On a wing and a prayer: When Father Frank came up against Mick Grambeau

The Most Reverend Francis Patrick Carroll, who passed away on March 14 aged 93, was an accomplished first grader in the fabled South Western District Football League.

With the popular priest set to be remembered at a service in Wagga on Wednesday, March 20, MICHAEL McCORMACK looks back on the day Father Frank came up against the feared Mick Grambeau.

THE man after whom the most prestigious regional schoolboy Australian Football competition in the nation is named was not one to merely make up the numbers during his own playing days.

The Most Reverend Francis Patrick Carroll DD DCL, who passed away on March 14 aged 93, was an accomplished first grader in the fabled South Western District Football League.

Although born in the famous football town of Ganmain on September 9, 1930, the second of seven children of Patrick and his wife Rose (née Naughtin), the late Archbishop Emeritus made his mark with Griffith, a club he joined when he became Parish Priest in the irrigation town in 1955, the year after he was ordained.

Father Frank would say Mass at the Sacred Heart Church before swapping his religious robes for a white jumper with a red V and No. 18 on the back.

In 1956 he played seven first grade games, kicking six goals.

One of his appearances that year must have been especially nostalgic as well as somewhat daunting, as Fr Frank returned to Ganmain.

It was Sunday, June 3 and the home team, top of the ladder, undefeated and wearing its traditional maroon with a white V, was clearly the one to beat for the flag.

It is not recorded whether Fr Frank said a little prayer for safety sake before the opening ball-up at Ganmain, but you could not blame him if he had done so. Divine intervention was not going to help Griffith that afternoon, as Ganmain won by 130 points - 25.18 (168) to 6.2 (38) ... Grambeau booted two goals and was in Ganmain's best players and Fr Frank, too, was also named amongst the best on the ground.

Ganmain was captain-coached by mighty Mick Grambeau, greatly feared by all.

This was an era when local clubs were often led by former leading lights from the Victorian Football League.

North Melbourne hard man Grambeau had taken over at Ganmain from ex-Carlton premiership star Clinton Wines (who had gone to Grong Grong-Matong) and was being paid £40 a week as well as a house and a job.

It was massive money in those days, so much so the Melbourne press made a huge fuss of Grambeau's signing which came at the height of his playing prowess.

At age 26, Grambeau certainly was in the peak of condition. Ganmain won the hotly contested race for his signature after the VFL enforcer was involved in a contract dispute with North Melbourne, which had refused his clearance to St Kilda.

At 187 centimetres (six feet, two inches) tall and weighing 99.7 kilograms (15 stone, 10 pounds), Grambeau was, by all accounts, a terrifying sight coming at you on the field.

The fact Fr Frank was a much-loved favourite son of Ganmain would have meant absolutely nothing to Grambeau who would have relished taking out the footballing priest as much as any other opponent ... perhaps more so, given his penchant for courting controversy.

Bishop Francis Carroll with Wagga High Schools Warren Sheather after the first ever Carroll Cup, played as a round robin, in 1969.

"He was a very tough follower who was a man of few words and completely ruthless," Ged Guthrie wrote of Grambeau in his 2007 book History of the South West District Football League 1913-81 including Ganmain Football Club 1893-1981.

Another anecdote was Grambeau would sometimes play VFL with a horse racing form guide tucked into his sock and when he wasn't knocking opponents over, he'd be checking the race results on the scoreboard!

It is not recorded whether Fr Frank said a little prayer for safety sake before the opening ball-up at Ganmain, but you could not blame him if he had done so.

Divine intervention was not going to help Griffith that afternoon, as Ganmain won by 130 points - 25.18 (168) to 6.2 (38) - with Tom "Turkey" Carroll kicking 11 goals.

Grambeau booted two goals and was in Ganmain's best players and Fr Frank, too, was also named amongst the best on the ground.

Eight of the Carroll clan - Bill, Brian known as Mick, Garry ("Curl"), Gerald, John ("Digger"), Lawrence ("Dooley"), Tom and Tony - featured in Ganmain's senior premiership side that year. Bill, Dooley, Mick, Tony and Turkey were sons of James whilst Curl, Digger and Gerald were sons of John. James and John were brothers of Fr Frank's Dad, Patrick, making the eight Ganmain Carrolls from that '56 team all Fr Frank's first cousins. On that winter's afternoon at Ganmain, Carrolls kicked 20 of Ganmain's 25 goals!

Fr Frank managed to play on the biggest stage in local football - Narrandera Sportsground on grand final day - albeit in reserves, after Griffith played a thrilling 6.6 (42) - all 1956 preliminary final draw with Ganmain in the seconds.

The replay was held on the day of the senior decider.

Team selection time for the Carrolls (from left) Jim (Wimpy), Tom, Joe and Bishop Francis before the big charity match of 1968.

Although Fr Frank was amongst Griffith's best, Ganmain prevailed by four points but would fall to Leeton in the grand final a week later.

For good measure, Grambeau led Ganmain to premiership success again in 1957; his two years at the helm seeing the club win a remarkable 37 of its 40 games, with two draws and a solitary loss (by three points to Narrandera in the first game of the '57 season).

Fr Frank was not in Griffith's senior list in 1957 and later served at Saint Patrick's at Albury before being called on for higher duties.

Pope Paul VI appointed Fr Carroll, just 37, Bishop of the 45,000 Catholics in the Wagga Wagga Diocese on February 24, 1968 upon the death of Bishop Francis Augustin Henschke, aged 76.

Later that same year Bishop Carroll made his farewell football appearance in a unique match at Ganmain when he led a family team comprising players with the surname Carroll against "The Rest".

The game, before a large crowd despite a rainy day on October 6, was held to fund a new swimming pool in town.

Bishop Carroll celebrated Mass on the morning of the match, opened new classrooms at St Maria Goretti School at noon and then travelled to Ganmain for the footy.

It was his only game in the traditional maroon and white strip so proudly worn by Ganmain until 1981 when the club merged with Grong Grong-Matong for the start of the Riverina Football League the following year.

Bishop Francis Carrolls football farewell made page 1 in The Daily Advertiser in 1968.

The Bishop, a fit 38-year-old, led the family XVIII on to the field for that memorable 1968 charity match and duly won the tap from the opening bounce against Graham Buchanan, later an RFL president, for the benefit of the television cameras from the Australian Broadcasting Commission program This Day Tonight. He then trotted off to great applause, thus ending his playing days. For the record, the Carrolls won the contest 8.6 (54) to 6.9 (45), with $600 (a lot of money in those days) raised for the pool project.

Early in 1969 Bishop Carroll received a visit from two leading Australian Rules identities, John Braid and Tim Robb.

They were not trying to coax Bishop Carroll out of footballing retirement but, rather, seeking his "blessing" for something they knew was close to his heart ... schoolboy football.

Braid was secretary of the Wagga Australian Football Promotions Committee and Robb was non-playing coach of Wagga Tigers, having earned a big reputation as a 74-gamer in the VFL with Footscray and North Melbourne from 1947-51.

They had in mind an open age schoolboy competition, to give the code a footing at secondary school level, which at the time was a Rugby League stronghold.

Such a series would complement the Robb Cup, which had been organised for Fourth Formers (Year 10).

It was a marvellous idea in theory ... but would need something, or someone really special, to give it that impetus it needed.

Getting Bishop Carroll's support, they felt, was essential for the success of the concept.

The Bishop liked the idea and readily agreed to allow his name to be used.

His endorsement was a masterstroke for he was enormously popular throughout the wider community, the Carroll name being then as it has always been, synonymous with Australian Rules and for the competition to have a future it needed Catholic school participation.

Thus, the Carroll Cup was born and it has grown into something truly quite special with the 56th series due to start on May 1.

At the time of the 40th Carroll Cup, the Emeritus Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn had this to say about the treasured competition: "Not only has it helped promote Australian Football and perhaps furthered the careers of some of its outstanding participants, but its healthy competition has encouraged active participation in sport which is so valuable for the general welfare of young people.

"It has certainly strengthened school spirit and loyalty within the individual high school communities of Wagga Wagga as well as bringing those communities together to co-operate in its promotion and administration."

Bishop Carroll became Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn on June 27, 1983, a position he held until June 19, 2006 when he retired, returning to live in Wagga Wagga.

He retained a keen interest in football right up until his passing, especially the competition which bears his name and his favourite VFL-AFL team, South Melbourne-Sydney Swans.

Michael McCormack is the Federal Member for Riverina and author of And the Big Boys Fly - History of the Carroll Cup 1969-2008. Fr Frank officiated at his late parents' wedding in 1960.

– Article First appeared in The Daily Advertiser, 20 February 2024