About Ted Whitten
Edward James Whitten Sr. OAM (27 July 1933 – 17 August 1995) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Footscray Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Born and raised into a working-class family in Footscray, Whitten debuted for the Bulldogs in 1951, quickly becoming one of the league's best key-position players, either at centre half-forward or centre half-back. In 1954, he won his first of five club best and fairest awards and earned a spot in the All-Australian team the same year that Footscray won its first VFL/AFL premiership. Appointed as captain-coach in 1957, he developed a successful but controversial game plan centred around the since-outlawed flick pass, and in 1961 led the club to its second grand final appearance, losing to Hawthorn. In 1967, he broke Arthur Olliver's club record of 271 senior games, and retired from playing after establishing a league record of 321 games in 1970. Whitten was also passionate about interstate football and made 29 appearances for Victoria, and was a leading promoter of State of Origin along with his South Australian sparring partner and friend Neil "Knuckles" Kerley. After retiring, Whitten became a popular football panellist and commentator. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1991, and in 1995, frail and in the final stages of the disease, received a farewell lap of honour during a State of Origin match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, later ranked as football's most unforgettable moment. Football writers Russell Holmesby and Jim Main described Whitten as a "prodigious kick, a flawless mark" and as having unequalled "ground and hand skills". Nicknamed "Mr. Football", he was a folk hero in Melbourne's working-class western suburbs, admired not only for his footballing abilities, but his showmanship and larrikin streak. He was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985 and elevated to Legend status in 1995. During the AFL's Centenary Year celebrations in 1996, he was one of twelve inaugural Legends inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame, and was voted captain and centre half-back in the AFL's Team of the Century. Western Oval, Footscray's home ground, was renamed Whitten Oval in his honour. His enthusiasm for State of Origin is marked by the E. J. Whitten Legends Game, a charity match held annually since 1995. Whitten made his senior VFL debut in Round 1 of the 1951 VFL season against Richmond at Punt Road Oval and joined a special group of players who scored a goal with his first kick. When Footscray qualified for the finals, club officials tried to obtain special leave for Whitten to play in the First Semi-Final against Essendon.
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