Des Fothergill
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Desmond Hugh Fothergill (15 July 1920 – 16 March 1996) 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 for
Collingwood Football Club The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed the Magpies or colloquially the Pies, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. ...
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) and for
Williamstown Football Club The Williamstown Football Club, nicknamed the Seagulls, is an Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Williamstown, Victoria, Williamstown. The club currently competes in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and VFL Wome ...
in the
Victorian Football Association 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 ...
(VFA). He was also a noted
cricketer Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
, representing
Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...
in the
Sheffield Shield The Sheffield Shield is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams representing the six states of Australia. The Sheffield Shield is named after Henry Holroyd, 3rd Earl of Sheffield, Lor ...
. In a short but brilliant football career interrupted by
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 ...
and ended by injury, Fothergill was recognized as one of the finest small players of his era, winning almost every available accolade at both club and league level.


Football career

From Collingwood Tech, Fothergill was a gifted sportsman who made his VFL debut aged 16, for in 1937. Fothergill was a small midfielder/half-forward who seemed too small at the start, at and , but his brilliance as a footballer was something that over-shadowed his liabilities. Fothergill made an impact straight away as he played brilliant football, winning a
Copeland Trophy The E.W. Copeland Trophy is an Australian rules football award given by the Collingwood Football Club to the player adjudged best and fairest for Collingwood during the year. The Copeland Shield, as it was formerly known, was donated by Ern Cop ...
as Collingwood's best and fairest in his debut season. In 1938, Fothergill was once again a dominant member of the side, winning his second consecutive
Copeland Trophy The E.W. Copeland Trophy is an Australian rules football award given by the Collingwood Football Club to the player adjudged best and fairest for Collingwood during the year. The Copeland Shield, as it was formerly known, was donated by Ern Cop ...
at the age of 18, and two years later, in 1940, Fothergill won his third
Copeland Trophy The E.W. Copeland Trophy is an Australian rules football award given by the Collingwood Football Club to the player adjudged best and fairest for Collingwood during the year. The Copeland Shield, as it was formerly known, was donated by Ern Cop ...
and topped the clubʼs goalkicking with 56. Also in 1940, Fothergill 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 ...
player
Herbie Matthews James Herbert Charles Matthews (12 November 1913 – 8 June 1990) was an Australian rules footballer who played for South Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL). He was recruited to South Melbourne from suburban club Fairfield. His f ...
tied for first place in
Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as Charlie), is awarded to the best and fairest player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by the f ...
voting with a then-record 32 votes. At the time, neither player won the Brownlow Medal itself, as their records could not be separated on
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and there was no provision for a shared medal, but both men were awarded Brownlow Medals in 1989 when the VFL decided to
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ly eliminate the countback from the award.


1937 Best First-Year Players

In September 1937, ''The Argus'' selected Fothergill in its team of 1937's first-year players.


Switch to Williamstown and war service

In 1941, Fothergill followed teammate and friend Ron Todd to
Victorian Football Association 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 ...
(VFA) club Williamstown without receiving a clearance from the VFL, as many other high-profile League players had done during the VFA's throw-pass era. In his sole season with Williamstown, he won the Recorder Cup and VFA Medal as best and fairest in the VFA, polling a record 62 votes and winning by a huge margin of 29 votes. In his 20 games, Fothergill kicked 78 goals and also won the Williamstown best and fairest award. He was made vice-captain but captained the side for much of the season due to the absence of captain-coach, Gordon Ogden, due to illness, injuries, business commitments and a two-match suspension. Fothergill had signed with Williamstown until the end of 1943, but when VFA competition was suspended from 1942 until 1944 due to World War II, his career at Williamstown came to an end as the contract he signed had lapsed. He joined the army in 1942, and was forced to move on after a knee injury when in
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.


Return to Collingwood

When the VFA resumed competition in 1945, Fothergill, having never formally been cleared from the club, returned to Collingwood that season after his three-year VFL ban for crossing without a clearance expired. He dominated at half-forward for the club again, despite being slower and having injury problems. In 1946 Fothergill kicked 62 goals in seventeen games and was the VFL's leading goalkicker in the home-and-home season, although he ultimately finished second for the League's Leading Goalkicker Medal after his total was passed in the finals by
Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport *Essendon Football Club, in the Australian Football League *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington United Kin ...
's Bill Brittingham. He was forced to retire in 1947 due to a leg injury. Fothergill was named in the Collingwood Team of the Century, and was inducted into the
Australian Football Hall of Fame The Australian Football Hall of Fame was established in 1996, the 1996 AFL season, centenary year of the Australian Football League, to help recognise the contributions made to the sport of Australian rules football by players, umpires, media pe ...
in 2000. The award for the best young player in the modern
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 ...
(which is the successor to the former VFA) is named the
Fothergill–Round–Mitchell Medal The Fothergill–Round–Mitchell Medal is a Victorian Football League (VFL) award that is presented to the most promising young talent in the VFL competition (previously the Victorian Football Association until 1995). The medal has been awarded ...
in honour of Fothergill, Barry Round and Sam Mitchell.


Cricket career

Fothergill was also an accomplished cricketer, playing cricket in the summer throughout his football career. A right-handed batsman and leg-break bowler, he played 27
first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...
matches for
Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...
, making 1404 runs at 39.00 with one century. He made his hundred against South Australia in 1947 and once made 99 against the Australian Services XI. He played district cricket for Northcote, appearing in 149 matches between 1935–36 and 1952–53 with strong all-round performances, averaging 41.05 with the bat and taking 122 wickets at 27.35 with the ball. After retiring from football, Fothergill moved to England and played for the
Enfield Cricket Club Enfield Cricket Club is a cricket club in the Lancashire League (not to be confused with the club of the same name in Middlesex), which plays its home games at Dill Hall Lane in Accrington. The club has won the league on 5 occasions and the cup ...
in the Lancashire League in 1949 and 1950.


References


External links

*
Profile
CricketArchive.com; accessed 26 October 2014.
Profile
at Collingwood Forever {{DEFAULTSORT:Fothergill, Des 1920 births 1996 deaths Brownlow Medal winners Collingwood Football Club players Copeland Trophy winners Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Williamstown Football Club players Victoria cricketers People from Northcote, Victoria VFL Leading Goalkicker Medal winners Cricketers from Melbourne Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Australian Army personnel of World War II 20th-century Australian sportsmen