Past John Murphy (1967-1977)

[3KZ is Football]

John Murphy

John Murphy played 216 games for Fitzroy between 1967 and 1977. He kicked 327 goals and won Fitzroy’s goalkicking award in 1971 (with 47 goals) and 1976 (with 35 goals). He was joint winner of the 1968 Fitzroy best and fairest award in his second season and went on to win a total of five Fitzroy best and fairest awards. He captained Fitzroy for 92 games between 1973 and 1977. He was a big kick winner as an on-baller and played for Victoria nine times. He left to play with South Melbourne then North Melbourne. He later coached VFA teams Werribee and Box Hill. He was named ruck-rover in Fitzroy’s greatest team between 1944 and 1993.

http://www.fitzroyfc.com.au/toc_nominees.htm

Fitzroy Team of the Century

Back Line 	   Bill Stephen 	Fred Hughson 	Frank Curico
Half Back Line 	   Kevin Murray (c) 	Paul Roos 	Gary Pert
Centre Line 	   Wilfred Smallhorn	[COLOR="Red"][B]John Murphy[/B][/COLOR] 	Warwick Irwin
Half Forward Line  Owen Abrahams 	Bernie Quinlan 	Gary Wilson (vc)
Forward Line 	   Allan Ruthven 	Jack Moriarty 	Norm Brown
Followers 	   Alan Gale 	        Norm Johnstone  Haydn Bunton
Interchange 	   Michael Conlan 	Alaistar Lynch 	Harvey Merrigan
	           Richard Osborne 	Percy Parratt 	Percy Trotter
Coach 	           Len Smith

Career Statistics

 

[3KZ is Football]

1968 Rookie Card

John Murphy (Fitzroy/South Melbourne/North Melbourne)

20/11/1949

Inducted: 2006

Hall of Fame - Players

Standout performer for Fitzroy in the 1960s and 70s where he won five best & fairests. Prolific possession winner on his day.

Playing Career: 1967-80 (Fitz 1967-77, SM 1978-79, NM 1979-80)

Games: 246 (Fitz 214, SM 23, NM 9) Goals: 374 (Fitz 326, SM 40, NM 8)

Player Honours: Fitz best & fairest 1968, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1977; SM best & fairest 1978; Fitz captain 1973-77; Fitz leading goalkicker 1971, 1976; SM leading goalkicker 1978; Fitz Team of the Century; Victoria (11 games, 11 goals).

Life Member

 

[Grimreepah]

Hall of Fame bio

The son of Hawthorn best-and-fairest winner, Leo Murphy, he was pursued by Hawthorn under the father-son rule, but opted to play with Fitzroy. He played center, across half forward, and as a rover. He debuted in 1967 and played 158 consecutive games, a record from debut until recently when it was broken by Sydney's Jared Crouch. Murphy was equal best-and-fairest in his second year, 1968. He landed in hot water with the committee when he publicly commented that the club needed to unload older players and recruit new players. Until 1977, his career had been injury-free, but at South Melbourne and then North Melbourne, he had a succession of problems. He played in South's 1979 finals game as a full forward.
Murphy said, "Over the years you watch other people get inducted into these sorts of things and you think, gee that would be fantastic if it happened to me. I'm lucky enough that's it's happened to me. I'm just rapt that after so many years out of the game, I was remembered by someone."

John and Leo Murphy

 

[Grimreepah]

100 Club - three generations

With Leo and John Murphy to be joined by Marc in the Ton Up Club, the Murphys become the first to reach the ton as a grandfather-father-son 100-game combination.

“I was only a little boy, but I was a pretty fanatical Hawthorn supporter because I was mindful of where Dad played,” Murphy said. “We used to go to Glenferrie Oval to watch the games, because Dad was a good mate of a bloke named Paddy Edmunds, who was coach of the Hawthorn seconds through the 1950s . . . and Brendan Edwards was my favourite player.”

So why didn’t John join Hawthorn? “I was playing senior footy for Heidelberg and zoned to Fitzroy. Back then I’d train at Fitzroy one night a week, and the next at Hawthorn,” John said. “Hawthorn offered me the no.16, which was the old man’s number, but Fitzroy probably made me feel a bit more welcome in those days and they also offered me a bit of dough. I can remember the old man saying to me ‘Mate, that’s more than I’ve made in my entire career’. In the end he said to me ‘Just go with your gut feel’, and it’s remarkable that Marc basically did the same thing.”

 

[Grimreepah]

Biography

Tough, tenacious, abundantly skilled, and equally adept in a variety of positions, John Murphy was without doubt one of the greatest players in the roller-coaster history of the Fitzroy Football Club. His particular forte was winning the ball in strenuous circumstances, and if his use of that ball was occasionally slipshod this was arguably attributable to the immense pressure with which he so often found himself confronted.

Between 1967 and 1977 Murphy played 218 VFL games (plus 9 state matches for the VFL) and kicked 332 goals for the Lions, mainly across centre, at half forward, or on the ball. He was Fitzroy's best and fairest award winner a remarkable five times, and club captain from 1973 to 1977. During his final season, however, he spoke his mind once too often when he declared that the club needed to discard certain players if it was to stand any chance of succeeding; as a consequence, at season's end it was Murphy who found himself discarded, and he ended up signing for South Melbourne.

 

[Grimreepah]

2006 Hall of Fame induction

John Murphy talks on stage as he is inducted to the AFL Hall of Fame during the AFL Hall of Fame Dinner at the Palladium Crown Casino June 22, 2006 in Melbourne, Australia.

(L to R) Harry Beitzel, Craig Bradley, Rob Walls, Peter Matera, Steve Marsh, Tony Lockett, Daryl Baldock (Legend) and John Murphy.

 

[Grimreepah]

Marc Murphy of the Oakleigh Chargers and parents John and Judy Murphy pose together after Murphy was selected by the Carlton Football Club as the number one draft pick during the 2005 AFL National Draft at Telstra Dome November 26, 2005 in Melbourne, Australia.

 

[Grimreepah]

Link to webpage

There weren’t too many highlights during the seventies. This was because Fitzroy’s best players were all small men—John Murphy, Warwick Irwin, Gary Wilson, Graeme Allan, Alan Thompson, and David Rhodes. Great ball-gatherers, but unable to win games off their own boot. Fitzroy always lacked a key forward who could consistently kick goals.

 

[Grimreepah]

Most consecutive games since debut:

1. Jared Crouch (194 games for the Sydney Swans between 1998-2006)

2. John Murphy (158 games for Fitzroy between 1967-74)

3. Dick Taylor (127 games for Melbourne between 1922-29)

4. Steve Wallis (113 games for Footscray between 1983-87).

 

[Grimreepah]

Marc Murphy

"I would like to finish my career as a one-club player as Grandpa did. I know there are times when Dad wishes he had stayed with Fitzroy." Probably not as many times as he wishes he had made a different choice when beginning his AFL career back in the mid-1960s.
Because his father had played with the Hawks, John Murphy could have joined them under the father/son rule and no doubt gone on to triple Premiership glory (1971-76-78).

 

[LIONHART]

the father son scenario is a fascinating one, that it should be repeated in the next generation like that beggars belief.

 

[irel]

the father son scenario is a fascinating one, that it should be repeated in the next generation like that beggars belief.

Yeah, both chose to go with the money. It's uncanny

 

[Grimreepah]

Mudlark Murphy

Ian Robinson, who umpired 353 VFL games before retiring after the 1987 grand final, said one of the best wet-weather players of his era was former Fitzroy, South Melbourne and North Melbourne centreman John Murphy.

 

[Grimreepah]

Link to article

Leo's son, John, was an exceptional player with Fitzroy before moving to South Melbourne and North Melbourne. He won five club champion awards, but managed only one final in his 246 games. The Kangaroos won that game, the 1979 qualifying final, but despite kicking a goal, he was dropped, not to get back.
"Still, it was a great thrill to play a final even though I was nearly 30," John Murphy said. "It didn't matter that they gave me the a--- the week after."

 

[Grimreepah]

 

[Grimreepah]

Blast from the past

I remember playing in the first ever Sunday game in front of the Queen in 1970. We were playing against Richmond who had just come off winning the 1969 flag and we played them at the MCG in the first Round of 1970. I got to meet the Queen at half-time which was pretty special and we went on to win the game which was even better.

The next week we played the first ever game at the Junction Oval as our home ground and then the week after that we played the first ever VFL game at Waverley Park.

Those were three big firsts I suppose, three weeks in a row.

 

[Grimreepah]

Terry Wallace

For those who are from this generation and were not fortunate enough to see Murphy's father John strut his stuff in the VFL in the 70s/80s, he was a star. Not unlike his son, from the moment John entered the VFL scene he immediately made an impact. From his debut he amassed 158 consecutive games, which was a record for three decades until Jarred Crouch passed it in 2005.

John Murphy was the consummate professional whose consistency and work ethic was a feature of his game. He was selected as the centreman for Fitzroy's Team of the Century and won an amazing five best and fairests at the club.

After winning his last best and fairest at Fitzroy in 1977, he moved to South Melbourne after a dispute and won its BnF in 1978, the sixth club champion award of his career. He played his last few seasons at North Melbourne very late in his career trying to finally experience September action.

 

[Grimreepah]

Norm Brown

"To compare them let's say it's very close because they are both outstanding footballers," said Brown, who was named with Murphy in Fitzroy's Team of the Century. "But they are different types in the fact the kid just runs, and runs and runs.
"John Murphy was bigger and more physically capable of copping punishment.
"So he would get more of the ball in a contested situation and was a better mark over his head.
"Marc ... has just kept improving to this year where he is one of the best midfielders in the game, like his Dad was 40 years ago.
"The similarities are they both know how to get the ball and both hardly ever play bad games."

 

[Dylan12]

Really interesting interview on SEN this morning with John Murphy talking about Fitzroy and his son Marc choosing to remain in Melbourne and resist Brisbane's overtures despite Dad wanting him to join the Lions and also that he told Marc that he had to call Leigh Matthews and tell him personally that he wasn't coming to the club under Father / Son.

https://player.whooshkaa.com/episode?id=360925