Ted
Whitten Sr

Biography

Edward James Whitten was born on 27 July 1933 in Footscray, Melbourne, the second of three children of a quarry worker and his wife. He grew up in the working-class western suburbs of Braybrook and Footscray, attending St Augustine’s College in Yarraville where the Christian Brothers fostered his extraordinary natural talent for football. He haunted the Western Oval as a boy, watching his Footscray idols train, and was playing competitive football for Braybrook on Saturdays and Collingwood Amateurs on Sundays as a teenager. A Collingwood Amateurs coach urged him to try out for the Collingwood VFL team, but he was told to come back when he was stronger. Within twelve months he was playing for Footscray – the club he had always followed – and had been assigned the guernsey number three previously worn by his hero Arthur Olliver.

His debut in Round 1 of the 1951 VFL season against Richmond at Punt Road Oval announced a remarkable talent. He kicked a goal with his first kick in senior football, was knocked out by the notoriously rough Don “Mopsy” Fraser later in the match, and later said the experience hardened him to the realities of league football. He was 17 years old. By 1954 he was one of the finest players in the competition, winning his first Charles Sutton Medal as Footscray’s best and fairest and playing a central role in the club’s first and – until 2016 – only VFL premiership. For a club and a suburb that had long been denied, the 1954 flag was a moment of profound significance, and Whitten was the player most identified with what it meant.

His versatility was exceptional. He played his early football as a centre half-forward before captain-coach Charlie Sutton moved him to centre half-back where he flourished, and across his career he demonstrated authority in both key positions as well as through the midfield. He was described by those who wrote about the game in the 1950s and 1960s as a prodigious kick with both feet, a flawless mark, and a player with unequalled ground and hand skills. Ron Barassi, himself a Legend of the game, dubbed him “Mr Football” – a nickname that captured the universality of his talent and his standing in the broader Australian football community.

Appointed captain-coach in 1957, he held the role for 14 seasons through to his retirement from playing in 1970. He led Footscray to a second grand final appearance in 1961, losing to Hawthorn, but never captured a second premiership despite his individual excellence. His personal statistics were extraordinary throughout – he won five Charles Sutton Medals as the club’s best and fairest across 1954, 1957, 1958, 1959 and 1961, and led the club’s goalkicking in 1961, 1962, 1964 and 1968, remarkable returns for a key position player who was operating primarily as a half-back flank or centre in his later career.

The 1970 season brought his final records. The Footscray committee allowed him to play four games to surpass Dick Reynolds’ long-standing VFL record of 320 games. His 321st and final appearance came against Hawthorn at the Western Oval, a game Footscray won by three points, and his three-quarter time speech that afternoon – delivered in the rooms with his side under pressure – became part of club folklore. He continued as a non-playing coach through the 1971 season before the committee declined to renew his contract.

His later years brought immense public recognition. He became one of the most popular and entertaining football commentators and panellists on Melbourne television and radio, his larrikin personality and genuine love of the game making him a beloved figure across the broader community. He was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985 and elevated to Legend status in 1995. In that same year, frail and in the final stages of prostate cancer, he received a farewell lap of honour during a State of Origin match at the MCG that reduced a packed ground to tears – one of the most emotionally powerful moments in the game’s history.

He passed away on 17 August 1995, aged 62, and received a state funeral at St Patrick’s Cathedral attended by thousands. The Western Oval was renamed Whitten Oval in his honour. The E.J. Whitten Bridge on Melbourne’s Western Ring Road bears his name. In 1996 he was one of 12 inaugural Legends inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame, and was named captain of the AFL Team of the Century at centre half-back – the ultimate recognition of a player who, across 19 seasons, had given everything to one club and one community.