That Charlie Clymo was a one-off is evident in his arrival, veritably out of thin air, as Geelong coach 90 years ago, and his swift return to obscurity as soon as the 1931 premiership had been won. The letter of thanks he penned to the Geelong Advertiser on his way out the door merely underscores his credentials as one of the greatest enigmas the game has barely known.

On October 29, 1931 Clymo wrote of a “desire to publicly thank the people of Geelong for the manner in which I was supported in my work as coach”, expressing gratitude to the many residents who had made he and wife Bella feel welcome. He thanked the club committee, from the president and secretary down, the trainers, and the players for proving to be “a fine lot of young men” whose team spirit brought them the ultimate success.

Betraying what a distant and different time it was, he signed off by asking the newspaper’s editor to thank his staff who during the year “handled the football matters”, for their “able reports and the courteous manner in which they sought information”. This may be the last time a VFL/AFL coach formally thanked the football media for their work.*

And then, like a bird on the breeze, Charlie Clymo was gone.

History regards him well, if scantily. He sits between two club greats, Arthur Coghlan and Reg Hickey, on the Geelong coaching honour board. Why he got the gig in 1931 is hazy, but one theory hints at internal politics clouding the choice between two contenders before centre half forward Jack Collins put forward the name of a coach he knew in Ballarat.

That was William Charles Clymo, who had played 43 unspectacular games for St Kilda from 1907-09, having been recruited from Eaglehawk aged 23. He was still working as a miner in Bendigo at the time, a 1907 Geelong Advertiser report telling of “a St Kilda motor car” ferrying him home from Melbourne one Sunday morning when the train timetable didn’t align so he would be ready for his shift underground at midnight Sunday.

During his three years as a Saint Clymo continued to play in a midweek Bendigo goldfields competition, and after he and Bella married in 1909 they moved to Ballarat where he coached Golden Point to three premierships and Ballarat to the 1923 flag before returning to Golden Point.

In the interim he made history when, in 1918, he coached the ‘Lucas Girls’ in the first formal women’s football game played in Victoria, pitting employees from Lucas’ Department Store against a group of women who worked in a military uniforms factory in Melbourne. A Red Cross fundraiser that helped build the Avenue Of Honour and Arch Of Victory, it drew a crowd of 10,000 at East Ballarat Oval.

As historians devoted to all things hooped in blue and white, Bob Gartland and Col Hutchinson are fascinated by Clymo, and are looking forward to welcoming several of his relatives to a Cats History Society event (see below) to be held when conditions allow. Gartland notes how few photos of the mystery man exist, with a Sam Wells caricature depicting him with a disciplinarian’s cane a window to a reputation as a coach who was reputedly hard on his players.

Bill McMaster, premiership ruckman, pioneering recruiter and all-round Geelong treasure, recalls getting a different perspective from Milton Lamb, who played under Clymo in 1931 – that of a mentor who brought the best out in his players, who engaged them one-on-one and worked tirelessly to improve their skills.

The team he coached had lost the 1930 decider to Collingwood and was bolstered by several recruits, including George Moloney from Claremont, who kicked seven goals in the opening round grand final replay and 12 the next week. A unique talent, Moloney’s party trick was to take the ball running away from goal and bamboozle the opposition by kicking it over his head.

Clymo’s Cats began the first finals series played under Ken McIntyre’s system on top of the ladder, but lost the semi-final to Richmond and had to overcome a 47-point quarter-time deficit in the preliminary final against Carlton. They did so in style and, with Carji Greeves prominent, strolled to a 20-point grand final win over the Tigers the following Saturday.

The players returned to Geelong by train and were carried from the station platform on the shoulders of an ecstatic crowd. Weeks later the coach and his wife were honoured with a dinner upstairs at the ABC Café in Moorabool St, Bella was presented with a thank-you gift of a silk dress, and the Clymos were gone.

As to why he didn’t stay, Hutchinson says keeping his word looms as the most reasonable explanation. Clymo was working with Ballarat Fire Brigade when Geelong came calling, and asked his boss if he could arrange a transfer. He tried to no avail, so Charlie promised that if he gave him leave without pay he’d come back after a year. And football’s “100 percent” man was away.

In keeping with the mystique, Hutchinson has a final Clymo nugget. In the late 1940s, having retired as a coach, he was convinced to take the reins at Golden Point once more after the man in charge was forced to step aside. Clymo saw out the season at the helm. It’s believed that among his team was a youngster who would soon head to Geelong and make a bit of a name for himself too – Bob Davis.

1931 VFL Grand Final

Article written by Peter Hanlon.

* note: it is unclear/ambiguous if Clymo is referring to the newspaper here