Vic Thorp was a dashing full-back, who was regarded as Richmond’s first-ever champion of the league football competition.
Thorp was recruited by Richmond from its junior affiliate team Beverley and, as a 19-year-old, walked straight into the Tigers’ senior side, debuting in the opening round of the 1910 season against South Melbourne at the Lake Oval.
He went on to play all 18 games that season, and then carve out an outstanding career over 16 seasons in one of the toughest, most pressure-packed positions on the field of battle.
In 1916 and 1919, Thorp won the equivalent of the Brownlow Medal at the time – the ‘Champion of the Colony Award’.
Affectionately known as ‘Flipper’, he was renowned for his marking ability and magnificent, long drop kicks.
His ability to repeatedly clear the ball from Richmond’s defensive area, with those raking drop kicks, thrilled Tiger supporters.
Although of only average height for a player during that era (178cm), Thorp had a solid build (82.5kg), however he was scrupulously fair and never went outside the rules, notwithstanding his fierce determination to succeed.
Thorp was a brilliant all-round defender. He was close-checking, making his opponents earn every kick, but also wasn’t afraid to back his judgment and attack the ball. His reading of the play was so good, he never seemed to be caught out of position.
He also had plenty of pace, enormous courage and great mental strength.
And, when the going was at its toughest in the Tigers’ backline, Thorp always was a great steadying influence.
In Round 6 of the 1922 season, Vic Thorp became the first Richmond player to reach the 200-game milestone.
What’s not as well known about Thorp is that he went extremely close to joining St Kilda at the outset of his league career, as he recounted in a ‘Sporting Globe’ newspaper article several years after his retirement.
“I began in 1910. The peculiar part of it was, I wasn’t keen to join Richmond. I was set to play with St Kilda.
“In fact, the negotiations were almost complete when Andrew Manzie, the Richmond secretary, came out to see me at Toorak on the morning of the match.
“He stressed the point that I was a Richmond lad and should play there.
“I had previously played with Beverley, who were really the Richmond second eighteen on those days.
“Earlier still, I had been captain of cricket and football at the Yarra Park State School.
“Strange how many things happen.
“Richmond were very small fry those days. Nobody seemed to be interested in whether we won or lost.
“Week after week we went out and were trimmed.”
The introduction to that Thorp article in the Sporting Globe also gave an interesting insight into the esteem he was held in throughout the football world at the time.
“Vic Thorp stands out in Australian Football as the greatest full-back the game has produced.
“Every football champion recounting his experiences in these columns has paid Thorp the compliment of naming him as the greatest goalkeeper of all time.
“Thorp played with the Tigers for 16 seasons – nine seasons without missing a match.
“He retired when the Australian football world was acclaiming him the Australian champion in his position. Yet when he returned his togs, he had established a record of 261 matches with Richmond.”
Legendary Collingwood full-forward Dick Lee rated Thorp as the best full-back that he had played against.
Thorp played a pivotal role in Richmond’s rise from obscurity to a powerhouse of the competition.
The Tigers, with Thorp dominating the key defensive post, won back-to-back premierships in 1920-21, after being runner-up in 1919.
At the end of the 1925 season, Thorp bowed out of league football, with 263 games, two premierships, two Champion of the Colony awards, and two Richmond Best and Fairests (1917 an d 1924) to his credit.
In 16 seasons, Thorp missed just 10 games, highlight the durability that was yet another of the first-rate football attributes he possessed.
He had been awarded Richmond Life Membership in 1919 and, 80 years later, was named full-back in the Tigers’ Team of the Century.
In recognition of Thorp’s achievements at Tigerland, for many years following his retirement the Club’s Best and Fairest award was known as the Vic Thorp Memorial Shield.
After hanging up his boots, Thorp served on Richmond’s committee from 1927-1935.
In 1996, Vic Thorp was an inaugural inductee into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.
He was the only Richmond player of the pre-World War 1 era to receive this honor.
Vic Thorp fact file
Born: 25/10/1890
Height: 178cm
Playing weight: 83kg
Recruited to Richmond from: Beverley Football Club
Playing position: Full-back
Guernsey number at Richmond: No. 5
Games at Richmond (1910-1925): 262
Goals at Richmond: 7
Honors at Richmond: Dual premiership player in 1920-1921, Best and Fairest winner in 1917 and 1924
Off-field contribution: Served on the Club’s committee from 1927-1935
