Today (May 9, 2011) marks the 80th anniversary of one of the most memorable days in Richmond’s proud league football history.
It was on May 9, 1931 that a gangly 17-year-old ruckman by the name of John Raymond Dyer made his senior debut with Richmond, against North Melbourne at Punt Road Oval.
Given the massive impact Jack Dyer was later to have with the Tigers, and the game in general, it was a very humble beginning for the man who became known as “Captain Blood”.
Selected as 19th man, Dyer spent the entire match on the bench. He waited in vain for his chance to be part of the action, watching in awe as Richmond demolished North Melbourne by a whopping 168 points.
Dyer was dropped to the seconds the following week and didn’t make his way back into the senior side until the return clash with North Melbourne that season, at Arden Street. He starred in that match and the rest, as they say, is history . . .
Another Tiger teenager Doug Strang, who was playing just his second game of league football, after being recruited from Albury, booted 14 goals in an incredible display that early May day in 1931.
Exactly 80 years on, that remains the most goals kicked in a senior game by a Richmond player.
Richmond kicked a then league record score of 30.19 (199) to North’s 4.7 (31), with the great Jack Titus booting a ‘lazy’ eight goals, to complement Strang’s 14-goal avalanche. The Tigers held that record for 38 years, until 1969, when it was broken by Carlton (30.30) in a match against Hawthorn.
Doug Strang went on to become a key member of Richmond’s 1932 premiership side (four goals in the ’32 GF v Carlton), a three-time winner of the Club’s Leading Goalkicker award, and he finished his league career at the end of the 1935 season, with 64 games and 181 goals to his credit.
Doug’s brother, Gordon, also made his second senior appearance with the Tigers that day. He subsequently became a star key-position player for the Club, a dual premiership player, and was selected at centre half-back in the Tigers’ Team of the Century.
Three decades later, Doug’s son, Geoff, was a half-back in Richmond’s 1967 and 1969 premiership sides.
Match details
Richmond 5.7 17.9 22.14 30.19 (199)
North Melb. 0.1 0.4 2.5 4.7 (31)
Goals - Richmond: D. Strang 14, Titus 8, Weidner 3, Hunter 3, Baggott, Zschech.
The May 2, 1931 Richmond team
Jack Baggott
Jack Bissett
Martin Bolger
Jack Dyer
Frank Ford
Bert Foster
Allan Geddes
Fred Heifner
Maurie Hunter
Stan Judkins
Basil McCormack
Joe Murdoch
Tom O’Halloran
Kevin O’Neill
Doug Strang
Gordon Strang
Jack Titus
Harry Weidner
Eric Zschech
