‘I was told beforehand’: Knowing you’ve won the Brownlow ahead of time
By Jake Niall
The most startling moment in the AFL’s Australian Football Hall of Fame event came when former star goalkicker Kelvin Templeton casually mentioned that he had been quietly told he had won the Brownlow Medal before the count.
As Templeton explained on Tuesday night, an official from the VFL – precursor to the AFL – had informed him that he had won football’s most celebrated individual award in 1980 before the votes had been counted, in what was a televised event.
“I was told beforehand,” Templeton said on stage, in an interview with hall of fame host Gerard Whateley, prompting laughter and also shock from veterans at the function who remembered the Brownlow Medal counts from 1970s and ’80s.
Kelvin Templeton, interviewed by Gerard Whately, was a popular inductee to the Hall of Fame.Credit: AFL Photos
“It doesn’t happen these days. I know it doesn’t happen these days,” he said.
“But I was actually told beforehand ... not only that, in those days they used to jumble up the rounds. So, you know, with 10 or so votes [sic] to count, I’m sitting quite a way behind, but I know what’s going to happen.
“So I had to feign looking very surprised ... when I scored three votes two or three rounds in a row and got to the lead.”
Senior media figures who were covering the game in that period could not recall another example of a Brownlow medallist having been told he had won before the count, although some recalled the allegation – which went public – that Malcolm Blight’s 1978 Brownlow had been leaked.
Templeton told this masthead on Wednesday that he could not remember the name of the league official who had told him he had won the Brownlow, but that he believed the information was meant only to help him with his speech.
“What was said to me was, ‘You’ve won, so just have a think about what you’re going to say.’ ”
Templeton said he had been informed he had won as he walked into the room on the night of the count.
“In those days, the votes weren’t sequentially. They juggled them, and they set that up to try and create a bit of drama at the end.
“I can’t remember who it was [who told him].
“Right near the end, I was quite a few votes behind, almost to the point where someone was saying ‘well, bad luck’... and then I think I scored three votes, out of the last half a dozen votes counted. I scored three votes best-on-ground in about three of them which, when you think about, it is quite ridiculous.
“They all set it up so it was all going to come together at the last half-dozen lots of votes read out.”
Geoff Poulter, a veteran football journalist from that period, confirmed that the votes were not read out round by round, remembering that the one votes were read out first, then the twos and finally the three votes – and that Jack Hamilton, the league’s senior administrator, wanted a “grandstand finish”.
“I don’t know whether that was a thing that happened at all the [Brownlows],” said Templeton, whose story appeared to be a one-off to football people at the hall of fame function.
“Obviously, a few people knew, but I didn’t get the impression that any other people were getting that sort of tip-off. The tip-off was meant for me only.”
There was no legal betting on the Brownlow Medal in 1980, but there was significant betting illegally. Poulter said the league had made a show of the fact the votes were delivered by security firm Armaguard in response to the leaking allegations.
In time, the Brownlow count would be round by round, which created less potential for a surprise end, as with Templeton and other medal counts of that period. “They made a big thing about it.”
The AFL said it “had no knowledge” of Templeton’s claim, which was 44 years ago, but a spokesman said the league’s processes for the Brownlow over the past few decades had been “significantly different” to those in Templeton’s day.
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