Roy Wright
Encyclopedia
Gordon "Roy" Wright was an Australian rules football
player with the Richmond Football Club
in the VFL during the 1940s and 1950s, and television personality during the 1960s.
The inspiration of the story of Roy Wright, nicknamed the "Gentle Giant", was of a triumph over childhood adversity. As a child, Wright had to wear splints on his legs to overcome weak knees. Later struck down with rheumatic fever
, doctors prevented Wright from playing competitive sport until he was sixteen years of age.
At this point, in 1945, friends persuaded Wright to try out with local team North Kew in the strong Eastern Districts Football League
. Wright had a dream start in the game, winning the league's best and fairest award, an achievement so eye-catching that talent scouts from the VFL were soon looking the youngster over. Richmond
won his signature and he arrived at Punt Road
for the 1946 VFL season, quite a rise for a man who hadn't played the game twelve months before.
Wright cut a noticeable figure, with his huge frame (188 cm and over 100 kg) and golden blond hair. In the post-war era, all VFL clubs were valiantly scouring the country, looking for big men capable of dominating the rucks and giving their team first use of the ball at ball-ups and boundary throw-ins. The boundary throw-in disappeared from the game after a 1925 rule change, but the rule reverted to its original form during the war, therefore increasing the emphasis on ruck play. The Tigers
could see Wright's rare ability but, due to his truncated early career, felt he still needed to learn the subtleties of the game. Besides, in Jack Dyer
and Bill Morris
, Richmond
already possessed the best ruck combination in the competition.
Dutifully, Wright played in the reserves but missed many games through injury. In his first three seasons, he managed just 26 senior games and frustration manifested. On a number of occasions in the late 1940s, Wright requested an open clearance from the club and on one occasion had gone to Glenferrie Oval
to meet the Hawthorn
players in anticipation of playing there. Eventually, opportunities opened up. Dyer
retired at the end of the 1949 season, a year when Wright managed 15 games, an achievement he matched the following season as he gradually began to make a name for himself.
Season 1951 provided the breakthrough point for the young ruckman
. Given more time on the ball than Bill Morris
, he played every game and tied with Des Rowe
for the club's best and fairest
. When Bill Morris
retired at the end of the year, it paved the way for Wright to assume the mantle of number one ruck. In 1952, Wright dominated the season, winning nineteen votes in the Brownlow medal
to tie for first place with Essendon's
Bill Hutchison. The prevailing system gave Wright the award, although Hutchison was given a retrospective medal in 1989.
Wright experienced a quieter season in 1953 as Richmond
slumped to the club's lowest ever finish on the ladder. However, he bounced back the following year to lead a late-season charge for the finals by the Tigers
. The bid failed, but the Richmond
supporters took plenty of pride from the Brownlow medal
count when Wright polled a massive 29 votes to win by a record ten votes. Now hailed as the best big man in the game, Wright stood out among a plethora of star ruckmen
who he battled every week, men such as Neil Mann, Dennis Cordner and Jack Howell.
Unfortunately for both Wright and the club, the team's fortunes continued to wane. In the years immediately after the war, the Tigers
made a habit of finishing just outside the finals. The lack of winning experience combined with a lack of aggressive recruiting lowered expectations around the club, and by the mid-1950s Richmond
were regulars at the bottom of the ladder. Wright's form shone like a beacon amid the mediocrity.
Between 1952 and 1957, Wright was the first choice as ruckman
for the Victorian
team; he totalled eighteen games in the Big V. Fellow players, commentators and opposition fans alike admired Wright's fair and sportsmanlike approach to the game. Wright's sheer size and fierce concentration often circumvented potential trouble - few opponents were willing to tangle with the big man. Apart from his exquisite ability to direct his hit-outs straight to teammates, Wright excelled at the contested mark and rarely let down a teammate who sent the ball in the air his way. He could kick long and accurately, once recording a 73-metre punt kick in a game at Punt Road
. In every way, Roy Wright was the quintessential "mark and kick" (or "prop and cop") 1950s footballer.
Wright continued winning honours as the team continued to struggle. In 1956, after dominating the ruck for Victoria
in the interstate carnival, he was named an All-Australian
. His last big year was 1957 when he won a fourth club best and fairest
and went within an ace of winning a third Brownlow medal
, finishing second to Brian Gleeson
by four votes. No other Richmond
player has won more than one Brownlow in the yellow and black.
After succeeding Des Rowe
as captain in 1958, luck deserted Wright. Injury hampered his season and the following year, an injured leg forced him to announce his retirement and deny him an on-field farewell. Aged 30, he was stranded just five games short of the 200-game milestone.
Wright maintained his involvement with football by becoming one of the early television commentators on the game. He worked predominantly with the ABC
and presented Wright on the Ball for most of the 1960s. In his later years, he moved to Bairnsdale
in Gippsland
, but was always available to attend Richmond
functions and fundraisers, where his autograph was in big demand. The supporters of his era never forgot the "Gentle Giant."
In 1996, the AFL
inducted Wright into the hall of fame as a founding member. The Richmond
Team of the Century, announced in 1998, named Wright as the first ruckman, ahead of his mentor and first coach, Jack Dyer
- arguably his greatest accolade.
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
player with the Richmond Football Club
Richmond Football Club
The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...
in the VFL during the 1940s and 1950s, and television personality during the 1960s.
The inspiration of the story of Roy Wright, nicknamed the "Gentle Giant", was of a triumph over childhood adversity. As a child, Wright had to wear splints on his legs to overcome weak knees. Later struck down with rheumatic fever
Rheumatic fever
Rheumatic fever is an inflammatory disease that occurs following a Streptococcus pyogenes infection, such as strep throat or scarlet fever. Believed to be caused by antibody cross-reactivity that can involve the heart, joints, skin, and brain, the illness typically develops two to three weeks after...
, doctors prevented Wright from playing competitive sport until he was sixteen years of age.
At this point, in 1945, friends persuaded Wright to try out with local team North Kew in the strong Eastern Districts Football League
Eastern Football League (Australia)
The Eastern Football League is an Australian rules football League, based in the eastern suburbs of metropolitan Melbourne....
. Wright had a dream start in the game, winning the league's best and fairest award, an achievement so eye-catching that talent scouts from the VFL were soon looking the youngster over. Richmond
Richmond Football Club
The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...
won his signature and he arrived at Punt Road
Richmond Football Club
The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...
for the 1946 VFL season, quite a rise for a man who hadn't played the game twelve months before.
Wright cut a noticeable figure, with his huge frame (188 cm and over 100 kg) and golden blond hair. In the post-war era, all VFL clubs were valiantly scouring the country, looking for big men capable of dominating the rucks and giving their team first use of the ball at ball-ups and boundary throw-ins. The boundary throw-in disappeared from the game after a 1925 rule change, but the rule reverted to its original form during the war, therefore increasing the emphasis on ruck play. The Tigers
Richmond Football Club
The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...
could see Wright's rare ability but, due to his truncated early career, felt he still needed to learn the subtleties of the game. Besides, in Jack Dyer
Jack Dyer
John Raymond Dyer Sr. OAM , always known as Jack Dyer, was one of the colossal figures of Australian rules football during two distinct careers, firstly as a player and coach of the Richmond Football Club in the Victorian Football League between 1931 and 1952, and later in the broadcast media for...
and Bill Morris
Bill Morris (Australian rules footballer)
William "Bill" Morris was an Australian rules footballer who played for Richmond in the Victorian Football League , mostly during the 1940s. He played much of his football beside Jack Dyer as a knock ruckman....
, Richmond
Richmond Football Club
The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...
already possessed the best ruck combination in the competition.
Dutifully, Wright played in the reserves but missed many games through injury. In his first three seasons, he managed just 26 senior games and frustration manifested. On a number of occasions in the late 1940s, Wright requested an open clearance from the club and on one occasion had gone to Glenferrie Oval
Glenferrie Oval
Glenferrie Oval is an Australian rules football stadium located in Hawthorn, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.It is the historic home of and is synonymous with the Hawthorn Football Club, who played there from 1903 and as a VFL/AFL club from 1925–1973, and retained the ground as an...
to meet the Hawthorn
Hawthorn Football Club
The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League . The club, founded in 1902, is the youngest of the Victorian-based teams in the AFL. The team play in Brown & Gold vertically striped guernseys...
players in anticipation of playing there. Eventually, opportunities opened up. Dyer
Jack Dyer
John Raymond Dyer Sr. OAM , always known as Jack Dyer, was one of the colossal figures of Australian rules football during two distinct careers, firstly as a player and coach of the Richmond Football Club in the Victorian Football League between 1931 and 1952, and later in the broadcast media for...
retired at the end of the 1949 season, a year when Wright managed 15 games, an achievement he matched the following season as he gradually began to make a name for himself.
Season 1951 provided the breakthrough point for the young ruckman
Ruckman (Australian rules football position)
In Australian rules football, a ruckman is typically a tall and athletic player who contests at centre bounces and stoppages . The ruckman is one of the most important players on the field...
. Given more time on the ball than Bill Morris
Bill Morris (Australian rules footballer)
William "Bill" Morris was an Australian rules footballer who played for Richmond in the Victorian Football League , mostly during the 1940s. He played much of his football beside Jack Dyer as a knock ruckman....
, he played every game and tied with Des Rowe
Des Rowe
Des Rowe was an Australian rules footballer who played in the Victorian Football League between 1946 and 1957 for the Richmond Football Club. He was senior coach of Richmond from 1961 to 1963.- References :...
for the club's best and fairest
Jack Dyer Medal
The Jack Dyer Medal is an Australian rules football award given each season to the player or players adjudged Best and Fairest for the Richmond Football Club....
. When Bill Morris
Bill Morris (Australian rules footballer)
William "Bill" Morris was an Australian rules footballer who played for Richmond in the Victorian Football League , mostly during the 1940s. He played much of his football beside Jack Dyer as a knock ruckman....
retired at the end of the year, it paved the way for Wright to assume the mantle of number one ruck. In 1952, Wright dominated the season, winning nineteen votes in the Brownlow medal
Brownlow Medal
The Chas Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal , is awarded to the "fairest and best" player in the Australian Football League during the regular season as determined by votes cast by the officiating field umpires after each game...
to tie for first place with Essendon's
Essendon Football Club
The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed The Bombers, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...
Bill Hutchison. The prevailing system gave Wright the award, although Hutchison was given a retrospective medal in 1989.
Wright experienced a quieter season in 1953 as Richmond
Richmond Football Club
The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...
slumped to the club's lowest ever finish on the ladder. However, he bounced back the following year to lead a late-season charge for the finals by the Tigers
Richmond Football Club
The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...
. The bid failed, but the Richmond
Richmond Football Club
The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...
supporters took plenty of pride from the Brownlow medal
Brownlow Medal
The Chas Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal , is awarded to the "fairest and best" player in the Australian Football League during the regular season as determined by votes cast by the officiating field umpires after each game...
count when Wright polled a massive 29 votes to win by a record ten votes. Now hailed as the best big man in the game, Wright stood out among a plethora of star ruckmen
Ruckman (Australian rules football position)
In Australian rules football, a ruckman is typically a tall and athletic player who contests at centre bounces and stoppages . The ruckman is one of the most important players on the field...
who he battled every week, men such as Neil Mann, Dennis Cordner and Jack Howell.
Unfortunately for both Wright and the club, the team's fortunes continued to wane. In the years immediately after the war, the Tigers
Richmond Football Club
The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...
made a habit of finishing just outside the finals. The lack of winning experience combined with a lack of aggressive recruiting lowered expectations around the club, and by the mid-1950s Richmond
Richmond Football Club
The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...
were regulars at the bottom of the ladder. Wright's form shone like a beacon amid the mediocrity.
Between 1952 and 1957, Wright was the first choice as ruckman
Ruckman (Australian rules football position)
In Australian rules football, a ruckman is typically a tall and athletic player who contests at centre bounces and stoppages . The ruckman is one of the most important players on the field...
for the Victorian
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
team; he totalled eighteen games in the Big V. Fellow players, commentators and opposition fans alike admired Wright's fair and sportsmanlike approach to the game. Wright's sheer size and fierce concentration often circumvented potential trouble - few opponents were willing to tangle with the big man. Apart from his exquisite ability to direct his hit-outs straight to teammates, Wright excelled at the contested mark and rarely let down a teammate who sent the ball in the air his way. He could kick long and accurately, once recording a 73-metre punt kick in a game at Punt Road
Punt Road Oval
Punt Road Oval is a sporting ground located in Yarra Park, East Melbourne, Victoria situated only a few hundred metres to the east of the famous Melbourne Cricket Ground....
. In every way, Roy Wright was the quintessential "mark and kick" (or "prop and cop") 1950s footballer.
Wright continued winning honours as the team continued to struggle. In 1956, after dominating the ruck for Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
in the interstate carnival, he was named an All-Australian
All-Australian Team
The All-Australian Team is an all star team of Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including interchange players and a coach, of the best performed during the season....
. His last big year was 1957 when he won a fourth club best and fairest
Jack Dyer Medal
The Jack Dyer Medal is an Australian rules football award given each season to the player or players adjudged Best and Fairest for the Richmond Football Club....
and went within an ace of winning a third Brownlow medal
Brownlow Medal
The Chas Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal , is awarded to the "fairest and best" player in the Australian Football League during the regular season as determined by votes cast by the officiating field umpires after each game...
, finishing second to Brian Gleeson
Brian Gleeson
Brian Gleeson is a former Australian rules footballer in the VFL.Gleeson attended St Patrick's College, Ballarat and later played with St Kilda at Centre half-forward initially. He developed into a skilful and agile ruckman, winning the Brownlow medal in 1957...
by four votes. No other Richmond
Richmond Football Club
The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...
player has won more than one Brownlow in the yellow and black.
After succeeding Des Rowe
Des Rowe
Des Rowe was an Australian rules footballer who played in the Victorian Football League between 1946 and 1957 for the Richmond Football Club. He was senior coach of Richmond from 1961 to 1963.- References :...
as captain in 1958, luck deserted Wright. Injury hampered his season and the following year, an injured leg forced him to announce his retirement and deny him an on-field farewell. Aged 30, he was stranded just five games short of the 200-game milestone.
Wright maintained his involvement with football by becoming one of the early television commentators on the game. He worked predominantly with the ABC
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
and presented Wright on the Ball for most of the 1960s. In his later years, he moved to Bairnsdale
Bairnsdale, Victoria
Bairnsdale is a small city in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. With a population at the 2006 census of 11,282, it is a major regional centre of eastern Victoria along with Traralgon and Sale....
in Gippsland
Gippsland
Gippsland is a large rural region in Victoria, Australia. It begins immediately east of the suburbs of Melbourne and stretches to the New South Wales border, lying between the Great Dividing Range to the north and Bass Strait to the south...
, but was always available to attend Richmond
Richmond Football Club
The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...
functions and fundraisers, where his autograph was in big demand. The supporters of his era never forgot the "Gentle Giant."
In 1996, the AFL
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
inducted Wright into the hall of fame as a founding member. The Richmond
Richmond Football Club
The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...
Team of the Century, announced in 1998, named Wright as the first ruckman, ahead of his mentor and first coach, Jack Dyer
Jack Dyer
John Raymond Dyer Sr. OAM , always known as Jack Dyer, was one of the colossal figures of Australian rules football during two distinct careers, firstly as a player and coach of the Richmond Football Club in the Victorian Football League between 1931 and 1952, and later in the broadcast media for...
- arguably his greatest accolade.