Height/Weight 185 cm / 87 kg Name Ian Shelton Years Club | 1959–1965 Essendon Years Club | |
Date of birth (1940-02-24) 24 February 1940 (age 75) Debut 23 May 1959, Essendon
v. Geelong, at Windy Hill Role Australian Rules Footballer | ||
Original team Avenel Football Club | ||
Ian Stanley "Bluey" Shelton (born 24 February 1940), known throughout his career as "Bluey", due to his thatch of red hair, was an Australian rules footballer, who played with Essendon in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1960s.
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Family
The son of Stanley Charles (1903–1983) and Jean Shelton (died 1978), née Dickens, Ian was born on 24 February 1940. He married Margery Henrietta Elliot on 26 March 1966.
He is the nephew of John Thomas "Jack" Shelton (1905–1941), who played for St Kilda and South Melbourne, and the cousin of Bill Shelton, who played with Hawthorn.
As a young lad of 7, his grandfather, Richard Shelton, was saved from drowning in swollen Hughes Creek, Avenel by a young Ned Kelly, aged 10.
1959
Shelton came to Essendon, as a centre half-back, from Avenel in 1959. There were a number of delays in him getting a clearance from Avenel and a permit play from the VFL was not granted until 20 May 1959. Consequently, he was not eligible to play his first match for Essendon until the (round 5) match against Geelong on 23 May 1959, when he was selected to replace the team's regular centre half-back, Jeff Gamble, who was injured and unable to play. Shelton was one of Essendon's best players in a team that (unexpectedly) beat Geelong by 30 points: 11.18 (84) to 7.12 (54).
All in all, in his first season with Essendon, he played in seven senior home-and-away games, all three finals, including the Grand Final, where he played at centre half-back, in Essendon's 37 point loss to — 11.12 (78) to 17.13 (115) — earned three votes in the Brownlow medal, and won the award for Essendon's best first year player.
1962
In 1962, Shelton played representative football for Victoria against South Australia on 14 July, he played in Essendon's 1962 premiership team at centre half-back in a team that defeated Carlton by 32 points — 13.12 (90) to 8.19 (58) — and was runner-up, to John Birt, as Essendon's best and fairest player.
1964
He did not play for the entire 1964 season due to an extremely serious eye injury he suffered in November 1963, "necessitating serious operations and treatment" (Maplestone, 1966, p.198):
1965
He returned to Essendon in 1965, also holding the position of vice captain, only able to see out of one eye. He finished his final season playing in his second premiership team. He chose to play in the Grand Final despite a severe shoulder injury.
1966
He was released by Essendon in 1966, because they could not come to a mutually satisfactory arrangement for him to commute between Avenel and Essendon.