Recently, here at The Mongrel Punt, we published our All-Mongrel Team, comprising some of the toughest nuts the game has seen. For a variety of different reasons, blokes who liked to have a bit of a dip with the rough stuff were placed into a team that would cause even the bravest footballer to flinch in a contest.
Only one current player made the cut – Toby Greene. However, my lack of knowledge about the game before my time prevented me from adding those from the early days of the VFL. It was something that did not sit well with me.
And it led me to conduct a little more research on the players who had the reputation of being fearsome characters in the competition.
Have you ever heard of the man named Fred Rutley?
No?
I don’t blame you. He last pulled on a pair of boots at the highest level in 1930, playing for the Kangaroos. And whilst he was held goalless in his career just once, it was his actions away from the ball that made his name one that all involved in footy became acutely aware of.
As a result of his actions in just one game against Geelong in 1925, Rutley was suspended for a total of 89 games stemming from multiple charges in a spiteful contest.
And really, in the end, he was let off lightly, because the tribunal initially suspended him for life, only to have Rutley have the ban overturned on appeal five years later.
Before I go on, it should be stated that Rutley could obviously play. Whilst this article is focused on his most famous memory at league level, in a time when teams were struggling to kick scores, and North Melbourne were struggling perhaps most of all, Rutley managed a career average of 1.91 goals per game. However, coming into the league as part of the Kangaroos’ first season in the VFL, he and his teammates were constantly under pressure and destined to inhabit the lower rungs on the ladder.
This was the season that North, Hawthorn, and the Dogs all made the move from the VFA into the VFL, and to say they all struggled would be putting it mildly.
As part of a 12-team competition, those three teams finished in the bottom three places, the easy beats of the league. And by around Round 12, Rutley seemed to have had enough of being part of a losing team, with his frustrations boiling over.
Of course, the Cats were none-too-pleased with North, either.
In their first game in the VFL, North had defeated the Cats in Round One. It came as a complete surprise to everyone to see an established VFL team capitulate to a team of upstarts, and the Cats felt embarrassed by their capitulation. Rumours spread that the return match in Round 12 was going to have plenty of heat in it.
Those rumours turned out to be true.
At Arden Street on Saturday the first of August, 1925, Rutley would go on rampage against the Cats. and whilst he would kick three of North’s nine goals in a 94-point hiding at the hands of Geelong, it was kicking of a different type that earned him the ire of the umpires and the VFL tribunal.
Six players were reported on the day, resulting in a total of 17 charges. Six of those charges would be levelled at Rutley. He would be found guilty on all of them.
He was suspended for kicking Geelong’s Eric Fleming and attempting to kick Syd Hall, as well as striking Lloyd Hagger, Stan Thomas, and Arthur Coghlan. He was also charged with inciting a melee, which kind of sounds it came from an incident 95 years later, but there you go – melees were frowned upon back then, as well.
In addition to the charges laid for on-field indiscretions, members of the crowd also got involved. Geelong’s Arthur Coghlan was also hit by a rock, thrown by a North Melbourne supporter.
It was described by another North supporter as “a bit of a pebble.”
Way to play it down.
In the end, two Cats were stretchered off the ground, including their captain, Cliff Rankin.
When Rutley appeared before the VFL tribunal, the chairman announced the following.
“The tribunal is of the opinion that this is one of the most serious and worst cases that has ever come before it. Its decision is that you are disqualified for life.”
Just like the nWo – For… life!
The tribunal wasn’t screwing around back then!
By the time Rutley was reinstated, he had served 89 games on the sidelines, and upon his return, managed just four, to take his career total to 11.
The only longer suspensions in footy history were handed to Doug Fraser and Alex Lang in 1910. Both were banned for 99 matches due to their involvement in a bribery scandal.
We’ve come a fair way.
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