[8] In 1906 he didn't play VFL football because he had been sent to New Zealand by his employer, the Bank of Australasia.
Callan returned the following year and joined South Melbourne, playing as a forward pocket in their losing 1907 VFL Grand Final team.
[9] He enlisted in the First AIF on 14 January 1916, and served overseas, leaving Melbourne in the HMAT Port Lincoln (A17) on 4 May 1916.
On 5 February 1917, Callan was killed in action while fighting in France during World War I.
[14] Given their extensive and detailed knowledge of football, and of the preceding thirty years or so at South Melbourne, the discussion soon turned to the great players of the past: