The Munners Cup celebrates Ian Hamilton Munro, a talented man who supported the University juniors’ teams. He was almost the pastoral adviser to the teams – a kind and compassionate man who was always around to support the injured or those just having a ‘lousy’ game. He was a counterpoint to the coach – often a solitary spectator on a windswept oval. He was always immaculately dressed, with his signature furled umbrella, given the grounds played on barely afforded any shelter from the Melbourne winter.
The University of Melbourne had two men’s teams in the 1950s – University Blacks and University Blues - which were in the top grade and produced a number of players for the pinnacle, the then Victorian Football League now the Australian Football League. The other University team for those who just wanted a game was the University Reds. Those players who were under 19 played in the juniors, and, in 1958, a group of students won the juniors’ premiership in the Victorian Amateur Football Association by one point!
After that year, the “juniors” team members went their various ways, but as the 50th anniversary of the premiership approached, the survivors of that year decided they should meet for lunch – and have done so for most years since that time. Ian Munro was a regular attendee, until he fell victim to old age several years ago. The now small group, men who are bonded by a football premiership gained so long ago, decided to establish the immortality of their achievement and to honour their paterfamilias – Ian Munro – by donating a cup in his name for annual presentation by the Melbourne University Football Club for play between Blacks and Blues juniors. A life member of the MUFC, Munners, as Ian was affectionately known, was team manager for numerous intervarsity teams and has been described as “an expert at getting naughty boys out of trouble.” He was named as Intervarsity Manager when the MUFC named its officials of the modern era.
The Munners Cup was hand made by WJ Sanders, the Sydney silversmiths and goldsmiths who make the solid gold Melbourne Cup each year and the trophies for the Australian Tennis Open – they are the last such company in existence in Australia. So, the Munners Cup is in good company. The cup is made from spun brass and has three microns of silver-plating. “Spinning” the cup is a skill that requires years to perfect, and there are few specialists who retain this skill. The cup, which is 265mm high x 285mm wide, sits on a dark tallowwood plinth around which is a collar of silver-plated nickel with enough space to engrave the annual winners for the next 80 years.
On 6 August 2022 at the Ernie Cropley Pavilion at a University Blues’ luncheon, the cup was presented on behalf of the 1958 juniors by Alan Squire to Melbourne University Football Club president, Andrew Donald. It says much that more than sixty and forty years after their respective involvement, Alan, his fellow 1958 Juniors and Andrew still regard the formative years of the men’s junior football programme as something of great value in the life of the University.