Marcus Joseph Whelan (27 June 1914 – 31 August 1973) was an Australian rules footballer who played for Collingwood 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).

Family

The son of John Whelan and Ellen Margaret Whelan, née Parker, he was born in Bacchus Marsh on 27 June 1914. He married Marjorie Alice Dummett on 14 October 1939. Whelan's son

Shane Shane may refer to: People * Shane (actress) (born 1969), American pornographic actress * Shane (New Zealand singer) (born 1946) * iamnotshane (born 1995), formerly known as Shane, American singer * Shane (name) Shane is mainly a masculine g ...

played for Collingwood between

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

and

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

; and his granddaughter is the actress/television presenter Nicky Whelan.

Football

Collingwood

Whelan played mostly in the midfield as a centreman, although he played some 40 games at full-back. He was a fine, long drop-kick, and an expert place-kick. Whelan won the

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as "Charlie"), is awarded to the "best and fairest" player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by t ...

in 1939 and was also awarded Collingwood's best-and-fairest award, the

Copeland Trophy The E.W. Copeland Trophy is an Australian rules football award given by the Collingwood Football Club to the player adjudged best and fairest for Collingwood during the year. The Copeland Shield, as it was formerly known, was donated by Ern Cope ...

. After fighting in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he returned to the

in 1946 and retired at the end of the 1947 season. Sports journalist Michael Roberts and former Australian rules footballer described Whelan as being "a famously cool, calm and polished performer." In 1956,

Jack Dyer John Raymond Dyer Sr. OAM (15 November 1913 – 23 August 2003), nicknamed Captain Blood, was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Richmond Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) between 1931 and 1949. One of the ga ...

called Whelan one of the best centremen of his time. “He was a spectacular player who could take a brilliant high mark and could hold his own with a ruckman,” Dyer wrote. Fellow Collingwood player Bob Rose concurred: “He was a magnificent stab kick and could dispose of the ball perfectly while travelling at top speed.”

St Kilda

In 1948, he was cleared from Collingwood to play with the St Kilda Second XVIII as captain-coach.

Carrum

In 1949, he was appointed captain-coach of the

Carrum Football Club The Carrum-Patterson Lakes Football Club is an Australian rules football club from Melbourne, that was founded in 1909 and currently plays in Division 3 of the Southern Football League. History Football has been reported to be played in Carru ...

in the Mornington Peninsula Football League.

Employment

Whelan worked at

Carlton & United Breweries Carlton & United Breweries (CUB) is an Australian brewing company based in Melbourne and owned by Japanese conglomerate Asahi Breweries. Its notable brands include Victoria Bitter, Carlton Draught, Foster's Lager, Great Northern, Resch's, Pu ...

in Melbourne, alongside his coach

Jock McHale James Francis "Jock" McHale, (12 December 1882 – 4 October 1953) was an Australian rules football player and coach for the Collingwood Football Club in the Victorian Football League in a marathon career that extended from 1903 to 1949. Earl ...

."Brownlow Medal winner", ''News'' (Adelaide), 8 September 1939, p. 7.

Footnotes

References

*
Football Ace Whelan: Crowd's Idol Gets Ready For Big Season, ''Pix'', Vol.5, No.13 (Saturday, 30 March 1940), pp.28-31.

Marcus Whelan (Collingwood) in an artistic place kick, ''The Argus Pictorial-Supplement'', (Tuesday, 14 May 1940), p.6.

External links

*
''Boyles Football Photos'': Marcus Whelan.

World War Two Nominal Roll: Sergeant Marcus Joseph Whelan VX100842 (V275436).
*
Marcus Whelan profile
Australian Football League website; accessed 12 June 2014. {{DEFAULTSORT:Whelan, Marcus 1914 births 1973 deaths Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Australian Rules footballers: place kick exponents Collingwood Football Club players Collingwood Football Club Premiership players Brownlow Medal winners Copeland Trophy winners Place of death missing People from Bacchus Marsh Australian Army personnel of World War II Australian Army soldiers Two-time VFL/AFL Premiership players