Yarrawonga’s Ron Seddon whose grandfather, Malcolm ‘Doc’ Seddon made Collingwood RC’s Goodluck Horseshoe, featured on the Club’s Anzac Day jersey.
Malcolm 'Doc' Seddon was an Australian World War I veteran and lifetime member of the Collingwood Football Club.
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This weekend his grandson Dave will toss the coin at the Anzac Day clash between his beloved Magpies and Essendon with the game closely watched by Yarrawonga’s Ron Seddon, Dave’s brother.
Back before the 1917 Grand Final, Doc made a lucky horseshoe and sent it home to Victoria Park to wish his team good luck.
Collingwood won the trophy that year and the historical Goodluck Horseshoe has been part of Magpie folklore ever since.
This year, the artifact features on the club's 2025 Anzac Day jersey.
Doc Seddon earned 102 appearances and scored 56 goals for the Magpies, in the Victorian Football League across two playing stints throughout the 1910s.
Ron described his grandfather as a robust, broad-shouldered enforcer who used his razor sharp elbows to out-muscle opponents.
“My grandfather would clear a path for the ruckman to come through and get the clear tap out,” Ron said.
“My grandfather would clear a path for the ruckman to come through and get the clear tap out,” Ron said.
Doc was born and raised in Collingwood and fulfilled a childhood ambition when he joined the Magpies in 1911.
Months after the 1915 Grand Final loss to Carlton, he joined the Australian Imperial Force on a voyage to France, assisting the British Empire as a soldier on the Battle of the Somme.
Doc Seddon (left) with an unidentified comrade.
Photo by
Curtesy Collingwood Football Club
Doc’s military service took place on French and Middle Eastern battlegrounds, alongside lifetime companion and football teammate Paddy Rowan.
The Battle of the Somme resulted in more than a million war casualties throughout its four month duration.
Doc Seddon, in need of hope, created keepsakes to manifest good fortune.
He created two horseshoes crafted out of a German bomb and remnants of an adversary aircraft that Australian soldiers had compromised.
He sent both symbols home to those he held dearest; his mother and his football club.
A horseshoe arrived at Victoria Park in time for the 1917 Grand Final, which inspired his Collingwood teammates.
Doc Seddon’s handcrafted lucky horseshoe.
Photo by
Curtesy Collingwood Football Club
In the letter accompanying the horseshoe, Doc said he hoped the horseshoe would provide his teammates with the same fortune, it provided him.
“I hope that this shoe will bring the boys to the top of the tree this year,” he wrote.
The team was united in grief after the loss of former teammate Paddy Rowan, and further galvanised by Doc’s horseshoe.
Football was secondary to something much greater on September 22, 1917.
Collingwood won the match against Fitzroy by 35 points, ending a seven year premiership drought.
The keepsake was coined the Goodluck Horseshoe and given its talismanic nature.
Doc returned to football in 1919 after a four year absence.
His return proved positive as Collingwood claimed another premiership, this time defeating Richmond.
Beyond his playing days, Doc Seddon stayed involved with the football club as a committee member.
109 years since its creation, the horseshoe still carries major significance.
Eddie McGuire, during his time as club president, rejuvenated interest in the horseshoe.
A shrine of remembrance for both Doc and his horseshoe is located at Collingwood’s headquarters at Olympic Park in Melbourne.
According to Ron Seddon, McGuire would hand it around the playing group on Anzac Day clashes against Essendon, and carried it in his pocket during matches.
While Doc’s younger grandson Dave will flip the coin in front of a sold out crowd at teh MCG this wekend, Ron will be at home in front of the telly in Yarrawonga.
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