With the AFL world and the rest of the world in the grip of the Coronavirus pandemic, Richmond historian Rhett Bartlett takes a look at the toll the Spanish flu outbreak took on the Tigers in 1919.
January 1919 is when the Spanish flu first started spreading throughout Melbourne.
By the start of March 1919, the Richmond Guardian reported that 711 cases of influenza had been reported in the suburb of Richmond between January 24 and Feb 28. Most cases were mild, with 118 classified as serious. There had been nine deaths to that point.
Richmond Football Club had scheduled its 1919 Annual General Meeting for March 20, in the hope that “by then the flu will have gotten away and the meeting will then be permissible. In any case it will be in the open air at the Richmond Cricket Ground.” Although the flu was still around, the Club proceeded to hold its AGM on that date, in the open air. Supporters sat in the grandstand.
One of the doctors at a local Richmond hospital was David Rosenberg, a former vice-president of Richmond Football Club from 1914-1915. He, himself, had a mild case of the influenza in March and had to self-isolate for a period of time.
The new kindergarten building at the Richmond Central State School was turned into the Richmond Emergency Hospital during the outbreak. Five classrooms were turned into 50 patient beds. The shelter in the yard was turned into a kitchen, the cloakrooms turned into bathrooms.
Richmond Football Club donated 10 pounds 10 shillings to the Richmond branch of the Red Cross Society, which had set up a relief kitchen that served up to 300 people in the area. A nurse visited homes of the poor people and provided them with food suitable for influenza patients from the relief kitchen.
Around April 1919, Richmond’s star West Australian recruit Norm McIntosh was impacted by travel restrictions put in place by the Government. This meant he was unable to come over to Richmond and reside in the suburb for the required 12-week residential qualification. He subsequently made his debut with the Tigers the following year and was a member of their 1921 premiership side.
Richmond fielded a total of 35 players during the 1919 season.
In the week leading up to the opening round on May 3, former player Ted Keggin and a mate of his visited the Club and noticed that “Eucalyptus permeated everywhere”. This would have been Bosisto’s Eucalyptus Oil, which was used by the Club for decades. “You would not be likely to get the flu in here,” Ted Keggin’s friend was quoted as saying.
Two days later, on May 5, the enormity of the influenza epidemic hit home when Thomas Weatherill, an older brother of 1919 Richmond players Harry, George, and Robert Weatherill, died as a result of the flu, aged 29.
By Round 2, Richmond’s vice-captain Percy Maybury had been infected by the influenza, and he had suffered a relapse not long after. He eventually recovered, but that, combined with a leg injury, meant he missed many home-and- away games in the season. Pat Dooley, Richmond’s 20-year old half-back flanker missed three games (Round 2-4) with the flu.
The influenza peak for the Club was in Round 10 v Essendon, on July 12. Champion full-back Vic Thorp, Bob Weatherill, and Artie Bettles were all late withdrawals from the match, having been struck down with the flu.
It was a wet day, so that, combined with the fear of contracting influenza, resulted in the Richmond players leaving the field at three-quarter time and changing their uniforms. They also were rubbed dry and drank steaming hot drinks before returning to the field for the final quarter of the match, which the Tigers ended up winning by five points in a mighty brave performance.
Even as late as Round 14, Bob Weatherill was still feeling the effects of the flu. “He has never been himself since the attack of influenza”, the Richmond Guardian noted.
Richmond went on to play in its first VFL Grand Final that year, losing to Collingwood by 25 points.
