Donald Clement Hart (29 September 1930 – 8 February 2018) 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 Fitzroy, and

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

, 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 with

Brighton Football Club The Brighton Football Club, nicknamed the Penguins, was an Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Brighton, Victoria, Brighton. The club was a founding member of the Victorian Amateur Football Association, Metropolitan ...

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).

Family

The son of Frederick Arthur Hart (1889-1948), and Elizabeth Hart (1889-1966), née King, Donald Clement Hart was born on 29 September 1930. He married Phyllis Jean Hopewell on 9 October 1954. Two of his three brothers, Arthur Robert Hart (1917 –1981) and Edward Ronald "Eddie" Hart (1922–1995) also played for Fitzroy, as had his uncle Robert "Bob" King (1894–1979).

Football

A strong, safe mark, with much pace, and a long left-foot kick, Hart played at full-forward and at centre half-forward.

Fitzroy (VFL)

Hart played for Fitzroy over three seasons (1950, 1951, 1953); he played in 37 First XVIII games, scoring 44 goals, and in 20 Second XVII games (scoring 31 goals in 1953 alone). He was unable to play for the 1952 season due to a knee injury that required a cartilage operation.

Richmond (VFL)

Hart transferred to Richmond at the start of the 1954 season, playing in 5 First XVIII games, scoring 2 goals, and in 16 Second XVIII games, scoring 48 goals. He played at centre half-forward, kicking one goal, in the Richmond Second XVIII team that beat Melbourne 10.20 (80) to 4.9 (33) in the 1954 Grand Final; and, with a season tally of 48 goals, he was the leading goal-kicker in the VFL Seconds competition that year.

VFL Seconds

Playing for the VFL Seconds against the SAFL Seconds, in the curtain-raising match before the VFL/SAFL representative match on the MCG on 19 June 1954, Hart kicked seven goals.

Brighton (VFA)

Unable to play at all during 1955 due to knee problems, he went to

in the

(VFA) in 1956. Over three seasons (1956-1958) he played 55 senior games and kicked 143 goals.

Mornington (MPFL)

He played 96 games and kicked 462 goals in his five seasons (1958-1962) with the Mornington Football Club in the Mornington Peninsula Football League.

Death

He died on 8 February 2018.

Notes

References

* * Hogan P: ''The Tigers Of Old'', Richmond FC, (Melbourne), 1996. * * Ross, J. (ed), ''100 Years of Australian Football 1897–1996: The Complete Story of the AFL, All the Big Stories, All the Great Pictures, All the Champions, Every AFL Season Reported'', Viking, (Ringwood), 1996.

External links

* *
''Tigerland Archive'': Don Hart.

Don Hart, at ''The VFA Project''.

''Boyles Football Photos'': Don Hart.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hart, Don 1930 births 2018 deaths Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Fitzroy Football Club players Richmond Football Club players Brighton Football Club players 20th-century Australian sportsmen