Gary Dempsey (born 22 November 1948) is a former

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 the

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 ...

and

North Melbourne Football Club The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Kangaroos or colloquially the Roos, is a professional Australian rules football club. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AF ...

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).
A fine ruckman known for his strong marking, Dempsey won the

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 ...

in 1975 and had a total of thirteen top-10 finishes in the vote count. He is also one of a handful of players to have played at least 100 games and won a best-and-fairest award at two different clubs.

Playing career

Dempsey made his debut for Footscray in 1967. In 1969, he spent six weeks in hospital after being badly burnt by a bushfire near his home in Truganina and was told he would never play football again. Despite this, he defied the odds to return to the playing field and then win his first club best-and-fairest award in 1970. Dempsey would win the club best-and-fairest award five more times, underlining his importance to the underachieving Bulldogs. Although he had won a number of individual awards, Dempsey yearned for team success and signed 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 1979, winning the club best-and-fairest in his first year there. He played out his career at the Kangaroos, playing 122 games for them, and retired in 1984. Dempsey was named an emergency in the Kangaroos

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 ...

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Dempsey finished in the top 10 in the Brownlow Medal 13 times. He was named an

All-Australian Team The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perfo ...

member at the 1972 Perth carnival. Dempsey went into the

1984 VFL season The 1984 VFL season was the 88th season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 31 March until 29 September, and comprised a ...

affected by injuries and advancing age. He was now 35—a "dinosaur" as he would describe himself in his retirement announcement—and had suffered a hurt knee in the practice games and later a fractured cheekbone. His final VFL match was in Round 8 against at Arden Street, which the Swans won by seven points. He revealed that he had begun thinking about retirement midway through the last quarter: "I was playing at fullback and I realised I was not helping North. There's no point in me going on if I can't help North." He formally announced his retirement on the Monday following the game. Gary Dempsey then moved north in 1986 and played two seasons for

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

, winning his first ever senior premiership with the Sharks in 1987. Dempsey held the all-time record for most

marks Marks may refer to: Business * Mark's, a Canadian retail chain * Marks & Spencer, a British retail chain * Collective trade marks A collective trademark, collective trade mark, or collective mark is a trademark owned by an organization (such ...

in VFL/AFL history until his record was surpassed in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

by Nick Riewoldt. In 1996, Dempsey 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 2002, Dempsey was named as first ruckman in the Footscray's Team of the Century.

Post playing career

Dempsey was appointed specialist ruck coach of the

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club based at Princes Park (stadium), Princes Park in Carlton North, Victoria, Carlton North, an inner suburb of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. The c ...

at the end of the 2005 season.

References

Bibliography

External links

* *
Australian Football Hall of Fame - Players
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dempsey, Gary Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) 1948 births Living people Brownlow Medal winners Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees All-Australians (1953–1988) Syd Barker Medal winners North Melbourne Football Club players Western Bulldogs players Southport Australian Football Club players Victorian State of Origin players Charles Sutton Medal winners