Yallourn Football Club - Jack Vinall - by Roger Spaull

YALLOURN FOOTBALL CLUB

JACK VINALL

Jack Vinall as born in 1931 and has lived in the Latrobe Valley all of his life. As a teenager, Jack witnessed the great changes that were taking place in the region as the power industry expanded, townships spread and the population grew. Opportunities for employment brought hundreds of workers to the ‘Valley and the influx of men provided the impetus for the growth of recreational activities particularly cricket and football.

Jack loved both sports and he was a natural. He attended the Yallourn High School and in 1947. Jack and his team mates hit the sporting pages of “The Gippsland Times.” Yallourn High School travelled to play the Sale High School in a cricket match. In a low scoring affair, Jack and a young boy named Ken Cooper (7/17) bowled the Yallourn team to an exciting victory.

One of Jack’s thrills was to travel to the city in 1944 to watch his uncle (also named Jack Vinall) play football for Essendon. In those days, Dick Reynolds was the undisputed “King” of Victorian football. Unfortunately, Uncle Jack’s VFL career was cut short when he seriously broke his leg. Uncle Jack resumed his football with Williamstown (VFA) and in 1947, he coached Williamstown’s reserves. Uncle Jack Vinall died in 1991.

Jack gained prominence as a footballer quickly and at the age of 17 was invited to train with Carlton. (Percy Bentley was the coach of Carlton.) Jack forged a name for himself at Morwell as a key forward. He had good ground skills, strong hands and was an accurate kick for goal. He played in the famous CGFL Grand Final Replay against Yallourn in 1953. Morwell had a star studded team and Jack and ex-St Kilda star John Coffey were part of the Tigers’ forward set-up. Morwell won an epic contest by 5 points.

Winning the CGFL flag was one of the highlights of Jack’s football career.

Early in 1954, Jack trained with Footscray (coached by the VFL legend Charlie Sutton) and he was named on the Bulldogs’ Supplementary List. In April 1954, Jack was part of a two-way trade deal between Yallourn and Morwell. After negotiations between the clubs, Jack was cleared to Yallourn in return for Bruce Crawley going to Morwell. Morwell’s ruckman, Jack Aitken, was appointed coach of Yallourn that year, so Yallourn got a ‘two for one’ bargain. The “two Jacks” were to prove great recruits for the Blues.

Jack Vinall went onto play in excess of 230 games for Yallourn and a total of 350 games in the CGFL /LVFL. There are no exact statistics, but it figures that Jack probably kicked more than 500 goals in local football. While playing with Yallourn, Jack gained a reputation as a creative forward with an uncanny ability to kick “tight-angle” goals.

Jack’s many achievements at Yallourn include:-

1961~Rex Hartley Medal for the Best and Fairest in the LVFL Reserves.(20 votes)
1962~LVFL Reserves Goal-kicking Award with 47 goals.
1963 Runner –up to Graham Davey in Yallourn Reserves Best and Fairest.
1964~LVFL Reserves Goal-kicking Award with 63 goals.
In 1955 he kicked 8 goals in a match against Warragul.
Jack kicked 10 goals in a game twice in his career.(Trafalgar and Stratford)

Jack has strong memories of his 14 years at Yallourn and regards Kevin Fanning and Jimmy Shaw as “simply remarkable” players for the club. Many brilliant footballers played in the LVFL in that era but Jack thinks that Kevin Coverdale (Bairnsdale) and John Nix (Sale) were the “stand-outs.”

Jack recalls that in his seasons with the Blues he had some excellent coaches. The list includes Jack Aitken, Gerald Marchesi (North Melbourne), Vin Sabbatucci (Fitzroy/St Kilda), Vic Lawrence (North Melbourne) Jim Dorgan (South Melbourne) and John Hutchinson (Yallourn/Fitzroy).

Cricket was Jack’s other passion in sport and he shone. He was a wily leg-spinner who captained Morwell, represented CGCA and is a Life Member of Morwell Cricket Club. His best bowling figures were 8/ 63 against Moe in the CGCA Grand Final in 1964. Jack also took 8/71 against Monash in 1957-58.

In 1965, Jack was elected to council and it was the beginning of a dedicated and meritorious involvement in local government. For more than forty years, Jack has participated in the affairs, events, organizations and life of the region. He held the office of Mayor of Morwell and Shire President at various times.

In 1994, during the amalgamation/restructure of shire councils, Jack was appointed Commissioner of the South Gippsland Shire Council. He also stood for State Parliament on six occasions. In a close call in 1967, Jack lost the election for the Seat of Morwell by only 300 votes. His involvement in community life has been exemplary and a credit to him and his family.

At the time of recording this history, Jack’s wife Betty had recently celebrated her 80th birthday. Jack and Betty have been married for 57 years and have always lived in the Yinnar-Driffield district.

Jack finished his football career at Yallourn in 1968. He had seen the CGFL merge to become the LVFL and flourish into one of the strongest country football competitions in Australia. A lot of coal and good footballers came out of the Latrobe Valley!

Yallourn Football Club did particularly well out of the “trade deal” almost 60 years ago. Not only did Yallourn get a skilled forward and remarkable club man but a person who has been an ornament to the game of Australian Rules. Yallourn Football Club was most fortunate.

Finally, readers of Virtual Yallourn will be interested to see a photograph of Jack as a student at Yallourn High School in 1947. One of Jack’s life-long friends Arthur Webb is also pictured. The boy holding the football is another noted Yallourn identity Stan Ostlund. The tall blonde student in the back row is former Yallourn ruckman Gavin Edmonson.

Written for Virtual Yallourn by Roger Spaull ~ October 2012.