Robert Henry Spargo (7 July 1913 – 14 May 1994) 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 Footscray and

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

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).

Family

The son of Luke Spargo (1878-1944), and Rena Ann Spargo (1891-1980), née McHenry, Robert Henry Spargo was born at

South Dudley, Victoria South Dudley is a small town located in Bass Coast Shire in Victoria, Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian conti ...

on 7 July 1913. He married Dorothy Annie "Dot" White (1913–2016) in 1938. Spargo's two sons Bob Jr and Ricky also both played for

Footscray Football Club The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Originally named the Footscray F ...

. His grandson

Paul Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo ...

played for North Melbourne and the Brisbane Bears and great-grandson Charlie plays for

Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons or colloquially the Dees, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier comp ...

Football

As a schoolboy, he played for the Wonthaggi Technical School team, alongside Fred Backway and Bernie Guthrie.

Footscray (VFL)

Recruited from the

Riverside Football Club The Portland Football Club is an Australian rules football club based in the western suburbs of Adelaide which was formed in 1997 as a merger between the former Alberton United Football Club, Ethelton Football Club and Riverside Football Club ...

in the Footscray Football League (FDFL), he played 65 senior games, and scored 6 goals, in his eight seasons with Footscray. During that time he also represented Victoria.

Essendon (VFL)

Having already begun training with Essendon, he was cleared from Footscray to Essendon on 5 June 1941. He played three matches for the Essendon Second XVIII (on 14 June, 21 June, and 27 June); and, without having played in the First XVIII, he applied for a clearance to Williamstown.

Williamstown (VFA)

Cleared from Essendon on 2 July 1941, he played his first match for Williamstown, against Yarraville, on 5 July 1941. He played in all of the 1941 season's remaining home-and-away: a total of 9 senior matches.

Melbourne (VFL)

Cleared from Williamstown on 13 May 1942, he played in two senior matches for Melbourne (16 May and 23 May 1942).

Prahran (VFA)

Cleared from Williamstown to Prahran on 11 April 1945,40 League Players go to Association, ''The Argus'', (Thursday, 12 April 1945), p.13.
/ref> he played in the first 19 (of 20) home-and-away matches in the 1945 season. He injured his foot in the 1 September 1945 match against Brighton, and could not play in the last match of the season against Camberwell.

Athlete

Employed as a fireman, Spargo was an accomplished professional athlete who was placed 3rd in both the 1936 and 1940

Stawell Gift The Stawell Gift is Australia's oldest and richest short-distance running race. It is the main event in an annual carnival held on Easter weekend by the Stawell Athletic Club, with the main race finals on the holiday Monday, at Central Park, S ...

finals. In 1936 he was 3rd off 9¾yds to Roy McCann and in 1940 he was 3rd off 8yds to Alex Reid.

Death

He died at Wonthaggi, Victoria on 14 May 1994.

Notes

References

* * Watt, Gary (2008). ''Stawell Gift Almanac'' 1st ed. Legacy Books.

External links

*
Bob Spargo, at ''The VFA Project''.

Bob Spargo, at ''Demonwiki''.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spargo, Bob 1913 births 1994 deaths Australian male sprinters Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Western Bulldogs players Williamstown Football Club players Melbourne Football Club players Prahran Football Club players 20th-century Australian sportsmen