Not noted for his kicking style, Ron Stockman definitely surprised himself by scoring his one and only League goal in Footscray’s 1954 Grand Final victory - not that he saw it go through!
As Stockman recalls, in an interview to be aired at the 1954 Celebration Gala Dinner at the Crown Palladium on April 8, he had taken his shot at the city end.
‘I knew roughly the position of the goals but I couldn’t see. The sun had hit me in the face and I was blinded at the time and more or less when [my] vision came back, here’s Jack [Collins] waving and I thought to myself, gee there’s the goal-umpire putting the flag away…gee it must have gone through.’
Another feature of the 1954 Grand Final that is indelibly etched in Stockman’s memory is the encroachment of spectators, up to four deep in places, onto the playing arena between the boundary line and fence.
This was due to the rebuilding of the MCG’s Northern Stand for the 1956 Olympic Games.
Stockman was recruited to the Bulldogs from local District League side West Footscray. Footscray had wanted him for the 1952 season but Stockman, following advice from a mentor at the time, stayed another year with his local club to ‘mature’ as a footballer.
Crossing to Footscray as a defender in 1953, Stockman found it wasn’t easy breaking into Footscray’s class backline, acknowledging that to get a game, ‘You more or less sweated on someone getting injured.’
Stockman would eventually settle into a more permanent role as a half back flanker in the seasons that followed the Premiership win. ‘In ’55 and ’56, Alan [Martin] had gone and I more or less took the position on the half back flank,’ he said.
Stockman felt he was fortunate to be selected in both finals campaigns of 1953 and ’54 as he only played ‘a handful of games’ in each season.
In the ’54 Grand Final he was named in an unfamiliar role at half forward and played on Melbourne’s Don Williams, acquitting himself well, especially early in the third quarter when he provided the spark the team needed.
There was much elation in the rooms after Footscray's historic win and this flowed over to the celebrations at the Footscray Town Hall where the players were presented to their adoring supporters.
The celebrations were then supposed to continue at the Western Oval where, according to an amused Stockman, a promise had been made that, ‘There was going to be free drinks for everyone.’ He arrived at the ground at about 10:30pm with ruckman Harvey Stevens.
‘I can still remember…Harvey Stevens and I battled our way to get into the dressing rooms and you couldn’t move and I got in there and I said to Harvey, “I don't think anything’s prepared, I can’t see anybody getting a drink,” and he said, “No, I’m going home’ and I said, “Yeah, not a bad idea,” so we left.’
