Opinion
The last in the series of nicknames that I had fun in producing. Thanks for all the feedback and comments and suggestions.
Fitzroy is gone as an AFL team and so their top 100 club players (games and goals) will remain forever. Those included in the AFL top 100 overall lists will gradually disappear but some included on this list will keep the name alive for decades to come.
20. ‘Apple’: With his surname, what else could Len Pye (1934) be called? He topped Fitzroy’s goal kicking with 39 goals in 1934, his debut season, including a bag of eight against North Melbourne at Arden Street.
19. ‘Monty’: R.B. Horan (1943) came from Coburg Juniors.
18. ‘Wedger’: Jack Holt (1905).
17. ‘Bice’: William Cleary was a veteran defender by the time the VFL was formed in 1897. He captained Fitzroy in the opening year and played in the 1899 premiership.
16. ‘Sonny’: Thomas Alfred Edgar Douglas (1905) came from Albert Park.
15. ‘Dinny’: Dennis James Ryan (1935) played his first game for Fitzroy as a skinny 18-year-old and excelled at centre half forward. However, he was shifted to centre half back and won the 1936 Brownlow.
14. ‘Baron’: Alan Gordon Ruthven (1940) was one of the great characters of his era. Ruthven was a brilliant rover who had the ability to run throughout a match. He was given his nickname because of Australian Governor General, Baron Hore-Ruthven.
13. ‘Tunner’: Thomas De Brot Reardon (1911) played 16 games for Fitzroy in 1911, making his debut in Round 3. He was cleared from Fitzroy back to Golden Point at the start of the 1912 season.
12. ‘Bunty’: Raymond Gordon Niven (1931) was a quick moving forward who fed the ball well to his teammates.
11. ‘Boxer’: Herbert Milne (1902). Canny, lithe and graceful, he played in Fitzroy’s four successive grand finals from 1903.
10. ‘Hoot’: In four out of his five league seasons, Frank Gibson (1928) was a first-choice ruckman for the Fitzroy Football Club.
9. ‘Titch’ 2: Barclay Bailes (1905) was also known by the nickname ‘Bendigo’. A tiny winger, he was best on the ground in Fitzroy’s 1905 grand final win.
8. ‘Titch’ 1: Arthur Edwards (1936).
7. ‘Puffer’: Ernest George Elliott (1921) was a half back flanker in Fitzroy’s 1922 premiership winning side. He also played in the 1923 VFL grand final, but this time finished on the losing team.
6. ‘Chicken’: Wilfred Arthur Smallhorn – so nicknamed because his mother could never catch him when he was young – was a deceptively quick winger who played 150 games (kicking 31 goals) for Fitzroy between 1930 and 1940.
5. ‘Sport’: Not much is known about Henry Anderson, who played six games for Fitzroy in 1913 and died in 1926 aged 34.
4. ‘Gracie’: In 1937 Gracie Fields was the highest-paid movie star in the world, so that when Alan Fields (1939) started his league career, he was given that nickname.
3. ‘Butch’: Alan Gale was a big, awkward 17-year-old kid when he played his first game for Fitzroy in 1948 but played over 200 games.
2. ‘Gubby’: Graham Allan (1975) was nicknamed after an Australian born cricketer who captained England in 11 Test matches in the 1940s.
1. ‘Superboot’: Bernie Quinlan (1969) was a superb footballer with great skills in every part of the game. He achieved every honour in football apart from playing in a premiership side. Recruited from Traralgon by Footscray, he crossed to Fitzroy in 1978.
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Things heating up in Canberra!
Diplomatically answered, Darcy!
For all the pomp and circumstance that surrounds the now-traditional Anzac Day clash at the MCG, there has been one thing conspicuously lacking over…
Old mate summing it up better than anyone possibly could!
