FOOTBALL
By LIAM DURKIN
TRARALGON footballing great Kelvin Templeton has written a book.
And it’s not an autobiography.
The Brownlow/Coleman medallist will be back home next week for the local release of his debut novel Collision.
Collision tells the story of a young footballer cut down in his prime, and the subsequent challenges that come with loss of identity.
“The focus of the book is really what happens after that, how he (the main character) deals or doesn’t deal with the loss of your dream,” Templeton said speaking with the Express.
While that synopsis may sound like a virtual retelling from the author’s real life experience, Collision is no ordinary footy book.
Templeton was no ordinary footballer either.
He is one of just four men to win the Brownlow and Coleman medal, achievements that last year saw him elevated to the AFL’s Hall of Fame.
Post-playing, he lived and worked in the Middle East for 15 years, and studied in his home country and the US.
Teammate and former Bulldogs games record holder Doug Hawkins has said publicly Templeton was the greatest player he ever played alongside.
As Templeton explained, his interest in fiction stemmed from his early days growing up around Traralgon.
He began reading fiction as a student at Tyers Primary School, building his literary base over the years and decades that followed.
“I’ve been an avid reader of fiction since a very early age,” he said.
“It had a major impact on me. Being transported to a different world through reading.
“It’s a natural consequence after reading as much to think that you could try (writing) it yourself.”
Templeton has worked on his novel “on and off” for the last 10 years.
He will be back home this Wednesday (November 26) for signings at the Traralgon Football-Netball Club social rooms from 5pm.
Traralgon was zoned to the Western Bulldogs (then Footscray) during the 1970s/80s.
Templeton played 143 games and kicked 494 goals for the Bulldogs, before moving to Melbourne where he played a further 34 games for 99 goals.
He kicked 104 goals for the Maroons seniors as a 16-year-old in 1973.
According to local legend, fellow Traralgon Brownlow/Coleman medallist Bernie Quinlan once kicked a torpedo from Terry Hunter Oval that sailed over the railway line and bounced into Victory Park.
For the now published author, even that story is perhaps stranger than fiction.
