Marcus Joseph Whelan (27 June 1914 – 31 August 1973) 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 who played for Collingwood 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).

Family

The son of John Whelan and Ellen Margaret Whelan, née Parker, he was born in

Bacchus Marsh Bacchus Marsh ( Wathawurrung: ''Pullerbopulloke'') is a town in Victoria, Australia, located approximately north-west of the state capital Melbourne, at a near equidistance to the major cities of Melbourne, Ballarat and Geelong. As of the ...

on 27 June 1914. He married Marjorie Alice Dummett on 14 October 1939. Whelan's son

Shane Shane may refer to: People * Shane (name), a masculine given name and a surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with this name * Shane (actress) (born 1969), American pornographic actress * Shane (New Zealand singer) (born ...

played for Collingwood between

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

and

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

; and his granddaughter is the actress/television presenter

Nicky Whelan Nicky Whelan (born 10 May 1981) is an Australian actress and model. She is best known for her roles as Laurie Mitchell in '' Chosen'' (2013), and Pepper Steiger in Australian soap opera ''Neighbours'' (2006–2007). Career Before ''Neighbou ...

Football

Collingwood

Whelan played mostly in the midfield as a centreman, although he played some 40 games at full-back. He was a fine, long drop-kick, and an expert place-kick. Whelan won the

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as Charlie), is awarded to the best and fairest player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by the f ...

1939 This year also marks the start of the World War II, Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Events related to World War II have a "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Coming into effect in Nazi Ger ...

and was also awarded Collingwood's best-and-fairest award, the

Copeland Trophy The E.W. Copeland Trophy is an Australian rules football award given by the Collingwood Football Club to the player adjudged best and fairest for Collingwood during the year. The Copeland Shield, as it was formerly known, was donated by Ern Cop ...

. After fighting in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he returned to the

1946 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...

and retired at the end of the 1947 season. Sports journalist Michael Roberts and former Australian rules footballer described Whelan as being "a famously cool, calm and polished performer." In 1956,

Jack Dyer John Raymond Dyer Sr. OAM (15 November 1913 – 23 August 2003), nicknamed Captain Blood, was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Richmond Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) between 1931 and 1949. One of the ga ...

called Whelan one of the best centremen of his time. “He was a spectacular player who could take a brilliant high mark and could hold his own with a ruckman,” Dyer wrote. Fellow Collingwood player Bob Rose concurred: “He was a magnificent stab kick and could dispose of the ball perfectly while travelling at top speed.”

St Kilda

In 1948, he was cleared from Collingwood to play with the St Kilda Second XVIII as captain-coach.

Carrum

In 1949, he was appointed captain-coach of the Carrum Football Club in the Mornington Peninsula Football League.

Employment

Whelan worked at

Carlton & United Breweries Carlton & United Breweries (CUB) is an Australian brewing company based in Melbourne and owned by Japanese conglomerate Asahi Breweries. Its notable brands include Victoria Bitter, Carlton Draught, Foster's Lager, Great Northern, Resch's, ...

in Melbourne, alongside his coach

Jock McHale James Francis "Jock" McHale (12 December 1882 – 4 October 1953) was an Australian rules football player and coach for the Collingwood Football Club in the Victorian Football League in a marathon career that extended from 1903 to 1949. He is t ...

."Brownlow Medal winner", ''News'' (Adelaide), 8 September 1939, p. 7.

Footnotes

References

*
Football Ace Whelan: Crowd's Idol Gets Ready For Big Season, ''Pix'', Vol.5, No.13 (Saturday, 30 March 1940), pp.28-31.

Marcus Whelan (Collingwood) in an artistic place kick, ''The Argus Pictorial-Supplement'', (Tuesday, 14 May 1940), p.6.

External links

*
''Boyles Football Photos'': Marcus Whelan.

World War Two Nominal Roll: Sergeant Marcus Joseph Whelan VX100842 (V275436).
*
Marcus Whelan profile
Australian Football League website; accessed 12 June 2014. {{DEFAULTSORT:Whelan, Marcus 1914 births 1973 deaths Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Australian Rules footballers: place kick exponents Collingwood Football Club players Collingwood Football Club premiership players Brownlow Medal winners Copeland Trophy winners Place of death missing People from Bacchus Marsh Australian Army personnel of World War II Australian Army soldiers VFL/AFL premiership players 20th-century Australian sportsmen