“His story is remarkable in that his first and last matches both resulted in draws, that he played for six years before he kicked his only career goal, and that he was the victim of one of the most draconian penalties in the history of the game when he was suspended for almost two full seasons for abusing a match official”.
Born in May 1892, Mort was christened ‘Mortimer’, but according to family members detested the name and instead answered to ‘Morton’ or ‘Mort’. Curiously, he was also known as ‘Dan’ to his mates on the Melbourne waterfront, where he toiled for all of his working life, including Depression time.
It’s a little known fact that Mort, as a youngster, lost the sight in one eye following a hatpin accident - not that it seemed to impact on his prowess as a player. Taking to the field as a half-forward flanker/wingman for the inner-city outfit “The Gordons”, Mort was soon recruited to Carlton with sound reputation.
Mort made the cut for the opening round of 1914, in what would be the first of back-to-back premiership seasons under the watch of the 1899 Stawell Gift winner and three-time Carlton premiership player Norman “Hackenschmidt” Clarke.
Wearing the number 11 later made famous by the great Bruce Doull, Mort was assigned to a back pocket against Collingwood at that most inhospitable of inner city venues, Victoria Park. Regrettably, wayward kicking cost the visitors victory, as the final scoreline of 6.20 (56) - 8.8 (56) attests.
Though Carlton would emerge triumphant in both the 1914 and 1915 Grand Finals against South Melbourne and Collingwood respectively, Mort wasn’t able to make the cut for either. And yet, he was thought of highly enough to be retained and he turned out for the 1916 Grand Final in which the Blues lowered their colors to Fitzroy in a boilover.
When in 1917 the rulemakers of the Victorian Football League resolved to delegate stewards to all senior matches in response to increasing on-field violence, stewards were advised to report players seen committing foul play. One such steward, Mr. E. Hough esq., duly delivered in the Carlton-Fitzroy semi-final of that year, reporting Mort for “abusive language” towards him.
At a subsequent hearing, Mort was suspended from playing for whopping 24 weeks - effectively two seasons in total. To his eternal credit, Mort hung around to serve out his penalty, and when his younger brother John David (“Jack”) Keily joined Carlton as a fresh-faced employee of the Wills Tobacco company in 1918, Mort insisted that Jack wear his number 8 in his absence.
Carlton's 1914 Premiership team
Mort made it back for the mighty Blues in August 1919, taking his place at full-back in the Round 15 match against a visiting St Kilda combination featuring Roy Cazaly, Dave McNamara and Wels Eicke. The following season, in the sixth round match against Melbourne, he gleefully booted his one and only career goal.
Mort managed only five more senior games for a total of 53 for Carlton (Jack played just four), and in June 1921 hung up his boots after the hard-fought fifth round draw with South. On that cool, dry Saturday afternoon at the Lake Oval, he completed his swansong on a half-forward flank, alongside a future Carlton champion in Horrie Clover.
Mort then had a run with Williamstown - only to toss it in after breaking his leg in the opening round. By then a married man with two sons to raise, the fierce trade unionist continued to work on the docks until his retirement at age 70, having taken on the responsibilities of foreman in overseeing the arrivals and departures of BHP’s ore ships.
Mort Keily died on June 28, 1967, at the age of 75. His brother Jack, who died the previous year, was something of a mystery man and it says much of his maverick nature that none of his descendants have been able to unearth a single photograph of him.
