The significant occasion will take place on July 30, along with five other newcomers. Chisnall is the first of the five names released by the O and M last Thursday.
“I always thought these things were reserved for the likes of Jim Sandral! Anyway, I’ll take it!” he told The Free Press/Yarrawonga Chronicle. “I’m that humbled by it.”
“The thing I did about the game was about the people – the people I had learnt from and the younger fellows coming through. This Hall of Fame is not about me or you, but us.”
The man popularly known as ‘Chissa’ recalled players he played against including Bobby Rose (Wang Rovers) and Noel Long (Yarrawonga). “It was a thrill for me to be able to talk to them and be introduced to the likes of John Hoiles who played 139 consecutive games for Footscray and became coach at Corowa.”
The 73-year-old retiree living in Numurkah reeled off further names including Lionel Ryan, Martin Cross, Mick Bone and Bob Spargo who meant a lot to him, “people who set me up” for his future higher level involvement in football. “They hardened me up as to what was going to happen.”
A toughened up Chisnall was indeed ready for Melbourne, starring under coach Ron Barassi on the wing in North Melbourne’s first ever premiership, in 1975.
In the O and M, he played as a teenager for Corowa Spiders, helping the side win the 1968 premiership against Wodonga in 1968, the first flag in 36 years.
Chisnall was Corowa-Rutherglen’s inaugural coach in 1979 and coached Yarrawonga in 1996 and 1997.
League chairperson Ron Montgomery welcomed the return of the Hall of Fame presentation after two years absence due to COVID-19.
“It’s great to be back. We’re disappointed we missed a couple of years, but it was a reality of the way life has been. Now we’re back and we’ll be back bigger and better that ever,” Mr Montgomery said.
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