Barry Davis, you are always on my mind

by VIN MASKELL

SEEING Barry Davis in the news recently, speaking about his last days as Essendon coach in 1980, made me realise that I probably think of Barry Davis more than I think of any other footballer.

I think of him every day, when I glance up at the 1971 book Football For Boys, which has pride of place on the bookshelf in the study, just ahead of Chronicles by Bob Dylan and, ah, The Gloves of Irony by Rod Marsh.

There is Davis, in full colour on the cover, in a classic pose - just coming back to earth at the end of a follow-through from a drop-kick. His right leg is high and parallel to the ground, his right foot (in a groovy new adidas boot) still pointing slightly skyward. His left foot is just off the ground. The right arm and hand are pointing straight down, the fingers close together. His left arm is at about 45 degrees, the fingers of his hand splayed a little.

His head, topped by that neat ginger hair, is steady and his eyes are watching the flight of his perfectly executed drop-kick.

It's an image that has stayed with me for many a year, probably a stronger image than what I would have seen of Davis on black and white television replays in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when I barracked for Essendon from afar. (Well, Geelong.)

Inside Football For Boys there is a 'magic eye' sequence of black and white photographs of Davis, showing the seven stages of the drop kick. The pictures culminate in him being quite airborne, with his left leg tucked behind his left buttock and his right leg stretched to its fullest. Grace, balance, power: they are all there.

The book features other stars of the time, including players who had had bigger reputations than the Essendon (and later North Melbourne)half-back-flanker: Ted Whitten, Peter McKenna, Ian Stewart, Barry Cable, and Peter Hudson. They give instructions on such skills as the torpedo, the punt and the stab-pass.

But of all of them, Davis was chosen to be on the cover.

So I think of Barry Davis every day when I go into the study. And I think of him every Sunday morning when I go to 'church' - a session of kick-to-kick and circle work with a few mates, including Brad and Bruno who are both fine students from the Barry Davis School of Drop-Kicking. (Bruno, though, would say he is from the John Rantall or Bobby Skilton Academy of Drop-Kicking.)

Football For Boys (it's unlikely here was also a Football For Girls) was written by one Alan Scott, who describes himself as a Geelong Collegeand Ballarat College schoolmaster, a 'teacher of football' rather than a coach. I had taken no notice of the name of the author of this text book until 2004, when Mark Williams made his less than gracious reference to Port Adelaide sponsor, transport magnate Alan Scott. You will recall that with the premiership won, Williams said, 'Alan Scott, you were wrong!', a response to Scott's belief that the Power could not win a flag with Williams at the helm.

I presume these Alan Scotts are different men. Alan Scott, the author, was right about many things - the techniques of how to play football 35 years ago - but in hindsight we can see that he was wrong too, for the torpedo and the drop kick and the punt have had their day.

All we have left is a book found in an opp-shop, with a picture of Barry Davis on the cover.

11 August 2007

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