Originally from Diamond Creek, Victoria, Coventry journeyed across the Bass Strait after the First World War to work in the mines at Queenstown, Tasmania, taking with him a reputation as a fine footballer. Coventry first played for a Queenstown based team in 1919, but was appointed Captain of the Miners team from Gormanston for the 1920 season. The team played in the Queenstown based ‘Lyell Miners Football Association’ which included 9 teams. Gormanston was a small miners town at the top of Mount Lyell. The footballers in the region are noted as some of the hardiest in Australia given the weather and playing conditions, which include the famous Gravel Oval at Queenstown.
Syd duly agreed, but when he returned to Melbourne he was persuaded by his younger brotherGordon Coventry, who had just finished his first season with Collingwood, to reconsider. Apart from the issue of family loyalty, there was the small matter of the excessive distance between Diamond Creek and St Kilda to think of. The upshot of it all was that Syd Coventry elected to throw in his lot with Collingwood, whereupon St Kilda, not surprisingly, screamed "foul!" The VFL Permits Committee was called in to adjudicate, and Coventry was faced with the choice of playing with St Kilda, or sitting out of football for twelve months so that he could join the Woods. He opted for the latter course of action, and in 1922 he started out on an illustrious thirteen season, 227 game league career with Collingwood. Despite standing only 180 cm in height, Syd Coventry played mainly as a ruckman, where his aggression, vigour and dynamism more than compensated for any deficiency in stature. A born leader, he captained the Magpies from 1927 until he moved to Footscray as coach at the end of the 1934 season. He thus enjoyed the unique privilege of captaining four successive VFL premiership teams. Often at his best when the going was rough, one of Syd Coventry's finest performances came on a waterlogged MCG in the 1927 grand final, when Collingwood and Richmond between them could manage only 3 goals for the match. The 1927 season also saw him win both the Brownlow Medal and Collingwood's best and fairest award. He repeated the second achievement five years later. Coventry till this day remains the only Premiership Captain to win a Brownlow in the same year. For good measure, he was named the best player in that year's Grand Final. As a Captain, Syd led Collingwood Football Club in 144 games. In that period Collingwood won 111 games, drew twice and lost 31 times. A winning ratio 77 percent, a VFL/AFL record for many years, since beaten by Tom Harley with a 49-7 win-loss record as Captain of Geelong in 2007-2009, a winning ratio of 87.5 percent. A virtual ever-present in VFL representative teams for most of his career, Coventry made a total of 27 interstate appearances. His eventual departure from Victoria Park to coach Footscray came with the blessing of the Collingwood committee, but only on the proviso that he did not continue as a player.
Footscray
After two unsuccessful and unhappy years with Footscray, Syd Coventry returned to Collingwood in an administrative capacity.
Collingwood committeeman
He served as club vice-president from 1939 to 1949, and as president between 1950 and 1962. From 1963 until 1976 he was Collingwood's patron, rounding off more than fifty years of involvement with the club. In 1969 the Collingwood Football Club named the newly built social club stand at Victoria Park S.A Coventry Pavilion. In 1992 the Melbourne Cricket Club named Gate 7 after Coventry as part of the Great Southern Stand development at the MCG. In 1996 Coventry was inducted into the first batch of players and officials in the Australian Football Hall of Fame. Two of Syd's sons played for Collingwood: Hugh Coventry played for a year before enlisting in the RAAF and was awarded with a Distinguished Flying Cross; another son, Syd Coventry, Jr., also played for the club.
