Chelsea players Bill Woodhead, Peter Dullard, John Coughlan, Reg Backman, Ron Price and  Bill Armstrong  celebrate Chelsea’s first 1st XV111 Premiership.

SNAPSHOTS

A particularly noticeable aspect of Saturday’s grand final was the absence of spite. There were no  “incidents” and the game , although played hard as it should be and was battled out in a fair and square manner. I have mentioned before the sporting manner in which Dandenong play their matches and Saturday’s game further emphasised this point. Chelsea’s game was clean, but Dandenong was the team being beaten. Yet they stuck to their code and did not dish out the dirty work that a team almost twice as big and heavy could have done to their smaller opponents.
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Alan Jones and Russell were chaired off the ground after the match.........a fitting reward for two sterling performances.
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They say that next time Chelsea take the field Coughlan will be donged on the skull with a beer bottle before he leaves the dressing rooms. He played so well after his knock-out crash with Johnson that the selectors are considering the purchase of a “cosher.”
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Liked the moment when Kev Phillips went to handpass the ball, changed his mind and ran a good few yards with the ball balanced on his fingertips.
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Both captains, in my opinion, were well amongst the best players for that grand final. Perkins especially in defence kept his team within striking distance and Grambeau’s high marking and baulking inspired continual Chelsea attacks.
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Here’s one for Ripley !
I must congratulate umpire Huntington who had charge of Saturday’s final and commend it as the best umpiring performance I have seen this year.....not that that’s any recommendation.
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Chelsea players won more than a premiership on Saturday. Through winning the flag, they all became eligible for a haircut on the house at Frank Burgoyne’s, the local tonsorial artist.
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He didn’t get it !
Before Dandenong took the field on Saturday, coach Sandy Perkins asked each and every player for 100 minutes concentration. The way some were left for dead indicated that a few didn’t have their minds alertly on the game.
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Chelsea full-forward Ron Price won’t forget last Saturday. It was the day of days for Ron. For  a worried and nervous man to kick a swag of five goals in front of 5000 people is terrific.
But it wasn’t grand final jitters that had Ron chewing his finger nails. Approximately at the half-time break Ron became the proud father of a bouncing baby girl.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

DOES WINNING A FIRST EVER PREMIERSHIP AT THE TOP LEVEL WARRANT A PAY RISE? OBVIOUSLY SUCCESSFUL COACH RUSSELL GRAMBEAU THOUGHT SO, AND APPLIED FOR A TWO POUND INCREASE IN HIS WEEKLY WAGE.
THE POWERS THAT BE THOUGHT DIFFERENTLY AND REJECTED HIS REQUEST. RUSSELL WAS LEFT WITH LITTLE OPTION BUT TO VACATE HIS POSITION AND MOVE ON.
UNFORTUNATELY QUITE A FEW OF THE PLAYERS DIDN’T THINK TOO HIGHLY OF THE DECISION EITHER AND ARRIVED AT THE SAME CONCLUSION—THEY MOVED ON.
CHELSEA’S MAGNIFICENT TEAM OF 1955 WAS GREATLY WEAKENED AND WOULD HAVE TO SPEND SEVERAL YEARS IN THE WILDERNESS BEFORE HAVING ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY TO RAISE A PREMIERSHIP FLAG.