Michael Forster Patterson (7 January 194116 April 2002) 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 coach. Affectionately known as the "Swamp Fox", Patterson was a premiership ruckman with the

Richmond Football Club The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers, is an Australian rules football team playing in the Australian Football League (AFL). Between its inception in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond in 1885 and 1907, the club competed in the Victo ...

in 1967, and also captain/coach of the 1972 Australian Champions, the

North Adelaide Football Club North Adelaide Football Club, nicknamed The Roosters, is an Australian rules football club affiliated with the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) and SANFL Women's League (SANFLW). The club plays its home games at Prospect Oval, ...

Richmond

Patterson played for the

between 1959 and 1969. When first choice ruck

Neville Crowe Neville Crowe (1 June 1937 – 2 September 2016) was an Australian rules footballer who represented in the Australian Football League, Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1950s and 1960s. He also served as club president from 1987 to 19 ...

was suspended for the 1967 grand final Patterson stepped up brilliantly to compete with legendary ruckman

Polly Farmer Graham Vivian "Polly" Farmer (10 March 1935 14 August 2019) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League, Victorian Football League (VFL) and the East Perth Football Club and We ...

and made a major contribution to Richmond's 9-point victory. In Round 8 of the 1969 VFL season, Patterson was hit in the face with a football by Carlton trainer, Ron Vincent. The event was immortalised in Mike Brady's football anthem "Up There Cazaly".

North Adelaide

In 1970 Patterson joined the

as captain/coach with great success, hardening a champion side and leading the

Roosters The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

SANFL The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport. Originally formed as the ...

premierships in 1971 and 1972. In 1972 he also led North Adelaide to national triumph in the

Australian Championship The National Second Division (NSD) – also referred to under the working title The Championship – is a proposed Australian national second-tier men's, soccer league, to be run by Football Australia and the Association of Australian Football ...

, sealed with a 1-point victory over the

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's top professional competition. Founded in 1864 in Carlton, an inner suburb of Mel ...

. After 1973 he retired as a player after a career of 18 years but remained as North Adelaide's coach until 1977.

St Kilda

He returned to the VFL as coach of St Kilda from 1978 until Round 2 of 1980. St Kilda collected the

wooden spoon Wooden Spoon may refer to: * Wooden spoon, implement * Wooden spoon (award) A wooden spoon is an award that is given to an individual or team that has come last in a competition. Examples range from the academic to sporting and more frivolous e ...

for the third time in three years in 1979. Former player and trucking millionaire

Lindsay Fox Lindsay Edward Fox (born ) is an Australian businessman. In 1956, Fox founded the Australian logistics company Linfox, where as of 2015 he serves as non-executive chairman. Early life Lindsay Fox was born around 1937 and brought up in Pra ...

had been brought into the club, as president, in 1979. One of his actions was to facilitate the signing of high-profile

Alex Jesaulenko Oleksandr "Alex" Jesaulenko ( ; uk, Олександр Васильович Єсауленко, Oleksandr Vasiliovych Yesaulenko, ; born 2 August 1945) is a former Australian rules footballer and who played for the Carlton Football Club and t ...

as an on-field player only. However this placed great pressure on Patterson's position as Jesaulenko had an established record as a captain-coach, having the year previously led Carlton to premiership victory. During the Round 2 match two St Kilda players, in an attempt to win the ball, comically bumped into each other. Fox declared this indicated a lack of discipline that could no longer be tolerated. Patterson was sacked immediately for Jesaulenko

Frankston

Patterson went on to coach the Frankston Football Club, Frankston in the VFA from 1981 to 1983.

Richmond

Patterson returned home to

Punt Road Oval Punt Road Oval, also known by naming rights sponsorship as the Swinburne Centre, is an Australian rules football ground and former cricket oval located within the Yarra Park precinct of East Melbourne, Victoria, situated a few hundred metres to ...

in his final position as senior VFL coach of the

for the 1984 season.

Death

Patterson died from a massive stroke on 16 April 2002, at the age of 61.

Honours

In 2001, shortly before his premature death, Mike Patterson, the first Victorian to steer an SANFL club to a premiership, was selected as coach of North Adelaide's official 'Team of the Twentieth Century'.

References

Bibliography

* Hogan P: ''The Tigers Of Old'', Richmond FC, Melbourne 1996

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Patterson, Mike St Kilda Football Club coaches Richmond Football Club players Richmond Football Club premiership players North Adelaide Football Club players Richmond Football Club coaches North Adelaide Football Club coaches Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) 2002 deaths 1941 births VFL/AFL premiership players