Tom Fitzmaurice

Tom Fitzmaurice
Personal information
Full name Tom Fitzmaurice
Date of birth (1898-07-07)7 July 1898
Date of death 25 December 1977(1977-12-25) (aged 79)
Original team(s) East Melbourne CYMS
Height / weight 192cm / 96kg
Position(s) Defender / Forward
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1918–1924
1925–1928
1932–1935
Total -		 Essendon
Geelong
North Melbourne		 085 0(30)
049 0(20)
054 (196)
188 (246)
Coaching career
Years Club Games (W–L–D)
1928
1934
Total -		 Geelong
North Melbourne		 18 (6–12–0)
08 0(0–8–0)
26 (6–20–0)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1935.
Career highlights
  • Essendon premierships 1923, 1924
  • Essendon best and fairest 1922, 1923, 1924
  • Geelong premiership 1925
  • Geelong captain-coach 1928
  • North Melbourne joint captain-coach 1934–1935
  • North Melbourne leading goalkicker 1932, 1934
  • Victorian representative 12 matches
  • New South Wales representative 1 match

Tom Fitzmaurice (7 July 1898 – 25 December 1977) was an Australian rules footballer in the (then) Victorian Football League (VFL).

A brilliant centre halfback, he commenced his career with Essendon Football Club 1918. Transferred to Sydney in 1921 with his employment, Fitzmaurice played that seasons in the local competition and captained New South Wales against Victoria and Tasmania. He rejoined Essendon in 1922 and later formed part of their very successful 1923 and 1924 premiership teams. In the famous Essendon "mosquito fleet" (so called because of the half dozen players 168 cm or under) Fitzmaurice was the tallest member of the side at 189 cm.

Fitzmaurice left Essendon after the controversy at the end of the 1924 season when he felt that several Essendon players had deliberately lost a match against Victorian Football Association premiers Footscray.[1]

He played in a premiership team at Geelong Football Club in his first year. Leaving Geelong after 1928, he played with Mortlake and then the VFA side, Yarraville. He returned to the VFL in 1932, playing with North Melbourne. Moving to the forward lines he became their leading goalkicker for three seasons.

In 1996 Fitzmaurice was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.

References

  1. ↑ {{url=http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/ASSH%20Bulletins/No%2030/ASSHBulletin30d.pdf |title=The 1924 Championship Game: did the Dons play dead?|author=Dale James Blair|publication-place=Victoria|date=June 1999|accessdate=23 June 2013|Publisher=ASSH Bulletin|issue=30}}


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/23/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.