Ivor Warne-Smith (29 October 1897 – 4 March 1960), was an Australian footballer, who played for the Melbourne Football Club 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 ...

and for the

Latrobe Football Club The Latrobe Football Club is an Australian rules football club based in the town of Latrobe in northern Tasmania. The club competed in the North West Football Union throughout the competition's entire existence from 1910 until 1986, and has ...

in the North-Western Football Union in Tasmania. During his time with Melbourne he won two

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 ...

s, played in their 1926 premiership side, was captain-coach of the club and represented his state of Victoria on numerous occasions. Warne-Smith remained involved with the club for the rest of his life and was named in the Melbourne Football Club Team of the Century. He was also named in the Tasmanian Team of the Century. Warne-Smith fought in both

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and

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 ...

Early life

Warne-Smith was born in Sydney and moved to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

with his family when he was a child. He was educated at Wesley College, where he was noted as a footballer and

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

er. In 1914 he received "triple honour colours" at Wesley, for showing "exceptional commitment to the team and an outstanding level of skill in the specific sport" in three separate sports. As a teenager he played for Collegians in the Metropolitan Amateur Football Association.

WWI

Warne-Smith enlisted in

in 1915. More than two years below enlistment age, he pretended to be 18, as did many other Australians. He served at Gallipoli and on the Western Front. Two of his three brothers were killed in the war.

Football career

Victorian Football League

On returning to Melbourne in 1919 Warne-Smith joined the Melbourne Football Club, in the VFL and played eight games at centre halfback in that season.

North-Western Football Union

In 1920 he moved to Latrobe in

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

, where he became an orchardist. From 1920 to 1924 he played with the Latrobe Diehards football club in the Tasmanian North-Western Football Union (NWFU), and was captain-coach from 1922 onwards. Latrobe were premiers in 1922 and 1924 and runners up in 1923. In 1923 and 1924 he was runner-up in the NWFU's Cheel Medal for the best and fairest player. He was captain of the NWFU representative team in statewide competition, and was selected to play for Tasmania in the 1924 national carnival, although he was unable to play.

Back to the VFL

By 1924 Warne-Smith had such a reputation that Victorian teams were keen to bring him back to Melbourne, despite the fact that he was 27. In 1925 he returned to the Melbourne club, where he played a further 146 games, usually in the backline. He was also a talented ruckman and could play in the centre or forward line if required. Under his leadership Melbourne won the premiership in 1926, the club's first since 1900. In 1926 Warne-Smith won his first

and his second in 1928. From 1928 to 1931 he was captain and coach. He played for Victoria against other state sides from 1926 to 1929, and was captain of the state team in 1928 and 1929. He retired as a player at the end of 1931, coached the club in 1932 and played in several games that season when other players were unavailable.

Life after football

After retiring from football Warne-Smith became a regular football writer for the Melbourne '' Argus'' newspaper and worked as an executive with the Vacuum Oil Company (later absorbed by Mobil).

WWII

On the outbreak of

, he rejoined the Army (having been initially rejected on the grounds that he was too old at 43). He served with the Royal Australian Army Service Corps, in charge of fuel supplies, in the

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, the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

and

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

. For his leadership during the Borneo operations, he was mentioned in dispatches. He was demobilised in October 1945.

Chairman of selectors

In 1949 Warne-Smith became chairman of selectors for the Melbourne Football Club, a post he held until his death. He was also elected to the committee of the

Melbourne Cricket Club The Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) is a sports club based in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1838 and is one of the oldest sports clubs in Australia. The MCC is responsible for management and development of the Melbourne Cricket Ground, ...

, which at this time controlled the Melbourne Football Club. These were the most successful years in Melbourne's history. Under coach

Norm Smith Norman Walter Smith (21 November 1915 – 29 July 1973) was an Australian rules football player and coach in the Victorian Football League (VFL). After more than 200 games as a player with and , Smith began a twenty-year coaching career, inc ...

Melbourne won premierships in 1955, 1956, 1957 and 1959. Warne-Smith was Smith's closest advisor and was regarded as the club's elder statesman, becoming a life member in 1952. He retired due to ill health in 1959.

Death

Warne-Smith died of heart disease in 1960.

Legacy

Warne-Smith won the

twice: in 1926, and again in 1928. He was the first player to win the medal twice, and one of eleven to have won the Brownlow in the same year that his team won the premiership. In June 2000 Warne-Smith was named to the position of centre half-forward in the Melbourne Football Club's Team of the Century, in a ceremony attended by his four grandsons. In 2004 he was named in the official Tasmanian Team of the Century. He was also made a member of the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1996. "Ivor Warne-Smith, quiet and unassuming, was nonetheless energetic and enthusiastic in his endeavours to keep the Team up to the mark. The Club is fortunate indeed in having such a brilliant and versatile player as Coach and leader. Old and new Players alike treat his advice and instructions with the utmost respect." "For solid, effective brilliance, Ivor Warne-Smith will always rank as one of the best players the game has known. He can play anywhere. The ruck, defence, attack, or centre positions all come alike to this brainy, sterling footballer. Warne-Smith is an astute leader, who makes some daring moves and inspires his players by his own brilliance."Sporting Globe Football Book, 1930

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Warne-Smith, Ivor 1897 births 1960 deaths Melbourne Football Club players Melbourne Football Club coaches Melbourne Cricket Club cricketers Latrobe Football Club players Collegians Football Club players Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Brownlow Medal winners Melbourne Football Club captains Australian rules footballers from Sydney Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame inductees People educated at Wesley College (Victoria) Australian military personnel of World War I Australian Army personnel of World War II Melbourne Football Club Premiership players One-time VFL/AFL Premiership players Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Military personnel from Melbourne Melbourne Football Club administrators People from Brighton, Victoria Australian sportswriters Journalists from Melbourne The Argus (Melbourne) people