Gregory George Sewell (born 30 June 1933) was an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er, assistant coach and president for

Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport *Essendon Football Club, in the Australian Football League *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington United Kin ...

in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFL). He was educated at

University High School University High School may refer to: Australia * University High School, Melbourne, Victoria Canada * University Hill Secondary School, Vancouver, British Columbia United States Arizona * University High School (Tolleson) * University High Sc ...

from 1950 to 1951, where he was a schoolmate of

Allen Aylett Allen James Aylett OBE (24 April 1934 – 16 September 2022) was an Australian rules football player and administrator, best known for his administrator career for which he was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2006. As chairman ...

. He was inducted as an Essendon legend for his contribution to the club which spanned over 4 decades.

Recruit

Sewell was recruited by Essendon from a local side, the Monash Rovers. He was fast, marked well, and could break away from opponents. He played mainly as a wingman or as a half forward flanker; however, he finished his career as a

back pocket Vulfpeck is an American funk/soul music, soul band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 2011. Founded by multi-instrumentalists Jack Stratton, Theo Katzman, Woody Goss, and bassist Joe Dart, the band has released four extended plays, six studio a ...

player. He played in the Thirds (under-19s) and the Seconds (Reserves) until he played his first senior match for Essendon on 19 July 1952, round 13 of the home-and-away season, against Footscray, at Essendon's home ground, Windy Hill. He played on the half-forward flank in the highly talented 1952 Essendon Seconds Premiership team that beat Collingwood Seconds 7.14 (56) to 4.5 (29). All but one, A. Taylor, of the premiership team's 20 players had either already played for the Essendon Firsts or would go on to do so in the future.

Career at Essendon

His senior record with Essendon included seven finals and two losing Grand Finals: *

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

: 7 games. *

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...

: 19 games (including losing First Semi-Final team). *

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

: 17 games, 1 goal. *

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

: 19 games, 12 goals (including losing First Semi-Final team). *

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

: 18 games, 2 goals. *

1957 Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricke ...

: 18 games, 12 goals (including losing Grand Final team. :*

: one game for the Victorian Interstate Team. *

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the thir ...

: 18 games, 8 goals. *

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

: 18 games (including losing Grand Final team), 10 goals. *

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

: 19 games (including losing First Semi-Final team). *

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

: 18 games.

After Essendon

He left Essendon at the end of 1961, — he was made a Life Member of the Essendon Football Club in 1961 — and went to play as captain-coach for the

Kyneton Football Club The Kyneton Football Netball Club, nicknamed the ''Tigers'', is an Australian rules football and netball club based in the town of Kyneton, Victoria. Kyneton teams currently compete in the Riddell District Football League. The club transferred ...

in the

Bendigo Football League The Bendigo Football Netball League (previously known as the Bendigo and District Football Association, Bendigo Football Association and Bendigo Football League) is an Australian rules football and netball competition based in the Bendigo regio ...

from 1962 to 1964.

Further life at Essendon

Sewell returned to Essendon in 1965 and, replacing Bill Hutchison, worked as both the Reserve Grade coach and the assistant Senior coach (to his mate John Coleman). He held those positions from 1965 to 1968. The Essendon senior side, with Sewell as assistant coach, won the 1965 Premiership: Essendon 14.21 (105) to St Kilda 9.16 (70). Whilst the Essendon senior side, again with Sewell as assistant coach, lost the 1968 Grand Final — Essendon 8.5 (53) to Carlton 7.14 (56) — Sewell finished his coaching career with a triumph. The Essendon Reserves won the Reserves Grand Final, beating Richmond 15.7 (97) to 13.14 (92), and won the first Reserve Grade Premiership for Essendon in sixteen years (i.e., since the 1952 Essendon Reserve Premiership team in which Sewell had played on the half-forward flank). Sewell also served on the Committee of the Essendon Football Club from 1958 to 1961, and from 1969 to 1975, as well as serving as its Vice-President in 1976, and its President from 1981 to 1987.

After football

Sewell's family have been involved in the foundry business for three generations and Greg was for many years in control of Greg Sewell Forgings Pty Ltd. He was a good mate of John Coleman and was the last person at Essendon to see John Coleman alive.According to Miller, Petraitis & Jeremiah, (1997, p.130) Coleman, who was also connected with the Rotary Club of Brunswick, and Sewell had spent time together at a Rotary function in

Albury, New South Wales Albury (; ) is a major regional city that is located in the Murray River, Murray region of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the twin city of Albury–Wodonga, Albury-Wodonga and is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of ...

on the Sunday preceding Coleman's death. In 2001, the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

bestowed a Life Membership on Sewell for his services to Australian Rules Football.

Footnotes

References

* Maplestone, M., ''Flying Higher: History of the Essendon Football Club 1872–1996'', Essendon Football Club, (Melbourne), 1996. * Miller, W., Petraitis, V. & Jeremiah, V., ''The Great John Coleman'', Nivar Press, (Cheltenham), 1997.

External links

* *
Greg Sewell, at ''Boyles Football Photos''.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sewell, Greg 1933 births Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Essendon Football Club players Essendon Football Club coaches Kyneton Football Club players Essendon Football Club administrators Living people