AFL legend had links to Dubbo
Above:
St Johns College leaders in 1971 - Br Ignatius front left and Michael Croke front right.
Br Ignatius at a function in 2015
Right:
FORMER De La Salle and St John’s College student Michael Croke sent an item concerning Br Ignatius Kennedy, the former Principal of the Dubbo Catholic High School. I thought many of you would find it interesting.
“Crokey”, as he is affectionately known, acquired his love of sport at an early age and is now one of the longest serving Principals in the Bathurst Diocese. He is currently head of St Catherine Mccauley Primary in Orange, a position he has held for nearly 30 years and in recent years retired from presenting the ABC Saturday Morning Breakfast program.
Michael wrote that it is perhaps unknown that Br Ignatius grew up in AFL territory in Victoria. Even more unknown was that his own brother was an immortal in the “only truly Australian football code”!
“In 1971, I was a student at St.
John's in a school staffed by the De La Salle Brothers. Our Principal was Brother Ignatius Kennedy”, Michael wrote.
“One September Saturday he invited myself and some classmates to join him in the school hall to watch the VFL (Victorian Football league, as it was then known) grand final. It was the only live VFL game televised to NSW the whole year.
“We knew absolutely – literally – nothing about VFL. None of us could name a player or even a team but gathered that it must have been of interest to Br Ignatius, who had come to us from Melbourne.
“As the game started he told us that he followed Hawthorn and that his brother was involved in the game. As the ball was bounced off, Brother very humbly mentioned that his brother was actually the coach of the Hawthorn side”, Michael remembered.
Brother Ignatius was stationed at De La Salle Cronulla in the years previous and many ex-students, including author and journalist Gary Lester, still say he was the best rugby league coach they had ever had. It is a sentiment shared by De La Salle/st John’s boys from the late 1960s and early 70s. These were plaudits about a man who probably did not see his first rugby league game until he was at least 20 years of age.
“Despite having no rugby league background at all, the Kennedy coaching genes were shared in the family. When “Big
John” Kennedy passed away last month he left a legacy of being four times Hawthorn Best and Fairest (1950-52, ‘54), Hawthorn Captain (1955-59) and three time VFL Premiership winning coach (1961, ’71 and ‘76)
Br Ignatuis’s own brother opened the eyes of more than one young Dubvegan in the heady days before colour television. The giant man, John Kennedy, became the 29th Australian Hall of Fame legend.
A little piece of trivia for your next school reunion!
“PS,” Michael texted, “In a quirky twist of fate my wife Helen is from the Riverina and her mother (Leonie Crimmins) was a cousin of Peter Crimmins who played in the 1971 grand final!”