Albert George Sawley, also known as Pongo Sawley (27 October 1915 – 13 August 1983), was an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er who played with Norwood in the

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's sports governing body, governing body for the sport. ...

(SANFL) and St Kilda in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFL). He fought in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

alongside his brother

Gordon Sawley Gordon Harold "Gertie" Sawley (28 June 1913 – 14 August 1942) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Sydney Swans, South Melbourne in the Australian Football League, Victorian Football League (VFL). Family The son of Andrew Gilbe ...

, a Norwood and

South Melbourne South Melbourne is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. South Melbourne recorded a population of 11,548 at the 2021 ...

footballer who was killed in a training accident. Sawley started his career at Norwood and was their

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

winner in 1937. In the same year he represented

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

at the Perth Carnival. He spent a season at St Kilda in

1939 This year also marks the start of the World War II, Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Events related to World War II have a "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Coming into effect in Nazi Ger ...

and played 11 games, including their preliminary final loss to Collingwood.AFL Tables: Albert Sawley
/ref> Back at Norwood, Sawley was a member of premiership sides in 1941 and 1946. During the war Norwood merged with fellow SANFL club

North Adelaide North Adelaide is a predominantly residential precinct (Australia), precinct and suburb of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, situated north of the River Torrens and within the Adelaide Park Lands. Laid out in a grid plan in three section ...

to form Norwood-North, which Sawley captained.'' The Advertiser'
"Football League Gives £500 to P.O. W. Fund"
9 October 1943, p. 8 He was named on a half forward flank in Norwood's

Team of the Century In team sport, team of the century and team of the decade are hypothetical best teams over a given time period. For the century team, it can be either 100 years, or for a century (always the 20th). Similarly the team of the decade can be for 10 y ...

References

1915 births 1983 deaths Australian rules footballers from South Australia Norwood Football Club players St Kilda Football Club players Australian Army personnel of World War II Australian Army soldiers 20th-century Australian sportsmen {{AFL-bio-1915-stub