Alf_Wood_(Australian_footballer)
Alf Wood (Australian footballer)
Australian rules footballer
Alfred Mathew Wood (15 February 1875 – 16 November 1945) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL).[1]
| Alf Wood | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | Alfred Mathew Wood | ||
| Date of birth | (1875-02-15)15 February 1875 | ||
| Place of birth | Glenlyon, Victoria | ||
| Date of death | 16 November 1945(1945-11-16) (aged 70) | ||
| Place of death | East Melbourne, Victoria | ||
| Original team(s) | Maryborough | ||
| Position(s) | Defence | ||
| Playing career1 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 1897–1899 | Melbourne | 43 (4) | |
|
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1899. | |||
| Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com | |||
On many occasions the press (mistakenly) identified him as "Woods", rather than "Wood".[2]
Melbourne (VFL)
His first game for Melbourne was on the half-back flank, against South Melbourne, at the Lake Oval, on 8 May 1897, the first round of the first year of the new VFL competition.
VFL representative
Wood played in the VFL team against Ballarat Football League in 1898.[3]
1899 team of "champions"
At the end of the 1899 season, in the process of naming his own "champion player", the football correspondent for The Argus, Reginald Wilmot ("Old Boy"), selected a team of the best players of the 1899 VFL competition:
- Backs: Maurie Collins (Essendon), Bill Proudfoot (Collingwood), Peter Burns (Geelong);
- Halfbacks: Pat Hickey (Fitzroy), George Davidson (South Melbourne), Alf Wood (Melbourne);
- Centres: Fred Leach (Collingwood), Firth McCallum (Geelong), Harry Wright (Essendon);
- Wings: Charlie Pannam (Collingwood), Eddie Drohan (Fitzroy), Herb Howson (South Melbourne);
- Forwards: Bill Jackson (Essendon), Eddy James (Geelong), Charlie Colgan (South Melbourne);
- Ruck: Mick Pleass (South Melbourne), Frank Hailwood (Collingwood), Joe McShane (Geelong);
- Rovers: Dick Condon (Collingwood), Bill McSpeerin (Fitzroy), Teddy Rankin (Geelong).
From those he considered to be the three best players — that is, Condon, Hickey, and Pleass — Wilmot selected Pat Hickey as his "champion player" of the season. [4]
He died at a private hospital in East Melbourne, Victoria on 16 November 1945.[5]
- Holmesby & Main (2014), p. 968.
- For instance, The (Melbourne) Herald, 28 July 1899.
- "1898 - The League v. Ballarat". The Argus (Melbourne, Vic). 1 August 1898. p. 7. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
- "Old Boy" (18 September 1899). "1899 - Football: A Review of the Season". Trove Newspapers. The Argus (Melbourne, Vic). p. 6. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
- Holmesby, Russell; Main, Jim (2014). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers: every AFL/VFL player since 1897 (10th ed.). Seaford, Victoria: BAS Publishing. ISBN 978-1-921496-32-5.
- Pennings, Mark (2016), Origins of Australian Football: Victoria's early History: Volume 4: Tough Times: Victorian Football loses its Way, 1891 to 1896, Brunswick, Victoria: Grumpy Monks Publishing. ISBN 978-0-646-93604-8
- Alf Wood's playing statistics from AFL Tables
- Alf Wood at AustralianFootball.com
- Alf Wood, at Demonwiki.
- Alf. Wood, at Blueseum.
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