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1907 A Crapp Decision |
The most famous
argument and subsequent overturning of a premiership came not in
Melbourne, the birthplace of the game, (although a famous Victorian
umpire was at the centre of the controversy), but in Western Australia
way back in 1907.
East Fremantle had seemingly snatched the
premiership by five points after they scored a goal with the last kick
of the day, but Perth lodged a protest alleging that the bell had
sounded before the umpire, 'Ivo' Crapp awarded the free kick that gave
'Old Easts' the lead.
The W.A.F.L. Appeals Board held an
inquiry, and Crapp in his initial evidence said he had just blown his
whistle for a free kick to East Fremantle when the bell sounded, and
that he was "at first" under the impression "that the whistle had
beaten the ball" and he therefore allowed the free kick from which the
goal was scored.
When further pressed under cross-examination, Crapp admitted that his first impression may have been wrong.
The
Appeals Board then decided to consider the evidence of a number of
witnesses called by both sides, and after a hearing that lasted until
after midnight, decided that "the weight of evidence bore out the
contention of the protesting club" and awarded the premiership to Perth
by a solitary point.
Henry 'Ivo' Crapp was known early in the twentieth century as 'The Prince of Umpires'.
He
umpired 291 senior games between 1895 and 1914 in the days when
umpiring was a far more physically demanding task than
today. For most of Crapp’s career, there were no boundary
umpires and the field umpire had the responsibility of throwing the
ball in from the boundary as well as retrieving the footy back to the
centre after a goal had been kicked.
Crapp
originally umpired in the V.F.A but was appointed to the first round of
V.F.L. matches in 1897 after the breakaway of eight clubs from the
Association. He umpired 147 senior League matches,
including seven Grand Finals between 1897 and 1905.
According
to Jack 'Dookie' McKenzie, a champion player of the time with various
clubs, Crapp had immense respect from the players. "All Crapp's
decisions were given with such a confident note that there was no
disputing them. Players were not game to mess him about".
Amongst
many other achievements, Crapp is credited in a match between Melbourne
and Fitzroy in 1901 as being the first umpire to not only call the
reasons for free kicks to players, but also to nominate by name who was
to take them.
Despite his standing with the players, one who
couldn’t come to terms with his umpiring was fiery Collingwood star,
Dick Condon.
Already in strife for leaving the field and
attempting to take his team-mates with him in protest at umpire
Gibson’s decisions in a 'round robin' finals match against Geelong in
1901, Condon the following week screamed at Crapp, "your girl's a
bloody whore" after he was free-kicked for tripping in another finals
match against Melbourne at the M.C.G.
Crapp immediately reported
Condon and the VFL Investigative Committee hearing suspended Condon for
life, later reduced to two years. Condon moved to Richmond
when they joined the League in 1908 and is known to have unsuccessfully
applied for the position of captain-coach at Preston the following
year, his former Collingwood and Richmond team-mate Charlie Pannam
instead landing the job.
'Ivo' was enticed to move to Kalgoorlie
in 1906 on a promise of employment and a contract from the Goldfields
Association, but on arrival found no such job existed and he returned
to Perth with the intention of returning to
Melbourne. Perth officials became aware of his
predicament and snapped up his services and he umpired every final in
Perth until 1914 (a total of 30) as well as many interstate games.
According
to legend, Crapp was actually appointed as coach of East Perth in 1909,
a year in which they finished in third place, but contemporary reports
show he umpired every week during the season, including a finals match
that East Perth played in, suggesting his role with the club was purely
in an advisory capacity - but still a massive potential conflict of
interest! .
After retiring at the end of 1914 during which he
went to Sydney as the Western Australian representative umpire at the
ANFC Carnival), Crapp's last major appointment was the 1921 Interstate
match between Western Australia and Victoria after he was asked to
officiate by the touring Victorians in a shortened ANFC Carnival
series. He was 48 years of age at the time.
Henry 'Bunny'
Nugent, a fellow V.F.L umpire whose on-field career was cut short by
various illnesses contracted during the First World War and later the
honorary umpire’s advisor to the Victorian Junior Football Association
recalled
"Following Ivo Crapp from game to game, I noted his
style and one day plucked up enough courage to ask him what one needed
in his make-up to be a successful umpire. He told me, ‘Get yourself
into first class condition, learn the rules thoroughly and be fearless
and prompt with your decisions".
Henry 'Ivo' Crapp was an inaugural inductee into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1996.
Popular legend attributes the origin of the word 'crap' to Thomas Crapper (1836 - 1910).
Legend
also credits him with inventing the flush toilet, but neither is true
although as a leading plumber supplier in London, Crapper did much to
popularize and promote the new device.
The word "crap" traces
back to at least 1490 with various meanings relating to discarded cast
offs like "residue from renderings" or "dregs of beer or ale", meanings
believed to originate from the Middle English 'crappe', "chaff, or
grain that has been trodden underfoot in a barn". According
to the Oxford Dictionary, the meaning "to defecate" was actually
recorded in the U.S. in 1846 (when Crapper was ten years old), but the
word did not hold this meaning at all in Victorian England.
Any connection to Thomas Crapper appears to be no more than an unfortunate coincidence of his surname!