Five-year search links original Socceroo’s family with the club that still honours his name
A FIVE-YEAR search for the family of Ipswich born-and-bred sporting pioneer and original Socceroo Clarence “Clarrie” Shenton has ended with a reunion that brought his descendants closer to their footballing heritage and the club that has kept his name alive.
Following a Local Ipswich News appeal last month, Shenton’s grandson Marc has reconnected with a largely unknown side of his family, discovering how a son of Ipswich helped shape the beginnings of Australian international football and continues to be honoured more than a century later by the Wynnum Wolves.
Shenton’s journey from Ipswich to Wynnum Football Club and Australia’s historic first international football tour of New Zealand in 1922 places him among the pioneers of the city’s sporting history.
As Socceroo cap number nine, he represented his country when the foundations of the national side were still being laid, earning a distinction that would outlive a life cut short at just 33.
For Wolves president Rabieh Krayem and his wife Vicky, whose research for the club’s centenary book in 2021 prompted the search, the meeting finally put a family connection to the name behind one of the club’s most significant honours.
For Marc and his daughters, it opened a chapter of their family history that had remained largely unexplored, despite two treasured medallions surviving as reminders of Clarrie’s sporting life.
“I grew up in Germany, so I knew part of my mother’s side of the family,” Marc said.
“But the Shenton side was a little bit obscure and not many people were talking about it.
“This is great because I can now reconnect with Margaret (a cousin of Marc’s father Bill, the only son of Clarrie) and be in touch with her and share some photos and some of my family history.”
That opportunity emerged when 76-year-old Margaret Walker recognised the family names and connections in Local Ipswich News appeal, contacted the newspaper and provided the missing link to Clarrie’s grandson.
Through the Wolves’ Clarence Shenton Players’ Player Medal, successive generations of footballers have continued to encounter the name of the Ipswich pioneer who wore their club’s colours more than a century before them.
“There’s never going to be another No. 9. It’s history,” Mr Krayem said. “It’s nice to reconnect with the family again, both from the club’s perspective, but also I think recognition for the family to know that their grandfather, their great-grandfather, was a Socceroo.”
Mr Krayem described the Shenton medal as the club’s most important individual honour in its men’s program, with the search driven partly by a wish to have a descendant available to present it to the player recognised by his teammates.
“We think it’s important that someone from the family presents that medal,” Mr Krayem said.
The meeting also gave Mr Krayem an opportunity to see the two medallions Marc had preserved, pieces of football history that had survived for more than a century and remained in the family while much of the story surrounding them had faded.
“To have them in the condition that they are, I think they’re a special part of football history,” he said.
Mr Krayem said finding the descendants was an honour for the club, but just as significant was the opportunity to show Marc and his daughters that Clarrie’s contribution had never been forgotten.
Marc said he valued the chance to learn more about his grandfather and reconnect with relatives.
“It’s a brand-new chapter, and I’ll really look forward to exploring that,” he said.
