Charles Elliott Pannam (21 April 1897 – 25 November 1961) was an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er and VFL umpire who played for Collingwood and

South Melbourne South Melbourne is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. South Melbourne recorded a population of 11,548 at ...

in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

(VFL). He was the son of a

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Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

Aussie rules footballing legend Charlie Pannam and the brother of Alby Pannam, and he was a grandfather to

Australian Football Hall of Fame The Australian Football Hall of Fame was established in 1996, the Centenary year of the Australian Football League, to help recognise the contributions made to the sport of Australian rules football by players, umpires, media personalities, coa ...

player and media personality

Lou Richards Lewis Thomas Charles "Lou" Richards, (15 March 1923 – 8 May 2017) was an Australian rules footballer who played 250 games for the Collingwood Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) between 1941 and 1955. He captained the tea ...

. Their surname Pannamopoulos was Greek but their Greek immigrant grandfather, John, shortened it to Pannam when he migrated to

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from

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Football career

Pannam spent six seasons with Collingwood and played in Grand Finals in all but one of them, winning premierships in 1917 and 1919. He played mostly in the middle of the ground, as either a wingman or centreman. In 1923, he joined South Melbourne as coach, and for his first three years in charge he did so in a non-playing capacity, but from 1926 to 1928 took the field as captain. His tally of 108 games as South Melbourne coach remained a record for more than half a century until passed by Ian Stewart in 1981. In later years, Pannam returned to Collingwood and filled a range of administrative roles including team manager of the under-nineteens and secretary of the Old Players' Association. At the completion of the 1928 season, Pannam took up the captain-coach position with Brunswick in the VFA. Brunswick finished fourth in the home and away rounds and fell seven points short of

Port Melbourne Port Melbourne is an inner-city List of Melbourne suburbs, suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the Cities of ...

in the first semi-final. Pannam had been reported in July and suspended for three matches but was back for the run to the finals and was amongst Brunswick's best in the final. The following year was not successful. Pannam moved to coaching only during the season for health reasons and the club finished ninth, being one of the bottom four eliminated two rounds prior to the finals. Pannam captained-coach again in 1931, leading Brunswick to an improved seventh position, but in 1932 he was replaced by

Vic Belcher Victor George Belcher (24 August 1888 – 3 January 1977) was an Australian rules footballer, coach and umpire in the (then) Victorian Football League. Early life and family Belcher was born at Hall's Track (now known as Lebrina) north ...

Umpiring

Following his playing-coaching career, Pannam took up field umpiring and was immediately placed on the VFL field umpires list. After an indifferent start, he found his feet and must have had the confidence of the Umpires' Appointment Board given that for much of the second half of 1932 he officiated in the Bendigo League, one of the prime weekly appointments. Over the ensuing two seasons, he umpired all over Victoria and accumulated 45 country matches in all. The first finals match he umpired was the 1933 Peninsula Football Association Second Semi Final. So impressive was he that the association requested and received him for the following week's final. These were to be his only finals. Pannam retired at the close of the 1934 season.

References

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Coaching record
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pannam, Charles Elliott 1897 births Collingwood Football Club players Collingwood Football Club Premiership players Sydney Swans players Brunswick Football Club players Sydney Swans coaches Australian people of Greek descent Australian rules footballers from Melbourne 1961 deaths Two-time VFL/AFL Premiership players People from Collingwood, Victoria