Frank Loughran was one of the best football players ever to represent Australia and Victoria. He played and scored for Australia in the Olympic Games in 1956, and even upstaged the great Stanley Matthews when Blackpool toured Australia in 1958. He was an initial inductee into the Australian Football Hall of Fame and when Andre Kruger conducted a poll to find the greatest Australian players, Frank came second only to Johnny Warren for one of the midfield positions. He finished with eight full international caps, and represented Australia 38 times in all, scoring 22 goals. In addition, he had 25 games for Victoria scoring 20 times.

Born in Belfast in 1931 Frank had a tough upbringing and worked in a weaving mill after leaving school at 14. It was there that he met his future wife, Lily, and they were married in 1949. He had two years in the merchant navy and played for Bangor in the Irish League and had an offer from Dundee United in Scotland. In 1953 the family moved to Victoria where he joined the Moreland club, and the best and fairest trophy is still named after him. Moreland at the time was full of talented Scottish players, but Frank quickly established himself as a dynamic inside forward or winger in the days when teams had five attackers.

In 1955 he was selected for the Australian team for a series of matches against South Africa and the following year he represented Australia in the Olympic Games in Melbourne, scoring the country’s second goal in the opening match against Japan. A contemporary report says, ‘In the second half the Japanese goalkeeper made two fine saves from shots by Graeme McMillan and Ted Smith. Frank Loughran received a bouncing ball across the goalmouth and as the goalkeeper advanced he calmly lofted it over the goalie’s head into the net to put us two up and such was the score at full-time.’ Unfortunately Australia lost its next match against India and so the Olympic dream was over.

In 1958 English First Division side Blackpool toured Australia with the legendary (Sir) Stanley Matthews in the team. To imagine the impact Matthews had, think David Beckham, because Stanley, ‘the wizard of the dribble’ was the superstar of his era. Yet, when the teams lined up at Olympic Park for the game against Victoria, and after the players were announced to the crowd, Matthews walked over to Frank, the Victorian vice-captain and said, ‘I don’t like this crowd. They gave you a louder cheer than they game me!’ After the game Matthews came into the Victorian dressing room and asked Loughran if he would come and play for Blackpool, but Frank turned down the opportunity.

That year Frank toured New Zealand with the Australian team and was regarded as the outstanding talent. ‘He never kept the ball when there was an unmarked colleague and his passes never went astray.’ Leading Sydney clubs like Hakoah tried to tempt him north, but Frank and his family were committed to Victoria. After Moreland he joined the Coburg club where his family were synonymous with the club for many years. Later he had spells in the Industrial League and at Shepparton City, where his oldest son, Sam, was player-coach. He continued to play in the seniors at 53 and as a veteran for many years after that. I was lucky enough to play with and against him in veterans’ games and the only problem, if you were trying to mark him, was that his repartee was as likely to reduce you to helpless laughter as his football skills to bamboozle you.

Frank was a fine, sensitive human being, helping anyone who needed support and always prepared to go the extra step for friends, of whom there were legions. He died after a short illness on 11 January 2008. I’d like to acknowledge the help of Sam Loughran and Ted Smith, who played with Frank at all levels, in preparing this brief tribute to an Australian football icon.

Roy Hay

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