We recently acquired this magnificent early Collingwood postcard – and there’s a story behind it that says much about the Club’s early days, and its connection to the suburb from which it took its name.
The postcard in question is one of the most famous in Magpie history. It was issued c1902 and shows Victoria Park in all its early splendour. It’s been widely used, including on the cover of the book, Collingwood at Victoria Park.
But this version includes the words ‘Love From Collingwood’, lovingly and painstakingly embroidered onto the front in a kind of tinsel or glitter. And on the back is a note written by a local resident to a friend in Ballarat.
And it’s those messages that tell us much about how Collingwood came to be.
The handwritten note says: "Just a PC to let you have a peep at Collingwood. If you look long enough you will see them playing football with ...
With that note, and all the effort that went into the tinselled message on the front, you can see how proud locals were of their recently-born football club.
We often talk about how Collingwood was formed: that the suburb of Collingwood/Abbotsford was dreadfully poor and downtrodden, its people derided by the rest of Melbourne. And that those locals started a grass roots-led movement to form a senior football club carrying the name of the suburb, in order to give locals something to be proud about.
And here is concrete evidence of that pride in action. If only we knew more about the writer!