In the wake of young Hawthorn player Connor Downie spending his entire AFL debut game on the bench, as the Hawks’ Round 1 injury substitute, Tony Greenberg takes a look at a Tiger who experienced the same start – but also finish – to his league football career.
Colin Dobson is not a name readily identifiable among the 1168 players who have worn the famous Yellow and Black guernsey throughout Richmond’s proud AFL/VFL history.
The story of Dobson’s brief career with the Tigers, however, is as distinctive, as it is disappointing.
Dobson made his one and only appearance for the senior Richmond side in the Club’s final match for premiership points at its Punt Road home, in Round 18 of the 1964 season against Hawthorn.
The 193cm, 82.5kg defender/ruckman had joined Richmond from Oakleigh YCW the previous year.
He had worked his way through the ranks at Tigerland, starting with the under 19s, progressing to the reserves, and then gaining selection in the senior line-up for what was to be Punt Road’s farewell as a venue for league matches.
Richmond had shown some promising signs throughout what was astute coach Len Smith’s first season at the helm, but was well out of finals contention come that Round 18 clash.
The Tigers had won six of their 17 matches to that point and were in ninth place on the league ladder.
Hawthorn, which had finished runner-up to Geelong the previous year, was in fifth place, just two points out of the top four, with 12 wins and five losses on the board.
Dobson had been named as 19th man for his senior league debut with Richmond, and the players on the bench in those days invariably had to wait until a teammate was injured, or a fair bit later in the game before getting a run.
So, Dobson walked to the quaint little dug-out, sat down, and waited . . . and waited . . . and waited.
After three quarters of waiting patiently for an on-ground opportunity, Dobson sensed his moment might have arrived at the final break, with the scores level.
But he started the last quarter back on the bench, and as the minutes ticked by, with Hawthorn taking total control of the contest, Dobson’s hopes of getting a run evaporated.
The final siren signalled a 43-point win to the Hawks, with a forlorn Dobson trudging off the ground in his Club dressing-gown, having spent the entire match on the ‘pine’.
That was to be Dobson’s one and only game for Richmond. The following year he joined VFA club Waverley, but his stay there was interrupted by National Service duties.
Decades later, Fox Footy caught up with Dobson for a special feature on his day of excitement-turned-disappointment in the Punt Road dug-out.
Here is how Dobson relayed the story . . .
“I was nervous. I was trying to act cool, with the thought of telegrams and well-wishes and the crowd behind me. I was pretty excited . . . yeah, I was pumped.
“Started the game on the bench. I was picked as 19th man and in those days they only had the 19th and 20th. Just sat down on the bench and started to take in all the activities going on, on the field.
“The colour of the place . . . being so close to the players, too, it’s something at the time you take for granted, but the Hawthorn colours and the Richmond colours, and the players, the sweat and the liniment, it was pretty exciting, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
“Even in those days, it struck me that the tackling was quick. You didn’t have a lot of time to get rid of it.
“So, I didn’t get a run in the first quarter. No, I didn’t get a run in the second quarter.
“The third quarter, no, we certainly both (19th and 20th men) sat on the bench that time and we were anticipating three-quarter time was going to be our opportunity.
“They weren’t paid, but my mates were certainly there, trying to give the coach a bit of advice: ‘Come on ‘Dobbo’. ‘Put Dobbo on. He can do something’.
“I waited patiently, and I continued to wait patiently, but I didn’t get on in the last quarter, either.
“For the whole game I sat there I was excited, but in the end, I think I was a bit disappointed that I got so close and didn’t get on.”
