John William "Mick" McLaren (3 April 1936 – 18 February 2014) 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 for the
St Kilda Football Club
The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed the Saints, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier league.
The club ...
in the
Victorian Football League (VFL), who later became the manager of a highly successful printing business.
Early life and education
The son of John and Jean McLaren (née Rayner), John William McLaren was born in the City of Melbourne on 3 April 1936.
He attended
Caulfield Grammar School
Caulfield Grammar School is an Independent school, independent, co-educational, Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican, International Baccalaureate, day school, day and boarding school, located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1881 as ...
from 1943 to 1953, where he distinguished himself as both a cricketer and as a footballer, playing in both the school's First XI, aged 14, where he played alongside Bill O'Halloran, and its First XVIII, aged 16.
Football
He was recruited by St Kilda from Caulfield Grammar School in 1954. He played well in a number of St Kilda's senior pre-season practice matches, and went on to play the entire 1954 season in the St Kilda (under-19) Third XVIII.
Having trained well in the preseason, McLaren made his senior debut in the first match of the 1955 season, against
Melbourne, at the
Junction Oval, on 16 April 1955 on the half-back flank; St Kilda lost the match 8.11 (59) to 17.16 (118).
He played in the next match in Round Two (23 April) against Essendon; but was unable to play again, due to his Army National Service obligations, until the Round 17 (13 August 1955) match against
Geelong
Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...
, and in Round 18 (20 August 1955), the last match of the season, against
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, ...
.
League Teams: St. Kilda v. R'mond, ''The Age'', (Friday, 19 August 1955), p. 11.
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He injured his ankle in the early part of the 1956 season and did not play again.
See also
* List of Caulfield Grammar School people
Footnotes
References
AFL Statistics: Mick McLaren
''Herald-Sun Tributes'' (20 February 2014) : McLaren, John.
Holmesby, Luke, "Farewell to former Saints", ''saints.com.au'': 12 March 2014
* Webber, Horace, ''Years May Pass On... Caulfield Grammar School, 1881–1981'', Centenary Committee, Caulfield Grammar School, (East St Kilda),1981.
* Wilkinson, Ian R., ''The Fields at Play – 115 years of sport at Caulfield Grammar School 1881–1996'', Playwright Publishing, (Melbourne), 1997.
{{DEFAULTSORT:McLaren, Mick
1936 births
2014 deaths
People educated at Caulfield Grammar School
St Kilda Football Club players
Australian rules footballers from Melbourne
Australian businesspeople