Clarence Joseph Nolan (24 August 1904 – 18 January 1998) 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

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government ar ...

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). Nolan, was a

Benalla Benalla is a small city in the Hume (region), Hume region of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The town sits on the Broken River (Victoria), Broken River, about north east of the state capital Melbourne. As of the , the population wa ...

and

Shepparton Shepparton () (Yorta Yorta language, Yortayorta: ''Kanny-goopna'') is a city located on the floodplain of the Goulburn River (Victoria), Goulburn River in northern Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, approximately north-northeast of Mel ...

recruit, who joined North Melbourne in 1925 and took part in their inaugural VFL season. He was

's leading goal-kicker in 1928 with 24 goals, despite not registering his first goal until round nine.AFL Tables: Clarrie Nolan
/ref> In 1928, Nolan won the ''

Sporting Globe ''The Sporting Globe'' was a newspaper published in Melbourne from 1922 until 1996. Establishment The first issue of the paper was published on 22 July 1922 and, for the first four weeks, it was published only on Saturday evenings. On 16 Augu ...

'' newspaper competition for the longest place kick, with a kick of 71 yards, 2 foot & 4 inches. In 1929, Nolan joined

West Albury West Albury is a suburb of the city of Albury, New South Wales, located west of the Albury Central Business District. At the , West Albury had a population of 3,851. West Albury covers the slopes of Nail Can Hill on the Murray River floodplain, ...

as captain-coach and kicked seven goals in their

Ovens and Murray Football League The Ovens and Murray Football Netball League (OMFNL or O&MFNL) is an Australian rules football and netball competition containing ten clubs based in north-eastern Victoria, Australia, Victoria, the southern Riverina region of New South Wales ...

grand final win against

East Albury Football Club East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that eas ...

. In June 1930, Nolan stepped aside as captain / coach of West Albury to allow Haydn Bunton to take over as captain / coach on his return to West Albury from

Fitzroy Football Club The Fitzroy Football Club is an Australian rules football club currently competing in the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA). Formed in 1883 to represent the inner-Melbourne municipality of City of Fitzroy, Fitzroy, the club is base ...

. Nolan played in four consecutive O&MFL grand finals with West Albury between 1929 and 1932. Nolan stood for the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

for the seat of

Hume Hume most commonly refers to: * David Hume (1711–1776), Scottish philosopher Hume may also refer to: People * Hume (surname) * Hume (given name) * James Hume Nisbet (1849–1923), Scottish-born novelist and artist In fiction * Hume, t ...

in the 1940 Federal Election, which was retained very narrowly from Nolan by Thomas Collins. Nolan was a co-founder of the Nolan Brothers Sports Stores, located in

Albury Albury (; ) is a major regional city that is located in the Murray River, Murray region of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the twin city of Albury–Wodonga, Albury-Wodonga and is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of ...

, Leeton and

Wangaratta Wangaratta ( ) is a city in the northeast of Victoria, Australia, from Melbourne along the Hume Highway. The city had a population of 29,808 per the 2021 Australian Census. The city is located at the confluence, junction of the Ovens River, ...

for many years. Clarrie was the older brother of Melbourne footballer, Leo Nolan.

References

External links

*
1929 West Albury FC team photo1930 West Albury FC team photo
1904 births 1998 deaths Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Australian Rules footballers: place kick exponents North Melbourne Football Club players Albury Football Club players 20th-century Australian sportsmen {{AFL-bio-1904-stub