Wells Eicke Coach

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kick it to tim

kick it to tim

Rookie
Mar 31, 2018
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AFL Club
Essendon
I am after some information about the 1926 season. It appears North Melbourne had 3 coaches, Wells Eicke (R1-3), Stan thomas (r3) and Gerry Donnelly (R5-18)

Does anyone know where i can find out why Eicke left? and then the process in hiring Donnelly

also it seems there is an assumption that the Stan Thomas that stood in for round 1 was the same Stan Thomas who played the previous season at Geelong and was suspended for 26 matches (if you read wikipedia that's what it suggests anyway). However in the below article that talks about the hiring of Eicke, Stan Thomas is mentioned as the secretary, so it can't be the same person..... also having read through the North Story by Gerard Dowling, this becomes quite clear, he is an administrator.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/...||requestHandler|||dateFrom|||dateTo|||sortby
 
kick it to tim said:
I am after some information about the 1926 season. It appears North Melbourne had 3 coaches, Wells Eicke (R1-3), Stan thomas (r3) and Gerry Donnelly (R5-18)

Does anyone know where i can find out why Eicke left? and then the process in hiring Donnelly

also it seems there is an assumption that the Stan Thomas that stood in for round 1 was the same Stan Thomas who played the previous season at Geelong and was suspended for 26 matches (if you read wikipedia that's what it suggests anyway). However in the below article that talks about the hiring of Eicke, Stan Thomas is mentioned as the secretary, so it can't be the same person..... also having read through the North Story by Gerard Dowling, this becomes quite clear, he is an administrator.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/...||requestHandler|||dateFrom|||dateTo|||sortby
Click to expand...
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/243587393 (18 May 1926)
1555813792629.png
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3782957 (19 May 1936)
1555814001704.png
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/201628791 (19 May 1936)
1555817478550.png

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/201632484 (26 May 1926)
To-morrow night the committee is to elect a new committeeman, and the coach to fill Eicke's position is to be appointed.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/201638080 (28 May 1926)
Donnelly, who took the place of captain in place of Eicke, has also been elected coach.
 
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The Stan Thomas situation is a very interesting one!! It seems it's not just Wikipedia that has it wrong, so you've come up with something rather important there. AFL Tables has the Geelong player coaching North Melbourne for that one game in 1926: https://afltables.com/afl/stats/coaches/Stan_Thomas.html

Yet Stan Thomas had been at North for years:

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/184820250 (22 April 1925)
The duties of secretary have been entrusted to Mr Stan Thomas, an old player and a former all-round athlete.

http://www.boylesfootballphotos.net...o-3-North-Broke-But-They-won-With-18-Amateurs (this refers to a 1922 game - Thomas was obviously at the club then)
Stan Thomas (who later be- North's secretary) was a committeeman at the time, and stripped only because the team was short of players for the semi-final. He played a sound game.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/244051702 (26 May 1926)

Boyles' claims the Geelong player also coached North in 1926.

Edit: This article sums it up nicely!: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/184818084 (21 Feb 1925)
1555816959503.png

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/184824284 (this is a good article on Thomas)
 
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kick it to tim said:
Thank you. Your trove skills are far superior to mine.

I will look into Stan Thomas some more.

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Click to expand...
Some records do have it wrong with Thomas, that's for sure. I can't tell whether the AFL think the 1926 one-game coach is the same chap who played for Geelong for all those years, but it obviously can't be. Since he was at North Melbourne in 1922 and (in April) 1925 he can't have been playing for Geelong at the time!

The Encyclopedia of AFL Coaches has it wrong as well: "Thomas was a tough, fearless defender for Geelong after being recruited from Barwon and later became North Melbourne secretary. He took over as North coach for one game when Wels Eicke returned to St Kilda during the 1926 season."
 
The Encyclopedia of AFL Coaches says of Eicke: The following season Eicke was appointed North Melbourne's coach for it's inaugural VFL season of 1925. North finished tenth in it's debut season, but when the Shinboners struggled the following season and failed to win a game under Eicke, he quit after playing just four games and returned to St Kilda, where he played another three games that season.
 
If you read what is said about Stan Thomas above, you'll see the person who coached North Melbourne for one game in 1926 is not the person who played for Geelong (1915, 1917-25).

*Paul*
https://afltables.com/afl/stats/coaches/Stan_Thomas.html || https://afltables.com/afl/stats/players/S/Stan_Thomas.html

Michael Riley
http://boylesfootballphotos.net.au/Stan+Thomas

Also, the Wikipedia entry for Stan Thomas, the Geelong footballer, needs fixing!: https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Stan_Thomas_(Australian_footballer)
 
35Daicos said:
Some records do have it wrong with Thomas, that's for sure. I can't tell whether the AFL think the 1926 one-game coach is the same chap who played for Geelong for all those years, but it obviously can't be. Since he was at North Melbourne in 1922 and (in April) 1925 he can't have been playing for Geelong at the time!

The Encyclopedia of AFL Coaches has it wrong as well: "Thomas was a tough, fearless defender for Geelong after being recruited from Barwon and later became North Melbourne secretary. He took over as North coach for one game when Wels Eicke returned to St Kilda during the 1926 season."
Click to expand...

The history staff at AFL House in 1994 were on the ball - the Round 8 issue that year includes a small piece about coaches who hadn't ever played in the VFL/AFL, Stan Thomas [NM 1926] being one of those listed.
 
There is always a story behind those mid season coaching replacements, if you read those articles above that 35Daicos posted, it says he may resign then after they loose to Melbourne he conveniently has business that clashes with his football, so resigns the coaching and captaincy, plays one more game then is back with St Kilda by round 13 for 3 more games.
Also interesting to note that his replacement Gerry Donnelly is the second youngest coach of all time at the age of 22 and 295 days old!
 
kick it to tim said:
There is always a story behind those mid season coaching replacements, if you read those articles above that 35Daicos posted, it says he may resign then after they loose to Melbourne he conveniently has business that clashes with his football, so resigns the coaching and captaincy, plays one more game then is back with St Kilda by round 13 for 3 more games.
Also interesting to note that his replacement Gerry Donnelly is the second youngest coach of all time at the age of 22 and 295 days old!
Click to expand...
Yes, I thought the "business interests" excuse for Eicke's resignation shouldn't be taken at all seriously! The team was losing and he was copping flak, and if the story that says his pay was cut from 12 pounds to 7 pounds per week is correct, he may have been looking for any excuse to get out of there!
 

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