - but I’d only want it once, never again!’
That was, fortunately, a memorable episode due to its unusual nature - and yet it was another example of the innovation and pioneering attitude of the Melbourne Football Club in getting the game to a wider audience - a quality shared with this weekend’s encounter. There may not be a Tiger Moth for travel, no floorboard seats, and no railway navigation, but the red and blue spirit beats as true as it ever did more than seven decades ago.
