Past Bruce McMaster-Smith (1960-1961)

[BuntonRules]

 

[BuntonRules]

Just had to put this bloke in. Old school, but a great yarn

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/the-enduring-battler-20110701-1guz6.html

McMaster-Smith's story typifies the silent battle a footballer wages to realise his dream - against doubters, against himself. He was so alarmingly slight when he turned up on permit from Greensborough for a Fitzroy reserves game, coach Jimmy Kettle made him 20th man and refused to give him a run.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/the-enduring-battler-20110701-1guz6.html#ixzz1Rg9fhRjH

He still swells with pride to have played with ''Bulldog'' Murray and ''the Doc'', Darrel Baldock. Winces at the recall of ribs broken running into Brian ''Wrecker'' Leahy. Twinkles in the eye to remember the life of a league footballer in Melbourne in the 1960s, when players caught the train to games at suburban shrines, and every club and its fans had their own personality.

''I was a chronic cramper, I could only play half a game and I'd get it all over both legs, my chest and arms,'' he says. ''No one could cure it, and they tried everything - rubdowns, sulphur in your socks, salt, camphor blocks … nothing worked.'' The Saints even sent him to a hypnotist, who told McMaster-Smith he would kick six goals after half-time. ''I said, 'Mate, you know stuff-all about football. Wingers don't kick goals, we make 'em. This is bullshit'.''

Cramp-free, he was fast. He won a 100-yard invitational at Olympic Park just after the Melbourne Games, ran for Brunswick athletics club, and cleared more than six feet in the high jump, with both arms in plaster from broken wrists that have never healed.

 

[Grimreepah]

Blueseum

One of the smallest and lightest players of his time, "Hyphen" Smith was just 169 cm tall and 61 kg when fully dressed and wringing wet. Nevertheless, he managed over 50 games of VFL football - including a Grand Final - at three clubs from 1960 to 1965. From Greensborough in the Diamond Valley League, he was first attracted to Fitzroy, where he played 13 games and kicked a solitary goal in two seasons.

 

[Grimreepah]

The Sub Rule

As understanding of the rule's effect increases, clubs may take more risks, adding specific 'burst' players as substitutes in an attempt to get an edge. This is a return to the future, when the 20th man of past eras was often a small, nippy opportunist - a la Ted Hopkins, or the legendary Bruce McMaster-Smith of the 1960s.

 

[Grimreepah]

Wikipedia

Originally from Diamond Valley Football League club Greensborough, McMaster-Smith played as a rover. He started out at Fitzroy but played his best football with Carlton and was their equal top vote getter at the 1962 Brownlow Medal.

McMaster-Smith, now at St Kilda, kicked a last second goal to give his new club a win over his old former team Carlton and was on the wing when the Saints lost the 1965 VFL Grand Final to Essendon later in the year. He had almost made a Grand Final with Fitzroy in 1960 but they lost the Preliminary Final to Collingwood by five points and he was also at Carlton when they reached the 1962 Grand Final but he missed the entire finals series. After the 1965 premiership decider, he was forced to retire due to chronic hamstring problems.

Career statistics

 

[smasha]

My uncle.